C64 Breadbin... New screw holes in the case.

First I have to say, that I am not aiming at a perfect solution here. The fix is internal, and it will never be noticeable unless you open up the case, and have a look inside. The result here, is to rebuild the screw holes and have a much more solid result, in terms of wear and tear. The Commodore64 that I have, were build in late-83, It is after all, a little over 34 years old, so naturally the original screw holes were getting a bit tired. My guess is that it is from late-83, because it is a 250407 board. To my knowledge, Commodore sold two different revisions before the 407-board. Please correct me if I am wrong, and I will correct the above as soon as possible.

So. First step was to get rid of the old plastic holes. And as the standoff's have a hole going right through and to the shell, then it is just a matter of cutting off some material. I took one of the brass standoff's and used it to measure out were I had to cut. Then I took a sharp box cutter and wiggeled it around. This way, it will slice through the old plastic like knife through butter. And I was left with 8 pieces here below.

Then I took the old screw's, and made a new thread. I took a CD-Rom/Floppy disk screw and gently screwed it into the hole. And thus making a specific thread for the brass standoff's that I were to use. Now. There are two type of brass standoff's for PC motherboards. Those with a thick screw, and those with a thin screw. I used the thin type, as the thick would split the plastic. Then I mixed up some epoxu two-component blue, and dipped the brass standoff's screw into it, and used it as a kind of lubricant, so it would screw more easy in. Plus this add's epoxy glue on the inside of the plastic standoff.

After 24 hours, the glue was hardened enough for the keyboard to be screwed into place. Or be remounted if you like. I added some reddish filt washers, just in order to see if the typing experience would be better. And I must say that I can not tell the difference. They are also used, in order to save the nylon base of the keyboard, from taking too much damage from the metal screws being screwed in.

The end result.... Well... The keyboard are now yet again mounted straight and level. Typing on the keyboard do not make the machine rattle that much anymore, and it gives an overall more solid experience. As I said first in this blog-post, then the aim was to make something sturdy and solid. The cosmetic part is not a top priority. As you might have noticed, then I have previously done the same with the three screws, that are used to close the case with.



Thanks for reading.....