It's a good idea to tin the tip of your soldering iron with a little solder when you start, and after each time you clean the tip. That helps create a heat bridge between the tip and the pin/pad which lets the solder flow in there much easier. Also try to aim for "tent" shaped joints (like a tapered cone) rather than domes, a round dome is sometimes referred to as a "cold joint" and can usually be fixed by simply re-heating it for a second or two.
I was considering getting a DIY keyboard kit until I saw it wasn’t hotswap but this video was so calming and it made me feel more confident knowing you don’t have to be perfect.😀
Great video by Brandon. Some more tips for your first time solderers: 1. Use good solder (not cheap off-brand). You want leaded solder with a flux core. It flows much better and is easier to de-solder after. 2. 63/37 solder (37 indicates the lead content) has what is called euthetic properties. Basically, this means it changes from liquid (when heated up) to solid state (once the heat source is removed) extremely fast. This helps when you are new and avoids cold solder joints. Contrary to what many say, quality 60/40 solder is just as good and you still run a very low risk of getting cold solder joints. If 60/40 is cheaper, get that instead. 3. It's good practice to use a solder fume extractor or at least solder in a well ventilated area. Contrary to popular belief, there is no lead in the fumes. The toxic fumes come from the burning rosin flux which in itself is really bad for your lungs. Lead does transfer through the skin. Wash your hands well after soldering and don't touch food or your face when soldering. Clean your work area after.
@@KARMAticSAGE not sure how good surgical gloves work tbh, most people solder with their bare hands, as do I. you'll be fine as long as you wash your hands and cleaning your working area. maybe others has exp with gloves
Amazing video. You get straight to the point with no BS. It was exactly what I needed so I can get to repairing some older keyboards and building new ones in the future I hope. Sad you didn't go over desoldering though.
This is pretty timely! Just ordered a soldering iron a couple days ago; I only buy hotswap now but I’m planning to desolder and solder on new switches and build a new case for an old prebuilt so this was reassuring
I was watching this video crying like i was doing math homework with my dad, but I finally got it to work, thank you !! I will never confidently say "oh, i can fix your expensive gaming keyboard, how hard can it be?" to my friends ever again.
I have the Ducky One 2 Mini lubed the switches, stabs but my space bar seems to ping from the right side. I don't feel like desoldering the whole thing again. :S
Personally, before desoldering or welding, I always put tin on the tip to make a thermal bridge more effective than just the tip of the welder. The tin drop will offer a greater contact surface than the tip.
Just finished installing new switches into my Corsair k65. Had a lot of hiccups though as expected being my first time modding a non hotswap keyboard. Overall was fun and I love the final product.
The only reason I’m watching this, aight? The only reason I’m watching this, is because I bought a “hot swappable” keyboard, bought a bunch of switches, felt excited to try them out, couldn’t pull out the switches, and realise i got scammed.
thanks so much for such a straightforward vid. I wanna swap out the switches on my currently very LOUD keyboard and it's past warranty at this point. Worth a shot!
Thank you for this explanation video. I will be definitely be using this video once I have all the parts for my keyboard. I was about to give up and spend the extra money to have someone build my keyboard.
Thanks man! I lucked out and found two mechanical keyboards at goodwill that are soldered. They'll be perfect test boards for me to move on from hotswap. Appreciate this video!
Going to have to save & rewatch this b/c I’m new to the keyboard hobby & have a few boards on order that require soldering. Have all the equipment, now just need to know how & get some practice.
Get a Holmes True HEPA air purifier with smoke filter for any of that flux fumes that are left in the air..I also prefer using an N95 mask while soldering.
I've built 3 hot swap boards and would like to take apart my Ducky Mini and fix the stabs, lube the switches, and then put it back together. I think I might actually give it a go now that I've watched this. Thanks,
Also do one pin for the entire board, then move on to the other one after you finish the entire board. This is just a "safety" thing, like the anti-static wrist band thing when building pcs, not necessary, but just good practice. Edit: I solder in my bathroom with the fan on, and also have another small fan pushing the fumes away from me, and also wear a mask guys, ik everyone has one, just do it, also soldering smells funny.
Thank you so much for making soldering seem so approachable. I'm building a keyboard for a friend, and it's my first time soldering a keyboard. (In other words, I was very nervous) I'm a hot swap hoe, but with this experience I think I'll be able to broaden my keyboard horizons. Thank you again!
