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After repeated touching the function buttons or keys of a Beta will start to show wear. In the case of the SL-HF750 (shown) the buttons are brushed-metal laminated plastic coated with a clear, hard acrylic polymer. In the upper left photo the wearing away of the coating can be plainly seen. The restoration of the surface is accomplished by removing the keys, carefully dissolving away the remaining coating with solvent and then reapplying the clear polymer. The upper right photo shows that the function buttons of the SL-HF750 can be pressed out from behind. They were snapped onto rocker pegs when the faceplate was assembled at the factory. The photo lower left shows the application of new polymer to the individual keys using an airbrush and the lower right corner photo shows the finished keypad. The square stationary bezel that surrounds the record button has to be removed by heating two lugs (not shown) that hold it into place. After being renewed it is held in position in the face plate, the attaching lugs are then reheated and deformed to lock it back into place. It is very common for buttons to be attached to the faceplate in this manner (held into place by plastic lugs or pins), so lets look at them now. Click on the picture. In this example the keys are on a rail that has holes or cavities for accepting plastic pegs. When assembled at the factory the rail is placed over the pegs (that go inside the holes) and a special heating device warms them enough so that gentle pressure will cause them to deform or mushroom, locking the rail firmly against the faceplate. When refurbishing plastic keys of this type it is best to avoid removing them. It isn't difficult to do but it can usually be avoided. To renew the finish of the black plastic keys (that have become glossy) a cutting compound is used. A careful straight-line rubbing motion with coarse compound will usually restore the satin finish back to these buttons. Chrome metal coated buttons can be renewed using a polishing compound. Some buttons don't lend themselves very well to surface conditioning due to the possibility that illustrations or lettering may be removed in the process. With these a new clear acrylic surface must be applied with an air brush and then burnished to produce a satin finish. To proceed to the next section that describes the EVALUATING AND ESTIMATING click here. To go to the other subjects covered in this section: |
