Hi, thanks for watching. It is in the description and several times in the video. It is my belief the same process is applicable for non low profile keyboards.
@@Autotoys It is pretty much the same. There may be a few more screws in the regular height keyboard (due to being tedious I did not cross ref my full height to your video) but the over all process is the same.
just popping in to say you saved me, I got an k70 Mk2 and your tutorial rocks! One note though, as I didn't want to sacrifice keys, I took the careful route and decided to pop open the cherry red keys to see what could be done after spilling some soda on the keyboard. I found out that these keys are ingenious but fairly simple inside, mostly a copper alloy spring that was oxidized and covered in green (like aged weathered copper). I carefully disassembled it and cleaned the internal contacts with a toothpick with some cotton on the tip and contact cleaner solution. I was able to recover 5 keys bey desoldering, opening them up and testing with before putting all together. oh btw, you got sub and a like!
This was really helpful, but I think I would get a solder sucker for the next time I'm planning to do something like this. Getting the broken switch out was a huge pain and took way longer than I expected, since my soldering iron is also pretty trash. But in the end, I'm just happy my CRTL-key works again. I am not sure why this video isn't that well received. I guess people tried and gave up lol
Yes. You need a decent soldering iron and a clean one at that to do this. Just needs to be hot and you can also use some left over copper wire laying around like wick to suck up the solder. Don’t really need a desoldering tool.
Nice... More complicated than I hoped, but now I know what effort will be required to get in and reflow my bad LED solder joint. The keycaps are probably due for a wash anyway, so being forced to remove them isn't entirely a bad thing :P
For me, an easy way to remove a switch and solder it back is: first you hold your soldering iron on both pins, then with a switch puler ( best solution) draw out the switch, then clear the holes ( with a Braid Wick), when soldering using rosin/flux is a must. Also, another method to quickly desolder is to use a hot air station, or another solution to use Low Melt Solder for each pin, in order to easily melt it ( at 200 C) and not damage the board. Hope it helps. PS: I was searching for a teardown tutorial for a TKL K70 Champions series, but I suppose are quite similar.
Not everyone will have an hot air station, we used a Hakko temperature controlled iron. It was must simplier to heat up the 2 contacts and push it through. Very rare chance to damage the board as it is just contacts on the board, and even if enough heat was applied, no IC chips are nearby.People also looking to do this won't have hot air stations, or even a temperature controlled iron.
@@Autotoys I'm sure the PCB won't be damaged by a solder iron on high temp. But the plastic of the switch itself can be damaged by melting, loosening the metal parts inside.
Cant Remember, but I think we hit it with flux and we did flow some kester solder on it. But the K70 is still running fine today. Just wanted to post this video because we watched the other videos on Corsair disassembly, overly complicated and they were butchering the removal of all the trim pieces with flathead screwdrivers.
Greetings! I got the RGB version of this keyboard, and two of their LEDs doesnt' lit white and blue anymore. Replacing these two switches does solve this problem? I got a feeling that the LED lamps are soldered directly into the PCB, apart from the switches. Is this right?
Hey there, great video, just wondering, is it possible to separate the top part of the chassis from the key switch pcb without de-soldering every single key switch?
Not for this keyboard, because the solder is how the key switch is held in place. It does not snap in. It is soldered in. And it makes sense because the soldered joints is also the connection for power and the presses.
I've got a K95, shortly after I got it I spilled some hard cider into it. All of the keys work fine but some of the leds have been a different color since, esc. and 1 through 8. Are the led's on the pcb or in the switches? If they are on the pcb are they able to be cleaned, removed, or changed without desoldering all of the switches?
The white little rectangular block on the back of the green board is the LED. You should buy electronics cleaner and spray it down with such - amzn.to/3nQAcbE
Cant remember exactly, but dont forget the ones at the top of the keyboard. The best way to do it is to REMOVE all the keys, and lay it out QWERTY on your table to reassembly easier. Once you remove all the keys, it will clearly show you all the tiny screws.
Is it for old older keyboards? This is for K70 and newer. If you have to unglue something, I recommend you run heat above what you need to remove, and then the logo or plastic will come off easily without scratching or damaging anything.
@@Autotoys The original K70 has a screw under the label; the Mk2 does not. Heat does work, the sticker on the original K70 is metal foil and can be reglued after.
