OK, so for most people this is no big deal but i'm a programmer by trade and I've had this keyboard for a loooong time and i'm quite attached to it (sad I know). No other model comes remotely close to it's usability: it's an Apple a1048 keyboard.
A column of keys and the spacebar all stopped working and so I went about attempting a repair. I opened it up got out the multimeter (on continuity) and found two broken traces. Initially I thought it'd be an easy repair but then i realised the broken traces were on a clear film-like membrane (like acetate) and wouldn't stand up to soldering. I looked up what other people use and I discovered the wonderful world of conductive ink / paint. All I need is some conductive ink but the problem is that it costs more then the replacement keyboard! A pen costs £15+ in the UK and a keyboard was £10 delivered from CEX. I saw some videos about making conductive ink from charcoal but that's a lot of faff (and my charcoal wasn't conductive at all).
A tale of woe that ends with a keyboard being saved for spares because of two broken traces that I can see but can't bridge. If I can resurrect this keyboard then i'll be upgrading it to either house a USB 2.0 hub or i may embed a PI into it and make a self-contained PC / console. Anyone got some ink spare?!
A column of keys and the spacebar all stopped working and so I went about attempting a repair. I opened it up got out the multimeter (on continuity) and found two broken traces. Initially I thought it'd be an easy repair but then i realised the broken traces were on a clear film-like membrane (like acetate) and wouldn't stand up to soldering. I looked up what other people use and I discovered the wonderful world of conductive ink / paint. All I need is some conductive ink but the problem is that it costs more then the replacement keyboard! A pen costs £15+ in the UK and a keyboard was £10 delivered from CEX. I saw some videos about making conductive ink from charcoal but that's a lot of faff (and my charcoal wasn't conductive at all).
A tale of woe that ends with a keyboard being saved for spares because of two broken traces that I can see but can't bridge. If I can resurrect this keyboard then i'll be upgrading it to either house a USB 2.0 hub or i may embed a PI into it and make a self-contained PC / console. Anyone got some ink spare?!
