Recently I spilled a few drops of liquid onto my keyboard and got a couple of sticky keys. I wanted to pop open the top of the Cherry MX Blue switch and look inside, and possibly apply some isopropyl alcohol directly to try to clean it. I found this Youtube video showing how to do it:
video linkI then attempted to do this on my CM Storm Quickfire Rapid... and instead of the top opening, the entire switch was dislodged from the PCB and the whole thing came out. It even pulled some of the soldering along with it.
I'm about 90% sure that this switch is simply broken now, can someone please confirm that? I believe that these switches should have two metal prongs (if that's the right term) sticking out of the bottom, which need to be soldered to the PCB. It appears that one of the prongs ripped out of the Cherry switch and remained stuck to the soldering. Do I have this correct?
So assuming I have a broken switch... if I want to replace it, I'll have to remove that broken prong, get a new switch, put it into the PCB and solder it, right?
Luckily this is just the FN key, which I honestly don't know if I would ever use. In fact it's already caused me some trouble when I've accidentally hit it (this is my first time on a keyboard with a FN key) so I don't think I mind if it's broken. Is there any reason why I shouldn't clip the prongs, insert the dead switch back into the board and stick the FN keycap on it, and just have a non-functioning key? Or would there be some problem I'm unaware of?
I'm somewhat new to mechanical keyboards and was hoping not to have to learn so much so quickly, but being stupid enough to spill a drink near my new keyboard has at least led to an educational experience. Any info would be appreciated, especially if I've got something wrong and could potentially damage something further. Thanks.
