Casio Privia key clicking repair success!

[Siberialina]

here is my 3 min video of the process with some interesting finds...Hope someone might find it helpful. Thank you for your helpful suggestions which I used https://vimeo.com/446327916

[AndrewL]

Wow, I wonder at 1:20 what was actually missing or broken or misplaced. How are the other metal pieces joined to the plastic? Maybe glue?

Isn't the noise from that A# caused by the clip you added moving when the key goes up?

[Jokeyman123]

i have disassembled several Privias for various reasons-you can see my posts here at Casio regarding the PX350 in particular. This one looks a bit different inside-but from what i can see in your video-the clicking is being caused by the metal fulcrum arm hitting the plastic where there appears to be a raised line of plastic about halfway from the fulcrum ends-almost in the middle as part of the gray frame. I am not clear what you did to actually stop the clicking-as Andrew posted-if the rubber ends of the fulcrums are twisted out of place-it may be allowing the fulcrum to hit the plastic case-that's what it sounds like to me. I'll have to study this video again. You also found out-Casio uses alot of keyboard grease which over time can melt and seep into the rubber boots-whenever i disassemble a keyboard-I try to clean all that excess grease before I put everything back together, i think they overdo it a bit sometimes. it's necessary but only so much! Thanks for posting, hard for many to get keyboard repair technicians for these problems in some areas-why I try to post like you did whenever I can find something useful that might help a DIY person-always with the warning-get a proper tech to fix it first unless you are absolutely sure you have no other alternative but to do it yourself.

[Siberialina]

5 hours ago, AndrewL said:

Wow, I wonder at 1:20 what was actually missing or broken or misplaced. How are the other metal pieces joined to the plastic? Maybe glue?

Isn't the noise from that A# caused by the clip you added moving when the key goes up?

other pieces seemed to have been glued as I didn't see any joints or screws. The noise of A#-yeah, maybe we should have placed the clip a bit closer outward(toward the player)... When we tested before assembling, there was still some noise, it didnt become worse when we assembled. if you look on the leftmost key (the one we didn't remove), you can see how it arches really high, so the noise is not from the clip contact with the key itself. Maybe I should disassemble again, but this will be a project for the next lockdown

[Siberialina]

3 hours ago, Jokeyman123 said:

i have disassembled several Privias for various reasons-you can see my posts here at Casio regarding the PX350 in particular. This one looks a bit different inside-but from what i can see in your video-the clicking is being caused by the metal fulcrum arm hitting the plastic where there appears to be a raised line of plastic about halfway from the fulcrum ends-almost in the middle as part of the gray frame. I am not clear what you did to actually stop the clicking-as Andrew posted-if the rubber ends of the fulcrums are twisted out of place-it may be allowing the fulcrum to hit the plastic case-that's what it sounds like to me. I'll have to study this video again. You also found out-Casio uses alot of keyboard grease which over time can melt and seep into the rubber boots-whenever i disassemble a keyboard-I try to clean all that excess grease before I put everything back together, i think they overdo it a bit sometimes. it's necessary but only so much! Thanks for posting, hard for many to get keyboard repair technicians for these problems in some areas-why I try to post like you did whenever I can find something useful that might help a DIY person-always with the warning-get a proper tech to fix it first unless you are absolutely sure you have no other alternative but to do it yourself.

I understand what you mean about black plastic bits twisting out of place-this happened with some other keys when I was assembling the keyboard-some keys popped back easily, some didn't and when we lifted them again, the black rubber thingie was out of place. I have become a keyboard disassembling ninja in the process, as I had to do it three times(not in the vid, because it's stupid). First time I missed a whole set of screws(kept them in a separate bowl and missed them completely), second, when I assembled, something was rattling inside, I opened one side and a flat piece of grey rectangular plastic fell out(about the size of that metal bit that I put in place, but thinner). I don't know whether it was lose before, or something gave in during my fiddling with it. Good advice re grease-I didn't really clean anything, as I did not have any replacement grease. When closing, I scooped some from nearby keys and put on the one I dealt with. I also added petroleum jelly and am now having second thoughts about it, as it might affect those black rubber caps on the keys...

[Jokeyman123]

Petroleum jelly can deteriorate rubber over time-I think it can soften plastic but I don't think it will do much damage soon-maybe after awhile it might soften and swell the rubber parts. for screws-I use a tiny bit of "poster putty" on my screwdrivers-the kind that is like "silly putty" designed for sticking paper posters up-and a magnetic wand to fetch screws that might get lost in the mechanism. You have my best wishes, this is not easy work, certainly not for everyone!

[Casiofun]

Replacing the hammer would have also fixed it assuming the part is available. They don't cost much to replace.

