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Author Topic: Opening up my White Filco Red  (Read 2691 times)

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Offline litster

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 00:36:58 »
Well, the first white Filco reds I bought on taobao had a problem.  The 1 key got stuck.  I wasn't going to send it back to my taobaobee agent and ask for an exchange from the taobao seller.  So what would a geekhacker do?  Open it up, of course.

I opened up the keyboard (thanks for your open Filco mod post, ripster!), de-soldered the 1 key switch, opened the switch up , made the stem go up and down with its top removed (oooh, sounds erotic!), put it back together, soldered it back onto the board, and it is working again.

While I had it opened, I took a few pictures of the keyboard's motherboard.  enjoy.



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Offline litster

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 01:26:28 »
It was working fine for a week.  My daughter was using to to play minecraft, but she couldn't give herself an item (item number 19) and told me the 1 key doesn't work.  to the computer, the 1 key doesn't register.  If I unplugged the keyboard and plugged it back in, then hit, say, 2, I would go 121111111111.... until I hit another key.  Then the repeating 1 stopped.  The behavior of the key is that the switch was shorted.  The stem could still go up and down like normal.  But to the keyboard the key is held down.  I reproduced this problem on another Filco if when repeated the steps above while holding down the 1 key myself the whole time.

I still don't know exactly what was wrong.  I did what I did and it is now working. This ritual works sometimes when a computer has a problem.  turn it off, pull all the cards and drives, put them back in, and it is working again.  :)
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Offline nhwhaup

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 06:15:59 »
Wow Litster, that's too bad but hopefully you are all set now. See there was a reason that I didn't follow your purchasing reasoning and go for the white Filco on e-bay.  I would have been totally wild. Thankfully the two Filcos I have work perfectly. And the tenkeyless will be exactly what I want once my white keycaps come in from Imsto. Yes, I'm still waiting on them. It seems like I always get my timing wrong with him. The first time took me 5 weeks to get them. And my tracking now shows that I should receive them next week.  If so it will be well over 3 weeks from purchase to receipt. As you can tell I'm not very patient.
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Current in order of preference:  RealForce 87U Silent White with variable weighted keys X 2, Filco Majestouch 2 Tenkeyless with Linear Reds, Filco Number-pad, Poker with Linear Reds

Sold or returned:  Multiple Microsoft and Logitech keyboards, Das Keyboard Silent, Cherry 6140, RealForce 103UB, RealForce 86U, Filco Majestouch 2 full sized with Linear Reds

Offline litster

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 11:57:17 »
Oh, I am set.  It is all fixed.   It wasn't a big deal.  But I can understand not everyone is willing to open up a keyboard to fix a key that may or may not work.
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Offline daerid

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 12:06:49 »
Ok this makes me feel better about opening up my black to fix the damn shift key
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Offline litster

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 12:09:26 »
Yeah, I was looking for compressed air last night, but I ran out.  So I went for the next biggest tools I could reach :)  Besides, I wanted to learn how to open a Filco case to see the inside.
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Offline daerid

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 13:18:34 »
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Offline PlayerZero

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 22:49:34 »
Quote from: litster;362781
My daughter was using to to play minecraft

 
You're a good parent.

As in, most people would *sigh*  "What has this world come to?..."  However, geekhack isn't most people.
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Extensive research has found your statement to be of inferior quality.  Please revise it.

KEYBOARD:  Leopold FC200RC/AB with Cherry MX Blues
MOUSE:  Logitech G400

Geekhack:  A wiki is worth 1000 threads.

Offline litster

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 18 June 2011, 22:51:51 »
It has been kind of a pain in the butt to run a minecraft server with Notch and company keeps putting out monthly releases without testing it.  But we have fun playing it together.  Also, my kids are my sweat shop to break in those new springs in the switches for me :D
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Offline sordna

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 19 June 2011, 00:02:48 »
Quote from: ripster;362951
Sometimes you can fix problems with Cherry MXs with a blast of compressed air or Deoxit.

There seem to be a few Deoxit variations, which one is the best for keyboard switches? Also, how do you use it, just push the switch stem and spray around it ?
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Kinesis Contoured Advantage & Advantage2 LF with Cherry MX Red switches / Extra keys mod / O-ring dampening mod / Dvorak layout. ErgoDox with buzzer and LED mod.
Also: Kinesis Advantage Classic, Kinesis Advantage2, Data911 TG3, Fingerworks Touchstream LP, IBM SSK (Buckling spring), Goldtouch GTU-0077 keyboard

Offline Zet

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Opening up my White Filco Red
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 19 June 2011, 00:17:51 »
congratulations, i love how gen2 filcos have blue pcb btw
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