Simplify and cure an old Cooler Master Quick Fire Rapid

[phoenix1234]

Hi,

I just got a used  Cooler Master Quick Fire Rapid - Cherry MX Black. The price is cheap at 34 USD. But it's getting a lot of dust and rust on plate. On one hand, I need to simplify it and cure the rust. On the other hand, I'm not going to invest a lot of efforts and money to it.

There are some steps that I did:

+buy 02 bottle of paint (Blue River and Apple Green), some fine grained sandpapers, 1 liter of gasoline and 1 liter of alcohol 99%
+disassemble the switches
+clean the old paint with gasoline and alcohol 99%
+clean the rust with sandpaper 400 and 600
+paint the plate with blue river colour.
+replace the switches with Cherry MX blue.
+simplify the roof to cover only the controller
+paint the roof and bottom
+assemble switches
+put Filco Ninja keycaps to it

Total costs: + 15 USD

Definitely, it is not perfect but it is so much fun.

Here are some pictures eventually:








==
Updated 24/08/2013 -
After using the keyboard at work for a while, I think Cherry MX Blue should be used for typing at home only because it has a lot of noise. That does not count the fact that I'm using ABS keycaps and the keyboard top has been removed.
Therefore, I mod it back to lubed Cherry MX Black (my favourite switch type).
This time, I used a different type of paint (higher roughness) with white-grey colour .

In conclusion, Cooler Master QFR is a good keyboard with low price.
It is worthy enough for modding with amazing results.
 

Some pictures (keycap : imsto think PBT):

[esoomenona]

You should simplify the bottom, and cut off those pieces protruding. Also, possibly bondo or something to fill the indentations in between.

[phoenix1234]

You should simplify the bottom, and cut off those pieces protruding. Also, possibly bondo or something to fill the indentations in between.

Thank you, that's a good idea.
I will arrange to do that whenever I have more free time and suitable tools to make clean cuts.

[esoomenona]

Looks good though! I like the idea to just cover the controller.

[mkawa]

i'm loving this! did you put a clearcoat over the paint? the only thing to watch out for is that the plate needs to be iirc 0.6mm +/- 0.05mm thick. if you have access to a good flat surface (glass plate, surface plate etc), putting a thick clearcoat on and then sanding it down to those specs will give you the best fit with the switches.

the colors are great by the way. very nice looking choices

[phoenix1234]

i'm loving this! did you put a clearcoat over the paint? the only thing to watch out for is that the plate needs to be iirc 0.6mm +/- 0.05mm thick. if you have access to a good flat surface (glass plate, surface plate etc), putting a thick clearcoat on and then sanding it down to those specs will give you the best fit with the switches.

the colors are great by the way. very nice looking choices

Thank you, I got a spare bottle of high gloss paint (grey colour) , so before painting the blue on the plate, I spay 2 layers of this high gloss paint . Totally, I have 4 layers (2 grey and 2 blue). Hopefully it is thick enough and glossy enough as your suggestion.

[Photoelectric]

That's pretty cool.  I personally like the top cover as stock in terms of shape, but this looks more like a Poker now, in a TKL shape

[phoenix1234]

That's pretty cool.  I personally like the top cover as stock in terms of shape, but this looks more like a Poker now, in a TKL shape

Yeah, it looks like a plate-mounted switch Poker in TKL shape now. I just tried to put WASD keycap set, it nearly became a kid's keyboard already  )

[Sifo]

lol. looks pretty cool ^_^

[nubbinator]

I'm not saying I'm a keyboardphile, but I'd bang it.

I don't even like WASD caps, but that does look sexy.

[phoenix1234]

- Updated -
After using the keyboard at work for a while, I think Cherry MX Blue should be used for typing at home only because it has a lot of noise. That does not count the fact that I'm using ABS keycaps and the keyboard top has been removed.
Therefore, I mod it back to lubed Cherry MX Black (my favourite switch type).
This time, I used a different type of paint (higher roughness) with white-grey colour .

In conclusion, Cooler Master QFR is a good keyboard with low price.
It is worthy enough for modding with amazing results.
 

Some pictures (keycap : imsto think PBT):