[Done!] Fixind and modifying a "broken" BW

[AGmurdercore]

Hello guys! Recently i managed to get a broken BW ultimate produced around 2010 (according to the date inside the board, so i might be wrong with this but anyway it is not important). The keyboard seems to work fine until you press any of the keys or the ctrl left to them, if you did so the board would go CRAZY. I decided to try and restore it since i had nothing to lose anyway. I can't provide any pictures for now but the problem was clear when i desoldered the switches that were causing the problem - there was a spill on the said spot. I cleaned the PCB in that area and replaced the switches. The keyboard seems to work fine since then (even to i used it for about 5 hours after i fixed it so i can not be sure) but this is were the fun part begins. I decided to mod the hell out of it and see if i succeed or not. The first step will be to desolder all the switches and LEDs on the board and then i will attempt to mod the plate to enable opening the switches without need to desolder them. After that i plan to chance the LEDs and then maybe i will mod the case.

Just to inform you this might take really long time as i am so stuffed with things to do IRL that i hardly even find time to check the forums as much as i would like to but anyway i wont give up on this and will try to keep you up to date. Also pics will be uploaded until the end of the week.

[AGmurdercore]

So here are some pics of my progress so far:
http://imgur.com/a/aqPKp
You can see the damage on the PCB where the liquid was the most (i assume) also you can see some of the partially desoldered switches. I am amazed how hard it is for me to desolder the LEDs 
Deseoldering the switches itself is really easy but LEDs are pain in the ass. If anybody can give me any tips no how to desolder them easier i would appreciate it alot!

[Oobly]

Just heat both pads of the LED at the same time and pull it out before desoldering the switch itself. It's good to put the LED back into the switch again after it is removed so you don't lose track of which way it is oriented.

Good luck with the project. I think it will be very rewarding when done. I wish I had modded the plate on my board when I had a chance, since I try a lot of mods on the switches and it's a pain to desolder them every time.

Be careful when changing LED's that you also change the resistors to match. Different LED's have different voltage drops and current handling. You can calculate the resistor value needed if you know the specifications of the LED.


P.S. - Congratulations on bringing it back to life!

[AGmurdercore]

Just heat both pads of the LED at the same time and pull it out before desoldering the switch itself. It's good to put the LED back into the switch again after it is removed so you don't lose track of which way it is oriented.

Good luck with the project. I think it will be very rewarding when done. I wish I had modded the plate on my board when I had a chance, since I try a lot of mods on the switches and it's a pain to desolder them every time.

Be careful when changing LED's that you also change the resistors to match. Different LED's have different voltage drops and current handling. You can calculate the resistor value needed if you know the specifications of the LED.


P.S. - Congratulations on bringing it back to life!

Thanks for the tips i will try this desoldering method for the LEDs as soon as i can. Also i hope that i wont mess up the orientation of the LEDs when i am desoldering back

The LEDs are chose to add are white and green that according to the data sheet that i have read on the internet have the same current through so i think that all will be fine

Thanks again for the tips ^^

[AGmurdercore]

So i had the time to desolder the switches and the LEDs on the board yesterday only to find some surprises under the plate. See what i am talking about:





As you can see the spill is covering alot more then i first thought but still i hope that after cleaning it will work fine as it was when i tested it before i desoldered everything

I will star modding the plate soon so the switches can be opened without desoldering. No idea if i will be able to do it but i will keep you updated.

Apart from the plate i am now waiting for some LEDs that i ordered from ebay and for the stickers from MOZ. If you want to see the full album of the work i have done so far on the keyboard you can do it here: http://imgur.com/a/aqPKp

[Neal]

Should be able to clean that with some isopropyl alcohol I think, good luck!

[AGmurdercore]

Should be able to clean that with some isopropyl alcohol I think, good luck!

Thanks man i really hope that with some cleaning it will be just fine ^^

[AGmurdercore]

I was sitting today looking at the keyboard while doing some other stuff and suddenly it hit me... i have to mod the switch tops too if i want to make them open-able. For my luck i remembered that some days ago i saw this mod http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/index.php?mid=best_article&document_srl=6246034&6246034_cpage=1 for removable LEDs and i will attempt to do this too along with the other mods i will try to do to this board. Please wish me luck i will keep you update with whats going on (nothing at the moment sadly )

[AGmurdercore]

I just tried modding the plate to allow the switches to be opened while they are soldered to the PCB and... damn it turned out to be sooooooo much easier then what i was expecting lol, i will post pics and info about the methods i am using when i am able to but it is really, really simple and easy!

[AGmurdercore]

Here is the update from my work from today:

This is the tool that i was using (a file for sharping the chain of a chainsaw):


And this was the result i was getting:



And this is my overall progress for the day:


As you can see it is not turning out even but it gets the job done, i can open the switch even when mounted on the plate. I was surprised to see how easy the file was cutting through the metal plate. I am not really sure but what you see on the picture took me about one hour with switch testing on every whole, which is slowing the process a bit

[SpAmRaY]

^^ I think this is awesome!! Thanks for going beyond talking and doing something and sharing it with us!!

