Whether it’s as a result of dust, wear and tear, or perhaps just a small mishap, more often than not you will find yourself in the unfortunate situation where your keyboard no longer has its original switch installed. While this may seem like an impossible task to complete without the help of an expert technician, rest assured — this is perfectly normal. The process to remove and replace a switch from your keyboard is relatively straightforward. The following article will explain how to remove a switch from your keyboard safely and efficiently; with little to no difficulties along the way.
How To Remove A Switch From Your Keyboard?
Disassemble your keyboard
Before you can begin replacing your old switch with a new one, you must first ensure that your keyboard’s circuit board is free from any loose connections. To do this, you must first remove each key cap, as well as the key retainer clip, key retainer spring, and rubber stopper from your keyboard. To remove the key retainer clip, first, use a flathead screwdriver to gently pry the clip from the top of your keyboard. After this, you can use the same screwdriver to carefully lift the retaining spring from its position on the back of your keyboard. When removing your keycaps, be extremely careful. The rubber stopper, as well as the key retainer spring and key retainer clip, can easily fall out of your keyboard and become lost if you’re not paying attention. To avoid this, place your keyboard on a soft and clean surface, such as a towel or a piece of fabric.
Remove the old switch
Before you can install your new switch, you must first remove the old one. Upon successful completion of this step, you will have successfully completed the first half of the process to replace a switch in your keyboard. The first thing you must do is remove your keyboard’s circuit board. If your keyboard is a full-size keyboard, you must remove the key retainer clip, rubber stopper, and key retainer spring. If you have a laptop, you must remove the keyboard cover; this will reveal the circuit board of your keyboard. To remove the circuit board from your keyboard, you will need to remove the screws from the back of your keyboard that are holding it in place. Once you’ve removed these screws, you can lift your keyboard by its edges. Once you’ve lifted your keyboard, you need to locate the switch that you wish to replace. Most keyboards use different color switches to designate different functions. For instance, a blue switch is commonly found in the W, A, S, and D keys. A brown switch will typically be in the space bar, the enter key, and the shift keys. Once you have located the switch you wish to remove, you must remove the screws that are holding the switch in place. After you’ve removed the screws, gently lift the switch off of the circuit board by its top edge.
Solder the new switch
If you’re replacing a blue switch with another blue switch, you are able to skip this step. However, if you’re replacing a blue switch with a brown switch or vice versa, you must solder the new switch in place. To do this, you must first use a soldering iron to remove the old switch’s legs from the circuit board. After you’ve done this, you must place a small amount of solder on the leg of the circuit board where the new switch’s leg will be placed. After you’ve done this, you must place the new switch’s leg on top of the solder. You must then place a small amount of solder on the new switch’s leg. After you’ve completed this, you need to let the solder cool before you can proceed with the next step.
Test your keyboard and Conclusion
Once you’ve successfully replaced the old switch in your keyboard with a new one, you need to test your keyboard to ensure that everything is working properly. To do this, you must connect your keyboard to your computer via a USB cable and boot it up. Once your keyboard is booted up, you can check the status of your keyboard inside your computer’s settings. After you’ve done this, you can proceed to test your keyboard as you normally would, including typing and gaming. If you notice that your keyboard is reacting as it should, then congratulations! You’ve successfully replaced the switch on your keyboard. If you notice that there is an issue with your keyboard, you may need to open your keyboard up again and remove the switch again, this time paying attention to any mistakes you made when reassembling your keyboard.
Why Should You Remove A Switch From A Key?
- The switch may be broken The main reason will be because the switch is broken. The switch may not work properly anymore, and you will need to replace it.
- The switch may be stuck The switch is made of plastic and sometime later it may break down or get stuck due to the friction between the plastic parts. This means that the keyboard can’t be used anymore because you can’t press down a key, or you have to press it very hard in order for it to work.
- You want a different color If you want a different color, then you will have to remove the old one and put in a new one. It’s pretty simple actually, but before doing this make sure that your keyboard isn’t broken or anything like that because if this is the case then there will be no point in changing the color of your keyboard since it won’t work properly anyway!
- You want something special If you want something more special than just a plain keyboard then removing your old switches and replacing them with newer ones could be just what you need! You don’t necessarily have to change the color though, maybe instead of having regular letters on your keys, they could say something else? Maybe they could spell out your name or something? Of course only if your keyboard has enough space for all of these words!
When Do I Remove My Switches?
– Keyboard does not respond when you press it.
– Keys are stuck and you have to force them to be pressed.
– You cannot type properly because the keyboard does not respond when you type.
FAQs:
Q: How do I know what color switch is the right one?
A: This can be a bit difficult because you need to know the exact brand of your keyboard in order to know what color switch it will have. If you don’t know the brand of your keyboard, then all you can do is check if your keyboard has a logo on it that would tell you what brand it is. If this is the case, then look for a website or something that has information about this brand and look for a list of its keyboards and their switches. This way you can find out what kind of switch your keyboard has!
Q: My keyboard doesn’t have any sort of logo but I found a website that sells replacement switches, will these work?
A: Unfortunately not. You need to get exactly the same kind of switch as the one on your keyboard, so different websites might sell different kinds and some websites might even sell more than one kind!
Q: I have a laptop keyboard, how do I change the switches?
A: This is pretty simple actually. You need to open up your laptop and take out your old switch, you can then put in the new one just by following the same steps as taking out your old one!
Q: How do I know if my keys are stuck or not?
A: If you press a key and it does not pop back up after you’ve let go of it, then that key is definitely stuck! You would need to remove the key in order to fix this problem. If a key is not stuck but it’s still hard to press, then this means that it might be dirty and all you have to do is clean it with something like compressed air or a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol.