BRUH! Excellent job on showing peeps how easy it is to solder a keyboard! You probably boosted the confidence of a ton of newbie keeb enthusiasts! Awesome! :)
WARNING: 1) ALWAYS solder in a well ventilated area 2) Highly reccomend for especially first timers use LEAD FREE solder with a flux core. Better for your health especially if you are occasionally burning yourself or not in a great ventilated area.3)Carbon filters dont filter nearly enough, you need a HEPA filter or better ventilaton.
Impressive video, Brandon. so often I see videos where the person talks to fast, too slow, you can't understand them, the video is poor. . . Your video was excellent, and you even took the time to help me relax while contemplating my project. Thanks!
Thanks a lot, I have never touched a soldering before so this video helped me a bunch. Your anatomy about the dragon and the fly this is pretty dead on about how I have seen this whole thing. I feel more confident in myself now about soldering. Thanks again!
However, I think welding the keyboard is one of the nice things about this hobby. I would like to take a hotswap keyboard to try the keys and find a cheap and quality pcb to take to solder as many keyboards as possible
I APPRECIATE YOU! Thanks for this much needed vid. These were my exact feelings on soldering and only got hot swap pcb’s bc I was afraid of messing up!
Hi Brandon! Enjoying your videos! I've just started getting into this as a hobby. I bought cheap mechanical keyboard from Amazon to try and tear it down it build it back up again. I de-soldered all the switches but I burnt 3 pads. I was wondering if it's possible to fix these? also what is flux used for and is it needed for mechanical keyboards?
i already know how to do most of this but im still gonna watch the video since youre great at explaining things and theres definitely something to learn from you.
Do you really need to solder when modding a hot swappable keyboard? sorry if the question is weird because I'm about to mod my very first time hot swappable keyboard my own.
In case you're still wondering: If the keyboard is hot swappable from the factory, you can simply click the switches in and out, no soldering required. Only if you're building a keyboard from scratch / a kit, or repairing one, you will need to solder your switches in. In that case you may choose to solder hot swappable sockets instead, so you can change your switches easily later on.
I replaced one of my key switches because the RGB wasn't working, but now the new switch doesn't work at all and I can see a red light flashing while the other RGB switches are lighting up. What's this mean?
i really wanna learn how to solder so i can mod my mice and keyboards how i like, but also kinda scared to do it. 😅 i guess i just dont know where to start. also is it recommended to wear a p100 respirator when doing thing?
oh man I just desoldered and resoldered my numpad for lubing for the first time a few weeks ago and I swear, my soldering work looks like shit even though I spent a lot of time on it. But anyway, just like you said, it would work, you're not gonna break your board with shitty soldering. Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely apply them next time.
I broke my left control key trying to pry off a _hotswappable_ keyswitch on my Keychron C1, that despite the _hotswappable_ and _no need to desolder_ or solder description on the box and Amazon listing, turned out to have a PCB board with every switch soldered on. So I needed this video.
Thanks Jasmine! A good place to start would be novelkeys.com they have a lot of in stock keycaps, keyboard cases and pcbs. For switches I recommend their cream switches. Hope this helps!
@@EsbenH lol happens to us all. What about when you realize you ordered the wrong plate?! 😱 That bad news.. happened to me twice lol..good thing I have a desoldering gun.
any tips for maintaining the feel of your stabilizers after daily use? or how to fine tune stabs months later? I've noticed on two of my keyboards from day 1 they were perfect but over time of daily use and mashing spacebar and left shit especially during gaming i end up hearing some wire rattle. At the very least I do not want to desolder my keyboards to redo my stabs lol.
I have so many questions about a new keyboard that I’m getting but I’ll need to change the switches. Is there anyway to contact you for advice? Thank you in advance! ☺️
Soldering iron and solder tread DONT BUY CHEAP, i bought a cheap kit and it made the learning process insanely hard because the tools were just bad. Soldering is very easy getting into so dont be afraid to try it
I've been modding keyboards for 5 years now. and I tried to mod my rog strix moonlight white tlk.. some keys dont work anymore.. do this at your own risk
It's a good idea to tin the tip of your soldering iron with a little solder when you start, and after each time you clean the tip. That helps create a heat bridge between the tip and the pin/pad which lets the solder flow in there much easier. Also try to aim for "tent" shaped joints (like a tapered cone) rather than domes, a round dome is sometimes referred to as a "cold joint" and can usually be fixed by simply re-heating it for a second or two.
Also I left a more detailed version of this comment earlier but it's apparently been deleted for some reason.
I was considering getting a DIY keyboard kit until I saw it wasn’t hotswap but this video was so calming and it made me feel more confident knowing you don’t have to be perfect.😀
Soldering is soo easy. Ngl, I'd rather solder than lubricate switches.
Most people do both lol
I'm with you kebs
Same
1000%. Lubing switches is a good waste of a weekend
Lolololol
Great video by Brandon. Some more tips for your first time solderers:
1. Use good solder (not cheap off-brand). You want leaded solder with a flux core. It flows much better and is easier to de-solder after.
2. 63/37 solder (37 indicates the lead content) has what is called euthetic properties. Basically, this means it changes from liquid (when heated up) to solid state (once the heat source is removed) extremely fast. This helps when you are new and avoids cold solder joints. Contrary to what many say, quality 60/40 solder is just as good and you still run a very low risk of getting cold solder joints. If 60/40 is cheaper, get that instead.
3. It's good practice to use a solder fume extractor or at least solder in a well ventilated area. Contrary to popular belief, there is no lead in the fumes. The toxic fumes come from the burning rosin flux which in itself is really bad for your lungs. Lead does transfer through the skin. Wash your hands well after soldering and don't touch food or your face when soldering. Clean your work area after.
will wearing surgical gloves be adequate or is it like wearing a mask that doesn't really protect you from covid?
@@KARMAticSAGE not sure how good surgical gloves work tbh, most people solder with their bare hands, as do I. you'll be fine as long as you wash your hands and cleaning your working area. maybe others has exp with gloves
You're gonna have to eli5 all that for me lol
Amazing video. You get straight to the point with no BS. It was exactly what I needed so I can get to repairing some older keyboards and building new ones in the future I hope. Sad you didn't go over desoldering though.
Not sure if you figured it out already but it’s basically the same thing but instead of the wire, you suck it out with a suction tool
@@Kodico you can also just pull the switch out without sucking it just makes popping another one back in harder
he literally talked BS for 1min straight before getting to the point tho
he talked so much bs
This is pretty timely! Just ordered a soldering iron a couple days ago; I only buy hotswap now but I’m planning to desolder and solder on new switches and build a new case for an old prebuilt so this was reassuring
I was watching this video crying like i was doing math homework with my dad, but I finally got it to work, thank you !! I will never confidently say "oh, i can fix your expensive gaming keyboard, how hard can it be?" to my friends ever again.
Rewatching because it’s such a simple and straightforward tutorial. Thank you, sir.
Thank you! Glad you liked the tutorial means a lot.
Can't stress how right you are about preparation with stabs etc, love my first build but the stabilizers are wank.
I have the Ducky One 2 Mini lubed the switches, stabs but my space bar seems to ping from the right side. I don't feel like desoldering the whole thing again. :S
Today was the 1st time I soldered anything. Thank you. Thanx to the people in the comments with tips as well.
Now make a video to desolder your keyboard when changing switches. Love your videos man, keep it up. The vibes are always there.
Personally, before desoldering or welding, I always put tin on the tip to make a thermal bridge more effective than just the tip of the welder. The tin drop will offer a greater contact surface than the tip.
Just finished installing new switches into my Corsair k65. Had a lot of hiccups though as expected being my first time modding a non hotswap keyboard.
Overall was fun and I love the final product.
The only reason I’m watching this, aight? The only reason I’m watching this, is because I bought a “hot swappable” keyboard, bought a bunch of switches, felt excited to try them out, couldn’t pull out the switches, and realise i got scammed.
thanks so much for such a straightforward vid. I wanna swap out the switches on my currently very LOUD keyboard and it's past warranty at this point. Worth a shot!
I just soldered my first keyboard and... Omg, I had no idea it is so satisfying. Thank you for help
i have 4 hotswap boards i've built. Time to jump into soder and you've helped me so!
Thank you for this explanation video. I will be definitely be using this video once I have all the parts for my keyboard. I was about to give up and spend the extra money to have someone build my keyboard.
I may be finally building my bias r2 I've been sitting on for a while. ty for the vid
Thank you so much for this video! I now feel a bit more ready to solder my first build! :)
Thanks man! I lucked out and found two mechanical keyboards at goodwill that are soldered. They'll be perfect test boards for me to move on from hotswap. Appreciate this video!
Thank you so much! This video alleviated a lot of my worries surrounding soldering my first board!
Glad I could help! Happy Soldering!
Going to have to save & rewatch this b/c I’m new to the keyboard hobby & have a few boards on order that require soldering. Have all the equipment, now just need to know how & get some practice.
