How much force should I need to pull a key off the cap?

[18358414]

I'm trying to restore a Dell mechanical keyboard with Alps black switches but I'm noticing I have to apply a considerable amount of force on it to get the key caps off.  Is that normal?  I'm worried I'll break my little plastic keycap puller. 

[Lord Szechenyi]

11 minutes ago, Yuri Fury said:

little plastic keycap puller

what?

 

I just use my fingers to remove keycaps

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, Lord Szechenyi said:

what?

 

I just use my fingers to remove keycaps

A lot of keys are very inconvenient and/or hard to remove with just your fingers, especially if you have one that doesn't have floating style keycaps like on the K70 or most modern mechanical keyboards. For the keyboard OP has, removing them without a tool would be almost impossible. 

 

 

It will take a little bit of force to take them off depending on the keyboard, but it shouldn't be too difficult. It's about the force necessary to remove the USB 3 connector (I'm trying to think of something more common that's similar, but that's about the closest thing I can think of). 

[18358414]

45 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

It's about the force necessary to remove the USB 3 connector

I'm familiar with the force needed to remove keycaps from MX Blue switches, I was expecting something similar to that.  What I'm actually getting is something like 10 times that (probably about the same force needed to pull out a well-seated Molex connector)

 

edit: Looks like it's working... apparently they're just really tight from the factory.  No idea so far how I'm going to remove the long caps though. 

[BiotechBen]

I've pulled keycaps off optiplex systems with a paperclip before(they did kinda rocket off when they popped though)

[18358414]

Looks like I've mostly figured it out; The keys are tight from the factory, so they take some work to get off.  The longer keys which have the metal stabilizer can be removed by applying a little force to the plastic springs that hold them in place.