[Coco] new mylars

[Salvador Garcia]

Since I do not have a CoCo 3 I am sort of just lurking n this thread or at least was since this post breaks with that convention. I am curious enough to ask. Is this Mylar exclusively for the CoCo 3? Reading the thread it seems that CoCo 2s can also use it, correct or incorrect? But going further, was this Mylar designed for the CoCo 3 or did this product use a more generic Mylar that other items have used?


Most likely I would assume that it is a customized design by Tandy/RS only for use on their computers, but if in the remote case that it is a generic design then it would be fantastic to locate these products and see whether there is market for the Mylar beyond the CoCo 3.


I have a CoCo 1 myself so I think that excludes me from the Mylar's target market :-). Salvador



-----Original Message-----
From: Al Hartman <alhartman6 at optonline.net>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tue, Aug 11, 2015 10:44 am
Subject: Re: [Coco] new mylars


I don't know that this makes any difference, but in the Timex/Sinclair 
market
there have been several runs of the ZX-81 / TS-1000 replacement 
keyboards, and
Spectrum replacement mylars.

Many have gone to Brazil, and to the
U.K.

Eventually, every mylar is going to dry out and crack. So, it's worth
doing. 
I wonder what would happen if packs of 5 were offered on eBay once they
were 
done?

I bet there are lots of Cocos with dead keyboards out there. Has
anyone 
posted an interest thread on

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?46-Tandy-Radio-Shack

?

-[ Al ]-

-----Original Message----- 
From: Boisy G. Pitre

At Cloud-9, we
looked into this. There are really two options:

Option 1. A scan of the
original mylar sheet, cleaning up in Photoshop, then 
having it duplicated on
mylar with conductive ink.
Option 2. Relayout the entire keyboard mylar with
Eagle or a similar tool, 
let the autorouter figure out the placement of the
traces, and then submit 
gerbers. This seems to be a more durable and flexible
option.

In both cases, care must be taken to get the size exactly right. The

additional gotchas are the screw holes which must exactly align in the 
proper
places when the mylar is folded.

There’s also the plastic sheet insert that
goes between the folded mylar. It 
also has specific holes for allowing the key
contacts to go through as well 
as the screw holes.

Also there must be a rigid
plastic piece glued onto the tail that is 
inserted into the 16 pin connector on
the motherboard.

All in all, to get it right would be very tedious.

In the
end, we came to the conclusion that the minimum order quantity that 
would be
required along with the effort to properly duplicate the keyboard 
mylar (option
2 above) would be considerable when weighed against the 
availability of things
like the PS/2 keyboard interface.
—
Boisy G. Pitre
CoCo Projects
Coordinator
http://www.cloud9tech.com
<http://www.cloud9tech.com/>
http://www.nitros9.org
<http://www.nitros9.org/>
http://sourceforge.net/projects/drivewireserver/

<http://sourceforge.net/projects/drivewireserver/>
http://sourceforge.net/projects

<http://sourceforge.net/projects/drivewireserver/>/toolshed
http://liber809.blogspot.com
<http://http//liber809.blogspot.com>
http://github.com/boisy/DriveWire-MacServer

>
On Aug 11, 2015, at 10:04 AM, Brian Blake <random.rodder at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
I think price will be the deciding factor for all of us. I'd like to have 
> a
dozen or so mylar sets, but, we'll see what Josh's contact can get us. 
> I'm
not convinced yet that this can be done unless we have several hundred 
> sets
ordered.
>
> I've sent Josh pics of the mylar, some with a tape measure to give
idea of 
> the size of the mylar pieces. Hopefully w can get some good
news.
>
>
> Brian 


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