bad keys on terminals

[Tony Duell]

> > These sound very similar to the switches used on the TRS-80 Model 3 and
> > Model 4 keyboards. They may even be the same parts -- the ones in the M3
> > and M4 were made by Alps IIRC. Any maker's name on these? If they are the
> > saem, a junk M3 or M4 keyboard would be a source of spares.
> 
> I found out last night that the switches are the same.  The question then

That does not really suprise me...

> would become "are the switches on the junked keyboard still good?".  See
> http://home.online.no/~kr-lund/repair.htm

Maybe, maybe not. My experience is that you'll get _some_ good switches 
from such a keyboard. How many do you need (no, I don't have any spares...)?

> 
> > A couple more suggestions. Chemtronics sell (sold?) a rubber keyboard
> > repair kit. It was a 2-pack thing that you mixed and then put a bit on
> > the conductive rubber pad. The problem was that it's expensive, and once
> > mixed you have to use the whole lot (enough for about 100 switches I
> > think).
> 
> You can't mix up small batches?  100 is about how many switches I

The instructions specifically tell you to mix the entire kit, and not to 
measure out, say, half of it. Of course they want to sell more kits :-)

> have to fix (two terminals worth)

Well, if you need to do all the switches, it may be worth buying said kit 
(if it's still available) and giving it a go.

-tony