space invader space bar issues

[jamdox]

Well I got my NMB RT8256CW+ and it's great.  The only problem is that the space bar is sticky.

I've done the normal troubleshooting, lubing the hinge, straightening the spacebar, checking to see if the stabilizer is bent, none of it helped.

Working with it more, I've realized the problem is that the space bar itself is resting too far back and is rubbing against something; if I actuate the space bar while applying gentle forward (towards the monitor) pressure it's fine, but normally the torque of my thumb hitting the near edge pulls the bar towards me and makes it impinge something (probably the switch housing) on the way down.

So I'm curious if anyone knows what to do about this.  If I spin the bar around it's fine, but it also doesn't dock with the keycap and sticks out above the board a bit, which isn't desirable.

[engicoder]

Is yours the standard ansi version the Erase-Eaze model with the split space bar?

Did you inspect the switch itself to see if there was an internal issue?

[jamdox]

Is yours the standard ansi version the Erase-Eaze model with the split space bar?

Nope, just standard.  The bar is a little longer than that on my ducky

Did you inspect the switch itself to see if there was an internal issue?

No, I'm loathe to open these switches up given their reputation of being hard to put back together; I'm mechanically inclined but I still had a heck of a time dealing with some alps I opened up...

The switch itself works fine without the bar, and works fine with the bar reversed and attached to the stabilizers but not the switch itself.  It's more like I need a way to keep the space bar pressed forward more.  Maybe I should try bending the stabilizer that direction?

EDIT: well that worked about 100 times better than I expected!  Might need to give it another shove, but I'm clearly on the right track here...

[engicoder]

Is the bar hitting the case? If so you could sand down the edge a bit.

[jamdox]

Is the bar hitting the case? If so you could sand down the edge a bit.

No, there's good clearance all around it.  I think it's just a weak stabilizer causing the space bar to not move smoothly.  At this point I've messed with it enough that I've probably made it worse 

On the other had, disassembling these switches is actually a lot easier than working with the alps in my apple extended keyboard, I'm not sure why people think otherwise.  I drenched the spacebar switch in silicone oil which has helped a bit, but I'm pretty sure the underlying problem is that the weak stabilizer gives the bar too much play with respect to the switch itself.  I'm pretty tempted to just remove the parts of the bar that "latch onto" the switch, given they're not very necessary.

Opening it up again and poking at it, I can say the main culprit is force applied to the lower-right corner.  For some reason this tends to make the switch slider rub against the housing, which is what causes the sticking.

[engicoder]

Is the bar hitting the case? If so you could sand down the edge a bit.

No, there's good clearance all around it.  I think it's just a weak stabilizer causing the space bar to not move smoothly.  At this point I've messed with it enough that I've probably made it worse 

On the other had, disassembling these switches is actually a lot easier than working with the alps in my apple extended keyboard, I'm not sure why people think otherwise.  I drenched the spacebar switch in silicone oil which has helped a bit, but I'm pretty sure the underlying problem is that the weak stabilizer gives the bar too much play with respect to the switch itself.  I'm pretty tempted to just remove the parts of the bar that "latch onto" the switch, given they're not very necessary.

Opening it up again and poking at it, I can say the main culprit is force applied to the lower-right corner.  For some reason this tends to make the switch slider rub against the housing, which is what causes the sticking.

Working with Hi-Tek/Space Invaders isn't to bad. I think their bad reputation stems from the fragility of the contacts. Once the plunger is removed, its very easy to bend the delicate contacts.. One damaged, the contacts are very difficult if not impossible to straighten. If your careful not to damage them, the plunger and housing aren't that difficult to work with.
 

[chyros]

No, I'm loathe to open these switches up given their reputation of being hard to put back together; I'm mechanically inclined but I still had a heck of a time dealing with some alps I opened up...

That's not really the problem with these switches.

First off when you pull off the slider the spring is liable to jump out, sometimes seemingly into the void. Second, when putting it back, if you're careless, it's easy to bend the spring or misalign the slider over the contacts, so causing damage to either is pretty easy. If you just pay attention to these things they're not too bad - it's not HARD or anything, it's just that the mechanism is quite exposed and fragile. As it happened, the space bar on mine is also sticky, and the switch under it was slightly damaged from when I misaligned the slider, so I had to bend the contact leaves into a more correct shape using foreceps. Got it done, but quite a faff, that.

[fohat.digs]

Perhaps a bit off-topic, but when you get out your soldering iron to swap or replace switches, be aware that these things have thin wires rather than "legs" and there is no strain relief.

If you do not remove at least 98% of the solder you will wreck the switch when you try to pull it up.