What one can find inside a well used PC keyboard!!

[BJ]

Recently this computer keyboard that this text is typing with whent 
totally screwed up, and was outputting a load of crap like 
fgtWerSSrtDerstwemnJJklipooopognf, etc, etc.

The reason was of all the garbage the keyboard had collected over
the years and all the garbage had shorted some of the switches..

Its amasing the amount of garbage that collect's in a typmatic
keyboard, you know, a coup or two of coffe, one whole sandwitch, 
a couple of nice caces whit crem on top, som pieces of sweet candy!!

I even found a Ford transit 78 years modell!
A couple of un washed socks, a pair of swedish meatballs!!
(no wonder of that rumbling soound inside the keyboard)
 
Nevertheless, quite interesting design this Keytronic keyboard
had, it was not the usuall PCB with carbon swithes, no it was a 
polycarbonate plastic sheet with half the switch on each side
than foolded ower each other to form the switch!

This transparent sheet of plastic had all the copper tracks or
condukting polymer aranged in a track matrix to each side of the 
switches to get it conected!!

The whole switch matrix was "wery "flexing, i took it out of 
the case and bent the whole thing 360 degrees over a tube
i have here (the KBD still powered and connected to the computer)
and the switches worked fine no cracks to the tracks whatsoever!!

I know that Minolta used some sort of this plastic flex PCB
in their system cameras, but have any one of you come across
this polymer PCB in any music apps recently??

Imagine what kind of crasy music keyboards one could make
or what about a user interface in the shape of a half sphere or globe!!!

BJ 
(who have washed the socks, eaten up the sandwitches, and driving the
ford)   

Honk,Honk!