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+--- Forum: Not quite HP Calculators - but related (/forum-8.html)
+--- Thread: DM32 key remove/unclip to swap yellow and blue? (/thread-22750.html)
DM32 key remove/unclip to swap yellow and blue? - n1msr - 11-22-2024 02:58 PM
I am using the DB50X on my DM32 with overlays and stick-on key labels.
I would like to swap the yellow and blue function plastic keys - I would prefer the yellow key as the "function" key. Is it easy to so this, or is it a no no?
I haven't looked at doing this by opening the calculator - I wanted to ask first.
RE: DM32 key swap? - raprism - 11-22-2024 07:52 PM
The keys have to be fixed on one side like a hinge joint. Although the images in https://forum.swissmicros.com/viewtopic.php?p=29284#p29284 show DM42, the DM32 will likely look similar if disassembled.
RE: DM32 key remove/unclip to swap yellow and blue - n1msr - 11-23-2024 12:01 PM
Thank you for the link to that thread on the C47 on a DM42. I opened my DM32 and is certainly easy to access the keys...
However, I don't see that it is easy to remove an individual key from the front body of the calculator. I don't know how these calculator keys are made and fixed to the body. As you say, there seems to be a hinge and it looks like the blue and the yellow keys could be removed with a firm tug from the clip of the hinge but I am not sure. I don't want to break it :-)
RE: DM32 key remove/unclip to swap yellow and blue? - Nigel (UK) - 11-23-2024 12:44 PM
It would probably be a good idea to ask on the SwissMicros forum before doing anything that you might regret! That said, the calculator (DM42 in my case) is straightforward to disassemble and reassemble - the only fiddly part (so far as I remember) is detaching and re-attaching the display ribbon cable - so if you are feeling confident you could take it apart and have a look at the keyboard yourself.
I've done this before (to remove dust from the display) and so far as I remember it didn't look as though individual keys could be swapped.
A software-based approach might be to change the key map - see the manual linked here, (SwissMicros). I've never tried this so I don't know whether it could help you to do what you want. In particular, I don't have a DM32!
Nigel (UK)
RE: DM32 key remove/unclip to swap yellow and blue? - rprosperi - 11-23-2024 01:09 PM
No, you cannot readily change these keys, they are fixed into the sprue which holds all the black keys, and removing one will basically make it forever loose/wobbly, it it even work at all. I strongly recommend against doing so, and in any case it would invalidate your warranty so a bad thing to try.
RE: DM32 key remove/unclip to swap yellow and blue? - n1msr - 11-23-2024 01:46 PM
Bob,
Thank you for that. When I looked at the keys and the hinge under a magnifying glass it seems like they are not meant to be removed.
Appreciate the definitive no :-)
Mark.