[SOLVED] Can I swap Outemu Blues for Gateron Browns?

[xql]

I have Outemu Blues and I'm going to buy Gateron Browns or Yellows. I have 2 questions.

1. Will it be compatible?
2. Can I change them without opening the keyboard?

 

[DSzymborski]

Those are all Cherry-type switches, so you can mix and match them.

Whether you can do it without opening the keyboard is a trickier question. If this is a hotswap-capable keyboard, you could just use a switch puller tool and swap them out. If it's not -- and the majority are not -- then you would need to open up the keyboard and make a date with a soldering iron.

Which situation you're in, I don't know for sure, as you've told us nothing about your specific keyboard. Though Tracer Gamezone doesn't list any keyboard as hot swappable, so it's probably one you'd have to desolder switch-by-switch. Unless you're handy with a soldering iron, it might make more sense to buy a new keyboard that is hot swappable and use that for playing around with and/or mixing-and-matching switches.

 

[xql]

Those are all Cherry-type switches, so you can mix and match them.

Whether you can do it without opening the keyboard is a trickier question. If this is a hotswap-capable keyboard, you could just use a switch puller tool and swap them out. If it's not -- and the majority are not -- then you would need to open up the keyboard and make a date with a soldering iron.

Which situation you're in, I don't know for sure, as you've told us nothing about your specific keyboard. Though Tracer Gamezone doesn't list any keyboard as hot swappable, so it's probably one you'd have to desolder switch-by-switch. Unless you're handy with a soldering iron, it might make more sense to buy a new keyboard that is hot swappable and use that for playing around with and/or mixing-and-matching switches.

it seems like under my switches i can press 2 "buttons". maybe i can pull them out and swap them this way?

 

[DSzymborski]

it seems like under my switches i can press 2 "buttons". maybe i can pull them out and swap them this way?

Yeah, there are like two little tabs under the switches. The switch pullers are used to grip both and pull them out (I do this all the time, my main keyboard has five different switches based on the use of the key in question). If the switches are soldered in, you'll know it fairly quickly.

 

[xql]

Yeah, there are like two little tabs under the switches. The switch pullers are used to grip both and pull them out (I do this all the time, my main keyboard has five different switches based on the use of the key in question). If the switches are soldered in, you'll know it fairly quickly.

so should i open the keyboard to see if there is solder in it?

 

[DSzymborski]

so should i open the keyboard to see if these is solder in it?

You can, but it's really a lot easier to see if a switch can be easily removed.

 

[xql]

You can, but it's really a lot easier to see if a switch can be easily removed.

well i don't have a puller so i will need to open it

 

[DSzymborski]

well i don't have a puller so i will need to open it

That's up to you. A puller is a couple of bucks and you'd need one in any case, whether the switch is soldered in or not.

 

[hang-the-9]

so should i open the keyboard to see if there is solder in it?

All you need to do is look up your keyboard model and see it it states it's hotswap or not. For a keyboard that had Outemu switches, I doubt it is, those are used only on the cheaper keyboards, and I have not run across a keyboard with those switches that had hotswap sockets.