Computer Keyboard Autopsy

Ever wondered what the inside of a keyboard looks like?  I took this old broken one apart to see if there were parts I could scavenge for art projects...

Took out the Phillips head screws and removed the bottom cover.

This little circuit board attaches to the big plastic circuits under each keypad.  Looks to be machine soldered. 

Couple of capacitors and resistors on the board.  We'll want to remove the capacitors before using for anything else. 

This plastic layered circuit is printed by machine on plastic.  Two layers of circuits are separated by another thin plastic layer.

Then there is a funky little rubber membrane that goes in underneath each key.  So if you spill coffee, you probably won't kill your keyboard right away.

And we get down to the keys.  They snap in from the front and have two little snap hooks to hold each one in place.  A pair of needle nose pliers will snap them out.

And there's a key.  We'll see what sort of stuff I can use this for.