[sdiy] U-20 questions

[Bob Weigel]

I usually use the 'pull the key and use mirror grinding technique to 
deglaze the contacts' technique. Andy Seitz tells me he has success with 
acetone on the contacts. Whatever you do..DO NOT spray contact cleaner 
on them.  (No I'm not turning into Kevin..)  It will often cause the 
material to sort of swell and work even poorer.  I've succeeded (for 
lack of having another contact strip at the time after I'd sold a guy a 
JX10 which has the same movement as I recall..and just trying to get one 
contact working a little better that had started to flake again) in 
using alcohol and lots of persistance to get the contact rejouvenated 
after such an event. but..save yourself the trouble.  No contact 
cleaners on those conductive rubber contacts. 
     So I have success so far with

1) cleaning thoroughly the area inside and out of the contacts and on 
the circuit board.
2) playing the contacts without the keys in that have been giving 
trouble.  If they give a jitter response keep rubbing them with like a 
pencil eraser carefully but vigorously in a cyclic motion across the 
surface of the circuit board contact.

And..if you absolutely need them I have some apparently good used 
contacts.  I'll have to check if I can still get new ones to get you a 
price.  -Bob
-Bob
    -

Tim Parkhurst wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I love the sounds on my Roland U-20 but it has two problems:
>
>1) Funky key contacts. Many keys don't sound, or trigger a dozen times when
>you hit the key once (a really neat effect if you could turn it on and off).
>I pulled the rubber contact strips and used conductive ink to "re-plate" the
>contact pattern about two years ago. This helped a little, but now the
>problem is as bad as it ever was. Is there a better way to refurbish the
>contacts, or do I just replace the contact strips? And where do I get
>replacement contact strips? I'm just using the U-20 as a sound module right
>now, and this is a reasonable workaround, but the machine has a nice
>keyboard and I'd probably use it as my master controller if the darn thing
>worked properly.
>
>2) A Two line LCD and four buttons do NOT make a user interface!!! Are there
>any editor/librarians for the U-20 out there? I know Unisyn has a U-20
>'module' but I just don't have the $200 or so right now to spare. Any other
>choices?
>
>Thanks as always!
>
>
>Tim (more than two problems) Servo
>
>"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
>
>
>  
>