Dust Causing Malfunctioning Keys?

[theoriginalpol]

So I just completely gutted my Electro 2, spread all the pieces across my living room, and gave the whole thing a thorough (but gentle!) cleaning, including removing the endless onslaught of screws that holds the rubber key contacts on and getting under there as well. It needed it too. Some dust and grime had fallen in between the keys and even caused a few to malfunction (non-velocity sensitive organ section worked fine while pianos etc did not).

This is the second time I've had to do this with my NE2, despite always keeping it in a clean Nord gigbag and installing a custom dust guard over the keys (which btw I plan on doing soon with my Stage 2, along with pictures and a write-up on this forum if anyone's interested). Doing so works well, solves the issues, and is also probably a very healthy thing for my board, but still shouldn't be required of a user if you ask me.

Is this something that has happened to others, or perhaps I lead an exceptionally dusty lifestyle? What do you do to shield your Nord from the electropoison that dust ensues?


EDIT: I'm seeing other posts now with folks having the same issues. Like this one, which also has a great unassembly documentation: http://www.norduserforum.com/post28370.html
Anyway, apologies if this seems like a repeat topic — my main question here is I'm wondering just how many people this has happened to. Just looking at a Nord, one notices so many tiny slotholes and other vulnerabilities for dust to invade.

[mjbrands]

Just looking at a Nord, one notices so many tiny slotholes and other vulnerabilities for dust to invade.

Those are there so they air can escape when one of those switches (rubber cup) is depresssed.

[pablomastodon]

and so that air can return when key is released. It is a Fatar design and prevalent in the keyboard world; most of the folks who are not buying parts from Fatar are copying that design.

[mjbrands]

Particles small enough to be sucked into those tiny slots are generally too tiny to cause issues. But if you have enough of them (lots of dust) or somehow get something bigger in there (such as a hair, a small bit of paper or a grain of sand) you can certainly have a contact that doesn't work properly anymore.

I have multiple cats and I don't vacuum as often as I should; for me it is really important to cover my synths up with a dust cover when I'm not using them.

[iaorana]

yesterday I walked a fellow Nordesian through the cleaning process on his NS2-HA88 and he sent me a photo of the tiny bit of Mesquite tree flower which had contaminated his Nord (the previous weekend he played a 30 minute set outdoors under said tree).

[Mr_-G-]

Is this really a "Fatar design"? Sure Fatar has been making kbds for a long time, but a few days ago I disassembled an odd device (given to me by a friend in the late 80's) like this one:
http://ssodeon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/g ... p-100.html
I had to clean the "Up" button and the contacts to the LCD (which bizarrely, they are made of some conductive rubber too).
The buttons also have the vents to let the air in and out of the button chamber.

BTW, I *never* play under Mesquite trees.

[RedLeo]

Is this really a "Fatar design"?

The rubber strip concept is used by other manufacturers, including notably Roland. Rolands are notoriously vunerable to the same problem for the same reasons. I have spent, over the years, endless hours dismantling and re-mantling (huh?) my Roland D50 and A50 keyboards to clean the contacts in exactly the same way. Unfortunately, using this type of key contact system seems to be a financial decision.

Yamaha keyboards like the DX7 use a far superior type of wire contact system that seems immune (in my experience) to almost any type of problem. Actually, I once dismantled a Korg Wavestation EX - and found it used a Yamaha keyboard apparently identical to the DX7 keyboard. That synth also never suffered any keyboard switch problems in all the years I had it.

The bad news is that (again in my experience), the dirt problem becomes increasingly frequent as the synth gradually accumulates dust, dirt and other contaminants in the chassis over the years. Eventually my A50's keyboard became so unreliable that I had to dump it because I couldn't reasonably sell it to anyone.

I guess you could extend the life of your keyboard by periodically completely dismantling it and cleaning each and every part of the chassis and switch assemblies, but that's not a job for everyone.

I for one would love to see an end to this rubber strip system. It's a pain.

[bluesbaba]

Mesquite tree flower uhu....
thats an impressively small piece of reality to be able to ruin your gig!!!

[pterm]

and so that air can return when key is released. It is a Fatar design and prevalent in the keyboard world; most of the folks who are not buying parts from Fatar are copying that design.

Here's an idea: drill vent holes through the printed circuit board (PCB) instead. Having the vent channel in the rubber membrane sucks dust and debris off the top surface of the PCB. With a vent hole to the underside of the PCB, it would only suck in airborne particulate.

"Patent!"

Plating metal in the through-holes seals the hole so no fibre from the PCB itself enters. This requires copper on both sides of the PCB and costs a tiny fraction more per square inch of PCB... and if this was a Casio keyboard, I could understand the cost-sensitivity, but I'm pretty sure it's a Nord.

Pablo - have you seen any improvements on the newer keybeds to prevent dust ingress? It seems like too common a problem for Nord not to be improving their design.

[mjbrands]

Plating metal in the through-holes seals the hole so no fibre from the PCB itself enters. This requires copper on both sides of the PCB and costs a tiny fraction more per square inch of PCB... and if this was a Casio keyboard, I could understand the cost-sensitivity, but I'm pretty sure it's a Nord.

Good idea. Unfortunately Nord doesn't produce the keybeds themselves (Fatar does) and I'm pretty sure they're single-sided boards. Plated through-holes might be a bit big; maybe unfilled vias might be big enough.

It wouldn't completely cure the issue, but might indeed work quite a lot better. I wouldn't be surprised if this has already been done, perhaps many years ago.