help needed on piano 3 repair (FIXED)

[AllanH]

Hi folks,

While I have some spare time, I decided to open my piano 3 for what I think will be a simple repair.
A few months back, the left cheek of my Piano 3 suffered a force too great when standing it up on that LH end on what turned out to be a hard surface... my fault... and I will show more care in future.
I only realised a week later that the underneath steel panel in the LH corner (nearer to the keybed ) had slightly buckled by around a millimetre or 2.
The problem has led to the bottom 3 keys hitting the top red panel upon release of that key... no big deal as those keys are rarely played.

Time for repairs.. after consulting this forum, I think I will be quite capable of opening the Piano 3 / carefully disconnect some ribbons/ remove the keybed/and then flatten the damage to the bottom steel frame/and reassemble.
I'm naturally very careful when doing these sort of repaIrs and all is going well so far.
No issues so far thanks to following a former post on OPENING a NORD PIANO 2.
I've carefully disconnected the grey ribbon numbered 22410 with 2 black claws securing the connector.

I am at the point where I need to disconnect 3 electronic ribbons which emanate from the FATAR keybed.

IMG_20200412_172612[1].jpg (3.07 MiB) Viewed 3986 times

Can someone with experience advise me on how to disconnect firstly the white connector (approx 10mm) in the centre of the pic ?
And, then how to disconnect the 2 wider ribbons ( approx 24 mm) beneath the first ribbon ?

many thanks,
Allan

[AllanH]

Hi AllanH,
I dont' recognize the white connector type. Can you take pictures of it from side (so the cable entry to the white connector is in the foreground). It looks like the black clips lock the white connector down, but I find it difficult to be certain from the picture above.

The larger 24mm connector looks like a Zero Insertion Force "ZIF" connector. These typically have a latching mechanism that clamps the flat conductor ribbon in place. Two common types exist:
1. Drawer-type (a "drawer' slides out from the connector -parallel to the ribbon entry) to release the ribbon.
2. Flap type (a hinged flap on the top of the connector lifts upwards to release the ribbon).

The picture above appears to show the flap type, but again I find it difficult to be certain because of the dark color of the connector and the viewing angle.

[AllanH]

Just did some googling:
The white connector appears to be a Lumberg:
https://www.lumberg.com/en/products/sor ... #serie-030

This looks like it lifts off vertically from the male part of the connector on the circuit board. The link above shows a "Pull Off Tongs" tool for disconnecting the ribbon, so it does not appear to be easy.

The datasheet listed a 7N retention force (~1.6 lbs), so my guess is the black tabs on the side latch the white connector in position. I didn't see any release mechanism described in the datasheets or in the 3d models of the part.

I never used a Lumberg before so can only advise: "Be Careful".

[AllanH]

Thanks pterm for your sharing your expertise on this. I have resisted attempting to disconnect these so far and will definitely proceed with caution ! I'll post another pic or two.

[AllanH]

and here is another close up pic of the ribbon connectors

[AllanH]

and another angle of the connectors... looks like the black plastic is some sort of lock on the white plastic connectors.

Separating the connectors is bound to be a simple process... I just want to be 100 % sure of how to go about it.

IMG_20200414_113223.jpg (1.6 MiB) Viewed 3898 times

[AllanH]

The 24mm wide connector looks like an Amphenol-FCI HFW Series. --I did not see any latch or lock features. If correct, this is NOT a ZIF connector, but a Low Insertion Force "LIF" connector.,
If true, I find this surprising in a Nord: -- This makes for lower cost, but difficulty of insertion and removal increases. The flexible cable usually has a section at the connector end with a plastic stiffener affixed to the flex material. The cable must be forced into the connector making it easy to kink the ribbon.
It looks like that happened here.
LIF connectors reduce the number of insert/removal cycles (compared to ZIF) and makes mating more difficult and cable buckling more likely. If I correctly identified this connector, I find it a disappointing choice in a high end, manually-assembled, repairable product like Nord. This will make repair more difficult.

I don't know how to confirm the ID. It looks like the HFW photos, but the drawings don't show any identifying marks or logos...

[AllanH]

Nord is constrained to design their circuit boards to accommodate the connectors used by Fatar, and that's the way Fatar does their triple-contact piano action.

Yes, if you get that buckle it becomes very difficult to insert the cable, but persistence pays off, especially when failure is NOT an option!

Bless, Pablo

[AllanH]

thank you Pablo. I was hoping you would give me advice on disconnecting these little devils..

so... the smaller 10 mm white/black one... does one pry apart the black locks and then gently pull up on the white plastic?

and is the top 24 mm ribbon a Low Insertion Force connector... which requires a little (cautious ) tugging action to separate it?

[AllanH]

Hi AllanH,

Caveat: I have done that keybed removal job personally on NP3 only once and that was years ago by now. Done it many times on many other models...(but not NP4).

The 10mm cable is your calibration cable. I have not seen Nord use locking plugs/sockets for that connection on any other model, but the visual evidence I'm looking at in your photo seems to show that the black bits to the sides are indeed a locking mechanism. My advice here would be to trust your eyes and proceed cautiously.

Yes, the other is LIF; cautious tugging is called for.

Bless, Pablo (in the other Sunshine State)

PS -- just noticing that you're in Bris. I had an opportunity to visit there for a couple weeks (some years ago now) and did NOT pass it up. Really great city and had a really great time there and in Queensland overall (except the beer seemed expensive)!