first time keytops

[Richard Brekne]

While aggreeing with most replies on this, I would like to encourage you to do
some keytop replacements yourself. Its a nice skill to develop (at least to the
point where you can to a fine job in 3 times the time you get paid for..grin)
Sometimes you run into a situation where this is handy to know how to do. And
whos to say you might not end up being one of those most other techs send their
keys off too ??.. You should of course start with a set of keys that dont really
matter to anyone, and use a cheap set of tops. The two tricky parts are getting
the sticks nicely surfaced and ready for glueing the new tops on, you gots to
have them dead level and flat, and then makeing sure all the new tops stick out
exactly the same distance from the fronts and their alignment is otherwise
correct. This last is not as easy as it might seem, tho with a little thought you
can contrive a couple jigs to keep you on line.

This is not something that pays well as Bob points out, unless you are extremely
quick about it. That means investment in more sophisticated tooling which in turn
means you should count on doing a lot of these jobs over time. So dont hesitate
to learn, (grin, on perhaps your own junker) but unless you really want to do
this kinda job a lot, its probably best to send them off as a general rule.

You are lucky there in the states in this regard. Lots of guys all over the
country who do great work for a good price. Here in Norway I am forced to do this
work myself. Takes me much longer then it should, but the alternative is too time
consuming, and too expensive (due to taxes and VAT concerns mostly)

Good luck.. and keep learning :)

BobDavis88@AOL.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 03/03/2000 7:00:02 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> pneely@thegrid.net writes:
>
> > Thanks Tom, My thought is to have someone else do it too I need to learn
> >  but not a someone else s expence  Pat
>
> The only un-redoable part is that you have to plane the tops of the keysticks
> to accommodate the thicker tops, and you only get one chance. Do it only if
> you are secure that your method will not give you angled keytops! On the
> other hand, there's really no hurry to become an expert at this when others
> already are. Yvonne Ashmore does ours. It pays well only if you are set up to
> do it REALLY efficiently.
> Bob Davis

--
Richard Brekne
Associate PTG, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway