Hi folks,

I have a keyboard which I love, and which is beginning to wear out. (It's
a DataDesk SmartBoard.) I am trying to get a hold of a replacement, but
the company has been apparently imploding for years -- none of the linked
distributors have it (except perhaps a company in Canada), the web
ordering system has been "under construction" since 2001 -- and now phone
calls are unanswered, with a message saying "... until May 1, we are
relocating...".

Anyway, I can't imagine going back to a different keyboard, so I wonder if
it would be possible to rebuild the one I've got. The symptoms are that
various keys are no longer reliable, giving zero or many logical
keypresses for one physical keypress. Different keys are differently
reliable. Some keys feel a little wonky too, esp. the spacebar.

I was thinking I might disassemble it, desolder all the keyswitches, and
replace them with new ones. Is this feasible? If so, is there a better
source for keyswitches other than another keyboard? Or is there a better
strategy?

I'm no electronics expert, but I've managed to successfully build a couple
of simple battery-powered switching power supplies, including soldering an
SOIC-package IC.

Please let me know what questions you have or what additional information
would be helpful.

(Alternately, a reliable source to buy one of these suckers would be very
helpful!)

Thanks in advance,

Reid

Reid Priedhorsky wrote in message
news
Hi folks,

I have a keyboard which I love, and which is beginning to wear out. (It's
a DataDesk SmartBoard.) I am trying to get a hold of a replacement, but
the company has been apparently imploding for years -- none of the linked
distributors have it (except perhaps a company in Canada), the web
ordering system has been "under construction" since 2001 -- and now phone
calls are unanswered, with a message saying "... until May 1, we are
relocating...".

Anyway, I can't imagine going back to a different keyboard, so I wonder if
it would be possible to rebuild the one I've got. The symptoms are that
various keys are no longer reliable, giving zero or many logical
keypresses for one physical keypress. Different keys are differently
reliable. Some keys feel a little wonky too, esp. the spacebar.

I was thinking I might disassemble it, desolder all the keyswitches, and
replace them with new ones. Is this feasible? If so, is there a better
source for keyswitches other than another keyboard? Or is there a better
strategy?

I'm no electronics expert, but I've managed to successfully build a couple
of simple battery-powered switching power supplies, including soldering an
SOIC-package IC.

Please let me know what questions you have or what additional information
would be helpful.

(Alternately, a reliable source to buy one of these suckers would be very
helpful!)

Thanks in advance,

Reid

Have the keys failed roughly in order of letter/function frequency or did a
number of them fail about the same time ?
If discrete keyswitches then you could swap good, rarely used, for bad.
Anyone ever spilt liquid , even sweat of the brow down under the keys?

--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/

Reid Priedhorsky wrote:
Hi folks,

I have a keyboard which I love, and which is beginning to wear out. (It's
a DataDesk SmartBoard.) I am trying to get a hold of a replacement, but
the company has been apparently imploding for years -- none of the linked
distributors have it (except perhaps a company in Canada), the web
ordering system has been "under construction" since 2001 -- and now phone
calls are unanswered, with a message saying "... until May 1, we are
relocating...".

Anyway, I can't imagine going back to a different keyboard, so I wonder if
it would be possible to rebuild the one I've got. The symptoms are that
various keys are no longer reliable, giving zero or many logical
keypresses for one physical keypress. Different keys are differently
reliable. Some keys feel a little wonky too, esp. the spacebar.

I was thinking I might disassemble it, desolder all the keyswitches, and
replace them with new ones. Is this feasible? If so, is there a better
source for keyswitches other than another keyboard? Or is there a better
strategy?

I'm no electronics expert, but I've managed to successfully build a couple
of simple battery-powered switching power supplies, including soldering an
SOIC-package IC.

Please let me know what questions you have or what additional information
would be helpful.

(Alternately, a reliable source to buy one of these suckers would be very
helpful!)

Thanks in advance,

Reid

Others might give you better detail on repairing the keyboard; but I'd
suggest eBay as a source for a replacement....

jak