The Great Keyboard Switch Swap
We take a look at the techniques and tools needed to swap out an aftermarket keyboard’s switches for something customised
This issue, we’ve taken a look at the SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL keyboard. It is actually one of the best off-the-shelf keyboards we’ve reviewed in a long time. It scored a 9 and earned our KickAss award. That is realistically the highest score any product will get at PCPP, as nothing is ever perfect: even if it ticked every single one of our boxes, it’s just not going to be the right fit for everyone—therefore, it can’t ever be a 10. There’s always something that can be improved upon.
The Apex 7 we received for review had Cherry MX Brown switches. These switches are a favorite for a lot of folk, but as professional writers working in tech, we often like heavier, tactile switches, and the Browns in the Apex 7 just don’t tickle our fancy. Now, the problem we have here is that the Apex 7 is not technically “hot swappable”, but we love the keyboard so much that we want to make it our own. So, it’s time to see if we can do a switch swap.
You can change the switches on almost any keyboard. Sure, hot-swappable boards are far easier to do this with, and i f you know that you want to swap switches often, we advise buying one of these (see, the Apex 7 isn’t perfect for everyone). However, o n b oards t hat a re h ardsoldered, you can usually change them fairly easily with just a modicum of skill and a few handy tools. Let’s get to it, shall we? –DAVE ALCOCK
Starting Out
This time around, we want to use Gateron Green switches. These are pretty much on par with Cherry MX Green switches, but we are using these ones instead of the Cherry counterpart because they’re compatible with the LEDs that SteelSeries uses in its boards. We would have loved to use some other switches, such as Sherbets or Holy Pandas or something else that’s equally fun, but alas, we again didn’t have any that were compatible with the LEDs.
Before we move onto the tools you’ll need, there is one thing to remember. When doing any modifications like this, you will void your warranty entirely, and there is absolutely a chance you could render your keyboard unusable. So if you are unsure in any way, just don’t do it.
Tools of the Trade
The main thing you will need is a soldering iron. Now, you can get these for as little as $10 from Home Depot or similar hardware stores, but it is important that your soldering iron can get to the temperature needed to melt the solder that the keyboard manufacturer uses. We’ve seen solder stay strong at 850 F, so we recommend a soldering station.
Something that isn’t needed as much, but is certainly advisable to have, is a desoldering station. When desoldering with a standard soldering iron, it is extremely easy to damage the solder pads around the switch and LEDs. You can use soldering pumps or solder wick, but having tried all of the options, a reasonably cheap station is so much better for the job—especially if you are going to be doing multiple keyboards, or you have a use for it elsewhere in your life.
You will also need some solder and some flux [ Image A]. People often disregard flux, but it makes soldering much easier. It helps when cleaning the contacts, as well as breaking the surface tension of the molten solder so that it doesn’t just stay a molten blob. If you don’t want to shell out for the flux, then at a pinch you can use petroleum jelly. For the solder, we usually use some lead-free 0.3mm solder, but really you can use whatever you can get.
It is also advisable to get a switch puller and a keycap puller. These are not 100-percent needed, but they do make the job a lot easier. If you don’t want to buy these, then a micro-screwdriver kit can suffice. You will need to have the screwdriver kit anyway.
PCB Removal
The first job is to access the PCB so that you can get at the switches and LEDs [ Image B]. This differs from keyboard to keyboard. Some keyboards have multiple plates that need to be removed, while some have covers that are tricky to take apart. Sometimes the screws are hidden behind the feet of the keyboard, and sometimes keyboards are horribly push-fitted together with tabs instead of screws. Having said that, some are easy to disassemble. In our case, the Apex 7 TKL is one of the easy ones. All the screws are accessible without having to remove stickers or feet. To see the screws, simply remove the keycaps. If you are not too proficient with keyboards, take a picture of the layout so that you can put them all back in place again afterwards.
While removing the case, it is important that you don’t damage any of the ribbon
cables or wires, so remove it carefully [ Image C]. Most of the cables are simple to remove and just require you to pull the connector from the clips, but ribbon cables have a few different styles—some clip down and some slide forward. Don’t force the movement on ribbon cable clips as they can be delicate.
The Desoldering Begins
Once you have access to the rear of the PCB you can start desoldering the switches and LEDs [ Image D]. In the Apex 7 TKL, SteelSeries uses four pole LEDs and standard Cherry MX-style switches. This means that there are four pins per switch to remove, and 86 switches, so if we’ve counted on our fingers correctly, that makes it 344 desoldering points.
This is why we suggest using a desoldering gun. This works by heating up the solder until it is in liquid form, then vacuuming it up into the glass chamber. Without one, desoldering is far trickier and more time-consuming.
