Apple Keyboard II Dissasembly Tips

[macuserman]

Has anyone ever taken apart a Keyboard II specifically removing the keycaps? I have two black ones both are missing keys fortunately not the same ones and one has a damaged frame as well. I'm hoping to make one good one, but with all the broken keys that are missing it makes me think they are a bit fragile? I googled and found this video and he appears to just go at it with abandon popping those keys right off and I'm worried I'll just break the rest of them. Any thoughts on it?

I get that it's a sucky keyboard one of the worst in fact but simply due to it being the black model I'd like to see if I can make at least one whole one.

 

[Johnnya101]

I did mine a while ago, but get yourself a key cap remover if you don't have one already, and lift up on the key caps. They just snap on.

Keep in mind you can buy new keycaps. I would keep the damaged / incomplete one, buy new keycaps, try and fix the frame a bit, and resell. The black keyboards are rare. New keycaps won't be exactly the same, but will be something.

 

[macuserman]

Thanks for the reply on this. I guess I’ll practice in some of the ones I have duplicates of first and see how it goes. I do have a key puller but these just don’t attach the same way as other keyboards I’ve worked on.

 

[macuserman]

Alright so a bit of a report on this, I decided to take a stab at removing the keys from the keyboard in the worst shape. Key removal tool might as well be called a key destroying tool snapped them instantly every time. Also tried with a few other tools all instantly snapping the key stems. Nothing was working except I just destroyed more keys.

Finally I decided to take the whole thing apart and see if I could remove them from the back.



One million plastic clips holding the metal back on were surprisingly supple and I didn’t break any.
On the back this is what I found…

I discovered that I could push a screwdriver past the rubber band and through the hole to bust out the key but it still broke a bit of the stem due to the uneven pressure. Switching to my Mac mini board removal tool which has flat ends worked great but was really awkward to use in this way as it’s not how it’s meant to work plus it didn’t reach the middle keys.


so I decided to just remove the top of a cheap screwdriver and make it flat with my grinder to make a sort of key removal tool.


using that I was able to remove all the keys on the donor keyboard and only managed to break one fortunately I have a duplicate of that key.

The backing was filthy so I scrubbed it with a toothbrush in the sink and it cleaned up really nice.


I think I’ve decided to just go for broke and rebuild the donor keyboard instead and attempt to remove the keys that are missing from the other board. It is just to gross to leave it that way and we’ll if I screw up and break a one of one key I guess so be it. I’m going to try and restore to wholeness one of the rarest and crappiest apple keyboards ever made. But that’s all for tonight I’m tired of this project for now and I need a break. Or I’m going to break some more stuff on accident.

 

[macuserman]

Made a bit more progress on this, despite the risk I went ahead and transferred all keys to the newly cleaned backboard. Managed to get it all completely moved over and each key removed and cleaned without further damage using my homemade key removal tool.

Here is the side by side of the completed cleaned board and the board I was originally planning to fix because it was only missing 4 keys. But as you can see it was also filthy and there was no safe way to scrub it without removing the keys.

 

[macuserman]

I still need to assemble the keyboard itself but there is a bit of repair to the case itself before I can finish assembling it. But just a couple tips for anyone who attempts to do this.

First make yourself a tool like I have done, don't even try it without it.
Second when you push from the back of the key don't twist at all with the tool just apply firm pressure until the key pops out if you twist you will risk breaking the key stem.
Third try to avoid putting sideways pressure on the other keys when pushing on the key you are trying to remove.
Fourth get a donor keyboard your going to break some keys no matter what you do.

Last advice avoid these keyboards like the plague, lol. This one would be in the bin, if it wasn't a rare black model. I'll post a final picture once I have it fully assembled.

 

[Johnnya101]

Wow, sorry that happened! I didn't have any issues removing anything from mine, they should have come off like the video. Maybe a different plastic was used or bad storage conditions?

Either way, you got a fully complete and working clean one in the end, so I'd say thats a win.

So what's broken, the key switch itself or a key cap?

 

[macuserman]

Wow, sorry that happened! I didn't have any issues removing anything from mine, they should have come off like the video. Maybe a different plastic was used or bad storage conditions?

Either way, you got a fully complete and working clean one in the end, so I'd say thats a win.

So what's broken, the key switch itself or a key cap?

It's the stem on the bottom center of the keycaps that snaps off so easily, it could just be because they are the black plastics I don't know.

 

[nmr]

Hey! I just bought the same black keyboard, with a single key that has a snapped stem. Is there any way to fix the broken stem? The plastic must be of low quality, since it seems that others have encountered the same situation…

 

[olePigeon]

Has anyone tried getting 3D printing resin, and using that to fix broken plastics like the stems on these keys? Dip the end of a broken stem in a bit of resin, affix it to where it's broken, then shine a UV flashlight on it until it cures hard. Dunno if it'd bond or not.

 

[macuserman]

Hey! I just bought the same black keyboard, with a single key that has a snapped stem. Is there any way to fix the broken stem? The plastic must be of low quality, since it seems that others have encountered the same situation…

Which key is it? I might have a spare I don’t think there is a good way to repair them. I’ve since this original post just embraced the madness and acquired several more all suffering in the same way. Guess I can’t help myself lol I figure if I don’t fix them nobody will.