Commodore 128D Keyboard Repair

I'm not going to beat around the bush - this was a tedious job; but a the end of the day - do I have a working C128D keyboard?
Well, I guess you're just going to have to watch and find out :)
DB25 Shell: www.thingiverse.com/thing:239...
This is the diagram I used: ist.uwaterloo.ca/~schepers/MJ...
Note that this only shows 20 wires, but just wire up all 25 in the same order.
Twitter: / mr_lurch
Facebook: / mrlurchsthings
Instagram: / mr_lurchs_things

[@MindFlareRetro]

First of all, who in the right mind would have snipped off that cord like that? I'm still shaking my head. Anyway, a nice build -- brilliant using an existing DB25 cable -- looks great, works great and will be super durable. Great work, again!

[@parrottm76262]

It's alive! Give my creation...liiifffeeee! I just have always loved the Commodore 128D and Amiga 1000 case designs. Bringing that machine back to life makes me very happy.

[@BigCar2]

Thanks - another great video! In case you need to know for a future project - HDMI cables hold I think around 20 wires and are well shielded, but your solution was a superior way to do it.

[@ChristopherNelson2k]

Delightful repair! Congrats!

[@desjarrett1452]

Great video! I have a 128D restoration project pending and this has given me incentive!

[@BertGrink]

Nice job, Mr. Lurch!

[@zxkim8136]

Nice one lurch glad it's up and running now mate 😀😀😀 Kim 😀😀😀

[@KomradeMikhail]

I feel your pain... I have only one keyboard to share between three working 128D's.

[@10MARC]

Oh my goodness - soldering all of those little cables would drive me bonkers! Great job!

[@jscollett]

Awesome video. Don't think I could have soldered all of those wires. LOL

[@wimwiddershins]

Great stuff! I was wondering if you were going to try to reuse the keyboard cable grommet thingy from the cut cable stump? Sometimes you can get them unstuck from the cable and reuse. Edit: nevermind read answer in similar comment. :)

[@marciomaiajr]

Fantastic channel. You deserve more views and subscribers.

[@jeffreyphipps1507]

25 wires - well that was daunting.

[@Sawickipedia]

What a brutal job to solder, glad you got it sorted

[@SuperJCBDigger]

Great video and brilliant work for getting all the connections right, though I'm surprised you didn't hear me screaming "CABLE STRAIN RELIEF" (that rubber doodad that stops the cable and it's connectors being pulled through the keyboard case if you tug too hard) at my phone as you started soldering all those wires 😀 - does it not come off the old cable?

[@MrLurchsThings]

JCB Digger Unfortunately the cable I used was noticeably thicker than the original. I did try to reuse the old strain relief, but simply no go. Eventually I’ll 3D print something, but for now there is 2 zip ties holding the cable in place in the keyboard and another in the DB25 shell. Certainly not something I forgot about.

[@KolliRail]

Another perfect job done!

[@timrb]

I do not envy this repair. It was enough to do ~14 wires for VGA cables when CRTs were all the rage and some horrid manufacturers soldered the cables to the board.

[@heidirichter]

Great work mate!

[@dkier81]

The color code chart you made, was that the original color code on the board or was that the colors of the DB25 cable you soldered fort to the board?

[@darkwind9000]

Nice repair bud!

[@ToTheGAMES]

If you ever need to undertake a project like this again, I'd start at the connector, because it's much easier to be soldering the keyboard side in order of the connector than vice-versa. Thanks for the video!

[@MrLurchsThings]

Honestly, on this one it would have made zero difference given both ends use a logical 1 to 25 wiring order.

[@ToTheGAMES]

@@MrLurchsThings Fair enough! :)

[@seekyou]

Where did you find the pinout. Looking for it. I want to wire a cable to a flat c128 keyboard. The two keyboard should be same isn't it?

[@dkier81]

They are identical keyboards

[@doktor6495]

Puhhhh.. 25 wires to solder.. on both sides... Congrats that you made it! 😉 Greetings, Doc64!

[@CommodoreFan64]

Awesome job, i have a bog standard C128 in storage that needs a new PSU at some point in time, and I've always wanted a 128D, but at least here in the US when they pop up for sale with a working keyboard, they go for make you scream, and pass out prices lol!

[@MrLurchsThings]

Commodorefan64 I never thought I’d own one for that reason. I simply got lucky on getting the 128 at a reasonable price because it was missing the KB, and the KB because it was missing the cable.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@MrLurchsThings I hear ya on that one. Sometimes we just get lucky finding that one holly grail piece of tech lol.

[@FullMetalFab]

I need to ask because it will bug me, did you transfer the strain relief over from the cut wire ? Being able to see that from the top of the keyboard would bug the sh*t out of me not being there.

[@MrLurchsThings]

FullMetalFab no. The new cable is thicker than the original, so couldn’t reuse the strain relief.

[@PascalCFortin]

good on you

[@ingmarm8858]

Noice :-)

[@robquinton9835]

i would say a metal scrapper has been at that..

[@CommodoreFan64]

That, or some 2 bit Mr. fix it who did not know what they where doing, and gave up 1/2 way through the job.

[@villipend]

I'm thinking maybe some company marked it for disposal and that's how they would render it useless. I've seen companies I've worked at do similar things over the years. Allegedly GameStop does it to this very day.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@villipend Game Stop is one of the worst companies in America for that kind of crap. makes me sick when they throw out cases for games, and sometimes uncommon games, as I collect for the DS/3DS, and it's the most common one they do it with. GRRRR!!!