Click Modding an Alps Black Pioneer MPC-KB2 with 3D printed Alps tool

[Wingklip]

Welcome to my little sekrit dokumantation of my alps modding field trial.

I have printed a special tool designed by yours truly, wingklip gaming, and succeeded in removing all of the switch housings in a little less than ten minutes.

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Below I will post some photos and stuff when I get home, but here is some experience I would like to share:

- Remove keycaps with IBM metal cap puller (bent piece of metal with stamped protrusions either side, comes free with the 6113442 keyboard)
- Remove the switch housings by hand with the aid of a pryer I printed and designed (patent pending????///???))

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- Snap off the 4 tabs of the switch tactile leaf by bending it parallel to the plate and then back again a few times using small pliers. PSA: Hold it VERY gently on the flat part, do not pinch together the bent part
(BE VERY CAREFUL, OR YOU WILL BEND A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE CLICK LEAF)
- Separate all parts and douse in water and Vanish napisan oxyaction

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- Leave for 24 hours; for the keycaps, I left them on the balcony under the sun to properly bleach for a week instead in that napisan stuff
- Wash and rinse everything off
- Place all the grouped parts in a plastic bowl or whatever with balls of tissue, lid it, and ensuring there is plenty of free space, shake hard for 1 minute and most things should come dry. Shake the leaves lightly to prevent them from bending under force. Try not to lose anything in the tissues. (cellulose sponge will be better though but who has money for that?)

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- Put sliders in a container and spray the crap out of it with teflon spray or WD 40
- Reassemble.
- Profit1?1?1?1??1?111??????!!!!

[Wingklip]

c a n c e r o u s a e s t h e t i c?

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[seebart]

c a n c e r o u s a e s t h e t i c?

No. But you know I'm still interested in your little Alps tool that almost looks just like a harmless Topre keypuller?!? Anyway good work sofar. Love that Pioneer board of yours.

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[Wingklip]

I have an idea for the keypuller so that it's slightly larger than the switch housing in spacing, then having 2 grabbers to grab that lip on the slider I noticed. That should allow the housing to come off easily if I get the tolerances right.

patent pending xddddddd

[E3E]

Ahh, I've made my own top housing/Alps disassembly tools myself, out of necessity when I had to open up all of my Xerox board's switches to ensure that they were clean.

The only thing that made me wince was that you're using the IBM keypulling tool for the caps. Invest in a nice wirepuller! Sometimes those can gouge out the plastic on the bottom sides of the key caps though. When I want to be really careful, I use a plastic ring puller I shaped down so that it can fit in tight spaces.



I use this for the aforementioned reason as well as to be sure I won't scratch anything on my customs when dealing with spots close to the edge.

[jbondeson]

After messing with a ton of franken-alps switches the I've been nothing but disappointed with click-modding tactile leaves.

What I did have great success with though was taking a click leaf from a SKCM White and transplanting it into an SKCM Orange (click leaves have an extra bump that makes the more satisfying sound). It's certainly not a cheap mod, but I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between them and the SKCM Blues when used on full keyboards. I haven't messed with click leaves on newer simplified alps, but it would certainly be worth looking into to reduce the cost of a real click modded Orange.

[Wingklip]

After messing with a ton of franken-alps switches the I've been nothing but disappointed with click-modding tactile leaves.

What I did have great success with though was taking a click leaf from a SKCM White and transplanting it into an SKCM Orange (click leaves have an extra bump that makes the more satisfying sound). It's certainly not a cheap mod, but I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between them and the SKCM Blues when used on full keyboards. I haven't messed with click leaves on newer simplified alps, but it would certainly be worth looking into to reduce the cost of a real click modded Orange.

Someone should run a group buy of 301 stainless spring steel click leaves modelled after alps blue.

They have some divot near the top and also have most of the top leaf contacting the side removed. Looks like they tried to reduce air resistance and thus click latency, and the small stud would cause the switch to vibrate after hitting the housing.

WAIT

I have to try this now lol. If all it takes for a siper clicky switch is a dent in the plate, surely.....

[jbondeson]

Someone should run a group buy of 301 stainless spring steel click leaves modelled after alps blue.

They have some divot near the top and also have most of the top leaf contacting the side removed. Looks like they tried to reduce air resistance and thus click latency, and the small stud would cause the switch to vibrate after hitting the housing.

WAIT

I have to try this now lol. If all it takes for a siper clicky switch is a dent in the plate, surely.....

I should pull one out tonight, but I'm reasonably confident that SKCM White and SKCM Blue click leaves are the same. But yes, it would be nice to have replacement leaves.

First step would be a 3D model of a leaf.

[E3E]

I've never bothered with click modding myself. I would say that genuine click leaves have that little stamped piece in the same way a door knocker usually has a part that juts out, for a more directed knock. I think it's there to make the sound snappier.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Something I found a little while ago, is that Acer click leaves function as tactile leaves in Alps switches. How reliably, I don't know (as they are that much narrower) but it's one potential way of tactile-modding a clicky keyboard, and without needing to sacrifice any valuable Alps parts (instead, sacrifice a wretched Acer keyboard).

[fohat]

Mr Bishop's tools work particularly well.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=79 ... msg2061049

[Wingklip]

Mr Bishop's tools work particularly well.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=79 ... msg2061049

But they do take a bit of effort to remove afterwards

Also it's a bit of a waste of material. Mine is arguably more efficient

[Wingklip]

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Made this thing in sketch, It's got some grips and the ability to latch onto the small protrusions on the cap either side.

[Wingklip]

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