Hey I really need your help. When I was removing keys, the bottom transparent part stayed intact but those circle/plus red things and spring below them came off without braking anything. I can't figure out how they came out and can't put it back together. If you can provide a solution I would be really glad. I looked everywhere can't find it...
Hi, sorry to hear that. So to understand, when you were removing the keycap, the circle and red thing came off with it? Why did you try to remove it in the first place, it probably had extensive damage? Usually they are assembled together, your best bet and for it to work reliably is to replace the entire MX switch. It is only around $4.00 USD or so. Desolder the entire switch as we show it, and then replace it with a new unit. (entire assembly)
@@Autotoys Thank you for the quick answer, I removed the keycap to clean underneath and I used the provided keycap remover, so I did nothing wrong there, but the red part also came off with it. Anyway I sent it to warranty thank you for the insight.
i re soldered every switch, everything went perfectly, so i thought. plugged in the keyboard and everything worked except the keys ESC - F12(the whole row) and on the row below ( Tilda key and 1-9) so i had another look at the board, found one loose bit of solder bridging two of the little orange components labeled [DA] right next to the 9 key. i removed that solder ball and also blew the board with compressed air incase there was other loose small solder balls... now the keyboard either: does nothing when plugged in, or it lights up all red but does nothing still. iCue says "it failed to connect or the onboard memory is corrupted" it's also possible i touched one of the tiny microscopic components around the ic chips while wicking the solder... but why would it mostly work one time?? :( I bought another k70 to try again lol... do you have any tips on how to not brick my keyboard? i think i am going to solder under a microscope next time i do it so i can see the tiny components better and make sure to avoid them
I am not sure what happened in your case. Which key originally malfunctioned? Was it in the top row? Maybe you bend one of the ribbon cables or didnt plug something back firmly? Any screws driving through wires (no wires at the screw point?) , did you apply too much heat to the board? I mean, you are really just heating up the old key and remove it, and then reusing the joints and hitting it with solder. Not a lot could go wrong? Solder balls are bad, they can short things out and it is possible that another solder ball moved somewhere else, and is shorting out other circuit board pins? Shake the keyboard ... Let us know what you find, we are curious.
@@Autotoys no keys originally malfunctioned although i did spill juice on the keyboard in the past which caused some switches to be sticky.(was immediately dunked in iso bath at that time) after about a year of use with sticky switches i bought new switches and ruined the keyboard installing them. since then i have removed all the switches again and put them into a different k70. its the same kb (k.70 mk.2) but to my surprise has completely different mother and daughter board layouts. havn't seen this one online at all, got me thinking is it some kind of knock off? it came with extra horrible sounding mx browns, scratchier than any switch ive heard before, and on the mobo it has no markings on the back to show which switch is what letter.(old old kb has each hole labeled for what button the switch is for) but didnt matter to me because i swapped out all the switches and now it works proper. sorry no update for the other kb, i just soldered back in the F key switch, installed the F keycap to pay my respects and put it in the corner. i did suspect solder balls and shook it around but got nothin
@@Autotoys couple tips i can certainly give between my first attempt and my second attempt is these: 1. have a good soldering iron tip. i started with a shitty tip that was 10 years old and falling apart and didnt have a pointy end anymore, horrible mistake you have no accuracy with that. its a 35w iron i used with no temp control, got hot enough but as far as i can tell not too hot. 2. enhance your vision. use your phone or a microscope with tons of light to zoom in as far as you can on the solder joint you are working on, as to make sure nothing around it gets touched. 3. (important) use a quality solder sucker AND switch puller. You can remove all the solder perfectly, but without a switch puller you will have to put so much force to push the switch out you are very likely to break something. 4. about the solder sucker, don't use one of the cheapo plastic ones. a must-have is the metal one with silicone tip (SS-02) for $20-$25. the silicone tip allows you to suck the solder without removing iron making for consistent easy solder removal. Don't use the $50-$100 electric solder suckers that use a solenoid. works perfect for 10 solder joint removals, fast as fk too. but then it stopped working just like every other review. if you go electric get the hakko but its hella expensive
Hey guys iv just had protean shake poured onto my k90 keyboard. I have dismantled and stopped the random key pressing and just have one key that doesn't work. F11. Where can I get the blue cherry switches from with the corsair Rgb bit on them?