Great tutorial, honestly I dove right into soldering by making a tofu 60 build for a friend and it was way easier than I expected it to be.
Took me an hour and a half, but I just soldered my first entire keyboard! I was worried about the fumes, I didn't know that thing existed. Thanks!
Get a Holmes True HEPA air purifier with smoke filter for any of that flux fumes that are left in the air..I also prefer using an N95 mask while soldering.
I've built 3 hot swap boards and would like to take apart my Ducky Mini and fix the stabs, lube the switches, and then put it back together. I think I might actually give it a go now that I've watched this. Thanks,
BT out here saying I have a "hot tip" LFG!
Also do one pin for the entire board, then move on to the other one after you finish the entire board. This is just a "safety" thing, like the anti-static wrist band thing when building pcs, not necessary, but just good practice.
Edit: I solder in my bathroom with the fan on, and also have another small fan pushing the fumes away from me, and also wear a mask guys, ik everyone has one, just do it, also soldering smells funny.
Thank you so much for making soldering seem so approachable. I'm building a keyboard for a friend, and it's my first time soldering a keyboard. (In other words, I was very nervous) I'm a hot swap hoe, but with this experience I think I'll be able to broaden my keyboard horizons. Thank you again!
BRUH! Excellent job on showing peeps how easy it is to solder a keyboard! You probably boosted the confidence of a ton of newbie keeb enthusiasts! Awesome! :)
The vid we needed and BT comes thru like always!! 🔥
Thanks bro, I think i can really move onto soldering now. Loved this video
I got the exact soldering kit you have but I was able to find one for 3 Dollars! Thanks for the video!
Soldering is so fun! I used to do it in high school. I think it can look intimidating though at first.
In a couple of days I will finally get my glorious pandas and we'll see how well you explained the whole process! But it seems very easy
WARNING: 1) ALWAYS solder in a well ventilated area 2) Highly reccomend for especially first timers use LEAD FREE solder with a flux core. Better for your health especially if you are occasionally burning yourself or not in a great ventilated area.3)Carbon filters dont filter nearly enough, you need a HEPA filter or better ventilaton.
Man, you've totally inspired me to just give it a go. Appreciate the video.
Impressive video, Brandon. so often I see videos where the person talks to fast, too slow, you can't understand them, the video is poor. . . Your video was excellent, and you even took the time to help me relax while contemplating my project. Thanks!
thanks... your tips helped me to fix my headphone
Thanks a lot, I have never touched a soldering before so this video helped me a bunch. Your anatomy about the dragon and the fly this is pretty dead on about how I have seen this whole thing. I feel more confident in myself now about soldering. Thanks again!
63/67 is my personal favorite solder blend too. i am experienced.
Your Audio is very low compared to the intro broski. May want to check that out.
Do you have any idea about how much helpful this video has been? Thank you very much kind sir!
thank you so much you helped so much this is so less scary now
thank u i thought it would be so hard but when i did it it was soo much easier
Great video!
great how to!! 👀 nice fragment TS shirt 👌🏻 👍
nice you got duck orion,you will enjoy how Kustom feels and sound,and pls dont put a bunch of foam in the board
However, I think welding the keyboard is one of the nice things about this hobby. I would like to take a hotswap keyboard to try the keys and find a cheap and quality pcb to take to solder as many keyboards as possible
I APPRECIATE YOU! Thanks for this much needed vid. These were my exact feelings on soldering and only got hot swap pcb’s bc I was afraid of messing up!
Thanks a lot! Super informative!! SO now I can finally order the soldered Mechanical keyboard instead of wasting my money on hot swappable. 😁😁😁😁
why is your intro and outro so loud ?
A very good and clear video.
Thanks for the vid man! Gave me a confidence boost
Hi Brandon! Enjoying your videos! I've just started getting into this as a hobby. I bought cheap mechanical keyboard from Amazon to try and tear it down it build it back up again. I de-soldered all the switches but I burnt 3 pads. I was wondering if it's possible to fix these? also what is flux used for and is it needed for mechanical keyboards?
nice vid whats the pcb called?
do you have a tutorial on desoldering switches? do you think it is harder or easiier than soldering them in ?
I soldered yesterday what a timing coinsidense
Are there any replaceable compatible tips for this cheap soldering kit? Or i have to stuck with those that came with the kit?
i already know how to do most of this but im still gonna watch the video since youre great at explaining things and theres definitely something to learn from you.
