- A few weeks ago, I reviewed this $35 keyboard.
A lot of you asked me to mod it. A lot of you.
Let's go make it better.
All right, here's the plan.
I've got the K552 right here.
I'm going to cannibalize this keyboard
and take off all the key caps, leaving it
a shell of what it used to be.
I want to use the switches and stabilizers in here.
We'll just make it a whole lot better.
And I've got some interesting things planned
that I've never ever done before.
So make sure you stick around.
Okay. First things first, I've got to get rid of this logo.
It's just really, really, really bugging me.
And some of you said that I could just erase it
with an eraser, so let's go try it.
Someone said it would take like 15 minutes, for real.
It doesn't look like anything's coming up
but there's some pink stuff coming up
in the form of eraser shavings.
It will be really fast, they said
It would be really easy, they said.
But no, I'm sacrificing my eraser!
I did it.
It's clean.
There is barely any red dragon logo left.
But look at all these eraser shavings.
Oh, I feel like Salt Bae up in here.
(laughing)
Okay. We're done with this.
Next. we're taking it apart,
look at the inside, see what I'm working with
and then doing a little something special, speciaL.
(energetic music)
(power tool wiring)
(suspenseful music)
(laughing)
TA-DA!
(suspenseful music)
Ooh!
I learned online that you can convert whatever this is
to USB-C detachable cable.
So that's what I'm going to do.
I ordered all this stuff and I've never done this before.
So I'm a little nervous.
Oh, (foreign language)
- Censored, censored.
First. I'm going to cut this cable.
So there's no going back after this happens.
Okay.
There is no going back after that.
This is a wire stripper.
This is a cable.
And I've never used this before.
So I don't know what I'm doing.
It says wear safety goggles.
Bum!
Okay. I got the wire of, without any help
from anybody whatsoever.
Now I need to strip each wire individually
to reveal whatever's underneath here.
These wires are too small for the wire stripper.
I looked online and apparently you can solder off
these wire ends and the inside cable won't melt.
(lively music)
Okay. I just finished soldering these cables
to the USBC breakout and now I'll have to test it.
And there's a pretty good chance this may not work.
But there's a small chance that it could too.
Snap in.
Okay. Ooh!
- (man) Ooh! Is it working?
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
It just lit up.
And I think it works.
So using these tweezers, I'm going to test these inputs to
see if it will type anything on the computer.
Please work.
Ooooh!
It works!
It just typed u like six times.
It works!
Okay. We have to unplug it.
I'm going to unplug it from the computer first.
So I don't shock myself over there.
We have to make a hole in here because ideally
we're going to make the USB-C cable on the left corner.
And that's why this cable's so long.
So, I guess we use our drill power,
with Jake's help, of course, to make a whole here.
Here we're drilling a hole in the top left of the case
to provide a spot for the USB-C cable to break out
using a small drill bit here and then filing it down
with a metal filer to make sure that it's the right size.
And there it is.
So it doesn't look as clean as it could be
but it gets the job done.
To mount the USB port to the case,
I need to drill holes for some screws to go in
because there's nothing there right now.
And now to actually mount the USB-C port,
we need to tap some screws into this case.
All of these tools will be in the description.
We screwed two holes in the case,
we tapped it with this thing.
And now we're using two M3 screws and a singular MP3 nut
on each screw to put the port into the case
and make sure that it lines up.
Okay. So everything looks really good
from this angle, right?
But lo and behold, we actually screwed in the wrong hole.
(laughing)
So, this one was the one that you guys saw, the screw first.
And then we decided, oh, it's not in the right place.
So, now all of this is being done in the right place.
It's not embarrassing.
We'll link everything down below
if you want to do this for yourself,
along with maybe, maybe some instructions too.
All right, the cable's in place.
Now let's add some foam.
(upbeat music)
Now the foam is cut except it's a little preemptive.
In fact, we actually have to go and spray paint
this case a special color.
So make sure you stick around, but in the meantime
we're going to loop these switches and stabilizers
but you guys have seen enough of that.
So it'll be done like
(snaps fingers)
And just kidding.
It actually took a really long time
to mount these stabilizers because there was a lot
of lube on them from the factory.
It was sticky and it was gooey, pretty nasty.
But they're all done.
And lubing ODM switches
actually takes a really, really really
long time, three hours.
And one hour for that was just opening up the switch
which was just torture.
And it's done easy as that.
Just kidding.
It took a really long time.
So the rubber feet
and the sticker actually left behind a lot of residue.
So I need to Google on some of these things
and you sand down the plastic to allow primer
to stick to the case a lot better.
Yep. Just sanding away, real awkward.
The first layer of paint will be primer and it's gray.
You can pick whatever other color, but we have gray.
So we got gray, t's looking a little drab,
but do not worry, we will cover this drab gray
with, with with tape, with tape.
And then with paint, got my first layer here.
And that will be this beautiful aquamarine, turquoise
teal color of blue and then a complimentary
dark blue and listen to this.
(tape ripping)
Isn't that the cleanest line you've ever seen?
Probably not.
So it's not the best, but honestly I'm pretty happy
with the results and it's quite beautiful, clean.
Cleeean.
So you do see that there's a whole missing there.
I did end up spray painting that outside again
and the backside actually makes up for it.
And now it's time to put everything back together.
So that USB port that we put in before I had to
screw it back in again, after taking it out and then
that foam we cut before and now I'm putting it back in
making sure to leave a hole for the
cables to connect to the PCB.
In go the PCB, in goes the plate,
snap it all down, screw it all in.
And there's only like fuse, just getting there were
like 12 screws.
Put the switch back on and guess what?
They all work!
And behold the finished product.
(high energy music)
(keyboard taping)