Mechanical Keyboards

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Key not working on "Royal Kludge" mechanical bluetooth keyboard. (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by SentientFishbowl@lemmy.ml to c/mechanicalkeyboards@lemmy.ml

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I ended up picking up a bluetooth mechanical keyboard around 7 years ago. I've just dug it up again and I've realised that the bottom left "Ctrl" key is not working. What are my options for fixing it? I can easily take off the key caps and access the switches, but is there anything that can be done? Is there any chance reseating the switch will fix it?Thanks

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[–] zod000@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It depends on which Royal Kludge keyboard you have. They make some that are typical mechanical boards (usually a cheaper Cherry MX based switch) and some that are EC Topre clones. If its the former, then you would probably need to take it apart and desolder the switches since I don't believe they made any that were hotswappable. If its the latter type, then you can pretty easily fully disassemble it and see if maybe something is up with the stems or conic springs under the membrane. Note: for the EC type, be careful when taking it apart and there is a good chance those springs will explode out like confetti and ruin your day. I learned this the hard way.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

TIL that Royal Kludge used to sell a couple of Topre clone boards. Is yours any good when not trying to put your eye out?

[–] zod000@lemmy.ml 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

It's firmly "OK", though I was never a big Topre fan. It was amazing for the price and it is better when you remove the o-rings that are meant to dampen the sound. Once the dampers are out it and you replace the caps (uses standard MX caps), the 55G version feels like a slightly better version of the old Cooler Master Novatouch 45g. It is also backlit with RGB, which wasn't a thing for Topre boards at that point. I'm actually curious if the RGB Topre membranes feels just like the ones used by the RK.

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Interesting. I don't have a Topre, but I do have an electrocapacitive military keyboard with a sealed silicone membrane. The NKRO is kinda neat, especially on a 30-year-old PS2 board, and it's nice enough as long as you don't bottom out, which unfortunately I pretty much always do.

[–] zod000@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 hours ago

Weirdly, I feel like Topre are almost designed to encourage and cushion a bottom out. The membrane dome collapses really high in the press and then you get bounced back up by the conic springs underneath. It doesn't do it for me, but some people love it.