Keyboard mod idea

Acquisitor · September 21, 2019

I'm trying to hack and mod things lately or build them instead of buying. Even if it costs more to DIY, I'll still go that route just to gain the experience. After seeing some things people have done with keyboards, I looked at my old K95 and wondered if it was possible to cut most of it away and use only the section with the G-keys. From the initial research I've done, the only PCB I'll probably be able to remove are the little daughterboards. But I wanted to see if someone who knows more had any ideas about that. If I can't cut the PCB, maybe I can just remove all of the switches I don't want to use, make the area I'm not using as flat as possible, put acrylic or something over it, and use it as a tray for the K70 I have now. Or just attach that part under the desk so only the keys are sticking out. Main drawback is that I'm sure I would still have to use both USB's... but I can scrounge up 2 more slots... I think.

I admit I'm not a huge keyboard fanatic, never tried a Ducky. The K70 rapidfire mk. 2 was mostly an aesthetic choice to complete the white theme I have going with my system. I'm fine with the Speed switches on it, but I was also fine with the Browns on the K95. At least until it suffered from a really bad spill when I wasn't even using the damn computer. I keep my drink far away from the keyboard while using it, but I ran into the room to grab something, set down my drink, and somehow knocked it over onto the keyboard. Didn't just splash a little bit and roll off, it stayed there and fucking drowned that thing with Rockstar Punched within the milliseconds it took me to snatch it up. I saved it for the most part, but lost use of the media keys, and was never able to get some keys around the numpad to stop sticking, even after soaking the caps multiple times and trying like hell to clean the switches. Forced myself to keep using it as punishment until I saw the white K70 on sale several months later. The main thing I really miss from the K95 is the G keys. I liked mapping them to launch programs and execute shortcuts. I can of course map the K70 however I want, but having that bank of 18 extra keys is actually nice sometimes

TL;DR - who knows what about modding keyboards??

manikyath · September 21, 2019

if you're not particularly married to the corsair software suite for your G-keys, making your own (macro) keypad with an arduino isnt too difficult.

Acquisitor · September 21, 2019

Yeah arduino is definitely something I'm interested in getting into, but I'd still be curious what I can do with this. This particular idea came from wanting to give new life to old junk more than wanting a keypad. I do appreciate the thought though.

FezBoy · September 23, 2019

I think your best bet would be to build and wire a macro pad from scratch. You could definitely salvage the switches from the "G-keys," use those in the macro pad, and cut off that area, leaving the rest of the keyboard usable. You could even reuse the existing enclosure for the macro keys. I don't think that the PCB and/or controller would be useful though, as you would have to figure out the controller's pinout and diagram the pcb. You would be better off, in my opinion, using an arduino pro micro and hand wiring it.

Here's a guide on wiring: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=87689.0

And the QMK wiki: https://docs.qmk.fm/#/