Make sure it is a cherry MX "BLUE" Switch. Remember, in this video, it is a CHERRY MX LOW PROFILE SWITCH (round red circle), other Corsair keyboards will use CHERRY MX RED KEYS (PLUS SIGN)., You can just remove a key and tell from the shape of the button what color the switch is and which design. If you want fast shipping, you can buy original Cherry MX switches here : amzn.to/3lUlyhh - Low profile switches are harder to source. If you are in a jam, remove a key from another place on the keyboard that you do not use... for example the RIGHT WINDOWS key (who uses that key? no one) - Change it with the defective one like we did in the video.
@@Autotoys all sorted i bought a bust corsiar keyboard for the same price and unsolderd them from that and re soliderd them on the new one. All fixed and working now.
(1) This video is in response to people who are prying and marring up the plastic covers with screwdrivers (2) this video is in response how to take the back cable off (3) this video shows you how to desolder the keys and also solder it. If it was only as simple as one screw.....
lol These keyboards are shit.. They are not meant to be fixed.. I am about to toss the 4th Corsair keyboard .. I wont be buying Corsair keyboards again. I will invest in hot swappable high end boards next time.
As you say this, the keyboard this video was based on, has issues with the spacebar when it is depressed on the left side .. (usually where it is depressed, and that is usually space for text and jumping in games right?)
Thanks for the guide! I think you should specify Low Profile in the title
Hi, thanks for watching. It is in the description and several times in the video. It is my belief the same process is applicable for non low profile keyboards.
@@Autotoys It is pretty much the same. There may be a few more screws in the regular height keyboard (due to being tedious I did not cross ref my full height to your video) but the over all process is the same.
just popping in to say you saved me, I got an k70 Mk2 and your tutorial rocks!
One note though, as I didn't want to sacrifice keys, I took the careful route and decided to pop open the cherry red keys to see what could be done after spilling some soda on the keyboard. I found out that these keys are ingenious but fairly simple inside, mostly a copper alloy spring that was oxidized and covered in green (like aged weathered copper). I carefully disassembled it and cleaned the internal contacts with a toothpick with some cotton on the tip and contact cleaner solution. I was able to recover 5 keys bey desoldering, opening them up and testing with before putting all together.
oh btw, you got sub and a like!
Thank your Marcio and sharing what extra you did with our audience and other owners!
This was really helpful, but I think I would get a solder sucker for the next time I'm planning to do something like this. Getting the broken switch out was a huge pain and took way longer than I expected, since my soldering iron is also pretty trash. But in the end, I'm just happy my CRTL-key works again. I am not sure why this video isn't that well received. I guess people tried and gave up lol
Yes. You need a decent soldering iron and a clean one at that to do this. Just needs to be hot and you can also use some left over copper wire laying around like wick to suck up the solder. Don’t really need a desoldering tool.
Nice... More complicated than I hoped, but now I know what effort will be required to get in and reflow my bad LED solder joint. The keycaps are probably due for a wash anyway, so being forced to remove them isn't entirely a bad thing :P
Thank you. Took my K70 apart to see if I could fixed the cord, not possible without a serious headache.
Why? It’s not all that complicated
For me, an easy way to remove a switch and solder it back is: first you hold your soldering iron on both pins, then with a switch puler ( best solution) draw out the switch, then clear the holes ( with a Braid Wick), when soldering using rosin/flux is a must. Also, another method to quickly desolder is to use a hot air station, or another solution to use Low Melt Solder for each pin, in order to easily melt it ( at 200 C) and not damage the board. Hope it helps. PS: I was searching for a teardown tutorial for a TKL K70 Champions series, but I suppose are quite similar.
Not everyone will have an hot air station, we used a Hakko temperature controlled iron. It was must simplier to heat up the 2 contacts and push it through. Very rare chance to damage the board as it is just contacts on the board, and even if enough heat was applied, no IC chips are nearby.People also looking to do this won't have hot air stations, or even a temperature controlled iron.
@@Autotoys I'm sure the PCB won't be damaged by a solder iron on high temp. But the plastic of the switch itself can be damaged by melting, loosening the metal parts inside.
Video was informative. I had to do emergency surgery on my keyboard after spilling a little bit of water on it
Saves $155.00!
Pick yourself up some De-solder wick. it will clear the hole out so you can just push the whole switch in. clean with flux!
Have it, didnt use it. Thanks for the tip. Forget if I used a solder vacuum or not in the video
Did you try adding a ton of solder before trying to remove the old one? It should make the job much simpler as old solder can get very stubborn
Cant Remember, but I think we hit it with flux and we did flow some kester solder on it. But the K70 is still running fine today. Just wanted to post this video because we watched the other videos on Corsair disassembly, overly complicated and they were butchering the removal of all the trim pieces with flathead screwdrivers.
Greetings!
I got the RGB version of this keyboard, and two of their LEDs doesnt' lit white and blue anymore. Replacing these two switches does solve this problem? I got a feeling that the LED lamps are soldered directly into the PCB, apart from the switches. Is this right?
Yes, the RGB is part of the keyboard and not the switch. I would check for cold solder joints at the key and where the lights solder onto the board
Hey there, great video, just wondering, is it possible to separate the top part of the chassis from the key switch pcb without de-soldering every single key switch?
Not for this keyboard, because the solder is how the key switch is held in place. It does not snap in. It is soldered in. And it makes sense because the soldered joints is also the connection for power and the presses.
I've got a K95, shortly after I got it I spilled some hard cider into it. All of the keys work fine but some of the leds have been a different color since, esc. and 1 through 8. Are the led's on the pcb or in the switches? If they are on the pcb are they able to be cleaned, removed, or changed without desoldering all of the switches?
The white little rectangular block on the back of the green board is the LED. You should buy electronics cleaner and spray it down with such - amzn.to/3nQAcbE
How many total screws?
Cant remember exactly, but dont forget the ones at the top of the keyboard. The best way to do it is to REMOVE all the keys, and lay it out QWERTY on your table to reassembly easier. Once you remove all the keys, it will clearly show you all the tiny screws.
At some keyboards there's a screw under Corsair logo, so you have to unglue it to see that screw
Is it for old older keyboards? This is for K70 and newer. If you have to unglue something, I recommend you run heat above what you need to remove, and then the logo or plastic will come off easily without scratching or damaging anything.
@@Autotoys true)
@@Autotoys The original K70 has a screw under the label; the Mk2 does not. Heat does work, the sticker on the original K70 is metal foil and can be reglued after.
Hey I really need your help. When I was removing keys, the bottom transparent part stayed intact but those circle/plus red things and spring below them came off without braking anything. I can't figure out how they came out and can't put it back together. If you can provide a solution I would be really glad. I looked everywhere can't find it...
Hi, sorry to hear that. So to understand, when you were removing the keycap, the circle and red thing came off with it? Why did you try to remove it in the first place, it probably had extensive damage? Usually they are assembled together, your best bet and for it to work reliably is to replace the entire MX switch. It is only around $4.00 USD or so. Desolder the entire switch as we show it, and then replace it with a new unit. (entire assembly)
@@Autotoys Thank you for the quick answer, I removed the keycap to clean underneath and I used the provided keycap remover, so I did nothing wrong there, but the red part also came off with it. Anyway I sent it to warranty thank you for the insight.
i re soldered every switch, everything went perfectly, so i thought. plugged in the keyboard and everything worked except the keys ESC - F12(the whole row) and on the row below ( Tilda key and 1-9) so i had another look at the board, found one loose bit of solder bridging two of the little orange components labeled [DA] right next to the 9 key. i removed that solder ball and also blew the board with compressed air incase there was other loose small solder balls...
now the keyboard either: does nothing when plugged in, or it lights up all red but does nothing still.
iCue says "it failed to connect or the onboard memory is corrupted"
it's also possible i touched one of the tiny microscopic components around the ic chips while wicking the solder... but why would it mostly work one time?? :(
I bought another k70 to try again lol... do you have any tips on how to not brick my keyboard? i think i am going to solder under a microscope next time i do it so i can see the tiny components better and make sure to avoid them
I am not sure what happened in your case. Which key originally malfunctioned? Was it in the top row? Maybe you bend one of the ribbon cables or didnt plug something back firmly? Any screws driving through wires (no wires at the screw point?) , did you apply too much heat to the board? I mean, you are really just heating up the old key and remove it, and then reusing the joints and hitting it with solder. Not a lot could go wrong? Solder balls are bad, they can short things out and it is possible that another solder ball moved somewhere else, and is shorting out other circuit board pins? Shake the keyboard ...
