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Texelec's keyboard foam replacements

falter

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
6,556
Location
Vancouver, BC
Bought a bunch of these from Texelec on Ebay as replacements for my Sol's keyboard pads:

20180612_193423.jpg

Tried a bunch on my Sol but they don't seem to work -- I'm wondering if the top is supposed to be foil? It's some kind of translucent plastic on these. There is a clear plastic disc on the bottom. I think the keyboard itself is ok.. I've been able to trigger keys with my fingers..
 
I'm wondering if the top is supposed to be foil?

There should be metal glued to the foam pad with mylar on the outside. That side contacts the pad on the pcb.
The stiff plastic clips onto the keyswitch assembly'

I tried pulling one of the Texelec pads apart, and it's definitely NOT aluminized mylar on the pad. I wasn't able to
measure any resistance on the 'silver' part.

The ones I made a few years ago used metal, and you definitely could measure low resistance on the glued side.

hmm.. now I'm going to have to try the ones I bought as well to see if they work..
 
I think I have an issue somewhere with the machine now. I removed the keyboard entirely and have tried just pressing on the pads with my fingers like I'm usually able to do. The lighted keys (CAPS, Local, etc) all come on immediately, and also come on and off if I use one of the pads manually. But there is nothing on the letter and number keys. So I'm thinking there must be an IC somewhere not doing its job.
 
Tried a bunch on my Sol but they don't seem to work -- I'm wondering if the top is supposed to be foil? It's some kind of translucent plastic on these. There is a clear plastic disc on the bottom. I think the keyboard itself is ok.. I've been able to trigger keys with my fingers..

You're supposed to reuse your old pads. What's being sold there is just the precut foam (which is the bit that falls apart with age).
I would love it if someone would sell the foam with fresh mylar already attached and glued - but I couldn't find any.

EDIT: nevermind, I was thinking of another supplier, theirs do look like they're supposed to work out of the box. Bizarre.
 
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Bought a bunch of these from Texelec on Ebay as replacements for my Sol's keyboard pads:

View attachment 46123

Tried a bunch on my Sol but they don't seem to work -- I'm wondering if the top is supposed to be foil? It's some kind of translucent plastic on these. There is a clear plastic disc on the bottom. I think the keyboard itself is ok.. I've been able to trigger keys with my fingers..

Ok guys I bought these as well. NO you are not supposed to reuse any old parts, these are complete replacements. Out of my order of 100 pads, 44 didnt work. I reached out to the seller (Sara) and spoke with her. She is aware of the issue. (I reached out to her june first, I suggest you reach out too) She said she was looking into getting a new material for a more consistant product and she needed a couple weeks to test. I was going to email her back this friday.

Of the 56 pads that worked, they are excellent. Her product is far better than that other guys selling just cut out foam. Hers are the proper 3 layer, hard plastic, foam, and capacitive material.

Falter, the clear plastic part snaps to the keyboard, the metallic side should make contact to the PCB.
 
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Hello everyone! Verault has contacted me on eBay and let me know that you guys are having issues so I wanted to reach out. I am currently working on making new pads right now using a much better material. I am using Mylar plated aluminum that I have purchased by the roll. When Verualt contacted me, I had been previously contacted by some Lisa users and have been talking to them on a Lisa group on Facebook. I thought the problem was only happening with Lisa and other machines around that specific time frame after discussion with about 5 different customers, until I was contacted by Verault. I have actually used these myself on about 20+ keyboards (Compaq, Tandy and Terminals) without issue, other than the hassle of seating them correctly and efficiently consistantly, so these issues were totally unexpected. We made these about 6+ months ago and never received any negative critiques until I started making them again about a month ago. My family got sick of hearing me hammer them out so I took a break while my husband built a machine for me to punch them out with instead. These new batches are when the issues started being brought to to my attention. I'm so sorry for the trouble and I am working now to correct the problems so we can provide great pads for everyone! I want these to work across the board for all KeyTroincs keyboards. Having repaired keyboards myself I know the torture that goes into banging these out or gluing old Mylar and plastic discs to new foam. I want to provide new foam pads that work reliably for a long time to come. At the moment, I have a guy with a Lisa that I am working with to test them on his machine and I just sent his new test batch out a few moments ago. I have already tested the new material on a Compaq portable and have sent Verault his replacement as he preferred to not wait for the Lisa testing. Al Kossow, I was able to find your order on eBay and will be happy to send you replacement bags once all the testing is finished. Falter, I am happy to send you a replacement bag as well, but I was unable to locate your order using the name you have here on this forum. Please email me here or even on eBay, whatever is convenient for you. I realize you are in Canada, I don't mind at all and there is no additional charge, of course! I will mark it as a gift, since it is this time around so that you aren't charged any import fees. I want to make this right! I'm so sorry for the trouble this has caused you!

Sara
TexElec

https://texelec.com/
https://www.ebay.com/usr/texelec
 
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I have requested a replacement set through the Ebay purchase mechanism. Same issue with my pads. If they're good I will take more than one set. I have a number of keyboards that need service.
Bill
 
Ok guys I bought these as well. NO you are not supposed to reuse any old parts, these are complete replacements. Out of my order of 100 pads, 44 didnt work. I reached out to the seller (Sara) and spoke with her. She is aware of the issue. (I reached out to her june first, I suggest you reach out too) She said she was looking into getting a new material for a more consistant product and she needed a couple weeks to test. I was going to email her back this friday.

Of the 56 pads that worked, they are excellent. Her product is far better than that other guys selling just cut out foam. Hers are the proper 3 layer, hard plastic, foam, and capacitive material.

Falter, the clear plastic part snaps to the keyboard, the metallic side should make contact to the PCB.

Thank you so much for contacting me on eBay to let me know that the replacement pads with the new material worked out great for you Verault! I was super excited to get your feedback. Glad to hear another vintage KeyTronics is up and running again!
 
I have requested a replacement set through the Ebay purchase mechanism. Same issue with my pads. If they're good I will take more than one set. I have a number of keyboards that need service.
Bill

Got you taken care of Bill, glad I could get this handled quickly for you! Thank you very much for letting me know you were having issues. I appreciate the feedback and want to make it right. These new pads with Mylar plated aluminum should work out great! I think I have a winner with these pads.
 
Bought a bunch of these from Texelec on Ebay as replacements for my Sol's keyboard pads:

View attachment 46123

Tried a bunch on my Sol but they don't seem to work -- I'm wondering if the top is supposed to be foil? It's some kind of translucent plastic on these. There is a clear plastic disc on the bottom. I think the keyboard itself is ok.. I've been able to trigger keys with my fingers..

My sincerest apologies for the issue with the pads! I posted to this thread and realize that maybe you didn't get a notification since I replied to the thread and not you specifically. My previous reply to the thread explains what is going on with the pads. As you can see by my member status, I am new too the forum. Please contact me on eBay so that I may find your order and send you a replacement bag. I'd love to be able to help you get your keyboard working properly again.
 
There should be metal glued to the foam pad with mylar on the outside. That side contacts the pad on the pcb.
The stiff plastic clips onto the keyswitch assembly'

I tried pulling one of the Texelec pads apart, and it's definitely NOT aluminized mylar on the pad. I wasn't able to
measure any resistance on the 'silver' part.

The ones I made a few years ago used metal, and you definitely could measure low resistance on the glued side.

hmm.. now I'm going to have to try the ones I bought as well to see if they work..

Hello Al Kossow! I have sent you a message on eBay as I was able to locate your order. Let me know if you'd like me to send you replacements with the new material. I'd love for you to have some with the new aluminum plated Mylar material I am now using. I will have more for sale as well as soon as I get the replacements filled and at least one Lisa under my belt. Thanks so much Al!
 
The new and improved foam pads for KeyTronics keyboards have officially been tested on a Lisa and other computers and are now listed for sale for anyone who may be interested! I have also sent out all replacement bags up to this point. If you have had issues with the old pads please don't hesitate to contact me here or on our website.

