Hi Rich,
Thanks for taking the time to reply here. I bought one of the
membranes, but must admit that I hadn't had the time to test it and
discover the problems myself, till after Colin discovered and
mentioned them, and I haven't had a chance to return mine yet.
If you sort the problem, are you planning to send out replacements
free off charge, to those who bought one and haven't sent it back for
a refund? If you are, then I'm happy to hang on to mine without a
refund for now, but it would be great if you could keep us up-to-date
one way or the other.
If you manage to fix the problem, I've no doubt that you could be on
to a winner, as many people have had problems with their original
keyboard membranes and eventually more will, no doubt. A successful
solution would be very welcome!!
Please keep us updated, and thanks for the heads-up!
Warren
Quoting Rich Mellor <r...@rwapservices.co.uk>:
Colin Piggot <quazar@...> writes:
Spent a bit more time on this today, and a few emails to Rwap...
Warren wrote:
> No worries! I'd have probably seen them on ebay anyway, and tried
> one, given the problems I've had in the past with my membrane.
>
> Pity the guy making them, didn't produce a test one first and at least
> contact somebody with a SAM to try it.
I've done more testing, the new membrane does seem to have some issues with
regards to the actuation force - take it out the SAM keyboard assembly and
it works, but when fitted in the keyboard unless you batter the keys it
doesn't register. Also, I have also noticed holding the new membrane against
an old one is that when I line up the circular contact pads at one edge I
can then see at the far end of the new membrane the contacts are out by
about 2mm horizontally, that will also add further problems to the actuation
of them.
The membrane I have is now packaged up to get sent off for a refund....
Colin
=====
Quazar : Hardware, Software, Spares and Repairs for the SAM Coupé
1995-2011 - Celebrating 17 Years of developing for the SAM Coupé
Website: http://www.samcoupe.com/
I have only just come across this discussion thread and have to apologise for
the issues with these replacement keyboard membranes.
I am surprised that no-one got in touch with me to raise the problem before
Colin emailed me, as this would have helped get the issue addressed several
months ago!
As soon as Colin raised the issue, I took the decision to remove the
Sam Coupe
keyboard membranes from sale.
I have now acquired a Sam Coupé and been able to verify the issue and am in
discussions with the keyboard membrane manufacturer who seems as
perplexed as me
as to what is causing the issue (they now have the keyboard from my
Sam Coupé).
We have identified that elongating one of the locating holes can
help with the
problem, but the fact that the keys on the QWERTY... and ASDF... rows are
smaller than the other rows does not help!
I admit that I did not have a Sam Coupé when I ordered the membrane,
howevere,
the manufacturer has many years experience of making keyboard
membranes, and the
others which they have provided have worked brilliantly without any problems
(including ones for the Enterprise 64, Z88 and ZX Spectrum -
remember that they
have never used or seen these machines either!).
Once the results of the investigations are complete and a solution
found, I will
make an announcement - however, in the meantime, if anyone wants to
return the
keyboard membrane to me for a refund, that is not a problem
Rich Mellor
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
