Zealios Mods to fit PCB with SMD

[Sylvestyeo]

Hello there!

Got my hands on some Zealios and have fallen deeply in love with them but am facing some issues... I made the horrible mistake of lubing them and swapping them to my K-type and fell even deeper in love with them.

I use a full 104 keyboard at work (i use the number pad a lot for excel) and in the absence of readily 104 custom keyboards, i bought a GMMK keyboard to hotswap Zealios in them.

Not sure if other have faced this problem, but the GMMK keyboards have SMDs and result in the switches not sitting flushed against the board. This is problematic for two reasons - errors in my work since i occasionally register double clicks and buttons popping off if you press and release them (think of pressing the keys down and pulling your finger away such that you let the keys pop back up).

Does anyone know of a mod to keep the Zealios tactile feel while fitting on a PCB with SMDs? I've tried replacing the stem of Zelios into Gaterons but since the leaf (i think) is different, i lose the tactile
feeling. (Yeah i know Zealios are essentially Gaterons... I added the stems into a Gateron clear and replaced the springs but to no avail)

Any kind knowledgeable souls could offer some advice on modding them?

[katushkin]

Some pictures would be helpful so people can see exactly what issues you are having.

So the board enables hot swappable switches, but are you able to see where the switch hits the SMDs? Can you take the PCB and plate out of the case to look at the join in between?

What it may come down to is filing down each switch in just the right place to make every switch fit.

I haven't looked at the detailed differences between Zealios and Cherry bottom cases, so i'm not sure why they wouldn't fir perfectly.

[Sylvestyeo]

Just took a picture of spare zealios i have laying around with gateron clears that i have (believe these are the SMD compatible ones)

I currently don't have the board with me since it's in office but found some picture online. the 4th picture has a pretty good close up of the PCB.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/glorious-pc-gaming-race-glorious-modular-mechanical-keyboard-review,5.html

Essentially there are smd lights on the PCB popping out a little which results in the switches not sitting flushed... my only options are to file the switches (not in favor of destroying the housings) or mod them.

[katushkin]

That is a big gap you have to make up. You may want a dremel or a fairly large drill bit to do it quickly, but unfortunately it doesn't look like there's any other way.

You will probably have to take them all apart again and get cutting at the bottom housing. There will be no way to modify the board unless you are willing to de-solder the SMDs.

[Sylvestyeo]

Yeah it's a fairly large gap unfortunately...

Wondering if anyhow knows of a bottom housing to put zealios stems and possibly leaves into to make them smd compatible? It's fine if I lose the RGB experience.

Feelios > light show

[TalkingTree]

It's fine if I lose the RGB experience.

Then you can desolder the LEDs.

[Sylvestyeo]

It's fine if I lose the RGB experience.

Then you can desolder the LEDs.

oh why did i buy a hotswappable keyboard? Such an insightful comment. Let me upvote this. 

[mike-y]

[oops didn't read correctly]