How can I change my switches on a K65?

[Saint Pepsi]

Hey, this is my first post on this forum so If I don't know everything don't hate.
After owning the K65 for a bit under a month, I feel like the only difference between that and my $20 logitech keyboard is that you don't have to push the whole way down. I figured from people saying "Reds are the BEST for games" etc, that they would be excellent. I hated them, and now I want something that you can FEEL, like blues or greens or something. I like the clicky sound of blues, but everytime I think of them, I think of terrible razor products.

What I want to do is try and decide on a good switch that IS NOT linear, has a low actuation point like the reds, and actually feel nice. Then I want to actually put them in my k65.

Thanks

[Oobly]

Welcome to GeekHack!

Browns have a small tactile bump which I find helps a lot, especially when typing, but some find too small.

Clears have a larger tactile bump and stronger springs. I like Clears and ErgoClears (Clears with lighter springs in) the most. I actually find ErgoClears best for gaming, too, since you can use the bump as a reference point of where the switch actuates and sort of rest it on the upward part of the bump for lightning fast direction changes and double-taps.

Clicky switches have something called "hysteresis" which means the reset point of the switch is above the actuation point so you have to lift your finger quite high when you want to double press the key. Blues are soft spring clicky switches, Greens have harder springs and Whites are like Greens, but with a slightly different slider so the clicky part doesn't hit the casing, but rather the rest of the slider, so they are quieter.

In order to change the switches on the K65 you will need to desolder the old switches from the board, even if you just want to open the switches and change the internals, since the board is plate mounted and the plate doesn't have slots to allow opening the switches. If it's backlit you'll have to also desolder all the LED's.

[Saint Pepsi]

Ergo-clears seem pretty good. Is desoldering and resoldering difficult?

[Xenderwind]

Ergo-clears seem pretty good. Is desoldering and resoldering difficult?

Not really if all you're doing is switch swapping.  But honestly you're probably better off just buying another board than swapping the switches on a k65.  If you're willing to put in the time and money, chances are eventually you'll also want new keycaps and the k65 uses non standard size ones.

[Oobly]

Not so bad if you use a solder sucker (solderpult?) and practice a bit on some scrap circuit boards (taking off through-hole components) before starting on your board.

A couple of tips to make it easier: make sure you always have enough solder on the iron when desoldering so it contacts and melts the old solder quickly (it's good to work quickly to prevent damaging the board / pulling up the pads) and heat the pad and leg at the same time when soldering in the new switches.

There's actually a whole thread dedicated to soldering. I recommend you read up more there: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42824.0

[Saint Pepsi]

Man, I wish they had different options for this keyboard when you buy it. It seems like too much work for the outcome you get. The keyboard itself is quite possibly the nicest one I've seen, but the feel isn't nice.

If anyone is interested in trading for this I'm interested.