« previous next »
Pages:  [1]     Go Down

Author Topic: Unreliable cherry brown keys  (Read 3710 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Boozebeard

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 23
Unreliable cherry brown keys
« on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:36:18 »
Hey, I have a filco keyboard with cherry brown switches that I've been using for a couple of years now and recently I've found that a couple of keys have started becoming unreliable in the sense that they do not register some key strokes. Is this common, is there a way to fix it?
Logged

Offline IvanIvanovich

  • Mr. Silk Underwear
  • Posts: 8199
  • Location: USA
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:40:22 »
Everything wears out eventually. You can desolder and replace the worn out keyswitches.
Logged

Offline AKIMbO

  • HHKBro
  • Posts: 1778
  • Location: Tennessee
  • Know Topre, Know Peace. No Topre, No Peace.
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:47:15 »
Quote from: IvanIvanovich on Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:40:22
Everything wears out eventually. You can desolder and replace the worn out keyswitches.
What ivan said is your best bet to fix the switch.  Your other option is to get some electrical contact cleaner and flood the switch with it.....this would work only if something, be it dirt or debris, is preventing the 2 contacts within the switch from touching.
Logged
Mkawa Beta SSK | IBM SSK | IBM Model AT F | IBM F 122 | IBM Unsaver | LZ-GH (62g ergo clears) | HHKB Pro2 Type-S | HHKB Pro2 | Realforce 87U-Silent (55g uniform) | Leopold FC660C | Omnikey 101 (blue alps) | Kingsaver (blue alps) | Zenith ZKB2 (green alps)
| KBD75 (box reds)

Offline BucklingSpring

  • Posts: 1613
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 10:52:58 »
Deoxit Rules - As Akimbo said... Does not fix what is broken but might restore a bad contact due to dirt-debris-oxidation

Quote from: AKIMbO on Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:47:15
What ivan said is your best bet to fix the switch.  Your other option is to get some electrical contact cleaner and flood the switch with it.....this would work only if something, be it dirt or debris, is preventing the 2 contacts within the switch from touching.

Logged
In memory of smallfry 1996-2013
Boards I own, click ->
More
Ducky x2 (9008G2 Pro PBT/MX Green and Mini MX Red), Matias x2 (QP and Mini QP Dampened ALPS), Topre RealForce x4 (87U 55g/Digilog case, 103U-UW & 104UG High-Profile x2), Filco Majestouch x2 (TKL MX Blue & V2 AI 104 MX Blue), IBM-M x2 (BS & RD), Unicomp-M x5 (BS black on black x2, BS Ivory x2, QT Ultra-Classic), Deck x4 (Legend MX Black & MX Clear, Hassium & Francium w/ MX Brown), DAS III (MX Blue), KBT Pure Pro 60% (MX Red), NMB-RT8256CW+ x2 (black space invader), XArmor U9BL-S (MX Brown) given for free to someone I hate, CM X2 (Trigger/MX Green + Storm TKL/NovaTouch), TVS GOLD (MX Blue) and a many many more (NMB, DELL, MS, ATT, KeyTronic, Etc...)

Offline Photoelectric

  • * Administrator
  • Posts: 6766
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 11:14:29 »
Only 2 years of use?  Seems like something's wrong then, either dirt or poor contacts (switch itself or PCB soldering).  Just a guess, since I can't imagine a switch wearing out in just 2 years, unless you type a LOT.
Logged
- Keyboards: LZ-GH (Jailhouse Blues), M65-a, MIRA SE, E8-V1, MOON TKL, CA66
- Keyboard Case Painting Tips -
- Join Mechanical Keyboards photography group on Flickr -

Offline tp4tissue

  • * Destiny Supporter
  • Posts: 13568
  • Location: Official Geekhack Public Defender..
  • OmniExpert of: Rice, Top-Ramen, Ergodox, n Females
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 11:21:02 »
If you're sure you didn't drop the board, and no one sat on it... then the pcb should be fine, and all you need to do is desolder and replace with new switches..

Do not bother with "fixing" the older switches, it's not worth the hassle.. You might as well get new switches.

The rationale for this is, IF you can't fix the switches, and end up buying new switches anyway you would've been soldering to the board 4 times..  boards do not like to be soldered to over and over again.

Logged

Offline shifted

  • Posts: 56
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 13:34:45 »
How many switches really make it to 50,000,000...
Logged

Offline nubbinator

  • Dabbler Supreme
  • * Maker
  • Posts: 8658
  • Location: Orange County, CA
  • Model M "connoisseur"
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 13:57:08 »
Quote from: shifted on Sat, 15 June 2013, 13:34:45
How many switches really make it to 50,000,000...

Are you this guy?



If so, none.  If you're a normal person, I'd imagine most of them would as long as you can actually hold onto one keyboard for that many actuations.
Logged

Offline Grim Fandango

  • * Esteemed Elder
  • Posts: 1036
  • Location: The Moon
  • "The living still give me the creeps."
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 15 June 2013, 19:48:17 »
It should not break within two years under normal circumstances. One thing that kind of bums me out is how the warranty is only a lousy one year.
Logged
Mouse Guide 2.0: A list of mice with superior sensors and more.
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=56240.0

Offline Boozebeard

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 23
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 16 June 2013, 07:26:31 »
Yeah, I wasn't expecting them to start going this early. The thing is it's 2 keys and they've both started doing it at pretty much exactly the same time which seems odd. Also it's the Z and J keys, not exactly the most heavily used...

