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Remember the
expensive Topre doggy chew toy?
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While taking a photo of a Topre spacebar going shiny I got a little impatient removing the spacebar.
Instead of using TWO of the keypullers like I normally do I tried it with one and sticking a fingernail under the other side. Big Mistake!
Yep, the little itty bitty ALPs like keyholder tab broke clean off. Then while trying to repair the stabilizer the spacebar fell on the floor, my dog musta found it, and that's why there are chew marks on it. You ever have days like that?
So yesterday I got out the following stuff to repair it.
Some embroidery needles, a "third hand", some needle nose pliers and Plastic Welder - an epoxy made for plastics. You need something like this for ABS because the plastic is solvent resistant. Great for keys but bad for gluing. ACE hardware sells the stuff as "Plastic Repair Epoxy" and it has Methyl Methacrylate on the Warning Label. Sidenote: The longer the warning label the more effective the stuff is. It it's banned in California you know it's reeeeaaaal good.
Now here's the trick I developed repairing my kids toys over the years. Plastic glue sucks. So you use the needle like you do reinforced steel bars in concrete as a strengthener. In this case what I did was:
- Stick the tab in a vise
- Clean the soldering tip and tin
- Then heat the needle until you can feel it sinking into the plastic, drive it into the tab but stop before it goes all the way through
- Then mix the epoxy and glue to tab. The needle is now handy since you can use the third hand to hold it in place
- Then after the glue sets a bit (5 mins) heat the needle using the same process and drive it the rest of the way in
- Wait overnight for the glue to fully set
- Clip off the end of the needle and grind it down to base with a dremel tool while using the needle nose pliers to hold the tab steady
- Clean up any excess glue with a Xacto.
- Apply a dab of oil so it won't happen again to both tabs
Tada! Perfect alignment and I tested strength of the joint by pulling and reinserted a couple of times.
Sidenote: Wassup with the different colors? It's not visible in normal lighting so maybe it's a different plastic for the spacebar.
Of course you can just dab some silicon glue on the key and jam it on there too. Or kick the dog. In Texas they allow you to shoot the dog.
Rant time. So why can't Topre go super duper heavy duty like Cherry Corp:
The Filcos can be a pain in the butt but that flexible white plastic stuff is just about impossible to break.
Wiggle, don't yank! Another of my other goofs!
Of course IBM isn't immune.
And ALPS keys are notoriously "sticky".
Best advice - spend the big bucks and get TWO wire pullers for pulling spacebars. I
like the wire keypullers because they give me more control. And heed Welly's advice and wiggle slowly the key.
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