Here is a link to the new pads:
https://texelec.com/product/foam-capacitive-pads-keytronic/

I also made a blog post all about how I manufacture them and the issues we had:
https://texelec.com/2018/07/04/new-and-improved-foam-capacitive-pads-for-keytronic-keyboards/

Thanks everyone!
Sara
 
Sara,

These things happen and I applaud your quick addressing of the problem.

Keep pumping them out though as I have a bunch of vintage computer stuff coming in and I'm probably going to have to order these in bulk LOL.

Now, if you only had a source for the 908 and 950 Exar matrix chips from the Model II keyboard, I'd marry you (if you weren't already married) :)
 
Sara,

These things happen and I applaud your quick addressing of the problem.

Keep pumping them out though as I have a bunch of vintage computer stuff coming in and I'm probably going to have to order these in bulk LOL.

Now, if you only had a source for the 908 and 950 Exar matrix chips from the Model II keyboard, I'd marry you (if you weren't already married) :)

HAHA! :lol: Yep, 21 years and counting! We'll have to keep an eye out for those chips. We frequent estate and garage sales as well as auctions, so ya never know what we may find. What can I say, I like to keep my glass half full.

I am definitely pumping them out, daily in fact. I have the machine setup in my living room in front of my spot on the couch. Anytime I'm sitting around doing nothing it turns into pad making time. I just can't help myself.

Thanks for the kind words, it's much appreciated!
 
I appreciated the fast response and received my replacements very promptly, which I also appreciate.

Unfortunately they did not work at all this time. :)

Whereas the previous batch sort of worked, my Sol doesn't react to these at all. And I have verified the keyboard is in fact working. If I use my fingertip, or if I take one of the pads from the first batch and press it to the contact manually, the Sol reacts. But the new ones, nope. Not even a little.

They certainly look right -- the foil stuff on top looks like mylar. But a conductivity test shows no conductivity at all. I understand these were tested with a Lisa.. I wonder if the Lisa's keyboard is a little different in some way from the Sol's?

Anyway, I think what I'll do is just cut some silver tape squares and attach to these somehow. Save from wasting them. The silver tape works like a hot damn.
 
But a conductivity test shows no conductivity at all.
There is not supposed to be any conductivity. The silver disk on the pad acts as a capacitor, hence why these are called capacitive keyboards.

It is possible that different keyboards are designed for different capacitance values, but that would mean their original pads would have had to use a different material than other capacitive keyboards.

Do you still have any of the original silver disks that came with your keyboard? I'd try attaching one to something besides a finger and making sure it still recognizes those. It is possible it could be slightly damaged and out of spec even though a higher capacitance material might allow it to work.

Anyway, that is a bit disappointing to hear as I recently acquired another capacitive keyboard that needs new foam pads.
 
Unfortunately they did not work at all this time.Whereas the previous batch sort of worked, my Sol doesn't react to these at all. And I have verified the keyboard is in fact working. If I use my fingertip, or if I take one of the pads from the first batch and press it to the contact manually, the Sol reacts. But the new ones, nope. Not even a little

Falter, I bought these to repair a couple compaq portables. I did the same thing as you. The pcb worked when I used my bare finger. Out of the first Batch of texelecs pads, 44 didnt work. I tested every single one between my fingertips and the pcb. They would either work or not work.. there was no grey area. The new ones Sarah sent all worked for me, and yes they were a new material. I am wondering what the requirements or tolerances are for your SOL keyboard compared to the original compaq portable.

You tried every single pad and not one worked? Did you clean each contact of possible corrosion? I did as the contact pads on the PCB are not gold, but tin maybe and had some slight corrosion. I use this eraser as it contatins sand to clean all card edge connections and corrosion: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mono-Sand-...art+eraser&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=m570.l1313
 
There is not supposed to be any conductivity.

The problem was she wasn't using aluminized mylar, and the originals conduct ON THE ALUMIZED SIDE
There was no conductivity on the side which is SUPPOSED to be conductive ACROSS THE PAD, NOT THROUGH IT.
Measure an original pad yourself!

That side gets glued to the foam and forms one side of the capacitor
 
So is the verdict that the post-July 4 pads actually don't work in a Sol? If this is true, does anyone have a source for replacement pads that will work in a Sol?
 
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