Wanted : for free :-) Broken Acorn Electron(s)

[Dave]

Hi folks,

Just a request for you all to bear in mind for the future, either as your own Electron fails or you come across one on your travels . . . . .

I wouldn't normally consider breaking up a vintage home computer, even a toy but . . .

As we know, a common problem with the MTX is bad or sticky keys. They can't always be recovered by cleaning and sometimes need replacement. The key switches are not available new, but the ones fitted to Acorn Electrons are the same.

Since Electrons are much more common than MTXs, I think that using the key switches from a broken Elk to repair MTXs is an acceptable thing to do. You may disagree, but hey, this is my thread

So, if you come across a broken Elk, I'd be happy to take it off your hands (and pay the postage). I would desolder all of the key switches and make them available to the group FOC, for the cost of postage. If you have any skill at all with a soldering iron, replacement of a useless MTX key switch is pretty easy and can make an annoying MTX a pleasure to use again.

Any other potentially useful Elk parts would be donated to Elk owners on Stardot and the like,

Regards
Dave

[1024MAK]

A service engineer on StarDot has posted that using an ultrasonic cleaner, with the proper cleaning fluid is effective - 4 out of 5 have come back to life and work perfectly!

See here

Mark

[Dave]

Hi Mark,

yes, thanks, I had seen that.

It does of course, require that you have an ultrasonic cleaner & solvent, and is "only" 80% effective

regards
Dave

[1024MAK]

What, no cleaner? Instead unscrew the pins (one at a time) and clean them... (Full instructions somewhere else on StarDot...)

Mark

[Dave]

Unscrewing the pins is easy, and **might** work, depending on the fault.

At least one of mine had damage to the leaf spring inside the switch though, it is supposed to be possible to strip them down and reassemble, but if the spring is damaged, it's nearly impossible, at least it was for me anyway.

regards
Dave