[Siberialina]

45 minutes ago, Casiofun said:

Replacing the hammer would have also fixed it assuming the part is available. They don't cost much to replace.

Not easily available, would have to order from the dealer and it's probably too complicated, I am a pianist, this is way above my expertise...

[Siberialina]

2 hours ago, Jokeyman123 said:

Petroleum jelly can deteriorate rubber over time-I think it can soften plastic but I don't think it will do much damage soon-maybe after awhile it might soften and swell the rubber parts. for screws-I use a tiny bit of "poster putty" on my screwdrivers-the kind that is like "silly putty" designed for sticking paper posters up-and a magnetic wand to fetch screws that might get lost in the mechanism. You have my best wishes, this is not easy work, certainly not for everyone!

Arrrgh!!!! Thank you for this info, will disassemble on Monday and will remove all the jelly. Thank you for best wishes, Jokeyman123, although I am not technical, this was an easy fix and using the power drill to unscrew all the screws saved a lot of time. I did use other people's advice not to use the power drill for screwing the screws back... Since I will be opening it up, I will also try to push my clip a bit to see whether this will make a difference. Luckily, clips are cheaper than hammers. Someone should make a channel about fixing pianos with twigs and straw LOL

[Jokeyman123]

I understand-I've had to disassemble different keyboards 1-2-3 times occasionally at first. Go easy with the screws into the plastic anchors very easy to strip-if you strip one, I use some crazy glue (cyanoacrylate) with a bit of a toothpick to snug up stripped plastic screwposts. And the more you do this, the better you will get at it, at least I think so! The good thing about the Casios-unlike many others-almost all the screws that hold the cases together are the same size-saves you from having to sort out several different sizes and thread designs for screws.

 

I have professional tech training-but that doesn't make it easier in some respects!

 

If you can get more internal pictures if you get this apart again, I will study it over again.  I have an older PX575 I play often-and this PX320 looks closer to that one than the newer 350/360/560/PX-S series. I think those internal designs look a bit more securely put together, although yours is fairly close to the others and is still a very workable design. My old 575 keys feel as playable and are as quiet as the newer-but I had to do some mods to get there-alot of work.  Again-look at the frame above the fulcrums-i still think the metal arms are hitting that part with the ridge-that could happen because the felts have compressed a bit over time, although the felts-judging by your pictures-look to be in pretty good condition.  and patience-extremely important-if I'm not in a "good place"-feel rushed or pressured-that's when I make mistakes. Takes some real patience and skill to do this work, that's why there are so few good keyboard techs in our disposable economy, that and most just junk stuff when it doesn't work.

[Siberialina]

On 8/23/2020 at 12:23 AM, Jokeyman123 said:

I understand-I've had to disassemble different keyboards 1-2-3 times occasionally at first. Go easy with the screws into the plastic anchors very easy to strip-if you strip one, I use some crazy glue (cyanoacrylate) with a bit of a toothpick to snug up stripped plastic screwposts. And the more you do this, the better you will get at it, at least I think so! The good thing about the Casios-unlike many others-almost all the screws that hold the cases together are the same size-saves you from having to sort out several different sizes and thread designs for screws.

 

I have professional tech training-but that doesn't make it easier in some respects!

 

If you can get more internal pictures if you get this apart again, I will study it over again.  I have an older PX575 I play often-and this PX320 looks closer to that one than the newer 350/360/560/PX-S series. I think those internal designs look a bit more securely put together, although yours is fairly close to the others and is still a very workable design. My old 575 keys feel as playable and are as quiet as the newer-but I had to do some mods to get there-alot of work.  Again-look at the frame above the fulcrums-i still think the metal arms are hitting that part with the ridge-that could happen because the felts have compressed a bit over time, although the felts-judging by your pictures-look to be in pretty good condition.  and patience-extremely important-if I'm not in a "good place"-feel rushed or pressured-that's when I make mistakes. Takes some real patience and skill to do this work, that's why there are so few good keyboard techs in our disposable economy, that and most just junk stuff when it doesn't work.

Some internal photos of my Privia PX350 for Jokeyman123-long overdue, sorry! I wasn't sure what to photograph, sorry if that's not what you were looking for. Also, will do a separate post on how I improved on my own repairs.

[Siberialina]

As promised, here is an update on my repairs. I repaired the clicking key by putting a metal clip over it (see the photo). This worked, kind of. Unfortunately, the key in question was next to the screw and the clip would make a click every time the key was lifted-if it wasn't for a screw on the right, this wouldn't have happened. This bothered me enough to disassemble the keyboard again and try a different solution this time using the plastic tie they often use for cords when you buy something. I have a whole collection of them. This worked much better and there is no noise anymore. Hope someone would find it helpful.