Can anyone pull out the keycaps from the Matias Tactile Pro?

[chaumeow]

... I wonder if it's just me and my measly weak arms, or if the keycaps are not meant to be taken off.
Help!
 
Note: I'm using my keycap wire puller from the Filco box.

Sorry if this was answered in previous posts!

[alaricljs]

Alps switches really hold on the the caps.  When I'm trying to be careful I do the cork-pop method... Place the edge of both palms against the keyboard and pry the key puller with both thumbs and index fingers.  This is what I do for stabilized keys, for control.

Otherwise I just hold the board down with one hand and yank real hard with the other.

[chaumeow]

Alps switches really hold on the the caps.  When I'm trying to be careful I do the cork-pop method... Place the edge of both palms against the keyboard and pry the key puller with both thumbs and index fingers.  This is what I do for stabilized keys, for control.

Otherwise I just hold the board down with one hand and yank real hard with the other.

Thank you for the reassurance!!! I wanted to make sure you could/can take the keycaps off. Wasn't sure if I was going to break it if I pulled it any harder.
Thank you!! I will give it a try!

[chaumeow]

Alps switches really hold on the the caps.  When I'm trying to be careful I do the cork-pop method... Place the edge of both palms against the keyboard and pry the key puller with both thumbs and index fingers.  This is what I do for stabilized keys, for control.

Otherwise I just hold the board down with one hand and yank real hard with the other.

omg, you're right >< Alps switches  really do hold onto the caps tightly!!
I almost elbowed myself and my keycap went flying.

But it worked! Thank you alaricljs!

(Attachment Link)

[Hyde]

lol good thing it's plate mounted, I'd be scared to pull the switch off the PCB  >____<

[Hyde]

Actually I tried it today and I noticed there's more reinforcement against pushing DOWNWARD.  But not so much reinforcement against PULLING UP.

I'm still worried that it might put stress on PCB connection when I pull out the keycaps.

Anyone has done it before with a "safer" technique of any sort?  Or you just did it normally and it seems to work fine?

[daerid]

I usually use a wire key puller, or if that's not available I take two plastic cards, like my bank card and ID, and use them kinda like crowbars on either side to pop the key off.

I wouldn't worry about the PCB, the board's pretty tough. It can handle it

[alaricljs]

Yes, the Matias switches are quite easy to pop out of the plate when de-soldered.  I have de-capped my hybrid board (see sig) twice without bothering the switches.

[Hyde]

Ohhh ok cool.  Yeah I was just worry that since it's easy to pop of the place, so when pulling keycap off a lot of the for might go to the soldering joints.  But you guys say it's been good so far eh?

I might open mine up later and do a linear mod.  Though I realize Matias switch is pretty easy to mod and swap parts in between.

The only difference between the Tactile Pro and Quiet Pro is that Tactile Pro has a clicker that "pops" to make that snap sound and Quiet Pro's clicker doesn't "pop".  And Quiet Pro has that rubber on the side for dampening.  But Tactile Pro has the groove for it if you plan to install the rubber later.

So it means the switch can be assembled 6 ways:

Clicker + No Rubber = Tactile Pro
Clicker + Rubber = Dampened Tactile Pro?
Quiet Click + No Rubber = More crisp Quiet Pro?
Quiet Click + Rubber = Quiet Pro
No Clicker + No Rubber = Linear similar to MX Red
No Clicker + Rubber = Quiet Linear?

I'm planning to do the last mod in a week 

[darx]

@  < http://matias.ca/tactilepro3/support/ > Matias advises:

" The bigger keys must NOT be removed, because they are extremely difficult to put back on afterwards... 

    Spacebar
    Shift keys
    Return/Enter
    Delete/Backspace
    numberpad Enter
    numberpad 0 (zero)

These keys must NOT be removed.  You can clean under these keys by removing some keys around them. "

Does this mean that they're actually not removable?  Or just difficult, or prone to fubar-ing?

I'm leaning to the Matias Quiet Pro for the office, but certainly don't want a kybd I can't "get at" if I need to.

[Hyde]

Actually this reminds me anyone know what type of stabilizer Matias keyboards use?  I'm guessing they don't recommend people pulling off because the general public probably doesn't know how to pull off a stabilizer properly.

So they probably don't want people break their keyboard and come back for warranty.  Though I'm pretty someone on geekhack might've done it successfully.

Any expert out here want to give some input on this? 

[alaricljs]

Matias has their own stabilizers... I have yet to see one or even a pic of one tho. 

[oneproduct]

Do you have to desolder Matias switches in order to open them up?

Also Hyde, the quick click + no rubber idea has me interested now!

[jabar]

And I thought I was scared removing Cherry/Costar stabbed keys off MX boards...

[Hyde]

Do you have to desolder Matias switches in order to open them up?

