Author Topic: Unicomp Customizer Some Keys not Working (Read 9590 times)

Genie · « **on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 02:57:00 »

Hi ppl,

I have Unicomp Customizer 104/105 keyboard and after spilling some really small amount of water on it and then shaking it to get the drops out of the keys, some keys stopped working (like F2, F4 , F6, 5, 6,7 and

. the rest are working fine.. I have opened the case, cleaned everywhere and still bummer... Those keys are not working...

Any advice?

Thank you!

Half-Saint · « **Reply #1 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 03:02:12 »

I presume you've left it to dry completely?

Cheers

Genie · « **Reply #2 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 03:39:04 »

yup I did leave it first to dry (24 hours and more) and then opened it and cleaned it completely....

Half-Saint · « **Reply #3 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 04:13:13 »

Exactly which part of the keyboard did you spill?

Genie · « **Reply #4 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 05:00:40 »

upper left part

lets say from ESC key to ASD

I mean I have tons of keyboards at home and at some point I did spill something on every single one of them

but this one is first to half-die after it..

And as I said I really did not spill much (and it was water , other keyboards were not so lucky

)

spolia optima · « **Reply #5 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 09:14:43 »

Quote from: ripster;160858

...as long as you don't spill anything too toxic into the keyboard.

like 2-part epoxy?

D:

Genie · « **Reply #6 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 12:58:47 »

well the thing is that that incident was like 3 months ago and keyboard is still not working

kishy · « **Reply #7 on:** Fri, 26 February 2010, 13:01:28 »

I suppose if it was really, really HOT (like, boiling) water or coffee or something there'd be a risk of it melting the membrane sheets...but without that being the case, I can't think of a logical reason why it doesn't work.

brkz · « **Reply #8 on:** Sat, 27 February 2010, 08:43:28 »

I would open it up and separate and clean the membranes. A single hair in there can be enough to make it not work. Water may still be trapped in between the membranes.

lal · « **Reply #9 on:** Sun, 28 February 2010, 06:09:50 »

Without breaking rivets I'd try to force any left water out by carefully applying heat for some time. Like storing the inner assembly near the room heater for some days.

kishy · « **Reply #10 on:** Sun, 28 February 2010, 09:58:22 »

If they keys aren't working, as opposed to keys spontaneously pressing themselves, drying it out shouldn't make a difference one way or the other. Moisture would be completing circuits not disabling them.

That's opinion based on fact, but hey, maybe keyboards can defy physics?

kishy · « **Reply #11 on:** Sun, 28 February 2010, 10:26:13 »

Yeah, we learned that in...grade 12 physics maybe? Either that or some other high school science class.

I seriously doubt the water in question here was distilled, and even if it was the dust and other material likely in the keyboard would cause it begin conducting.

Mental Hobbit · « **Reply #12 on:** Sun, 28 February 2010, 12:39:51 »

Could a short on the controller board kill some keys? Sounds unlikely to me... but I don't see how a little sip of water could get into the membranes of a Unicomp and do permanent damage there. Unless it was rather a flood than a sip, it can't have gone through the barrels, so it would have had to crawl through the membranes from the bottom side up. But problems should have started at the bottom key row then, not at the F-keys.

ricercar · « **Reply #13 on:** Sun, 28 February 2010, 17:31:55 »

Do not use Windex to clean membrane sheets. It strips the traces right off.

bombcar · « **Reply #14 on:** Sun, 28 February 2010, 21:48:59 »

Somewhere I think I have my old broken Unicomp Customizer (actually customized!) - if I find it I will let you know.

This was before Mac OS X allowed easy remapping of key locations.

Genie · « **Reply #15 on:** Mon, 01 March 2010, 15:09:18 »

well I had to remove the rivets and clean the membranes with alchocol.... now.. I need to use screws.....

Genie · « **Reply #16 on:** Wed, 03 March 2010, 10:26:21 »

thank you on your advice I did just that...

I really didn't want to find myself with non working keys and tightly screwed keyboard

Genie · « **Reply #17 on:** Thu, 04 March 2010, 06:35:23 »

yup working now! and it better should .. I really almost loose my nerves trying to get it back right ...

hyperlinked · « **Reply #18 on:** Thu, 04 March 2010, 06:46:40 »

Quote from: Genie;160802

Hi ppl,
...
Those keys are not working...

Looks like the H20 knocked out your 'E' and 'O' keys too. Not to worry, just buy a vowel. They're cheap.

News:

Author Topic: Unicomp Customizer Some Keys not Working (Read 9590 times)