Author Topic: Keyboard repair?  (Read 1590 times)

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Offline Indica

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Keyboard repair?
« on: Wed, 04 May 2016, 04:57:36 »
Have an old Poker 2 that I spilled drink on and I'm pretty sure the board is shot because pressing one key will register a number of different keys as well. So my question is, is there anyone on geekhack that repairs keyboards or does anyone know of a place I can send it to?

Offline henz

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Re: Keyboard repair?
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 04 May 2016, 05:18:37 »
Have an old Poker 2 that I spilled drink on and I'm pretty sure the board is shot because pressing one key will register a number of different keys as well. So my question is, is there anyone on geekhack that repairs keyboards or does anyone know of a place I can send it to?

id try to find someone here on gh who lives near you, and try sending it to him to see if there anything he can do, or if something the pcb is destroyed, there are parts which are salvagable

Also for future reference, if you spill stuff in your keyboard, disassemble it, try to clean it as thorough as possible.

Offline rowdy

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Re: Keyboard repair?
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 04 May 2016, 05:55:05 »
There is an artisan services directory, although many of the links are way out of date.

Might be somewhere to start looking, especially if it references a currently active member.
« Last Edit: Wed, 04 May 2016, 05:57:31 by rowdy »
"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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Offline jcoffin1981

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Re: Keyboard repair?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 07 May 2016, 02:41:55 »
Like a moron I've spilled beverages on my keyboards multiple times, and they were all salvageable.  The trick is to disconnect the power source immediately, as this will multiply the corrosion rate exponentially.  You immediately unplug it and tilt it to it's side and let any liquid run off.  Then take off the keycaps and try to soak up any residual moisture.  Then put it under a fan to help blow off any moisture and dry it.  If you are fortunate it did not get in the switches.  Unfortunately, the sticky stabilizers are impossible to clean without taking them apart and cleaning with soap and water, and then relubricating. 

If you are getting multiple keypresses it's possible that A.  there is still resisdual moisture.  B. There is still a lot of dried crap stuck to the PCB. or C. It is fubar.  I'm voting A and B most likely.  Buying the materials to fix it may cost 1/2 to 3/4 of what you paid for the board.  As somebody suggested you can check the artisan links for somebody that can do this for you.  If you are feeling brave you can attempt to do this yourself after watching a few youtube videos and doing some research. 

I elected to fix it myself.  There is a learning curve and I actually burned the pcb with a cheap overheating soldering iron, so you don't want to go too cheap with the tools.  The other boards I was successful with and was able to make modifications I wanted while I had it deassembled.  If you don't want to do all this you may want to buy a new board and be done with it, or get a used one on ebay as you may save 30% or so.
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