After a couple of SOL users were having issues with the pads working consistently and some experimentation along with lots of input from the vintage computer community we decided the closed cell foam I was using was just a tad too short for the SOL. Since I was going to be changing the foam anyway, and had requests for foam more like the original KeyTronic pads, I thought meeting customer demand was the way to go! I went ahead and moved away from the closed cell foam and opted for more resilient and taller open cell foam that is just like the OEM foam. Now the keys feel more like they did when they were new from KeyTronic. You can find the new pads here:
These new pads have officially been successfully tested on the following computers: Compaq Portable, Apple Lisa and the Franklin Ace 1000.
We would love to add your computer to the official tested list after installation. Please don’t hesitate to write a review here on the product listing or you are welcome to just send an email letting us know about your experience using these pads!
Our goal is to provide fully assembled pads that require no deconstruction, cleaning, cutting, punching or gluing for all KeyTronic keyboard restorations. All feedback is welcome and appreciated!
To see the saga of the pad revisions you can visit this older blog post. It includes links to the vcfed.org forum where the vintage computer community gathered to help me get this all figured out. It also contains photos of the machine Kevin built to help me make these pads more efficiently!
Here is a short video of a very nice customer installing these new pads in his Apple Lisa:
He used a nifty tool from a wax/pottery/clay carving and spatula set on Amazon or eBay. Here are just two examples to help get you started looking for these tools if you don’t already have a tool you can use:
