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Author Topic: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?  (Read 3111 times)

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Offline LiquidEvilGaming

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How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 14:23:50 »
Starting to seek out some vintage ALPS boards finally and i would ideally like to swap some of the ones with ABS caps out with newer TaiHao doubleshots however i constantly read horror stories of old ALPS Switches breaking or the stem from the cap breaking off into the switch. 

Am i just reading too many horror stories? Or is it really that common an occurrence?
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Offline need

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 14:30:49 »
Wire puller is a must, as uneven force distribution is what leads to broken stem.
I can pull caps really quickly, and with brute force. The only thing I'm a bit concerned with is the stress it puts on the PCB through hole connections.
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Offline need

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 14:32:26 »
.
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Offline chyros

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 14:33:23 »
There's no reason to fear it at all. I've pulled thousands of Alps caps by now and I've never broken a single one.

All you need to do is do it properly. Use a keypuller, preferably a wire puller, and pull straight up. The first time you pull the keys they'll take a bit more force, but they can handle it. Just don't use a knife or screwdriver or anything like that, use a proper tool.

The only problem with Alps caps breaking is when they get hit from the side, for example when they're being shipped - in that case Alps caps can sometimes snap clean off.
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Offline LiquidEvilGaming

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:12:27 »
Good to know as i'd really love to toss some TaiHao doubleshots on the Black Dell AT101W and give it a fair shake. 
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Offline klennkellon

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:40:59 »
Quote from: LiquidEvilGaming on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:12:27
Good to know as i'd really love to toss some TaiHao doubleshots on the Black Dell AT101W and give it a fair shake. 

Those are great, but you can occasionally find an FK-2001 in good condition for around the same price as those keycap sets. You get a new keyboard with white ALPS and a full set of doubleshot keycaps!

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Offline chyros

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 23 April 2016, 16:54:45 »
Quote from: klennkellon on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:40:59
Quote from: LiquidEvilGaming on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:12:27
Good to know as i'd really love to toss some TaiHao doubleshots on the Black Dell AT101W and give it a fair shake. 

Those are great, but you can occasionally find an FK-2001 in good condition for around the same price as those keycap sets. You get a new keyboard with white ALPS and a full set of doubleshot keycaps!
True, but FK-2001 caps won't fit an AT101W ;) . They're good caps though, and cheap!
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Offline rowdy

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 01:18:16 »
Quote from: chyros on Sat, 23 April 2016, 14:33:23
There's no reason to fear it at all. I've pulled thousands of Alps caps by now and I've never broken a single one.

All you need to do is do it properly. Use a keypuller, preferably a wire puller, and pull straight up. The first time you pull the keys they'll take a bit more force, but they can handle it. Just don't use a knife or screwdriver or anything like that, use a proper tool.

The only problem with Alps caps breaking is when they get hit from the side, for example when they're being shipped - in that case Alps caps can sometimes snap clean off.

Does this apply to the larger keys e.g. Shift too?
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Offline Keycap

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 08:22:13 »
The only way that I've broken some Alps keycaps (believe me, I have) is by using one of those cheap plastic "ring pullers". Wire pullers are a must for Alps in most cases. But I DO have a certain ring puller that works well for Alps... It's just that my other ones don't clip onto the keycap good enough, which allows one side to slip, and therefore a bunch of unwanted force is applied to a side of the keycap—snapping the keycap off of its stem.
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Offline fohat.digs

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 09:13:06 »
I have also removed thousands and could count the ones I have broken on one hand.
That said, you do need to use care and give a firm but gentle pull. Occasionally you do encounter a particularly tight one.
 
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Offline klennkellon

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 14:17:51 »
Quote from: chyros on Sat, 23 April 2016, 16:54:45
Quote from: klennkellon on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:40:59
Quote from: LiquidEvilGaming on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:12:27
Good to know as i'd really love to toss some TaiHao doubleshots on the Black Dell AT101W and give it a fair shake. 

Those are great, but you can occasionally find an FK-2001 in good condition for around the same price as those keycap sets. You get a new keyboard with white ALPS and a full set of doubleshot keycaps!
True, but FK-2001 caps won't fit an AT101W ;) . They're good caps though, and cheap!

Oh yeah, forgot about the bigass enter.

Maybe he'll find one like the one I had, which had a big-ass Enter, but placed the "\" key where the Windows keys would go, but had a normal sized shift key. then he'd only have to worry about the enter.
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Offline chyros

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Re: How risky exactly is removing caps from old ALPS boards?
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 15:11:07 »
Quote from: klennkellon on Sun, 24 April 2016, 14:17:51
Quote from: chyros on Sat, 23 April 2016, 16:54:45
Quote from: klennkellon on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:40:59
Quote from: LiquidEvilGaming on Sat, 23 April 2016, 15:12:27
Good to know as i'd really love to toss some TaiHao doubleshots on the Black Dell AT101W and give it a fair shake. 

Those are great, but you can occasionally find an FK-2001 in good condition for around the same price as those keycap sets. You get a new keyboard with white ALPS and a full set of doubleshot keycaps!
True, but FK-2001 caps won't fit an AT101W ;) . They're good caps though, and cheap!

Oh yeah, forgot about the bigass enter.

Maybe he'll find one like the one I had, which had a big-ass Enter, but placed the "\" key where the Windows keys would go, but had a normal sized shift key. then he'd only have to worry about the enter.
Well most FK-2001s don't have windows keys and the wrong size of modifiers, and the pipe key will be the wrong profile - indeed you'll need one with a non-split shift layout.
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