Switch replacement / possible paint job on Dell AT-101w

[TouchTypist]

These are just the beginning photos of a relatively straightforward mod (straightforward on paper anyway). I'm going to replace the black Alps switches in my Dell 101w with Matias quiet clicks. I'm still waiting for the set of 110 on mechanicalkeyboards.com to come back in stock, so while I'm waiting I thought I might was well prep the board.

This is, of course, what the front looks like:


And here, the back. There are 6 screws to remove that are fairly obvious in the photo. There are also four tabs that hold the case together. I ended up working on the spacebar-side pair of tabs since the ones on the cable side of the keyboard looked fragile. I didn't want to take a chance that I'd break them in my inexperience.


When you take the two halves of the keyboard apart, there is a grounding wire that needs to be removed; the rest of the ps2 cable wires connect to the pcb with a standard (molex?) connector so they are pretty easy to remove. Incidently, the silver 'shielding' in this photo is silvered cardboard. I was a little surprised by that.


Front of the keyboard with all caps removed:


And the back with that cardboard piece taken off:


That's as far as I've gotten tonight. It looks to me like nearly every one of the switches have their leads bent - this was one thorough tech that put my keyboard together. Nice for them, not so much for me. That's fine though, I'm sure I could use the practice with desoldering. The plan now is to remove the switches, clean up and perhaps paint the mounting plate for them, and install the Matias switches. I may leave a few keys with the original black switches; candidates so far include the Esc key, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock. I like the idea of having a few of the original switches in there, and I don't use those particular keys very often so I don't think it will make too much of a difference.  I'm also trying to decide if I want to paint the case as well. Front runner right now is some red and white for my alma mater. I'll have to play with that a bit in photoshop to get a better idea of what I like, or see if I need to go a different route with it altogether.

[fohat.digs]

I have done this exercise at least 3 times. Since you are not saving the switches, in general, you will mainly need to protect the soldering pads on the board.

I recommend sucking up every bit of solder, and prepping a small flat-head screwdriver for prying up the legs. Looking at the edge of a new screwdriver under a strong magnifying glass, the edges of the blade are probably square and sharp. If you round those edges ever so slightly with sandpaper, you will be less likely to scrape up the pad off of the board.

Painting the metal plate is something that I always do, because they are almost always rusted. It is much better to remove the plastic clips that hold the stabilizer wires, this can be done easily with that small screwdriver if you are patient and careful. If you look closely, you will see a curved arc that can be compressed to gently pop them out. Snap a photo to remember the orientation. If you wreck any, I have extras that I will sell you for the cost of postage.

I would recommend painting the plate red and not messing with the case. If you do want to change the case, the products that I show in my "Harry's Model F ANSI mod" guide work pretty well.

[CPTBadAss]

Looking forward to seeing how this mod turns out. Nice choice on the Matias Quiets. I've recently fell in love with them. And Dell AT101W was the board that got me into Alps switch so I'm quite fond of it .

[geniekid]

Nice!

I did a very similar mod awhile ago (better pictures here).

I might have extra red LEDs for cost of shipping if you're looking to have matching LEDs

[yehoshuaf]

Fwiw you can get a 200 pack of switches from the manufacturer  for $50. Vs 110 for $37 from mkb. Maybe you could do 2

[TouchTypist]

Fwiw you can get a 200 pack of switches from the manufacturer  for $50. Vs 110 for $37 from mkb. Maybe you could do 2

I thought about that, but I don't think I want to do two of them. Only have the one keyboard for now. I may still do that and then see if I could sell the extra on here; I don't think I have the required number of posts though, so that would have to wait/isn't really an option.

I would recommend painting the plate red and not messing with the case. If you do want to change the case, the products that I show in my "Harry's Model F ANSI mod" guide work pretty well.

Good advice in this post. I've been careful so far, and it doesn't seem like any damage has occured to the pcb itself, or any of the traces. Why would you say not to mess with the case any, just a preference or is there some other factor coming into play?

Looking forward to seeing how this mod turns out. Nice choice on the Matias Quiets. I've recently fell in love with them. And Dell AT101W was the board that got me into Alps switch so I'm quite fond of it .

Same for me, as far as this being my first alps keyboard. Being relatively cheap as well it seems like a decent enough choice for a first mod project.

[TouchTypist]

Quick update for the evening: I was able to remove most of the solder on the switches with my iron and a solder sucker. Several switches actually had enough solder removed that I just needed to bend the leads straight so that I could remove them.


Photo 1: Majority of solder removed





Photo 2: Detail shot of the same





Photo 3 & 4: Five switches out so far! Should there be little wings like this on the side of the switches shown in last image? I'm not sure yet that I have the 'correct' technique for removing them.

[fohat.digs]

Excellent! If you got the switches out without ripping up any solder pads you can pat yourself on the back.

Those little triangular tabs on the side of the switches get broken off a lot. Don't worry about them, it's still OK without them.

Cases take a lot of wear and tear. Paint leaves an opaque layer or film that can flake, peel, or wear off over time, and patch jobs always look bad.

[TouchTypist]

perhaps a dye then?  That does sound dicey though, from the bit I've read about it. Melting plastic, UV coatings, poor dye retention (or too much dye retention)...

[fohat.digs]

perhaps a dye then? 

PBT takes dye great, but ABS will start to soften at the same temperature that dye starts to become active, about 10-20 degrees below the boiling point.

AT101s are cheap, just paint it and start looking for a backup for when the paint job starts to look bad.

Krylon "Fusion for Plastic" works well and make sure that the surface is very clean. I like to use several very thin coats.

[jbondeson]

Good luck! I recently just desoldered an AT101W and wow did they they do everything they could to make it difficult to desolder.

One thing I did with some of the more stubborn pins was to use my soldering iron to pop the pin off the pad wall and into the center, making it easier to detach with a needle nose.

[TouchTypist]

Good luck! I recently just desoldered an AT101W and wow did they they do everything they could to make it difficult to desolder.

One thing I did with some of the more stubborn pins was to use my soldering iron to pop the pin off the pad wall and into the center, making it easier to detach with a needle nose.

Yeah, I think that's what I'm going to have to do more or less for most of the switches. Only a handful ended up desoldered in a way that I could easily remove them.