I love my Filco, but this started happening today

[tomrhawk]

First off I should probably introduce myself, I've lurked on this forum for a long time but only just made an account so you guys can share your expertise with me.
I bought a Filco Majestouch 2 14 months ago (now out of warranty), I've been enjoying it since then, but today both Ctrl keys, the F5 key and the Pause Break key ceased to work after it fell to the floor when my desk tipped up.
Anyone got any ideas of ways I could go about making a repair? I know how to solder and could give it a shot tomorrow, if it is difficult I'll shell out £25 and send it back to KeyboardCo
Another (more minor) issue is that the right side of the space bar seems rickety, when I rest my finger on it and lightly remove (the keys aren't depressed) I hear an abnormal click and the space bar moves a lot.
However this issue isn't as serious as 4 of the keys not working.

Thanks for reading, Tom

[merlin64]

PCB could potentially have fractures in it from the impact. This can disrupt some of the traces. The microcontroller could also be damaged.

Recommendations:

1. Grab a multimeter and test every connection, if you find one that doesn't register try heating up the solder with an iron. If it still doesn't the break is in the PCB and you may have to narrow it down as to where on the traces. That way you can solder wires that will bypass traces. If even that doesn't work...you might as well buy a new keyboard.

2. If only the microcontroller is damaged, you can actually buy replacement controllers from bpiphany which lets you turn your keyboard to a fully programmable one!

[TalkingTree]

First off I should probably introduce myself, I've lurked on this forum for a long time but only just made an account so you guys can share your expertise with me.

Welcome Tom, enjoy your stay on Geekhack.

I bought a Filco Majestouch 2 14 months ago (now out of warranty),

First off, nice choise.
Secondly, correct me if I'm wrong, but warranty for electronic equipment in the european union is 24 months, although I don't think physical damage by dropping is covered by that.

I've been enjoying it since then, but today both Ctrl keys, the F5 key and the Pause Break key ceased to work after it fell to the floor when my desk tipped up.
Anyone got any ideas of ways I could go about making a repair?

Make sure your warranty is expired, if it is, you might want to open the keyboard to see if the controller is still perfectly in its place. Dropping might have moved it out of its socket enough to cause the issue. Try to pull it out and put back in its place.
If it doesn't work, make sure the PCB is not damaged. Unfortunately you can only inspect the backside of the PCB as Filcos have plates.

I know how to solder and could give it a shot tomorrow, if it is difficult I'll shell out £25 and send it back to KeyboardCo

If the issue is the controller, you might wanna get an aftermarket, fully customizable one.

Another (more minor) issue is that the right side of the space bar seems rickety, when I rest my finger on it and lightly remove (the keys aren't depressed) I hear an abnormal click and the space bar moves a lot.

Pull it out and see if the stabilizer clips are in their place. If you never removed a stabilized key from a Costar keyboard, have a look at this video and notice that this gentlemen removed the surrounding keys first.


Good luck with that.

[tomrhawk]

Hi, thanks for the swift replies. Tomorrow I'll try what you said Merlin, I'll also attempt to check whether the controller is positioned properly. I don't think I can use this rubber dome keyboard much longer.
If I can't get it working I'll send it to the place I bought it from, they charge a set fee for a repair.
Thanks will update the thread later to let you know if I'm successful or not

[tp4tissue]

The non-working keys are due to pcb cracking from having dropped it.

No way to fix the PCB,  however, you can take it apart, and bridge the pcb cracks by soldering copper wires from the key to the controller directly.

This will return the keyboard to full function..

the PCB is really just a board, with the wires glued onto it,  so if the board cracks, the wires may break or become intermittent.





If you intend to DIY fix,  Geekhack can guide you through it step by step,  All the old guys here have had to fix identical issues on identical keyboards...

LUCKILY keyboards are very simple on the inside.. hahaha


You will need to purchase soldering iron, and solder,

[tomrhawk]

Thanks tp, that made is sound much less daunting.
Also one last thing, I just used the YouTube guide that you linked in the post, when I removed the space bar key cap the white piece of plastic wasn't attached strongly to the keycap, they were quite loose. Should I glue it back onto the keycap?

[evangs]

Thanks tp, that made is sound much less daunting.
Also one last thing, I just used the YouTube guide that you linked in the post, when I removed the space bar key cap the white piece of plastic wasn't attached strongly to the keycap, they were quite loose. Should I glue it back onto the keycap?

You shouldn't need to glue it. If it's loose I usually take a small piece of paper and place it over the hole before pushing the little plastic part back in.  That usually holds it nice and tight

[tomrhawk]

That was easier than I thought, all I had to do was take the case off and put the controller back into place. Problem solved thanks, also a thank you to Andy from the KeyboardCo website (if you are reading this) who told me beforehand that the problem would probably be this.

When I was taking the case off I couldn't help but doing something similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSV2l6JFt0, I could do it to the casing, maybe I'll make another thread in the KB modifications section later on. Thanks.

[xtrafrood]

Here is the bpiphany link The Pegasus Hoof in case you need it

[tp4tissue]

Here is the bpiphany link The Pegasus Hoof in case you need it

Is frostyflake still orderable?  how is service from $epi$

[xtrafrood]

bpiphany seems to use an email form for orders. If you want the frostyflake and that email ordering system bugs you out you could order from 1upkeyboards.com  tbh I've never ordered but I've only received high phrase about bpiphany when I asked about the frostyflake a few weeks ago on GH.

[TalkingTree]

I ordered directly via email. You can see his address silkscreened on the controllers shown in the pictures of his website.