Author Topic: Broken key help  (Read 1206 times)

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Offline Specialix

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Broken key help
« on: Fri, 30 January 2015, 05:18:49 »
Hello everyone, i have a cherry mx mechanical keyboard with a broken key, when it happen i suppose that was just a broken switch, then cause my keyboard have some macro keys than i never use i decide to change the switch between one of those macrable keys and the faulty one. The result is that after unsoldering/soldering in the new switch the key still does not work, and the switch that i think was broken is working properly in the other position. So this is probably some kind of an electrical problem in the PCB. There is maybe a way to create a sort of electrical bridge between this key and one of those macro keys that i don't use? So that i can click one key and activate the circuit part of one of those programmable keys.

Offline Oobly

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Re: Broken key help
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 30 January 2015, 05:59:00 »
Yes, assuming the circuit board problem isn't shorting out either contact, you can just use wires to join the pins on the "broken" switch position to the macro key switch pins you want to use.

I also assume you can program the macro key to output what that key is supposed to.

Should work alright, although it would be better to fix the existing problem. Could be just a dry solder joint on the diode or something. If you take a nice hi-res pic we could try to help you diagnose the problem?
Buying more keycaps,
it really hacks my wallet,
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Broken key help
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 31 January 2015, 01:30:54 »
Last time this happened, someone discovered a broken trace on the PCB.  Either a short, thin piece of wire could be used to fix that, or an extra large blob of solder.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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