Help with cream alps repair

[maaaaatt]

Howdy all,

I just received a new old stock Apple Extended Keyboard II (which largely confirms that clean alps are a completely different and better beast to dirty ones), but the '5' key has a strange problem - it only registers if the key is pressed extremely off center. On center key presses don't do anything.

I tried swapping the top case/slider/spring/tactile leaf out with another AEKII I have, but same problem.

I'd rather not get the soldering iron out and swap the switch on a brand new keyboard, does any one have any recommendations/ideas about what could be wrong with it? I'm hoping the off-center behaviour means something inside the switch just needs to be bent slightly?

Thanks!

[BlindAssassin111]

The switch contacts are bad...you have to replace that or the whole switch, your choice. It sucks but it happens even on boards that look good. I had like 5 on my nicer omnikey that were corroded so bad that they would no longer register, but the rest were perfect.

[OfTheWild]

Yes so theres something interfering with the contact points in the switch base. My first choice with complex alps is to replace the switch - desoldering can be tricky and you might want to review with someone local that can lend a hand and maybe the tools.
That being said, you could try blasting it with some contact cleaner - i am partial to Deoxit-D5 from guitar stuff but anything in that wheelhouse will work. You can also try blasting some air up behind the silver "Y" piece of the contact in case theres something caught. Pull another switch to compare shape and angle. You really shouldnt need to bend it any. Make sure the slider and click leaf are in the right orientation - cutout in slider goes toward the side with 2 raised ridges... raised ridges side goes on the contact side of the base.

Hope that gives you some help.

[maaaaatt]

I ended up being brave and went and bought the necessary equipment to swap out the new switch, and the result of my first ever soldering attempt is:

555555555555
555555555555
555555555555

A big thankyou to everyone who commented 

[suicidal_orange]

Good work, now you just need some isopropyl alcohol to remove the flux stain