How does one go about this? Is there a thread or somethin that shows a step by step. Can it be done by not so bright people? Things I take apart tend to not work again.
Re: aekii rubber-dampened sliders into the fukka switch, these alps mod links might help:
Once you have the donor board, the following are useful, tho not necessary, to have:
-a keypuller from hooleon (see links below for details/info), $6
-a "splinter forceps" is the fastest way to open up the alps casing, see links below for deets. Ebay, few bucks.
-a tube of silicon grease (helps with reassembly of the alps switch), ebay, few bucks.
-a few small containers to store the alps switch components during assembly/dissembly; I use a $1 muffin baking pan from the supermarket for its 6 "container" compartments.
-a magnetic picker-upper thing (telescoping magnet on a stalk) is helpful to pick up springs and leafs quickly after you remove the upper housing, and also can help with reassembly of the alps housing later on. See below links for deets. Is a few bucks on ebay.
-a copy of aquakeytest.exe or its equivalent is helpful, to rapidly test the keys and isolate any problematic ones.
If you have the above, the entire slider-swap takes literally 20 minutes, you can do it while watching your favorite sitcom. Otherwise can take a bit longer. Its mechanically simple to do though, either way.
-see the faq link below for most common donor boards for dampened sliders. Go down to the FAQ and MOD sections at the bottom of the wiki:
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=ALPS+switches#FAQs-sound samples, before and after the mod:
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7217-additional related threads from mods section:
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7018 ("removing an alps keycap without killing yourself")
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:5452 ("tools for extracting alps switches")
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:4901 ("Instructions: removing alps switch") (alternate, slower way)
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7121 ("Open/Re-assemble an Alps switch")
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7157 ("make your fukkas even smoother") if you want
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:4999 ("Fun with AEKII") Some deets and info
The most important caveat is during reassembly: Dont force the top casing on, if you feel resistance, backoff and retry. The most common "issue" one sees after this mod is a key that doesnt seem to work after reassembly (on a given board, expect at least 2 keys to be that way). This is easily fixed tho, for those keys, you just separate the contacts on the alps switch slightly with a small flat screwdriver. Works every time. I have a pic of this somewhere on GH, i'll see if i can find it and link it here.
Ah, found it. Not a photo but a post in a helpful thread on
"stuck fukka switch". I can provide more details if anyone gets stuck, but dont panic if you find one or two switches not working afterwards, the fix is fairly reliable and simple unless you've totally crushed the contacts by forcing the upper housing back onto the switch. So yea, go gently during reassembly and everything will be okay.
