E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP

General Category => EIII Technical Issues / Tips => Topic started by: dvdborn on March 23, 2011, 02:52:28 PM



Title: Dying keys
Post by: dvdborn on March 23, 2011, 02:52:28 PM
Is anyone else having trouble with dying keys on their musical keyboard?

I've already fixed some of them but now others are starting to act up. It's as if they all have an expiration date built into them so that they stop working in 2011.

I've looked at repair kits to restore the conductivity of the rubber contacts but I'm hesitating to apply something like that to the EIII keys. The EIII rubber key contacts have an inner contact point and also a rubber outer circle which also functions as a contact.

I'm guessing that the outer circle is the first contact and that the time between that contact and the inner contact is used to calculate the velocity value.

I haven't tried the following procedure yet but I soon wil:
http://oldcrows.net/~oldcrow/synth/korg/polysix/keyclean2.html


Title: Re: Dying keys
Post by: dvdborn on March 23, 2011, 03:30:52 PM
Well, that was quick. I just opened up my EIII and was able to restore the dying keys.

I tried a procedure that I came across on the interweb:

1. Clean the rubber contacts (outer ring and inner contact) gently with a pencil eraser.
2. Clean the contacts on the PCB with a pencil eraser.
3. 'draw' on the contacts (outer ring and inner contact) with a carbon pencil. I used a very dark pencil that easily left lots of carbon on the contact points.

I was lucky that I only had 3 E-keys to clean. You can lift the rubber contacts of the E-keys without having to disassemble the whole keyboard mechanism. I'm guessing that it was no coincidence that only the E-keys were affected. Since their rubber contacts can lift more than other keys their contacts had become dirtier. It was easier for the dirt to get to these contacts.

Let's hope that the other keys won't die on me any time soon.


Title: Re: Dying keys
Post by: dr.c on March 26, 2011, 01:37:38 AM
You can use as well contact cleaner KF F2 (Brand : KF) AT THE EXCEPTION OF ANY OTHER PRODUCT and still, give it a try first...
Out some product on a paper cloth (soft) and rub the contacts VERY GENTLY !


It works perfect.


Title: Re: Dying keys
Post by: Electro disco club on December 27, 2016, 09:55:49 AM
Thank you for the trick !

this product is easy to find in france ( conrad electronic shop )

Now it is working perfectly for my EII. it is smooth i can feel the velocity. Very usefulll as usual