CPC 664 coloured membrane tracks

[Spirantho]

Hi everybody,
Having just taken receipt of a nice 664 with a dead keyboard (of course), I'm going to repair it. To do this, I made a little guide so I know which tracks are faulty by seeing which keys don't work... I've attached it here in case it helps anyone! Excuse me if this has already been done and everyone knows about it except me.


Edit: Just finished repairing it! Took hours - fix one row of keys, and another breaks. These 664 membranes are hideous.. hate them... works now though. Hurrah!

[MacDeath]

This is cute but you shouyld have sticked to real CPC palette...

[Gryzor]

Wow, this actually looks superb, almost a work of art!!!

[endangermice]

Lovely and clear - I think you should find a way to manufacture working ones that look just like this  !

[Gryzor]

And build them in clear CPC cases! Oh, and maybe produce a limited-production of smoke-grey ones!

[Spirantho]

Hehe... don't know about that but I'm working on getting new membranes made now. In any colour you want as long as it's black, I suspect.

[Ynot.zer0]

I'm working on getting new membranes made now.

Did I miss the part where you gave an indication of how much you'd likely sell each membrane for? (inc. P&P to the UK).  Just want to make sure I get my order in - as I've got a 2x664s sitting on top of a cupboard with a dead keyboards....

[Spirantho]

We don't know yet. I'd imagine they'll be around the £25-£30 mark because they're such a limited market, so quantities are small but costs still need to be recouped.
Still a lot cheaper than buying another 664 and finding the keys don't work on that one either.

[kribjo]

Hi,


Is it possible to order a membrane? My CPC664 have dead keys and it would be great to revive it.    [size=78%]If so, where do I go about ordering one?[/size]


Regards,


Bjørn

[steve]

If Spirantho is having any difficulty finding a source for membranes then there is a guy on Amiga.org who is just getting set up to produce a variety of things for the classic computer user, he also mentions keyboard membranes somewhere in this very long thread.
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=63275

[Spirantho]

No, no problems there, thanks.
That poor guy - he only went on there to suggest maybe making some small open-source hardware, and immediately got swamped by people wanting dual processor PPC cards with 2GB of RAM! He's only tooling up with SMT stuff, though, not fabrication. You can't fabricate a membrane like a circuit, you need proper manufacturing equipment.
There should be more news soon about CPC664 - I shall let you know when I know anything.....

[Spirantho]

Not wanting to reply to my own post, but....


... apparently the first prototype membrane has been made and is shortly on its way to my 664 for testing! May need some tweaks yet, but even so....
Rejoice!

[arnoldemu]

*BRAND NEW* Amstrad CPC664 Keyboard Membranes

[Spirantho]

Yup, that's the prototype right there. It's the only one currently existing, I believe, as we need to check it first.

[Bryce]

He claims to have sold 2 already and you can order several of them if you like. That's a bit risky if he's never tested them!

Bryce.

[Spirantho]

He knows what he's doing, don't worry. He's had membranes made for umpteen machines in the past.
Worst case he'd refund, but don't worry he's an honourable seller.

[Bryce]

I'm sure he is. It just seems pointless to start selling and shipping them before testing them. Why take the risk of having to refund etc (with the finacial loss due to shipping costs), when he could just test or get someone to test them first?

Bryce.

[kribjo]

*BRAND NEW* Amstrad CPC664 Keyboard Membranes

I only see the header of the webpage. Is it experiencing problems at the moment? Tried with IE, Firefox and Chrome. Here is a screenshot of what I see.


Regards,


Bjørn

[arnoldemu]

I only see the header of the webpage. Is it experiencing problems at the moment? Tried with IE, Firefox and Chrome.
Bildr.no is a screenshot of what I see.


Regards,


Bjørn

yes it does not appear to be working today.
Normally I see a list of categories on the left side.
In the middle I see some active listings.

[Spirantho]

Odd... it's working fine here...

[kribjo]

Yes, now it's up and running again. :-) Ordered one. 
Thanks arnoldemu.

Regards,


Bjørn

[RWAP]

Sorry the site was down shortly today whilst I upgraded the code on the site - actually logged in users could still use it (hence why I didn't notice the issue immediately)..



As for the membranes, they have been tested in the factory using just the keyboard section of the CPC664, but experience shows that nothing is ever guaranteed, so all feedback is welcome - we can then make any adjustments necessary and replace early adopters if necessary.

We have been getting membranes made and selling them for years and yet even now, we get the odd Spectrum user who has an issue lining up the membrane on their case due to minor differences in manufacturing runs (for example most Spectrum+ cases have screw pillars flush with the back of the keyboard, so the membrane sits flat - some cases have screw pillars which protrude by up to 5 mm, so we ended up making the holes much larger, so the pillars would pass through the membrane - we had sold about 400 membranes before that issue became apparent !!

Hopefully, the CPC keyboards will be simpler (as there were less produced, so maybe the tooling remained the same), but you never know.

[Bryce]

I have several of your Spectrum Membranes and I was very impressed by them, great quality and more robust than the originals. All the more reason why I was suprised to hear that you would sell something untested.

Bryce.

[Spirantho]

I've made a new thread to be more specific to say:
Yay! the new membrane works!

[kribjo]

I got the membrane I ordered from RWAP today. And now my system is working again. 


Thanks for the help guys.


Regards,


Bjørn