Also Hyde, the quick click + no rubber idea has me interested now!

No that's the good thing, it's designed that you can open them up while still mounted to the PCB.  There's this plastic flap on 2 sides that you can pry them open carefully then lift the middle casing upwards to open it up.

I'll try to write a tutorial when I have time, for now refer to the pictures from  http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38206.msg805829#msg805829  and see if you can figure it out 

And I thought I was scared removing Cherry/Costar stabbed keys off MX boards...

lol it's really not that hard, the cherry stabilizer one you just lift it straight up.  The costar ones you can find videos on youtube on how to open it.  It's quite easy once you learn the trick 

[stephenfleming]

Alright, I've done the bad thing that the Matias website says not to do... I pulled off the spacebar. (Took a lot of work and a couple of bent paper clips, but when I put my mind to doing something stupid, I DO IT!)

Anyhow... I have no idea how to get the stabilizer bar back into all the little clips (two on the board, two on the bar). Without the stabilizer, the spacebar is useless... and without a spacebar, the keyboard is useless.

Is there a trick that someone can explain? Searching for YouTube videos hasn't helped. Thanks!

[superpiya]

Alps switches really hold on the the caps.  When I'm trying to be careful I do the cork-pop method... Place the edge of both palms against the keyboard and pry the key puller with both thumbs and index fingers.  This is what I do for stabilized keys, for control.

Otherwise I just hold the board down with one hand and yank real hard with the other.

omg, you're right >< Alps switches  really do hold onto the caps tightly!!
I almost elbowed myself and my keycap went flying.

But it worked! Thank you alaricljs!

(Attachment Link)

Just make sure you scrape the excess plastic mold at the very bottom of the keycaps stem, and slightly trim the keycaps stem using a paper cutter. This is the reason why some Alps keycaps are really hard to pull. Some keycaps even have excess plastic mold on ALL FOUR EDGES of the stem. However most people will install the keycaps back without trimming the stems, and keep complaining about it.

[Zobeid Zuma]

The only difference between the Tactile Pro and Quiet Pro is that Tactile Pro has a clicker that "pops" to make that snap sound and Quiet Pro's clicker doesn't "pop".  And Quiet Pro has that rubber on the side for dampening.  But Tactile Pro has the groove for it if you plan to install the rubber later.

What rubber bit is that?  What does it look like, and where does it go?

I already pulled all the key caps off my Mini Tactile Pro (yes, even the keys with stabilizers -- getting them back together didn't seem to be a problem) and added WASD blue O-rings.  I guess I should have done my homework and read through this thread first, eh?  But they seem to work OK as far as I can tell.

I do like a switch with CLICK, but I do not like the plastic CLACK of bottoming out.  Dampening the clack makes the click more audible and satisfying.  (And Matias Clicky switches don't make a particularly loud click to begin with.)

[Hyde]

Alright, I've done the bad thing that the Matias website says not to do... I pulled off the spacebar. (Took a lot of work and a couple of bent paper clips, but when I put my mind to doing something stupid, I DO IT!)

Anyhow... I have no idea how to get the stabilizer bar back into all the little clips (two on the board, two on the bar). Without the stabilizer, the spacebar is useless... and without a spacebar, the keyboard is useless.

Is there a trick that someone can explain? Searching for YouTube videos hasn't helped. Thanks!

Basically they still use the same stabilizers as old ALPS stabilizers back in the days.



So what you want to do is clip the metal bar back in position and slide it through the plastic pegs on the keycaps.

Just remember for those plastic pegs the longer side points away from where the stabilizers are mounted.

Try it out and let me know if it works. 

[Rodde]

On the topic of removing Matias keycaps - have you found replacement keycaps that you've liked?

Most of the nice ALPS keycap sets I've found are older and therefore incompatible.

[jnav]

I've tried replacing the key switches on my tactile pro with Signature Plastic'sDSA Alps/Matias "Granite" key caps and I basically ran into 2 issues:
1. Since there is essentially no difference in the row angles, DSA doesn't totally follow the contour of the keyboard like Matias' key caps do. Not a major issue, but a slight cosmetic one. For reference, go here: https://pimpmykeyboard.com/key-cap-family-specs/

2. As far as I can tell Signature plastics makes their Alps-mount keycaps only compatible with Cherry-style stabilizers, not Alps-style stabilizers, so there's no way to make the stabilizer keys work on a stock Matias keyboard. I'm hoping this make sense because I'm probably not doing the best job of explaining this.

There's also some double shot Alps-mount switches that Massdrop sells on occasion but I'm not sure what kind of stabilizers they're compatible with so I can't vouch for them: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/alps-keycaps

If you're looking for something new, there just aren't a whole lot of options.

Hope this helps.

[tp4tissue]

hahah.. pull out..

if fanpeople were here,  he'd say something about that..