[sdiy] Chroma Polaris problems

[Glen]

At 05:31 AM 1/10/02 , adam at hoodmusic.net wrote:
>hi
>
>    I have a chroma polaris with abit of a problem there are two plastic
>ribbon type cables in the polaris that connect between the two control
>panel boards in the polaris, these are folded over by the wonderful
>people at fender/rhodes which has the side effect of causing the
>conductors to crack in 20 years and causing every membrane switch to
>die. There is a fix of using a conductive pen on them, but it has been
>tried and only helped for a few months. Is there anyway to replace these
>or can a normal piece of ribbon cable be used instead?
>
>thanks,
>adam

The problem is, those fragile ribbon cables and the switches themselves, are
all constructed on the same plastic substrate. I have a broken Chroma Polaris
myself, and I haven't decided what to do with my
"switch-panel-ribbon-connector-assemblies" either. 

I could try the conductive ink or paint method you mentioned, but as you point
out, it isn't too reliable. I've done this in the past, but wasn't impressed
with the reliability either.

I could also modify the front panel, by installing "real switches" instead of
those membrane switches, and then use "real ribbon cables" to connect my new
switches to the internal circuit board. This would mean a lot of work, mounting
new switches, making a wiring harness for them, adapting the internal circuit
board for a different ribbon cable connector, etc. There is also the problem of
trying to make such a modification look cosmetically pleasing - which certainly
be a challenge. It would probably hurt the resale value of the keyboard, if it
looked different after the modification, even if it still looked very neat.

If I got really ambitious, I might consider making a totally new case and new
switch panels for the Chroma Polaris, and turn it into a rack mount module. It
might even be possible to reuse the keyboard, mount it in a new enclosure, and
connect it to the rack cabinet with a cable. That way, the rack module could be
used with the original keyboard, or without the keyboard, as a MIDI module. I
admit that this is pretty drastic, but the cabinet on my Chroma Polaris isn't
in perfect shape anyway. The previous owner played in bars, and this keyboard
got involved in a bar fight, from what I understand.

Then there is the possibility of asking Fender about the availability of new
switch panels. If they are still around, they will be very expensive. I used to
repair these units for a Fender dealership, and even the wholesale price was
more than I wanted to pay at that time. (I forgot what the wholesale price was,
but trust me, it was expensive.)

So there are the options that come to my mind. I'm sorry that I don't have an
easy fix for the situation. Please let me know what you decide to do.


Later,
Glen