Phenomenal thumbnail BT - thanks for the info as always 💯
Thanks for watching Matt!
Thank you so much your Tutorial helped me a lot
thanks for the guide bt
After de soldering all switches, should i put every single switches in the same order as it was? Or can I put it in any order?
Thats the kind of video that we need thx
Omg I can’t wait to solder my keyboard
He really out here callin' us Hotswap Ho's still... well not for long BT, not for long buddy!... thanks to you lmao
Do you really need to solder when modding a hot swappable keyboard? sorry if the question is weird because I'm about to mod my very first time hot swappable keyboard my own.
In case you're still wondering:
If the keyboard is hot swappable from the factory, you can simply click the switches in and out, no soldering required.
Only if you're building a keyboard from scratch / a kit, or repairing one, you will need to solder your switches in. In that case you may choose to solder hot swappable sockets instead, so you can change your switches easily later on.
I replaced one of my key switches because the RGB wasn't working, but now the new switch doesn't work at all and I can see a red light flashing while the other RGB switches are lighting up. What's this mean?
Is there any problem when we use multiple color switches in same board like mix match with red and blue switches
Great video, straight to the point and super informative, thank you
i really wanna learn how to solder so i can mod my mice and keyboards how i like, but also kinda scared to do it. 😅
i guess i just dont know where to start. also is it recommended to wear a p100 respirator when doing thing?
about how long does it take for an iron to cool down?
pretty fast like 5 minutes or so
oh man I just desoldered and resoldered my numpad for lubing for the first time a few weeks ago and I swear, my soldering work looks like shit even though I spent a lot of time on it. But anyway, just like you said, it would work, you're not gonna break your board with shitty soldering. Thanks for the tips! I'll definitely apply them next time.
where can I buy a PCB and where to buy a case for this pcb, or is this a kit? or can I choose a case to my liking? sorry newbie here.
thx dude this vid helps a lot!
I broke my left control key trying to pry off a _hotswappable_ keyswitch on my Keychron C1, that despite the _hotswappable_ and _no need to desolder_ or solder description on the box and Amazon listing, turned out to have a PCB board with every switch soldered on.
So I needed this video.
this video was so good!!! anyone got links for switches and a pcb? also looking for caps & a case
Thanks Jasmine! A good place to start would be novelkeys.com they have a lot of in stock keycaps, keyboard cases and pcbs. For switches I recommend their cream switches. Hope this helps!
is there any advantage over hot swap?
Great video! As a hot swap ho myself I will say watching this may tempt me over to soldering pcbs lol
Thank you so much for this video
very helpful video bro
Glad I could help Joby!
"hot swap ho"? wow, i feel called out >.< ordering a solder-only pcb now, because peer pressure
what cheap solder wire do you reccomend?
thank you for this!
im trying to build my own keyboard and it’s my first one, do i need to solder my keyboard or can i go without it
does a 300 C one work too? (iron)
Step 1: REMEMBER THE STABS
Step 2: forgets to put in the stabs
They are in I promise! Haha
@@BTaesthetics 3:47 😂
@@EsbenH lol happens to us all. What about when you realize you ordered the wrong plate?! 😱 That bad news.. happened to me twice lol..good thing I have a desoldering gun.
Who can tell me why we need to solder keyboard for what
any tips for maintaining the feel of your stabilizers after daily use? or how to fine tune stabs months later? I've noticed on two of my keyboards from day 1 they were perfect but over time of daily use and mashing spacebar and left shit especially during gaming i end up hearing some wire rattle. At the very least I do not want to desolder my keyboards to redo my stabs lol.
Without desoldering you can try to fix the rattle with lube and a syringe. There are tutorials out there.
I don't understand why sometimes we have to solder our keyboard?
I have so many questions about a new keyboard that I’m getting but I’ll need to change the switches. Is there anyway to contact you for advice? Thank you in advance! ☺️
discord.gg/NAzDYAXf that's the link to the discord. shoot me a message
what about soldering some rgb?
What about diodes for underglow?
Soldering iron and solder tread DONT BUY CHEAP, i bought a cheap kit and it made the learning process insanely hard because the tools were just bad.
Soldering is very easy getting into so dont be afraid to try it
Legend.
I've been modding keyboards for 5 years now. and I tried to mod my rog strix moonlight white tlk.. some keys dont work anymore.. do this at your own risk
What if you fuck up like can you remove it or is your keyboard dead
Thanks dooooooood!!