[AGmurdercore]

^^ I think this is awesome!! Thanks for going beyond talking and doing something and sharing it with us!!

I am usually really busy with stuff for my team and my job in the mean time, but now that took some days off to "study" for mu exams i have time to actually make stuff

Thanks for the kind words btw

[tgujay]

^^ I think this is awesome!! Thanks for going beyond talking and doing something and sharing it with us!!

I am usually really busy with stuff for my team and my job in the mean time, but now that took some days off to "study" for mu exams i have time to actually make stuff

Thanks for the kind words btw

Really nice job on the DIY open switch plate!

[AGmurdercore]

^^ I think this is awesome!! Thanks for going beyond talking and doing something and sharing it with us!!

I am usually really busy with stuff for my team and my job in the mean time, but now that took some days off to "study" for mu exams i have time to actually make stuff

Thanks for the kind words btw

Really nice job on the DIY open switch plate!

Thanks man i appreciate it ^^

[AGmurdercore]

I was wondering for a bit if i should ruin my 300 posts count with this one but oh well...

So this project is not death at all and if everything goes according to my evil plan you will  be able to see a video on how i paint the plate until the end of the week, and the rest of the work until the end of the month (hopefully).

So stay tuned

[AGmurdercore]

So i have some free time now and i decided that it was about time to move on with the keyboard project i had started 3 decades ago.

I managed to paint the plate today, the result as you can see looks cool-ish but it faaaaar from what i was hoping for thanks to the faulty spay paint that i used. Anyway it is ok for me and the moon-like surface is rather nice IRL so i will keep it this way. I will maybe solder the switches on it tomorrow.

[AGmurdercore]

So it is all done now with this board. I finished the work on it like 2-3 weeks ago but i was so sad that i forgot to post results here.

Long story short after all the work the BW is still ****ed up and can't be used at all.

Here is the whole album http://imgur.com/a/aqPKp and here is just the final pic for you to see how it looked after my mods:



If anybody has any 100% PCB for sale or some BW ultimate PCB laying around PLEASE PM me!!!!

[berserkfan]

So it is all done now with this board. I finished the work on it like 2-3 weeks ago but i was so sad that i forgot to post results here.

Long story short after all the work the BW is still ****ed up and can't be used at all.

Here is the whole album http://imgur.com/a/aqPKp and here is just the final pic for you to see how it looked after my mods:

Show Image

If anybody has any 100% PCB for sale or some BW ultimate PCB laying around PLEASE PM me!!!! :D

AGMurdercore, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with the Razer. It may not be a mechanical issue or something you did, but something to do with the firmware on a programmable keyboard.

You need to always install Razer's software and allow them to communicate with the keyboard and then reset everything to default before you can use it. Otherwise the original 'stuff' programmed on the keyboard remains there. Ie if the last owner programmed F U Murdercore and mapped that to the A key, everytime you press A you will get a nasty message on screen.

[AGmurdercore]

So it is all done now with this board. I finished the work on it like 2-3 weeks ago but i was so sad that i forgot to post results here.

Long story short after all the work the BW is still ****ed up and can't be used at all.

Here is the whole album http://imgur.com/a/aqPKp and here is just the final pic for you to see how it looked after my mods:

Show Image

If anybody has any 100% PCB for sale or some BW ultimate PCB laying around PLEASE PM me!!!! :D

AGMurdercore, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with the Razer. It may not be a mechanical issue or something you did, but something to do with the firmware on a programmable keyboard.

You need to always install Razer's software and allow them to communicate with the keyboard and then reset everything to default before you can use it. Otherwise the original 'stuff' programmed on the keyboard remains there. Ie if the last owner programmed F U Murdercore and mapped that to the A key, everytime you press A you will get a nasty message on screen.

My main keyboard is BWUltimate (2013 edition, not 2011 as the one i was trying to fix) so i have the synaps on my PC but i think that the problem is the controler, because as you can see ont he photos, there is some nasty spill on the PCB. I tried some stuff but nothing was working :(

[berserkfan]

If you cleaned up the spill there shouldn’t be any problem, right?
I am puzzled by your OP which says that the keyboard was fine after you cleaned it.
“The keyboard seems to work fine since then (even to i used it for about 5 hours after i fixed it so i can not be sure)”

Another thing, I am having a tiny bit of difficulty with the language you used:
“The keyboard seems to work fine until you press any of the keys or the ctrl left to them, if you did so the board would go CRAZY. “
So when does the keyboard work fine, and when does it go crazy? And what sequence of keys do you press to make it go crazy? And what is crazy? Have you tried using aquakeytest to see if keyboard is sending what keypresses to the computer?

btw, ironically here's a Razer you could buy...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Razer-BlackWidow-Ultimate-RZ03-00381900-Mechanical-Wired-PC-Gaming-Keyboard-READ-/181492322644?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item2a41c91154

The F and U keys are not working. It sounds like a joke. The user was probably so pissed with his Razer that he hammered furiously on the F and U leading to them being spoilt!!!