Oh and they are at their worse when I haven't used them for a while. This is the first thing I've typed today and hitting Z took about 5 attempts but now it's working ok. It's like I have to warm it up? Does that give any indication to what's wrong with it? I guess I'll try cleaning them first.
« Last Edit: Sun, 16 June 2013, 07:29:33 by Boozebeard »
Logged

Offline tp4tissue

  • * Destiny Supporter
  • Posts: 13568
  • Location: Official Geekhack Public Defender..
  • OmniExpert of: Rice, Top-Ramen, Ergodox, n Females
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 16 June 2013, 07:38:24 »
Quote from: Boozebeard on Sun, 16 June 2013, 07:26:31
Yeah, I wasn't expecting them to start going this early. The thing is it's 2 keys and they've both started doing it at pretty much exactly the same time which seems odd. Also it's the Z and J keys, not exactly the most heavily used...

Oh and they are at their worse when I haven't used them for a while. This is the first thing I've typed today and hitting Z took about 5 attempts but now it's working ok. It's like I have to warm it up? Does that give any indication to what's wrong with it? I guess I'll try cleaning them first.

on the bright side,, you can.... fix it,  on a rubber dome, you're pretty ****ed.. on a topre,, you're ****ed for the next 6 weeks before they send you another one.
Logged

Offline fateswarm

  • Posts: 170
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 16 June 2013, 12:31:29 »
Quote from: AKIMbO on Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:47:15
Quote from: IvanIvanovich on Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:40:22
Everything wears out eventually. You can desolder and replace the worn out keyswitches.
What ivan said is your best bet to fix the switch.  Your other option is to get some electrical contact cleaner and flood the switch with it.....this would work only if something, be it dirt or debris, is preventing the 2 contacts within the switch from touching.
Also if you flood it with anything, it appears safe to just blow some compressed air in it. I do it rutinely and the switches are fine.

It might just be something that would be fixed with just blowing once.
Logged

Offline BucklingSpring

  • Posts: 1613
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #12 on: Sun, 16 June 2013, 15:03:49 »
Quote from: fateswarm on Sun, 16 June 2013, 12:31:29
It might just be something that would be fixed with just blowing once.

Sounds like a famous quote from Bill Clinton :-)

Logged
In memory of smallfry 1996-2013
Boards I own, click ->
More
Ducky x2 (9008G2 Pro PBT/MX Green and Mini MX Red), Matias x2 (QP and Mini QP Dampened ALPS), Topre RealForce x4 (87U 55g/Digilog case, 103U-UW & 104UG High-Profile x2), Filco Majestouch x2 (TKL MX Blue & V2 AI 104 MX Blue), IBM-M x2 (BS & RD), Unicomp-M x5 (BS black on black x2, BS Ivory x2, QT Ultra-Classic), Deck x4 (Legend MX Black & MX Clear, Hassium & Francium w/ MX Brown), DAS III (MX Blue), KBT Pure Pro 60% (MX Red), NMB-RT8256CW+ x2 (black space invader), XArmor U9BL-S (MX Brown) given for free to someone I hate, CM X2 (Trigger/MX Green + Storm TKL/NovaTouch), TVS GOLD (MX Blue) and a many many more (NMB, DELL, MS, ATT, KeyTronic, Etc...)

Offline Boozebeard

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 23
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #13 on: Tue, 27 August 2013, 14:37:12 »
Bit of a necro but thought I should let anyone who has a similar problems know that giving it a bit of a soaking in contact cleaner seems to have fixed it!
Logged

Offline Tivor

  • Posts: 16
  • I'm a noob at this.
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #14 on: Tue, 27 August 2013, 14:44:17 »
Contact lens cleaner?

(I don't have a mechanical keyboard just yet, but I want to know for future reference)
Logged

Offline Boozebeard

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 23
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #15 on: Tue, 27 August 2013, 14:47:06 »
no no, electrical contact cleaner. haha. The thought someone might confuse it for that actually crossed my mind when I was typing it, should have clarified.

Edit: And by soaking I just mean I gave it a good spray, didn't actually get a tub of the stuff and submerge the the whole keyboard in it.
« Last Edit: Tue, 27 August 2013, 14:50:02 by Boozebeard »
Logged

Offline Tivor

  • Posts: 16
  • I'm a noob at this.
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #16 on: Tue, 27 August 2013, 14:49:06 »
LOL ok, that makes sense now.  I was a bit like, "huh?"   :))
Logged

Offline phoenix1234

  • Posts: 584
  • Location: Saigon - Vietnam
Re: Unreliable cherry brown keys
« Reply #17 on: Tue, 27 August 2013, 14:58:39 »
Quote from: Boozebeard on Sat, 15 June 2013, 08:36:18
Hey, I have a filco keyboard with cherry brown switches that I've been using for a couple of years now and recently I've found that a couple of keys have started becoming unreliable in the sense that they do not register some key strokes. Is this common, is there a way to fix it?

You can de-solder the Cherry MX switches, open them, clean the dust, clean the copper contact with vinegar, then clean it a gain with white alcohol 90. You can use a soft tooth brush to clean them smoothly.
Logged
I like linear switches
Pages:  [1]     Go Up
« previous next »