Scored another ASR-10 (1997) with the lovely blue screen, max ram and SCSI. Had to be delivered, but as it was flightcased I thought why not. Long story short, it arrived with two broken keys, high C and D. Came to an agreement with the seller, got a partial refund and free replacement keys from a spare ASR-10 he had. In case it might help someone in future I've documented the process of opening the ASR-10 to fit the keys.
ASR-10 arrived looking like this, what a mess.
Laid bottom side up on some cushions. Removed all the screws on the base and rear panel, no need to remove the screws in the rubber feet. Lift off the bottom panel. Rear of the machine is shown at top, keybed is at bottom. Never done this before so took my time and used plastic cups to keep screws organised.
First job was to remove the large PCB on the left side which holds the RAM. Removed all ribbon cables attached to it along with 8 screws around the edges.
Next to be removed was the SCSI board (in the centre). Disconnect the ribbon cable that goes to the rear SCSI port. Remove the two screws at the rear of the board and lift up from the two fixed plastic connectors at the front of the board.
Next task was to remove the audio PCB on the right. Disconnect the power harness. Remove the ribbon cable which connects to the output expander socket, remove small connector to analogue jack board. Remove 6 screws and lift off the board.
That all the PCB's we need to take out. Next to go is the front trim panel, just beneath the big white label. Remove the 6 silver screws across the width. Now focus on the end panels. Remove the 4 black screws on each side and remove these panels. You now have access to 3 more screws underneath on both sides. Remove these and the lower parts of the end panels.
Now the end panels are removed you have access to the screws holding the front trim panel in place, there are two at each end which need to be removed. There are also two screws which attach this front trim panel to the pitch/ mod wheel assembly. Once removed the trim panel can be taken off completely.
Beneath the aluminium keyboard cover is the actual keybed we need to get at. Remove 6 screws from the front edge, the 2 outer screws are slightly longer than the rest. Next remove 9 silver screws from the rear edge of the keyboard cover, and the two screws holding the small angled bracket on the left. Now remove the 6 black screws across the centre width of the keyboard cover. The keybed can now slide out (it will be upside down) and be removed from the casing. The broken keys will pop up as they have no weights attached.
Broken keys are easy to remove, they simply clip off with their springs.
Replacement keys are fitted easily. Clip them into position and attach the springs ensuring the keys are flush with the others. The replacement keys are white, the older ones have yellowed over time. I assume the dude must have been a smoker. Took the opportunity to break out a tootbrush and some sugar soap to clean all the keys.
Job done. Refitting is a reversal of the earlier steps. Only thing left to do is boot up the ASR-10 and load an instrument to check everything is working ok.
You can clearly see the difference in 'whiteness' of the keys, but I can live with that.
Peace.
