Corsair K65 Disassembly and Switch Swap

[kmiller8]

I couldn't find a guide on how to take apart a K65, so this is mine.

So disassembly is pretty easy. If you know there's a hidden screw under the Corsair emblem thing (that took me like 30 minutes to figure out z.z)



Now the metal part should just lift right up, but the next PITA will be this thing



It's held in with just some simple little tabs you have to loosen. You don't have to remove the USB or ribbon cable just yet.



Then you can remove the plastic pieces if you need to do stuff like swap switches. Leaving you with just the plate/pcb/switches



The "new" switches harvested from a broken Rk-9k I got for $25



Also each corner switch has one of the switch leads bent to hold the PCB



Take off the PCB after much desoldering.



Pop all the red switches out



And re-assemble, I forgot to take a pic of the naked board with just MX browns and I was half way through putting the caps back on.



One thing I didn't do was put the screw back in under the corsair logo. I think it will be good enough with the other 19 screws holding it together, and makes it easier in the future to take it apart if need be.

Kthx for looking at the pretty pictures.

[SpAmRaY]

Need some video!

[kmiller8]

Need some video!

bring a camera.

[rowdy]

20 screws!  Someone at Corsair seems to be a bit insecure

[cmadrid]

We need additional screws!

[BigTinz]

I just registered to say, thanks so much for this brief guide. I recently bought a K65 and this was very helpful.

Did it seem like it would be easy to relocate the support stems for the space bar?

[MaNiFeX]

I just sat there for about 15 minutes half drunk last night, going, WTF?!  Is there a screw under this logo?

Came here to verify!  Laughed when I read you went through the same thing. Thanks for the post.

MaNiFeX

[Circlepit]

Hey there,
i found your guide on the K65 disassembly and it was really helpful. Because i had to do that, after i sippled something over it.
One question: i found a little 3mm x 2cm long white rubber piece, do you know where it belongs?
Would appreciate any help.

[eijikong]

Hi i tried opening my k65 and now. after i put it back on and used it i cant attach the plastic to make : mute, volume up and down, and windows button lock. back to work again please help me i want it to light up again thanks in advance.

[Circlepit]

ITs attached to the bottom plastic part.

You see a white transparent cable sticking out of the part. You need to stick the white rubber piece 2mm x 2cm which i mentioned above underneath the cable. It holds the cable up, so it presses against the circuitboard

[eijikong]

i cant understand haha . the transparent white plastic please explain in detailed way i cant attach it. should i attach it underneath?

[KONATAonPC]

I plan on doing this with my K65 RGB, only I'm just replacing the spring and switch and leaving the clear outer casing, are there any risks when desoldering and soldering the switches? I remember hearing you could damage the traces and killing the keyboard, is this true? If so how likely is it to happen?

[suicidal_orange]

You can damage the traces if you heat the pads too hot or for too long, but you can solder jumper wires to get it working again.  The only way to kill it would be to damage the controller chip - avoid that and you're good