
Re: alternatives to the key extractor tool?
I find this almost incredible to believe ... are you really sure ? They told you that by email ?
"just" 25 ? I hope they are cheaper... I seem to remember they said (around the period of the launch) the keys were about 10$. 25 is more than double...
Yes, this article
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/20 ... t-plan.ars reports the price was 10$ in 2008.
BTW you can see a small picture of the extractor there, it is the orange plastic thing.
Anyway...
In your place I would try to build something equivalent by myself. It doesn't have to be "U" shaped in my opinion if you have a little tact and patience using it.
I would go for a piece of hard plastic, thin enough to slide between two adjacent keys, and with a file I would cut away enough material to make the needed "dent". The "dent" is needed to grab the perimeter of the transparent key from below.
Then I would put it near the key I have to extract, and I would start to pull up a millimeter (I'm from Europe

) on one side, then switch side and pull up a millimeter there. Repeat until the key start to wiggle and then it will come off. If you ever pulled a IC from its socket... it's the same thing. You must pay attention to not bend the pins.
I certainly avoid flat screwdrivers or other hard tools, the transparent plastic can be ruined pretty easily... or broken.
Go with plastic.
If you want / need a picture of the original extractor I can provide one to you, maybe can be of some help.
Do you actually have bad keys you need to replace ?
EDIT: attached the images of the extractor with a ruler in metric spacing.
Every little notch is a millimeter, every big one with the number right below it is a centimeter.
1 centimeter = 0.393700787 inches