Let us know what you find, we are curious.
@@Autotoys no keys originally malfunctioned although i did spill juice on the keyboard in the past which caused some switches to be sticky.(was immediately dunked in iso bath at that time) after about a year of use with sticky switches i bought new switches and ruined the keyboard installing them. since then i have removed all the switches again and put them into a different k70. its the same kb (k.70 mk.2) but to my surprise has completely different mother and daughter board layouts. havn't seen this one online at all, got me thinking is it some kind of knock off? it came with extra horrible sounding mx browns, scratchier than any switch ive heard before, and on the mobo it has no markings on the back to show which switch is what letter.(old old kb has each hole labeled for what button the switch is for) but didnt matter to me because i swapped out all the switches and now it works proper. sorry no update for the other kb, i just soldered back in the F key switch, installed the F keycap to pay my respects and put it in the corner. i did suspect solder balls and shook it around but got nothin
@@Autotoys couple tips i can certainly give between my first attempt and my second attempt is these:
1. have a good soldering iron tip. i started with a shitty tip that was 10 years old and falling apart and didnt have a pointy end anymore, horrible mistake you have no accuracy with that. its a 35w iron i used with no temp control, got hot enough but as far as i can tell not too hot.
2. enhance your vision. use your phone or a microscope with tons of light to zoom in as far as you can on the solder joint you are working on, as to make sure nothing around it gets touched.
3. (important) use a quality solder sucker AND switch puller. You can remove all the solder perfectly, but without a switch puller you will have to put so much force to push the switch out you are very likely to break something.
4. about the solder sucker, don't use one of the cheapo plastic ones. a must-have is the metal one with silicone tip (SS-02) for $20-$25. the silicone tip allows you to suck the solder without removing iron making for consistent easy solder removal. Don't use the $50-$100 electric solder suckers that use a solenoid.
works perfect for 10 solder joint removals, fast as fk too. but then it stopped working just like every other review. if you go electric get the hakko but its hella expensive
So to lube up some switches on my K70, Id need to take off the solder of each switch, lube it up, then solder each switch back on? fuck.
Why do you need to lube the switch?
@@Autotoys
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ why do you need a ferrari hehe, idk just to make them sound better?
@@Autotoys I don't think you should upload tutorial videos on mechanical keyboards if you don't know why you wanted to lube your switches..
+Lean Swagger isn’t the lube Self contained?
Hey guys iv just had protean shake poured onto my k90 keyboard. I have dismantled and stopped the random key pressing and just have one key that doesn't work. F11. Where can I get the blue cherry switches from with the corsair Rgb bit on them?
Make sure it is a cherry MX "BLUE" Switch. Remember, in this video, it is a CHERRY MX LOW PROFILE SWITCH (round red circle), other Corsair keyboards will use CHERRY MX RED KEYS (PLUS SIGN)., You can just remove a key and tell from the shape of the button what color the switch is and which design. If you want fast shipping, you can buy original Cherry MX switches here : amzn.to/3lUlyhh - Low profile switches are harder to source. If you are in a jam, remove a key from another place on the keyboard that you do not use... for example the RIGHT WINDOWS key (who uses that key? no one) - Change it with the defective one like we did in the video.
@@Autotoys all sorted i bought a bust corsiar keyboard for the same price and unsolderd them from that and re soliderd them on the new one.
All fixed and working now.
Well, at least you have a bunch of spares now. Good job. Sell the rest in batches to recoup your money.
takes one screw off then the entire keyboard is off. wtf is this
(1) This video is in response to people who are prying and marring up the plastic covers with screwdrivers (2) this video is in response how to take the back cable off (3) this video shows you how to desolder the keys and also solder it. If it was only as simple as one screw.....
lol These keyboards are shit.. They are not meant to be fixed.. I am about to toss the 4th Corsair keyboard .. I wont be buying Corsair keyboards again. I will invest in hot swappable high end boards next time.
As you say this, the keyboard this video was based on, has issues with the spacebar when it is depressed on the left side .. (usually where it is depressed, and that is usually space for text and jumping in games right?)
Disregard last comment, found a hardened piece of rice under the spacebar -- dont eat near your keyboard. All is good now