| Posted By
MIK
on 2012-05-31
15:10:22
 |  How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!!
Any Plus/4 you may have that has 1 or many more keys that do not work properly or may not even work at all when pressed and pressed HARD are not broken. In short it is just dirty contacts and can be fixed in no time at all if your handy with a couple of screw drivers, a soldering iron and you have some glass cleaner spray such as windolene.
All Plus/4 Keyboards can be saved as they are nothing more than just glorified joypad contacts and yes the contact board contains GOLD!
Gold is the best conductor in the world, however gold even from minimal heat attracts dust and grime in the air you can't see. Over time this lays a small film of grease and dirt over the gold contacts which you can't see and this is why keys start to fail as it's blocking the contact. This is not just a problem with Commodore Plus/4's as it can even happen on C64, C16's tho it may take longer for nature to works it's magic. This can even happen with joypads from Sega MegaDrive, Sega Saturn, SNES and any other digital contact controls that are aging. Gold is found in a lot of computer equipment and even game cartridges from across the ages are not immune from attracting dirt when lightly heated up and may look as if they are dead...
This is where the Glass Cleaner Spray such as Windowlene comes into play as it's great for dissolving grease, cleans with vinegar and evaporates in front of your very eyes. All you need is a small drop on a rag and wipe over the contact to clean.
Before I start, if your not sure what your doing with a soldering iron then please ask some one else to do it for you. It's only 2 wires.
Piccy 1: http://i46.tinypic.com/2reqkoi.jpg
In this first image you can see I have unsoldered the 2 SHIFT/LOCK key wires. Also note that the Plus/4 power light is held in by a one-way holding clip and the clip will need to be pressed back a little to fee the red light.
You can also see all the key contacts in the picture. The little rubber like pad contacts on each key need cleaning with your grease remover. Also be careful when you first open it not to drop the Arrow keys & Function Key contacts, again these rubber contacts need cleaning.
Piccy 2: http://i50.tinypic.com/2uigndx.jpg
This is the side each key touches and here you can give the board a good clean with your grease remover over all the gold contacts.
Once you have both the keys and the contact board it's self clean it's just a case of putting the back board onto the keys again, solder the SHIFT/LOCK wires back on and screw everything back together.
When you power up the keyboard will work like NEW, out of the FACTORY working order!!
Indeed we need to preserve our Plus/4's the best way we can and of course sometimes we have to be resourceful by doing things our self. Every little helps, but the next time you see some one say the Plus/4 has a crap keyboard as none of them work, laugh... at them! 
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Posted By
Hans
on 2012-06-01
07:22:09
| Re: How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!! - German translation
I found MIK's guide for cleaning a sticky Plus/4 keyboard so helpful. For the benefit of our friends with German mother tongue, here's a brief translation of MIK's post:
Ein How-to, um nicht reagierende Tasten der Plus/4-Tastatur wieder gängig zu machen.
Dein Plus/4 ist nicht defekt, wenn bei Betätigung eine oder mehreren Tasten nichts passiert, selbst wenn Du GANZ FEST draufdrückst...
Da liegt lediglich eine Verschmutzung der Kontakte vor, die Du im Handumdrehen beseitigen kannst. Du brauchst dazu lediglich einige Schraubendreher, einen Lötkolben und etwas essighaltigen Glasreiniger, z.B. von Schlecker, dm, Rossmann und wie sie alle heißen.
Die Plus/4-Tastaturen sind im Prinzip genauso aufgebaut wie die Tastenfelder der früheren Taschenrechner. Die Kontakte enthalten GOLD!!
Gold ist der beste elektrischen Leiter, die es überhaupt gibt. Leider hat das Material aber die Eigenschaft, bereits bei geringster Wärmentwicklung Staub, Ruß und was sonst noch so unsichtbar herumfliegt, anzuziehen. Nach einiger Zeit schlägt sich auf den Goldkontakten ein nicht sichtbarer Schmutz- und Fettfilm nieder, der den Kontakt bei Tastendruck nicht weiterleitet. Dies ist keine typisches Plus/4-Problem - kann auch bei einem C-64 oder den C-16 zuschlagen, und auch bei den Konsolen von z.B. Sega MegaDrive, Sega Saturn, SNES und allen Systemen aus früheren Zeiten, die derartige Kontakte haben. Gold findet sich in einer großen Anzahl von Computersystemen; selbst Einsteckmodule von damals sind nicht gefeit gegen Verschmutzung, wenn sie in Betrieb sind und dadurch erwärmt werden.
Hier kommt nun der Glasreiniger ins Spiel. Glasreiniger ist hervorragend zum Entfernen von Fettverschmutzungen geeignet. Ein paar Tropfen auf einen Lappen, die Kontakte damit abgewischt – fertig. Das Reinigungsmittel ist flüchtig und verdunstet im Nu. Es bleiben keine Rückstände auf den Kontakten zurück.
So, bevor es losgeht, und Du nicht sicher bist, was Du mit dem Lötkolben tun sollst bzw. Du mit dem Lötkolben keine Erfahrung hast, bitte jemanden um Löthilfe, der sich damit auskennt. Es sind nur zwei Drähte zu löten.
Bild 1: http://i46.tinypic.com/2reqkoi.jpg
Auf diesem Foto ist gezeigt, wie ich die beiden Drähte zur RUN/STOP-Taste ausgelötet habe. Beachte auch, daß die POWER ON-LED von einem Clip gehalten ird. Der Clip muß gefühlvoll etwas zurückgebogen werden, damit die LED entnommen werden kann.
Du siehst auf dem Bild sämtliche beweglichen Kontakte für die Tasten. Diese werden nun alle mit dem Reinigungsmittel gereinigt. Achte beim Auseinanderbauen darauf, daß Dir die Kontakte der Cursortasten und der Funktionstasten nicht herausfallen. Auch diese Kontakte sind zu reinigen.
Bild 2: http://i50.tinypic.com/2uigndx.jpg
Hier sind die Kontakte zu sehen, die bei Tastendruck berührt werden. Reinige sämtliche Kontakte (Gold) mit dem Reinigungsmittel-
Jetzt brauchst Du nur noch die Kontaktplatte wieder auf die Tastenplatte zu setzen, die beiden Drähte zur RUN/STOP-Taste wieder anzulöten und das Gehäuse wieder zusammenzuschrauben.
Beim nächsten Einschalten wird die Tastatur arbeiten wie bei einem nagelneuen Plus/4!
Es ist schon sehr wichtig, unsere Plussies so gut wie möglich zu pflegen und alles zu tun, damit sie uns möglichst lange erhalten bleiben. Auch das kleinste bißchen hilft schon.
Wenn Dir jetzt irgendwann mal jemand erzählt, daß der Plus/4 eine Sch....-Tastatur hätte, lach ihn aus!
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Posted By
MIK
on 2012-06-01
07:57:26
| Re: How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!!
No problem Hans. I have been having a bit of a sort out and it was about time I had a look at one of the keyboards on a spare Plus/4 I have. The soldering side had always put me off but it was worth the effort! Cheers. 
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Posted By
MIK
on 2012-06-01
12:38:11
| Re: How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!!
Casbo,
No! I had no idea and didn't think to look as it was always a job I needed to do and thought I would share. To much good stuff goes on behind the scenes that I'm sure most of us miss for lack of checking New Stuff daily and as time goes by... 
My bad, but you have a great template and I'll see if I can fit some of what I said into it. 
Han's,
It's wll take a bit of time to edit the keyboard page, maybe add and reword some but I will let you know as soon as I'm done right here. Cheers!
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Posted By
Hans
on 2012-06-01
14:07:58
| Re: How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!!
Csabo, MIK ---
I wasn't aware of the Encyclopedia - sorry! I'm, however, a bloody newbie in this community - I even haven't got a working machine yet (until I can lay my claws on all the bits & pieces required to assemble an operational Plussy system again, I have to stick to emulators).
I'll be happy to contribute anything I can. That'll be based on not too much technical knowledge or experience but, as said in my previous post, for the benefit of friends with German tongue, I'll do what I can to provide some translations English ---> German. My English knowledge is somehow basic but I'm used to technical manuals by profession. Had to translate manuals from Far Eastern "English" to German for many years (have you ever tried to understand a manual for some simple appliance from Hong Kong? It's a pain in the a...e, I can tell ya...).
Kind Regards,
Hans.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2012-06-02
14:07:16
| Re: How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!!
Hans,
12 years ago you would of needed a real machine but indeed the emulators have come along way! I use both as a gamer. A classic game JOEY has been programmed in such away that it's a little slow compared to many other games and it also relies on sound partly for jump timing when you play. It's times like this when you notice the difference between emulation and the real thing when a game is on overload such as Return Of Rockman which is a pig and can show any bad joystick it's on it's last legs.
In truth it's not really an issue, it's just what I'm used to playing where sound maybe delayed for a 100th of a second or the game runs faster than it should. Return of Rockman plays better in YAPE than the real machines so it's all good!
Every time you use an emulator your saving the life span of another machine and why not if it does exactly what you need it to do and MUCH, MUCH more! So worry not for using an emulator because your find more people are than those using real machines. If you can have both then don't tell my woman why so much space is being taken up by computers and games haha!
By the way, on the main homepage there is an option to change the language to Deutsch. Hopefully everything reads ok apart from typos and spelling mistakes...
I've got about half way on the clean keyboard page and will continue tomorrow.
Cheers.
EDIT:
Ok! I think I'm done. You can now read the full story of what I did to clean the keyboard contacts. I hope it all makes sense and is easy to follow.
Link: How can I clean my keyboard?
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2012-06-02
21:56:03
| Re: How to fix sticky key's on Plus/4 Keyboards!!
Mike has done an excellent job on that article If you guys have more ideas for the Knowledge Base, as in how to make it better or more accessible, let me know!
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