what are you doing with keyboards that have been molded to the chassis

[Big Jim]

Starting to run in to more and more of these laptops now that have the keyboard plastic welded on to the bottom of the palm rest.

We have so far only used one option, which is to find a 2nd hand palmrest with keyboard still attached.

but that isn't always going to be an option, and more often than not results in the laptop being scrapped.

The only alternative (as far as I can tell) is to use some heat to melt the little plastic "welding" posts and pull the keyboard over them, then use a soldering iron or such like to melt them back down once the keyboard has been replaced. I am pretty nervous about this though as it will be more of an art than your typical repair.

 

[alexsmith2709]

These are annoying and can make a repair unnecessarily expensive or not economical for some. I usually source a new/used palmrest including keyboard and replace the whole lot. I try and get new if i can and i explain to customers why the repair is higher than some keyboard repairs.

 

[Sky-Knight]

If it's a single part, you replace the whole thing. If it costs too much sell a new laptop. There isn't much else to be done, unless you want to take the risk of fabricating something.

 

[HCHTech]

If it's a single part, you replace the whole thing.

Agreed. This isn't a hobby, it's a business. Not cost-effective to do anything other than replace the entire part. This brings into play the possibility that the part isn't available, then you might be stuck with a used part, which you can't guarantee. It is what it is. Offer the choice, they can choose to proceed or not. This is exactly the same problem we faced when touchscreens started to be so commonplace. What used to be a 1-hour plus part repair suddenly turned into a MUCH costlier repair. We used to do 50 or 60 screens a year, I think we did 3 last year. The economics have changed.

 

[Porthos]

unnecessarily expensive or not economical for some.

This is true on many laptop repairs. It is only going to get worse over time.

 

[lan101]

This is true on many laptop repairs. It is only going to get worse over time.

Seems like all laptop hardware repairs will be dead in a few more years except maybe for places like Louis Rossman's that only does Apple work and there's enough margin there to make it profitable. I think he even said in one of his videos his lease expires in like 2023 and he might just close it down then if things became non repairable. Something along those lines anyway.

Seems like doing those Apple type repairs you can't do anything else because you have to dedicate all resources to that and find schematics that Apple likes to keep hidden from the public etc.

I could see it just turning into a data recovery business for Apple products if boards become non repairable.

 

[sapphirescales]

All you have to do is find a tiny drill bit and a really weak cheapo drill and just drill out those plastic grommets. Then when you put the keyboard back into the top assembly the motherboard and other parts keep the sag to a minimum. I only offer this service if the entire top assembly (palm rest, keyboard, trackpad, power button, etc.) isn't available and I make sure to warn my clients that there might be some sag. Then I show them my demo unit that has this type of cheapo keyboard and then show them a business class laptop and let them choose whether to fix their cheapo piece of crap or trade it in for a business class. They trade it in at least 80% of the time.

 

[phaZed]

I do these all of the time.

I use my hot-air rework station set at about 250c. Simply heat the "heat-stakes" thermoplastic one by one as you gently pry away the keyboard. Once the keyboard has been removed from the palmrest, snap the other in place. I then follow up with a bull-nose tip on my soldering iron to melt the plastic stakes back down.

Have done hundreds without issue.

 

[Porthos]

I use my hot-air rework station

Guess one day I need to invest in one.

 

[pcpete]

Agreed. This isn't a hobby, it's a business. Not cost-effective to do anything other than replace the entire part.

If you can save $100 on the part, even if it takes an extra hour, you made an extra $100 in margin it might be worth it.

 

[mlcomputers]

Having recently repaired a nice Acer Aspire laptop with this type of keyboard I was actually quite surprised how inexpensive the complete part was. I purchased it from Acer Direct France and the part with postage was less than €60 inclusive of postage. I know this may not be the same for every manufacturer.

 

[Moltuae]

If I'm understanding correctly here, we're talking about the little plastic pins that have their heads melted/welded flat to hold the keyboard in place?

I've only ever done a couple of these type of laptop repairs (largely because I don't do residential IT work any more) but I have come across the same construction method many times in other equipment (in my capacity as an electronics engineer). My solution has always been to cut the head of the pin off, using a pair of 45 degree flush-cut PCB pin cutters like these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cutters-Cutting-Electronic-Components-Engineer/dp/B001YHEKK4/

For re-assembly, I either stab the centre of the pin with a hot iron (using a 0.1mm tip), which displaces pin material, causing it to move up and around the fixing hole and/or I use a small amount of glue to secure the pins.