The keycap for the ‘L’ key on my FW13 has fallen off.
The clips underneath appear to be fine, but the ‘rest position’ of the scissor mechanism is recessed far enough into the chassis that I can’t just push the keycap back on.
I’ve tried slipping a bit of paper underneath to hold the scissor mechanism up, but it hasn’t worked.
Is there a special secret technique for reattaching these keycaps, or will I have to buy an entire new input cover?
I’ve had this machine for just over 3 years, so it’s well out of warranty by now.
The laptop keyboards I’ve dealt with usually have a particular way the keys must be attached. For the bottom pins, you slide the key up to hook them in, then the top pins are snapped on by pressing the key down.
If this doesn’t feel understandable right away, I wouldn’t even bother trying. A picture is worth a thousand words, I’d suggest just googling and watching a couple videos.
If they were the hook type, I’d expect them to hook towards the top or bottom of the keycap, not in towards the middle. That would show clearly which direction they’re supposed to hook in.
And there’s nothing on the scissor mechanism to stop those hooks from moving too far and missing their anchor points if they do indeed need to be slid upwards or downwards.
The only video I’ve been able to find for the FW13 keyboard in this forum is for a function key, not a letter key, and evidently those keys attach differently.
You have to ask, how much is your time & avoiding potential frustration worth?
There is a reason Framework offers whole input covers for every keyboard language / variant. Removing the keyboard from the input cover requires 71* tiny PH0 Philips screws, and they are easy to strip. And after removing every screw, you then have to put them all back in. Even being careful, some people have said they’ve stripped a few. Philips is evil for cam out, particularly when tiny.
It looks like it was done because of how the input cover was designed to provide as much structure / stiffness as possible while remaining thin. The input cover is continuous right across / through the keyboard, with just individual holes for each key. The keyboard screws into that lattice between the keys to become part of the structure.
Before someone says they should have just made it a couple millimeters thicker, well, a couple millimeters here, a couple there, and you have a laptop that reviewers call thick & chunky. Compared to ultra-thin glued together throw-away laptops of today. And as a consequence, the FWL13 wouldn’t sell as well. I’m sure Framework would rather not have to stock dozens of input covers plus mounted keyboards at every warehouse, but it seems they felt it was worth it.
The FWL16, of course, does not use that type of keyboard design, but it’s a beast compared to the FWL13.
<s>strikethrough</s> or <strike> </strike>: strikethrough <del>red & strikethrough</del>: red & strikethrough <ins>green & underlined</ins>: green & underlined
Gluing the top edge of the keycap in place seems to have worked for now.
I slipped a shim of greased/waxed oven paper underneath the top half of the scissor mechanism to raise it up, and to protect the PCB underneath.
I put a small blob of glue on both of the clips at the top of the keycap, with a thin line of glue between them.
I hooked the bottom half of the keycap in place, then pressed down on the top half until the key was fully depressed.
I placed a weight on the key to hold it down while the glue dried.
After the glue dried, I had to use the paper shim to lift the key back up.
After removing the shim, the key appears to function normally.
I’ll probably buy the v2 keyboard when it’s released, in case any other keycaps are wearing out, but at least I have a working laptop in the meantime.
The bottle says “styrene acrylic copolymer”, “non-toxic water-based resin”, and “perfect for stopping raw fabric edges, hems, and seams fraying”. It hardens into a clear blob of plastic after about 2 hours.
I used it here because it’s what I had lying around, and because I often use it to fill gaps in small plastic items. I figured it would set around the clips on the keycap and inside the holes they’re supposed to attach to, holding everything in place, without sticking to the oven paper like superglue might.
I thought that was just to disassemble the keyboard assembly into its raw parts. 
