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Post new topic Keyboard epoxy issue. chemists?
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Author Topic:  Keyboard epoxy issue. chemists?
Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2016 10:33 am    
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I hope it's OK to post this here. I know it's not steel guitar but it is music related.
I have a Roland VK-7 B3 modeled 61 key board.
I noticed this goop when I took it apart to clean the touch pad strips as some of the keys were dead and some of them were sticking.

This stuff apparently is the adhesive that secures the weights to the bottom of the keys. The problem is that it melts and gets into the workings causing key sticking and other things. The consistency is like nothing I've seen. It never dries, gooey to the touch, get on your fingers and scrapers, almost nothing takes it off and it smells terrible. Alcohol and a lot of picking and scrubbing gets it off eventually.

I'm trying to figure a way to stop the stuff from dripping down when it heats up. It would be a marathon job to try and clean off of 61 keys and then have to have a way to recement the weights.

I suppose I could spend a couple days cutting out little poster board rectangles to cover the glue.

I thought maybe someone with chemical expertise might be familiar with this epoxy stuff and know some way to harden or neutralize it.

This was apparently a common problem among many of the Roland keyboards and I've seen several threads on this online, but none that have an effective way to deal with it.
Thanks for any help. Moderator feel free to move or delete if out of bounds here.
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Tim Russell


From:
Pennsylvania, USA
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2016 11:46 am    
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Have you checked any of the keyboard forums for remedies? Surely other guys have found a way around this.

To add to that;

Be very careful not to get epoxy on your skin. I worked with epoxies for years bare handed, only to find out recently that it can cause severe nerve damage by handling. Embarassed
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2016 11:57 am    
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Yeah Tim, I've done a lot of searching...haven't found much.

Thanks for the caution too.
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Butch Mullen

 

From:
North Carolina, USA 28681
Post  Posted 7 Apr 2016 12:52 pm    
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I emailed Roland some time ago with an amp question. They actually answered me and were very helpful. Maybe they would help you with this problem. Butch in NC
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Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 8 Apr 2016 6:54 pm    
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Here's a link, Jerry. I think they have an answer to your questions:

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=623176
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 8 Apr 2016 8:12 pm    
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Thanks for ferreting that out Donny. I went there but I didn't see that thread or skipped over it I guess.

Lots of reading to do there as time permits.
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Charlie McDonald


From:
out of the blue
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2016 9:35 am    
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If it were my keyboard, and having read some of the posts in the link, I might take your suggestion with the posterboard covers.
It looks like another glue might not even stick to the red stuff (not familiar with it), but covers might work. I don't think key weight would change much. A lot of labor, but it might be best to bury the problem rather than try to remove it.
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 9 Apr 2016 10:18 am    
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Yeah, it's a messy problem and not one easily fixed. I'm worried that if I cover the stuff up with the posterboard squares, if and when it melts it might ooze out under the covers and get between the keys. As it is now, it would primarily just glob down to the bottom metal cover. Maybe topping it with one of the other substances mentioned there would keep the stuff imprisoned where it is. I don't know. [The stuff is OK until it gets hot...then, once gooey, always gooey.] That, and keeping it in a cool environment, which means that I couldn't take it to an outdoor event in the summer heat Sad

The idea of dealing with the caustic fixes in that thread is not very appealing.

Though my past experience with Roland customer service has not been especially fruitful, I think I'm going to query them re: a new keybed and see what they have to say. Not going to invest a lot as it's now 20 yrs. old and worth only a fraction of the purchase price even if there were no issues.

Thanks everybody for all the input.
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 10 May 2016 5:55 am    
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Website does not list the VK-7 as being supported any longer. I did write a letter to Roland US customer service asking for solutions, ideas, replacement parts but so far have not heard anything back.
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Carl Heatley


From:
Morehead City,NC
Post  Posted 10 May 2016 10:56 am    
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CITROL is by far the best thing to take off any glue or sticky stuff from anything...I use it all the time on just about everything....Just spray a little on a shop towel and wipe in one direction.


http://stores.buyschaefferoil.com/products/schaeffers-citrol-266-citrus-spray-degreaser-cleaner-16oz-can.html
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 18 Apr 2017 6:34 pm    
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Update on this issue: I did go through all the white keys last year and covered all the weights and goo with the beige colored paperboard you see in the photo on the white key. Like a dummy though, I didn't think to examine the black key weights, epoxy etc. as I didn't take the thing all apart.

I hadn't used the instrument for a few months but kept it in a climate controlled area. So when I wanted to use it recently, I found that the keys were sticking again.

I believe I can get by with the work I did on the white ones, but I'm trying to figure a way to deal with the black ones. The silver colored thing you see up inside the key is the weight which is held in there with that awful red stuff adhesive.

It does appear to be an enclosed cavity there, so I'm thinking of something like expanding foam to seal them up.

Poo on Roland...been over a year since I contacted them. I asked about a solution or even buying a new key bed.... never got a peep out of them. I have about a dozen Boss and Roland products, but I won't be buying any more if that's the way they treat their customers....I've got a $2000 instrument that's basically unusable junk if I can't figure out something.


Last edited by Jerry Overstreet on 20 Apr 2017 3:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 19 Apr 2017 12:32 pm    
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After mulling it over last night this is what I decided to do:

I used some self-adhesive weatherstrip that's just a tad wider than the cavity, cut 25 pcs. just a bit longer than needed and stuffed it in there on top of the weight, well actually bottom.

The expectation is that when the red rage starts to soften, the foam w/strip will trap it in there.

Since I had all the keys off anyhoo, I applied the same principle to the white keys with a different type.

This foam weatherstrip weighs almost nothing and should have no effect at all on the feel.


Last edited by Jerry Overstreet on 20 Apr 2017 3:38 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Charlie McDonald


From:
out of the blue
Post  Posted 19 Apr 2017 1:24 pm    
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I applaud your stick-to-itiveness.
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Jerry Overstreet


From:
Louisville Ky
Post  Posted 19 Apr 2017 2:54 pm    
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Good one Charlie Exclamation This project has been like a suspense novel. Gripping, couldn't put it down. Stayed glued to it for days, but I'm almost finished and to the point I can get loose from it.
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