Where to get keyboard soldering done?

YellowJersey · January 31

Looking for: are there any online businesses that do custom keyboard soldering work? Looking to make my mechanical keyboard hot swappable so I can easily lube the springs.

Context: After extensive research, I bought myself a Kinesis Freestyle Edge keyboard with Cherry MX Browns and the tenting accessory. I absolutely love the typing experience on this board, especially after using the Freestyle 2 for nearly ten years. (I did look at a tonne of other split tenting keyboards, but none of them had what I wanted) While I love the keyboard, it has awful ping that's driving me crazy. I've tried to find QMX-Clips as I've heard they can help, but can't find them in stock anywhere, and I keep getting an error on the Uniqey website when I try to order them. I've also ordered a piece of sorbothane acoustic foam to jam in there, so we'll see on Friday (when it's scheduled to be delivered) if that'll help. But, the switches aren't hot swappable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that I can't lube the springs without desoldering the switches. I've never soldered, don't own a soldering iron, and have some pretty bad tremor in my hands (medical issue), so I'm not keen on doing it myself; even if I had the equipment and knew how, I don't think my hands are steady enough (it's why I had to give up building Gundams). I'd like someone to hopefully do it for me. I am, of course, happy to pay for this; I don't expect anyone to do it for free.

Are there any businesses or individuals with good reputations (ie, good work, not scams) that do this kind of thing?

seon123 · January 31

You could check out the r/mechmarket subreddit for services. In order to make the switches hot swappable, you'll want to get Millmax or Holtite sockets added to the PCB. You could also get the switches lubed and/or change them for different ones.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/?f=flair_name%3A"Service"

YellowJersey · January 31

55 minutes ago, seon123 said:

You could check out the r/mechmarket subreddit for services. In order to make the switches hot swappable, you'll want to get Millmax or Holtite sockets added to the PCB. You could also get the switches lubed and/or change them for different ones.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/?f=flair_name%3A"Service"

Useful. Thanks!