Restoring ALPS

[Minskleip]

I have a set of dampened complicated white alps which are very dirty and foul. The pins are green where they were exposed to air between the mounting plate and pcb.

Is it possible to restore them to a very good condition with cleaning, or would the springs etc be too worn for the switches to be usable? I want to replace the switches in my Minitouch with these, but not if they suck/will break down soon.

[Ascaii]

Have you tried carefully opening up a switch to see if only the pins are corroded? guide: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7121

Im not 100% sure on this, some alps-freaks will know more, but you might be able to just exchange the internals of the switches if the leaf and spring are not corroded...using parts of both switches, much like the ergo clear mod. Again, im not familiar with the internatl of the alps switch and if your switches will be compatible internally, but it might be worth asking this question over at geekhack.

As for cleaning the pins, standard anticorrosive metal-cleaning liquids should do the trick on the pins, sandpaper will help as well.

[ripster]

Damn that would be a LOT of work.



Which part got green? I haven't checked on the RipOruster in a while.

[Minskleip]

I've taken them apart all the way except taking apart ripster's part fully. It's a little green below the square and above the soldered part of the pin. I can try to take some photos.

[ripster]

As long as it's not that little barbie tit on the gold piece or the copper shaped leafy thing it's not going to affect anything.

Cherry MX GOLD crosspoint FTW!

[Minskleip]

Thanks, it's probably fine. Most important, however, is what the feel of these well-used switches will be after cleaning! Crap? NIB (lol)? Ok and slowly/fastly turning crap? Will sixty make custom white alps springs?

[Ascaii]

As long as the actual area you solder is not corroded you should have no trouble at all.