Kaypro II keyboard problems, only one key works

Using ImageDisk I was able to create a boot disk for my Kaypro. That and fixing my floppy latch thanks to Lorne's part, I can boot CPM 2.2.

The problem is, the only key that seems to work on my keyboard is the "]" key. As the right bracket was the key I pressed and it also appeared on the screen, I doubt this is a signal issue on the computer side. I opened up the Kaypro keyboard and was going to debug why other keys didn't work.

Has anyone been through this before? Any recommendations on figuring out the problem in the keyboard with minimal risk to the component?

Thanks

I opened up the keyboard and found the following sights:





It look like the PC board key contacts need to be cleaned. Also, the keyboard side foam is a bit gone. Some keys are missing their conductive tape on the foam.

Does anyone have tips on restoring this part of the keyboard?

Thanks

Well I would certainly clean the contacts with some contact cleaner and see what happens. It might be all you need to do.

It's been a while since I took my Kaypro keyboard apart. It looks like it might use similar keypads to that used in the Lisa keyboard? If that is so (and I might be wrong) these certainly can degrade and the keys will stop working.

This article on my Lisa shows the pads and how I needed to replace them. Are the key pads like this?

Tez

Its definitely the foam and mylar pads. I touched the keyboard PC directly with my fingers and the capacitance caused the keys to work! I found this link on fixing the foam:

http://www.sol20.org/keyboard.html

The only problem is the Keytronic doesn't sell the parts anymore. This links shows how to build them, however it looks like one needs to make some tools.

http://www.solivant.com/sol20kbd/

Does anyone still sell these foam pads?

tezza said:

Well I would certainly clean the contacts with some contact cleaner and see what happens. It might be all you need to do.

It's been a while since I took my Kaypro keyboard apart. It looks like it might use similar keypads to that used in the Lisa keyboard? If that is so (and I might be wrong) these certainly can degrade and the keys will stop working.

This article on my Lisa shows the pads and how I needed to replace them. Are the key pads like this?

Tez

Click to expand...

Yes, it's almost identical design. I think Lisa Sol and Kaypro are all this type of Keytronics keyboard. I need to replace the foam on many of my keys. It doesn't bounce back and some are completely deteroirated. I'm just trying to avoid going to Home Depot and building special tools for this purpose.

Well, I got my replacement foam pads for the Lisa from the Marketplace attached to this very forum (Erik was selling them)! You could ask him if he has any more (assuming they are the right type).

Tez

I tried making these pads with a 7/16" hole punch, .2" thick foam and space blanket mylar disks. Everything punched correctly and the foam is pretty close to .2". Only a portion of the keys are working correctly. Many of them keep "repeating" when pressed once almost like they are stuck down. I looked under the keyboard to check pad height between working and non-working and it looks about the same. Anyone else run into this?

Thanks