Mod your keyboard

Posted by tech master  |  at  12:48 PM No comments

Disclaimer: This tutorial is presented for moding your keyboard and is adviced to perform this tut only if you are interested and wants to take the risk ! This is for the illustration purposes only. I (Tech&ME) can not be held responsible for damages resulting from anything that you may decide to do to your hardware. I also can not and will not be held responsible for injury to your self or others as a result of attempting to mod your keyboard or for others. (You can try this with your old hardware first)

So you still have those ugly green LED’s on that keyboard of yours? In this tut, I’ll show you how to hook up some new good looking LED’s to that keyboard to give your desktop a new look!

This is a very simple, yet very attractive mod which will cost you very very less.

Parts Required:



3 X - 3mm/5mm LED’s (Blue, Red, Green, UV)
Soldering Iron
Solder
Screwdriver

(some keyboard have more than 3 led's so purchase according to your requirements)



Step 1: Flip the keyboard over and locate the screws. My keyboard had 10 screws, all in visible areas so locating the screws was not a problem. Take your screwdriver and start unscrewing all the screws one by one. Remember to keep all the screws in a safe place, and to separate the different sizes so that putting it back together won’t be a problem.

In the meanwhile plug in your soldering iron, and let it heat up.

Step 2: Once all the screws have been removed, take off the back plate and locate the PCB on the top left corner of the keyboard.
There will be a screw or two holding it down. Unscrew those screws and lift the PCB to reveal the LED’s and other components.



The LED’s will be mounted there. (remember not to touch the circuits and other parts of the PCB with your hands!)

Step 3: This is where your soldering iron and your soldering skills are put to the test (sort of!).



Turn over the PCB and de-solder the first LED. Make sure you do not place the iron on the PCB for long periods of time or else, the soldering iron will burn right through it!

Step 4 : Once that is done put in your LED’s.



Remember to put the long lead of the LED through the hole with the + sign! Do the same with the remaining LED’s.

Step 5: Screw the PCB back in place. Adjust the electronic pad (the rubber sheet & the drawn circuit sheet), so that it is aligned properly with respect to every key and also the PCB – Very Important step.

Step 6: Screw the back plate in place and connect your keyboard to PC and in on.



And that's when you start getting a new look from your desktop!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. And if you have done the moding or not please comment !

Your suggestions and comments are important to me so please post them here!

I do not take the full credit for this tuturial since many other people were also involved.