Instead of a membrane...

[hellraiseruk]

Whilst I await delivery of my recently won Spectrum Plus, I decided to have a look at the price of keyboard membranes. They're quite a bit dearer for the plus! Anyways, on my travels I came across this:

https://www.ginger-electronic.com/en/re ... _soldering

Anyone got experience of these? Seems like a good replacement for the membrane, and not that much dearer either....

JD

[Mad Fritz]

I have a few of them in use. Completely different but IMHO much better "feeling".

[adam]

I've used a couple, and they are quite satisfying to use, just a little fiddly to fit (ideally you need to solder boards on to the end of the ribbon cables, as they are just bare wires).

Can't argue with the price though, when you consider they're only 50% pricier than a standard membrane.

[hellraiseruk]

Can't argue with the price though, when you consider they're only 50% pricier than a standard membrane.

Indeed, plus it won't need replacing ever again which is a big plus. Was never a big fan of the plus keyboard, always felt there was too much travel and not enough response, plus the keys seem to wobble - anything to make it feel more positive gets my vote!

JD

[HEXdidnt]

They even do one for the rubber-keyed models... Gonna have to bookmark that!

Like @adam said, though, the ribbon cables aren't exactly ideal... I wonder if the idea is that you desolder the two sockets on the board, and then solder in the replacement?

[1024MAK]

Finding a solution that fits into the existing keyboard sockets is not easy.

I would not directly solder the wires to the board, the better option being using a different PCB connector, you need one with a pin pitch of 2.54mm (0.1”). That then allows the keyboard to be disconnected from the board without difficulty. Otherwise it’s a right pain…

The seller of these ‘clicky’ keyboards is a forum member on Sinclair ZX World and on the German tlienhard forum. I can provide more useful links if you want.

He used to sell on Sell My Retro, but the U.K. leaving the E.U. messed things up.

I’ve bought lots of ZX81 related items from him as well as some clicky keyboards from him.

Mark

[hellraiseruk]

If you look at the bottom of that link, there's an option for soldered which comes with the smaller boards soldered onto the ribbon cable, looks like a good idea for the sake of an extra 3 euros!

JD

[hatman72]

I bought one of these - they are a bit fiddly to setup and I found that they didn't work so well on the larger keys on the edges. But the biggest problem I had was that if you regularly lift the lid to get at the board then the wire "ribbons" can snap off, so mine has been removed pending a repair. I'll probably sell it on because I didn't find it that much better than the more traditional replacement membranes.

[zx64]

I remember someone made pcb for real mechanical keys (the standard ones used in PC keyboards) to fit inside 48K rubber case