I’d like to take the top part of the housing off my Gateron Blues and replace it with the top housing, stem, and spring of a Gateron Silent Red. Can this be done, or will it affect the silent capabilities? The only difference I see is the Silent Reds have an opaque bottom, and the Blues do not, which is why I want to switch.
And can this be done while the blues are still soldered in my board? LOL< I know…dumb question, but I figure someone here would know…
Yes to first part.
Pretty sure all the “silencing” is in the stem anyway, so that shouldn’t be a problem and should be just as quiet. Though I haven’t taken apart a silent gateron so don’t know for sure.
As for whether you can do this while it is on the board this is dependent on a few things
Does it have a plate? If no plate then yes you can get the tops off.
If it has a plate does it have switch opening cut outs? These are common on custom plates but not on manufactured complete keyboards. Basically they are little cut outs on the corners of the hole in the plate where the switches go that allow the tabs that hold the 2 halves together to be bent open, while still allowing the plate to provide support for the switch.
If you fit either of these criteria you will need a switch top opening tool, like the one from mechanicalkeyboards.com
Cool, thank you for the help. That was possibly the most helpful, perfect answer. Much appreciated.
I guess this would have been more useful though:
How it looks in use:
You pinch them together, forcing the tabs open, then pull upwards
And this is what the plate cut outs look like:
