HP-97 missing keys

[Kees Bouw]

Hi,

Having seen the keyboard I am wondering if the keys can be replaced without doing damage. There seems to be a heat steak kind of thing at the top of the hats, the plastic appears to be melted to keep the hat in place. Are you supposed to just break it? But then how do you put it together again? The service manual says: "To replace, align key and spring properly, then push the hat onto the key stem until it snaps into place." They seem to ignore the melted bit at the top. Pulling the hat off takes some force (I have tried but not with force) which makes me think something will break off. What I would really like to do is take all the keys out so they can be cleaned properly. Is this something that could or should be done, or is removing a key only done when absolutely necessary? One other remark: the scan of the service manual is of rather poor quality, especially the photo's. Maybe someone who has the original can make a new scan? I would be happy to do it but I do not have an original service manual.

Kees.