HP-97 keyboard

[Kees Bouw]

Hi,

Thank you for the replies. I have resisted the urge to use any lubricant in the keyboard because it seems unlikely that this was done in the factory.
Fortunately I have never broken a stem having disassembled two keyboards. However, I now have a HP-97 that is quite clean and seems little used, so I think I will not remove the keys. If it's not broken, don't fix it!
I am wondering how these keyboards were manufactured. The stem is cross shaped and this cross is rotated in a way that appears unique to each key. You can't put a key in the wrong position yet the same key does fit in another calculator. I think that the cylinder that it fits into was not fixed to the keyboard initially. The key may have been rotated until straight and after that the cylinder was fixed, maybe by using heat. Is such a thing possible?
Another thing that puzzles me is the people who were working in the factory, or designed the manufacturing process. Is none of those people interested in the products they worked on any more? I have never read a story about how it was done, what materials were used etc. It is a long time ago but some of them must still be around to tell the tale.

Kees.