If you don’t wish to shell out on a desoldering station, you can use a soldering iron to heat the solder, then use a solder pump to remove it, or use a soldering wick to absorb it. Use only the heat that you need to make the solder liquid—too much heat can burn the pads from the PCB, and you will render the keyboard useless, unless you can trace the PCB and do some cable patches (which we won’t go through today as that is quite an extensive topic). So be careful.
Switch Removal
Once the solder is removed from around the pins, it’s time to remove the switch. This is where a switch puller makes the job a lot easier [ Image E]. The puller grips the switch in such a way that it compresses the latches that hold it in place, making the switch easier to remove. If you don’t have a switch puller you can push the switch from the rear of the PCB and get it out. Removing the switch is one of the most dangerous parts of the job. The socket can be pulled/pushed out, or damage can occur to the soldering pads. To stop this from happening, make sure that the solder is completely removed from the pins—if they’re connected in any way you could
have problems.
When all the switches have been removed, the PCB should look like this [ Image F]. There should be no remaining solder and no damaged pads or sockets. If there is stubborn solder, such as in the small holes on the LEDs, try and remove it if possible, but if you can’t, then make sure you heat it when you’re soldering switches in place later. You don’t want to create any gaps between the two sets of solder.
New Switch Time
Now it’s time to push in the new switches and LEDs. The switch will usually go in first, then the LED afterwards. We like to work methodically and do all the switches, then all the LEDs [ Image G]. Once the switch is pushed through, dab the pin and the pad with a little bit of flux. You don’t have to put much on at all—just a smidgen will make the soldering process a whole lot easier. Next, heat the solder and the pin at the same time, and because of the flux and the similar temps, the solder will just run down the pin and bead around the soldering pad. It sounds simple, but getting the knack of it can take a few attempts. You don’t need to put too much solder on either—all it is doing is connecting the pins to the pads, so you don’t need a mountain of the stuff.
Here you can see how the solder and flux should look [ Image H]: the left pin just has the flux on, and the right pin has been soldered. When the flux melts it leaves a residue, so clean the bulk of this off with a clean, soft-bristle paint brush, and then clean the remaining bits with some isopropyl alcohol. There are some “no clean” flux types on the market, but for the few minutes it takes to clean up, it is not worth leaving it on. Flux can cause corrosion over time, so it’s not worth it.
Workarounds
Once you’ve soldered all the switches and LEDs, you can test it all before you put the case back on. Test every switch, and try multiple colors of RGB lighting [ Image
I]. It’s good practice to set all the LEDs to white. This will usually show up any that are not performing correctly, as white uses the three colors of the RGB LED. If it can’t produce the green, the LED will look purple instead. If it can’t create the blue, you will get yellow, and if it can’t produce the red it will be cyan. If you get a color other than white, check that the pins are soldered correctly. You can work out which pin is failing by understanding the color that is being produced. However, it takes more brain power than just checking all four pins.
If a switch doesn’t work, again, check the solder. If there is a pad damaged, particularly for a switch, all is not lost. Switches are laid out in columns and rows, and keyboards know which switch is being pressed like it is a game of Battleship. This means you can often bridge a damaged switch, and even LEDs, with another one somewhere else on the same row or column—you just have to determine the path of the wire. The easiest way to do this is just shorting out the switch with partnering switches and seeing if it works or not. Once you’ve figured out which row/column the switch is partnered to, you can solder a small wire to bridge the gap. In the future, when we have more time we can show
this in more detail, but there’s already some information on this process out there on the internet. The main thing is to not panic if something doesn’t work.
Work Complete
Once all your switches are working and your LEDs are acting as they should, you can then put the ribbon cables and wires back and put the board back together. That’s it! You just did a complete switch change! Yay! Okay, it does seem daunting, and we should be cautious, as saying it is easy might prompt everyone to start ripping switches off their boards, but it isn’t too hard. The main thing is to take your time, and if something feels wrong, it probably is. If a switch is very stubborn when you are trying to remove it, don’t force it out. Treat it nice.
So, how does the SteelSeries Apex 7 feel after the switch change? Glorious. We have no idea why Green switches are not more common in keyboards—if you like Blue switches, think of them, but heavier. For writers it just gives you a satisfying feeling, with feedback on every button you press, and enables us to rest our hands on the keyboard while we try and remember if it is their, there, or they’re.
It would have been fantastic to be able to use some other kinds of switch, and if we knew before it arrived that we were going to love the Apex 7, we would have ordered some in specifically for it. SteelSeries caught us off guard with this board, however—we didn’t expect to like it and the software as much as we did, and we wanted to put it into service as quickly as possible. Maybe in the future we will switch out all the switches again and put something a little bit more exotic in.
The keyboard is almost perfect now, although there is one other change that might be on the horizon—swapping the hardwired cable for a removable one. We’re not quite sure how to do this while keeping it all clean and tidy, especially since there is a passthrough cable to think about as well, but it can’t be that hard, right?