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AEKII Board Repair

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furosuto81:
So I picked up a used and non-functioning AEKII for $20 at Free Geek in the Twin Cities, thinking it could be fun little repair project. Worst case, I ruin it, and it becomes a parts board, or maybe I get a replacement board.

The main symptom is that all three lights are lit, and doesn’t respond when typing on any key. I noticed some corrosion on a few components, so I figured I’d try replacing those first. I got all the switches desoldered, but in the process many of the through-hole traces got damaged. Most of these were on keys where the leads were bent instead of straight. This is my first time doing this sort of thing…how repairable is this for a noob?



Also, the trace was damaged around the screws on either side. Seems like that probably need do be repaired somehow as well.

jacobolus:
It doesn't look like those traces are so damaged that you couldn't figure out some way to patch them back together. You just need a solid electrical connection between the switch pins and the trace. If you look up PCB / trace repair in a web search you can find plenty of sources. You can even just add a little patch wire if you really need.

If you already desoldered everything, in the worst case you could always try to obtain a replacement PCB that fits the same switch layout, which various people have done in the past, e.g. a web search turns up https://github.com/djvs/aek https://github.com/str-dst/aek2_usb. Or you could even hand wire everything on the back; the switches can be held in place sufficiently by the switch plate. Then you can use an alternate keyboard controller, supporting N-key rollover, etc.

Bent switch leads are annoying to desolder, and take a bit more practice and a few times more work than straight leads. Sometimes you have to suck out most of the solder, then get the lead hot enough to unstick / unbend, then finish sucking more solder out in a separate step. A set of dental picks and some small pliers can be helpful. If you do a web search for something like "desolder bent leads" there are probably good sources about this too.

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