First, I'd like to thank Chyros, his videos helped me decide which switches to get to replace my Cherry MX blue switches!
So, I've been using this keyboard for the past nine years. I usually clean my keyboards (when I use them) around every six months to around a year, depending on how much the dirt is bugging me. The case of the DAS KEYBOARD model 'S', has a huge disadvantage when it comes to the case.
The top part and the lower part are held together with five screws, (three clearly visible, and two under the top rubber feet), as well as a number of plastic tabs, which are part of the top half, and hook into little notches on the bottom.
These tabs are a huge problem, because there is no non-destructive way to dis-engage them, really. There is a lip of plastic on the top, covering the tabs, there is literally no way to get a tool under that lip to push away the tabs, you kinda just have to hope for them to disengage gracefully, while kinda pulling the two halfs apart. Unsurprisingly, by the third cleaning, the first two tabs broke. The screws are all self-tappers, threading into the top, which is another problem. I couldn't find any plastic manufacture markers on the case, but since the top case is pretty translucent and pretty flimsy, I think the top is made from some sort of polycarbonate, it attracts scratches like nothing else. The screws bite into the thread posts in the op, each time you open up the keyboard, they bite the thread a little more, until a couple years ago, two of them failed on my keyboard. They fail at the threads, turning the post into a spiral of plastic.
So in my case, the keyboard case actually failed before the switches or other electronic components. The lower half is btw. made from what feels like ABS. It has no plastic manufacture markers, either.
Eventually, after nine years, a couple of my cherry switches began to fail (shock horror). The '2' switch on the keypad, stopped being clicky, but was still tactile. The left Ctrl switch had a similar problem. However the 'b' switch simply stopped working, but was still clicky and tactile. The space bar switch was quite worn out, but less so than some of the other switches, interestingly enough. After putting in new switches (I opted for the Kailh Navy Blue), I had to tackle the problem of the case.
I decided to dremel out the remaining posts (three were left, two were gone entirely, of the three remaining, only one wasn't held together with cyanoacrylate. I also clipped off all remaining tabs.
To repair this issue, I've drilled through the holes where posts were, and decided to use M2 machine screws. I've "recreated" the posts using ironing beads, they have an internal diameter of 2mm, perfect for M2 screws. Some of the pins of the switches were bent over, which was a bit annoying, as I couldn't simply de-solder them with my de-soldering pump. I had to heat the pin with the iron, and then kinda straighten it out with the soldering tip. They used the lead-free solder, which makes de-soldering process slower, more annoying and more flux consuming.
Here are some pictures:
This is the keyboard with the new switches. They clip into the metal board, which then goes onto the PCB in one go. Removing switches is more tedious, as each switch has to be de-soldered, then clipped-out from the metal board.
These are some of the posts I made. The pan head screws fit perfectly in the top and middle screw hole, but not in the recess on the bottom. To get the screw fit into that recess, I simply put one screw in my dremel and then kinda melted the hole slightly bigger, now it fits perfectly!
The bottom needs two iron on beads, to fit the distance between top and bottom exactly. The top needs three beads and three washers, the center screw needs one bead and one washer.
And this is the finished result from the top. The screws are a tiny bit too short for a washer on top, but I don't mind too much, I don't tighten them that much, given how flimsy the plastic is. The case has no screw at the bottom center, which would be nice, and I might add a screw there at some time.
Oh, also after around six years, the cable had a break. I clipped off around 10cm and reattached the connector, and all was good, after also putting some extra heatshrink tube on it, just to make it a litter at the stiffer at the point where it comes out of the case.
Now, why didn't I get a new keyboard? Because I don't like the new layouts. I want a full-size ANSI layout, with no extra buttons or keys. Almost every single manufacturer puts an 'Fn'-key either to the left of the space bar, or to the right of the space bar, which then often replaces either the right Super-key or the Menu-key. Both are not an option for me, as having a 4th key on the left, is friggin annoying. I need the right Super-key and the Menu key. Menu is mapped to Compose, ad right Super is mapped to greek.
The Fn-key is a meta key, which doesn't send a scancode to the computer, which makes me a little depressed inside. The lowest row in the keyboard is one of the easiest to reach, why having a rarely used deadkey there, is beyond me. Having an Fn-key is fine, but why not put one of those next to PrntScr, ScrLock, Pause? A couple years ago, "Media keyboards" were so popular, putting loads of extra keys to a keyboard, now there's only one or two, but in the most inconvenient places of all.
So my best option was to simply repair my old keyboard. The new DAS KEYBOARDS also put a Fn-key where there shouldn't be one, infuriating!
In case anyone is interested: I have a couple more pictures.