switch problems, how common is this

[mjkuhnke]

so, my old logitech keyboard from way back when finally got buttons failing so i decided to upgrade to a mechanical keyboard

ordered a quickfire rapid brown from newegg and it arrived with 3 keys (W,A,S) looking kind of like.. twisted a little
so i used the included keycap puller and the brown piece of the switch itself and a spring shot out from all 3.

thought that was a little weird and maybe something that just happens so i pulled all the ones around the area. Which all came off normally
and got out the tools to reinstall the spring and brown pieces and of course once they're in they don't even move up and down at all anymore...(not like i expected it to work out really)

So just wondering is that center post coming off like that something that happens normally? cause man my first mechanical keyboard experience is pretty sour so far

also, since i had it anyways i played with the keys and found it kind of mushy, i did like the feel of the blue keys on the razer keyboard at bestbuy. Should i go that way and just deal with the clickyness?

thanks for any reassurance or advice
-michael

[esoomenona]

It's not normal, but it happens. Mostly, it happens when the stem is too tight, but from my experience, the caps on keyboards like the QFR aren't really ever that tight. This combined with the fact that you noticed them not looking correctly leads me to believe they weren't in properly or got knocked loose somehow (the stem, or brown piece of the switch, as you called it).

Generally, you won't be able to fix it without desoldering the whole keyboard, putting the stems back in, and resoldering, so I would just contact newegg and let them know.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes bad luck that you got one that was assembled incorrectly, but at least newegg are pretty easy to return things with generally.

[mjkuhnke]

actually i called coolermaster and they said they want it back directly to investigate if it's a line problem and need to recall some products.

The guy on the phone was like "whoah!" when he saw the picture upload from the rma request.
At least the surprise is somewhat comforting.

Was planning on getting custom keycaps from wasd make it all light blue and now i have this terror in me that this will happen again  D:


Thanks for replies hopefully this was just an oddball sort of deal

[esoomenona]

It's unfortunate, for sure. I would hope it's just an oddball deal, for your sake, theirs, and everyone elses! QFRs have quickly become the go-to board, but with that comes more scrutiny.