Suntouch K101: How to Open?

[Kagusaki Wolf]

Hope I'm posting in the right place.  I have my Suntouch K101 that I need to open up (rebranded Chicony KB-5181 keyboard I believe).  I couldn't find any info on google or youtube. There are screws in the back and I believe there is one other screw under the sticky label.  How do you guys remove the label on keyboards?  Do you try to peel off the label slowly so you don't damage them or do you cut a hole through the label?  I know I tried to peel a label off before but I either tear or stretch the darn things -_-  I also don't know if there are screws under the rubber feets and I don't want to damage them and finding out there are no screws.  Anyone tried opening up these keyboards before?  Thanks!

[ComradeSniper]

Usually I just try to find the hole with my finger and then punch the screwdriver through the hole.

[Kagusaki Wolf]

I was planning on doing that actually lol  I didn't know if that's what everyone does or if there's some secret way you guys do it >.>

[Techno Trousers]

Usually those warranty stickers are designed to be tamper resistant, so they won't let go cleanly no matter what you do. If the residue bothers you, you can use some alcohol to clean up the stickum.

On another note, reading about a SIIG Suntouch takes me back. That was my first keyboard, and it and my neighbor's Model M bred in me a lifelong love of clicky mechanical boards. I bought the Suntouch new around 1990 and kept it through four or so PCs, until the switches started giving up the ghost. If I knew then what I know now I'd have kept it and soldered in new switches, but sadly the mechanical keyboard revival was still a few years away, so it's long gone. Thanks to what I've learned here I do now have a nice assortment of Alps switch boards though.

Sorry for derailing your straightforward question with a trip down memory lane! LOL.

[Kagusaki Wolf]

I kinda want to keep that sticker in place since it has all the info about the keyboard.  Looks like I'm going to have to puncture a hole through it >.<

I got this keyboard as a birthday gift from a manager at work so I was a happy camper.  I really like the feel and sound of it.  It has a blown alps key and I would rather replace the broken key than selling it since it has some sentimental value. 

Haha no worries.  I love hearing stories 

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Alps or SMK ("Monterey")? I don't know whether the Suntouch had the same hilarious range of switches as the KB-5181/2.

I'm still not sure whether the SIIG Minitouch was actually made in the 2000s as SIIG claim (where did Monterey get a year's supply of switches from?) or whether (and the change in numbering on the switches would seem to concur with this) they're rebadged NOS boards that Monterey had stashed away somewhere.

[Kagusaki Wolf]

Mine are white Alps although I did wish they were the Monterey switches.  I do love that crisp clicky sound of the white Alps though.

I'm guessing those switches were NOS or reused from returned keyboards?  I want to get a SIIG Minitouch some day

I removed the visible screws from the keyboard and I was lucky that there weren't any under the sticky label.  But the keyboard case did have those annoying mount tabs at the front of the keyboard.  I was able to pop the tabs with a long screwdriver.  Anyone knows how to pop the tabs without damaging or breaking them?

I took the keyboard apart and was surprised how much dust was under the base.  I have no idea how all that dust and lint got under it lol  I removed the broken switch and used the switch from the ESC key.  I soldered a clicky Matias switch where the ESC switch used to be.  I don't know if the simplified Alps and simplified Matias switches sound the same but it doesn't have a crisp click like the complicated white Alps.  It sounds a bit more muffled and quieter than the white complicated Alps.  I put everything back together and it looks like a solid mechanical keyboard again.  I lost the "M" keycap while cleaning that keyboard but a GH user has a spare he's willing to sell me lol

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The FCC ID of the SIIG MiniTouch was registered in 1991, which ties in with my theory about a change in numbering of Himake switches. According to SIIG, it was a one-year production run from January 2002 to January 2003, within which time, they had two different keyboards: SMK switch version from Taiwan, and Himake version from China. Also, the keycaps changed several times, including lasering and dye-sub, and even the Himake version had two different switches used for the function keys (standard and reduced travel). All within one year.

I only learnt of the Suntouch a few weeks back, so I don't know whether this has any similar oddities.