Leopold FC660C plate rusting

[Justintoxicated]

I took my trusty FC660C home this weekend to pull the keycaps and clean it out (I do this every year or as needed).

I was seeing allot of junk built up so I figured I would clean it up.

To my surprise when I went to clean it it looked like someone had been dumping chocolate crubs into the board.  Weird.  Upon closer inspection I found the plate was rusting. 

I work close to the ocean in an old server room.  My guess is that the humidity and possibly the salt in the air from the ocean are contributing to this

Before someone asks, nothing has been spilled on this keyboard ever!

[Gati]

That’s unfortunate. I wish they used aluminium instead...

[Justin_aka_OsP_SSJ4]

Desolder everything and sand back the plate, reseal it and paint it?

A pain but rust gets exponentially worse over time and may spread to other parts.

[Justintoxicated]

Not sure it's worth my time right now.  Lots of project on my plate.  One of the keys is also not working working, and the insert key LED is also not functioning.  Hopefully I didn't get too much rubbing alcohol into those keys when cleaning it.  Maybe they will come back or something.

[Blue_Moon]

yep, seen this before
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=96995.msg2649076#msg2649076

sorry to hear about your rusting backplate

[Justintoxicated]

N/M on the insert light, I forgot that it's actually a scroll lock light

Just the up arrow is giving me some issue, but if I hit it enough times it works, so all hope isn't lost.

If I do end up removing the plate at some point, I could just bead blast the whole thing right?  That would make quick work of it before repainting.  Anything else I should do while I'm int here?  Replace the sliders?

[Justintoxicated]

I took the keyboard apart just now and noticed my soft touch dental band mod was coming apart so I removed some of them but didn't bother to do the whole thing without my keycap puller handy.  The up arrow is working again perfectly so it may have been a broken dental band or something not allowing the key to press correctly (Actually I have no idea but it works perfect now).  There's no corrosion or anything strange looking on the mainboard.  The teflon lube Finish Line Extreme Fluoro 100% DuPont Teflon Grease had dryed out too and some small dust / chunks fell out.

Is there something better than dental bands to soften the upstroke on the keyboard?  If not I guess I will need to dissemble when I get home and remove the rest of the broken bands.  Not sure if it is worth installing new ones?

The other problem is the rubber feet have come unglued.  I put them all back on with black silicon but today they popped off again while I was removing the keyboard.  Is there a better adhesive to attach the rubber feet back to the keyboard?  I'm thinking 3M foam tape maybe?  I appreciate any suggestions.

[ThoughtArtist]

That's China for you. You think your shiny new inexpensive thing is good until...



you realize they took MASSIVE shortcuts in making it.

[nmur]

a short while ago I was dealing with a rusty plate and a faulty PCB with my Realforce (basically the same thing). check out my two threads and let me know if you had any questions

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=96389
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=95766