One of my keys no longer works, and when I look down in it, it looks like the hot-socket pin is pushed significantly down further than the rest. How bad is this? And what sort of soldering do I have to do? I truly thought I put my switch in correctly, as I’ve been doing it for a while now on this, and never missed or had problems.
Kudos to anyone who tries to help, as I’ve googled it and come up with mixed results (as to why I lost a key)
Sometimes you can just push them back. Take the top off, push on the hotswap plug until it goes back into place. If it still doesn’t make contact with the little pad on the back, you will need to add some solder, heat it up, and then quickly press the metal part of the hotswap arm into place before it cools all the way. They’re not too bad to fix. If you’ve ripped the pad off of the PCB completely, you’ll have to jump from the diode on that switch to the loose arm.
Either replace the socket, or solder into the specific socket that’s broken. Then suck the solder out. This worked for me when I helped a friend, the solder residue left over after sucking the initial blob was enough to close the circuit properly.
I believe that is what happened, because I took your advice and soldered it back but it still doesn’t work. I don’t know how to jump diodes either…I’m wondering if it would be easier to just sell it and let someone who knows these things fix it, but I also don’t really know what to charge (I paid $159 for it, before shipping).
If worst comes to worst, you can just get a replacement PCB. Did the pad get stripped off of the PCB? Or is it just the socket and the solder joint that went down? It’s also very possible that the socket itself is faulty, which can also be replaced. There’s plenty of avenues to go down without having to lose your board!
There is a diode on the pcb next to that switch. Test out the fix by simultaneously touching tweezers or anything metal to that diode (either end) and the side of the hotswap that is detached. Do this while the pcb is plugged in and pressing the switch. If that works, thats the connection you need to make. Just use a small wire to make the connection instead of the tweezers.
Can you take a photo of the hotswap socket? It is possible that you lifted the pad.
Yeah, that’s what I was getting at in my reply. I did the same thing to my M60-a. Wire from diode to the hotswap arm fixed it.
The other thing is trying to fix the little flaps inside the socket that sometimes become too flattened to make contact with the switch pin. I’ve had to do this a few times with my IGK61 board. Just push them back towards the front with sharp tweezers. This might be hard to understand without having seen the issue in person.
Both of these issues are the main reason why a lot of makers hesitate to jump to hotswap. I personally don’t mind a little fix here and there, but it’s quite the deal-breaker for someone without the tools or experience to repair it.
What’s crazy is that I had a TeamWolf Zhuque and I hot-swapped that sucker at least 30 times, just winging it. No problems, not even a hint of a switch not fitting properly. I get a Tofu from KBDfans and CAREFULLY insert my switches and this happened on the 3rd hot swap.
I think a backplate for hotswap PCBs could be pretty useful.
I’ve done this as well and it seems like unless you hold the hotswap socket, the force of replacing switches can push it out of place easily.
I agree with everything above- just popped a socket loose on my LFK68 and had to resolder it. You need to disassemble the board and look at the backside of the PCB to see if the socket is popped off its pad. (then upload a pic)
I assume you’ve tried a different switch too? Bent pins are obvious, but once on a hotswap mis-insertion instead of bending, the pin just got pushed up into the switch housing and it no longer actuated reliably.