A poorly Atom belonging to a friend required a key switch fix. The keyboard on Atom motherboards of issues 1..4 is a strange all-in-one affair where the switch mechanism is a pair of counter-wound springs which connect when a weedy plastic plunger depresses them. They are puny and prone to breaking.
The only effective fix is to cut out the broken part and insert a new switch, as I believe I have blogged about before. This would be a new challenge as the switches I replaced before were at the end of a row and were changed as a unit. This time I would attempt a single unit as I have run out of replacement parts to do the two adjacent switches...
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This is the first time I've used my callipers and I must say they're jolly useful.
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Here's the replacement switch ready to be dropped in. The antennae were added so that the tiny whisker-like wires at the base of the switch would register correctly with the holes on the PCB. The replacement part is ever-so-teensily different from the one it's replacing, so registration wasn't guaranteed when sliding the piece into the anxiously awaiting gap. When the sides of the switch were coated with superglue that would have been a problem. The extensions fell away as expected when the solder joints were applied.
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Hurrah!
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