Jim
Like I said earlier they are a lot easier and the newest ones are built in a way that crumbs won't matter nearly as much as they used to.
When I opened mine up it came apart in modules; one for the right side of the board, one for the left and the thiurd for the number and direction pads.
So taking it apart was easy
- undo all the screws and yes there are still plenty of them
- carefully lift off the back and set aside (see below on the left)
- the next thing you see is a small circuit board maybe 2" x 1 1/2" It sits in a small snap in area on the right is the top of the keyboard turned upside down. You can see the circuit board which sat at the part of the keyboard under the slace bar)
- the circuit board is connected to a sheet of plastic which is embedded with the circuitry to each key. The plastic is similar to what a kid might use as a repost cover for school (you can see the lines on the plastic where the circuits lead to the keys)
- when you pull the plastic back (carefully so as not to ruin the connections to the circuit board) there are 4 really soft silicon templates (center right). These fit on each of the key modules (centre left) I mentioned earlier The cells on the templates are what help give newer keyboards a quieter and softer touch. When you hit a key it presses the cell and makes contact with the plastic with the circits embeded on it which corresponds to a place on the circuit board. There is a silicon templates for each of the 3 modules and a separate small one close to the circuit board for the space bar.
Put it back together and voila
One thing I did notice when I was checking out the small silicon template was that the small one for the space bar was pretty worn down which is probably why it wore out. It most likely gets hit more than any other key
Yes I love taking things apart and figuring out what makes it tick...or not.