Mechanical Keyboards

10023 readers

14 users here now

Are you addicted to the clicking sounds of your beautiful and impressive mechanical keyboard?
If so, this community is for you!

Here you can discuss everything about mechanical keyboards (and only mechanical keyboards).

Banner by Jay Zhang on Unsplash

founded 4 years ago

Possible to remove MX Blue switches (desolder) and use them for a hotswap keyboard? (self.mechanicalkeyboards)

submitted 1 month ago by promitheas to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey guys. I just got a Genesis Thor 300 TKL keyboard which doesnt work from my brother. I've got a Glorious GMMK v1 TKL keyboard. Is it possible to desolder the MX Blue switches from the broken Genesis keyboard and use them in the Glorious keyboard which at least to my knowledge is hotswappable?

Thanks in advance!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

The biggest issue is that the sockets were never really designed to be for enthusiasts changing switches all the time. They were designed for the factories to have multiple versions to sell with minimal retooling. If you are extremely diligent with removing the solder from the legs of the switches and keeping them straight, then yes, there's nothing to prevent this from working. However, a little blob here and there will make it much more likely that you tear a pad when inserting the switch into the GMMK, and also more likely that the socket will be slightly deformed and never work quite right with any other switch.