Our TS2068 users have long been concerned about the loss of the painted on key cap markings do to normal wear. We have tried carefully painting clear coatings on the keys using things like Krylon but in time that either wears off or collects finger dirt making the keys again unreadable.
Bob Swoger visited my home one day last winter and observing my TS2068, he noticed that my keys still looked like new! As he got closer, he found that he was looking at these keys through a thin, almost invisible film! “What’s this?” he asked. “I got the idea from you. You know how you protect your home TV remote by wrapping it in a plastic sandwich bag? Well, I taped Saran Wrap over the top of my keyboard. You can hardly see it because the film is so clear and you can hardly feel it. Try it”, I said.
He gave it a try. I had taped the Saran Wrap over the keyboard just lose enough to not feel its presence. The film started from under the cover of the game/dock port where it was fastened with two small pieces of Scotch tape. Unless you opened the door, you couldn’t see the tape. I had laid a pencil vertically between the film and the keys and taped the left edge of the film under the TS2068 using several small pieces of tape. The ON/OFF switch was left uncovered.
The top edge of the film was left un-taped, its edge hidden by the groove just above the keyboard. The bottom edge was wrapped over the bottom edge of the machine and taped underneath again with several small pieces of tape. When the pencil was removed the tension of the film was relaxed making film limp over the keys. This is what made the film transparent to feel.
This whole procedure took far less time than painting clear Krylon coating over the keys and if the thing ever starts looking ugly, you can replace it again real easy!
Bob tried it on Bobby Muth‘s machine and his own at the next club meeting. Three minutes to find the scissors, pencil, Scotch tape and Reynolds version of Saran Wrap. Seven minutes to install the film and re-install the TS2068 back into the setup. Two minutes to put the items away again. (Wives/moms really appreciate that part.)