Issues with a Matias Tactile Pro 4 I bought

[apastuszak]

I bought a Matias Tactile Pro 4 off eBay in white. I got it at a great price, and it arrived dirty. I used some ScratchX on the case to clean it up and tried to pull the keycaps off to soak them. The keycaps would not come off with gentle prying and I ordered a keycap puller.

The puller arrived today and I was shocked at how much force I needed to apply to get the key caps off. When I tried to pull the bottom left control key off, I ended up pulling the switch right off ther PCB. And then I needed to use a pair of plyers to separate the two. I've never seen anything like it.

I cleaned the key caps and reassembled the keyboard. With the amount of force I needed to use to get the caps off, I had to assume something got damaged. And sure enough, most of the keys no longer work.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

[ddrfraser1]

That is insane. It’s like they super glued the switches. If it’s really bad, maybe just see if you can get a new pcb. Otherwise, try this

[abrahamstechnology]

Matias makes the stems way too tight. The last build I did with them I cracked several new Tai-Hao keycaps trying to pull them off.
NOS Alps switches and every other Alps clone I tried don't have this problem.
I don't do builds with them anymore, I will be using another clicky Alps clone I found (it's not Tai-Hao, I don't know the manufacturer at all but they seem very nice, possibly a very early Himake switch since the bottom mold is similar to Hua-Jie AK-CN2) or NOS SKBM Alps.

[apastuszak]

So this is a Matias thing. For the 2 days I used the keyboard, I LOVED the switches. And when I put the keycaps back on, they slid off as easy as any other key cap. It just seems that initial pull was BRUTAL. I don't know if that was the Matias switches or this used keyboard having something spilled on it in the past.

I do think it's kind of important to be able to remove keycaps and wash them. Especially white ones.

[apastuszak]

Just an updated. I reached out to Matias and they told me they recommend you pull the keycaps ONLY with the puller they sell on their website. Also, removing the keycaps voids your warranty.

I asked if they can repair a keyboard that was damaged by someone pulling keycaps and they told me they don't do keyboard repairs.

Which is sad. I kind of feel like Matias is the torchbearer for Alps, the way that Unicomp is the buckling spring tocrchbearer. But Unicomp is willing to try to fix anything buckling spring related. They should start a bolt mod service.

[funkmon]

Hold on. They said removing the keycaps voids your warranty? They literally sell replacement keycaps.

What even the fuck

Is this real life? They are very clearly Apple fanboys even still.

[apastuszak]

Here is the email they sent me:

Regarding the cleaning of our mechanical keyboards (the Tactile Pro
Keyboard included) we recommend the following cleaning/maintenance steps):

1. Routine Cleaning (monthly):

- Run a vacuum brush over the top of the keyboard or or blow compressed
air around the keys to remove any dust or other particles.

- Wipe the top and bottom of the keyboard with a damp (not dripping)
cloth or disinfecting wipe.


2. Deep Cleaning (not generally recommended):

- If your keyboard is working properly, we STRONGLY recommend AGAINST
deep cleaning it.

These instructions are provided only for cleaning keyboards that are so
dirty that they're not functioning properly — for example: sticking or
non-working keys, etc.

Deep cleaning will void your warranty, so if your keyboard is less than a
year old, we especially don't recommend doing this. Better to contact us
for warranty support instead.

For a more rigorous cleaning, you can remove some of the key caps. This
allows you to get under the keys and vacuum out anything missed by regular
cleaning (for example, crumbs or larger bits of dust).

To avoid damaging the switches, you need a proper "key puller" tool to
remove the key caps - for your ease of reference - here is a link to our
Online Store page showing our Matias Key puller:

https://matias.store/collections/keycap ... ucts/kp101

Pull straight upward with the key puller, to remove each key cap.

After the small key caps are removed, simply vacuum out any dust and
debris from inside the keyboard. Do NOT use water.
The key caps themselves can be cleaned by running them through a
dishwasher. Wipe them down and let them dry out for a few hours before
popping them back on to the keyboard.

The bigger keys must NOT be removed, because they are extremely difficult
to put back on afterwards - such as:

- Spacebar
- Shift keys
- Return/Enter
- Delete/Backspace
- numberpad Enter
- numberpad 0 (zero)

These keys must NOT be removed. You can clean under these keys by
removing some keys around them.

[hellothere]

The bigger keys must NOT be removed, because they are extremely difficult to put back on afterwards - such as:

- Spacebar
- Shift keys
- Return/Enter
- Delete/Backspace
- numberpad Enter
- numberpad 0 (zero)

These keys must NOT be removed. You can clean under these keys by removing some keys around them.

Considering that I have (hopefully) fixed a Matias Ergo Pro, this warning is just because those keys have stabilizers. In my case, the stabilizers went zing! across the room when I removed the keycaps. Luckily, I was able to find them.

I'll also say that the keycaps are more than a tad tight on the Matias. I've only had one other Alps board I've ever played with and I broke a few stems. Also luckily, I was able to buy some exact replacement keycaps.

Since the other Alps board, I use a wire cap puller. Lift up and rock back and forth. No breakage. Well, this time, at least.

How's the PCB? Bent? Cracked? Any broken solder?

[apastuszak]

I don't know. I sent it back to the seller. They sent it to me in nothing but a plastic mailing envolope wrapped in two grocery store bags. So it was pretty dinged up when I got it, but the price was so good, that I was willing to try to "save" it. When I pulled the switch clear off the PCB, I gave up.





Two of the keys didn't work, but after I tapped them a few dozen times in succession they began to work. The has seperated across the top, but I managed to snap it together. The bottom-left corner, where the switch had come out had also separated and could not be snapped back together.

[TicTocTom]

I have 3 Matias boards and I really like them. I've had no trouble swapping the caps on my Tactile Pro with Tai-Hao, AEKii and Vintage Toshiba caps. Sorry to hear you've had bad luck.