Disassembly

At my request, Bloody sent over a spare switch of each of the new LK Libra switches. These came with Bloody keycaps as well, and taking them off, we can see the linear LK Mocha and tactile/clicky LK Orange switch here. Both come with a stabilizer bar as part of the switch design now, which seems overkill, but does help with the larger keycaps as it reduces their wobble while in use. The stems are also incorporated into a larger plastic piece that integrates a rectangular cuboid around it to add some dust and spill resistance, which should work well with the advertised nano-coating on the top plate as well as the drainage holes in the case's bottom. A full teardown was attempted for both switches, which begins with the removal of the stabilizer bar that has a lot of lubrication on it for a smooth, friction-less operation.


The acrylic crystal can also be pushed out easily, and Bloody calls this a crystal prism to help diffuse the light from the LED on the PCB underneath. It is here that things halted with a single-piece body construction employed such that there are locking spacers inside which keep the stem/slider in place over the spring similar to a zip tie. So enthusiasts wanting to mod the switches will not find it very feasible to do so, but I was able to maneuver the body enough to allow for a better look at the sliders on each. In a surprise move, Bloody has a bump on both the orange and mocha sliders, which allows them to use the same mold and save money, and they get a linear travel with the latter by carving out a matching notch in the body to allow for smooth travel without a tactile bump. I have also attached an image of a switch teardown from Bloody to accompany this section, so you can get a better look at how it all goes together. Optical switches such as these do not have metal points to contact with and actuate a keystroke, which means you can take these off the PCB because no soldering is required.


Time for the keyboard itself to be taken apart. Since the case is identical to that of the B840 as far as disassembly goes, refer to this page for more, including the removal of the top cover plate to access the switches. For this review, disassembly will involve the examination of the PCB and hardware drivers in more detail, which begins with the removal of 16 Phillips head screws from the back, none of which are hidden underneath rubber pads or labels to worry about here. In fact, two screws have a cutout in the rubber pads at the bottom, so Bloody makes it fairly simple to take apart and reassemble the keyboard. Once done, the bottom case panel can be removed completely, which gives us a good look at the PCB for the keyboard. Owing to the optical switches in use here, the PCB is very neatly assembled with minimal soldering needed, and even that appears to have been done by machines rather than hand.


Here, we can also see the side plates, which are removed easily and held in place by notches in the case as well as internal connectors that plug in to provide power and control to the RGB LEDs here and on the PCB underneath the switches. Bloody is using a Sonix SN8F22E88B 8-bit microcontroller with 64 KB of ROM and 1 KB of RAM, along with a 6-channel PWM output. In addition, there are two separate Sonix SLED1734 LED drivers that are each capable of driving 75 RGB LEDs, so the two in tandem will more than suffice for the entire keyboard. An 8-bit PWM control for 256 brightness steps per R/G/B channel also means the keyboard can theoretically handle all 16.8 M RGB colors the LEDs can provide. As is the norm, all the components are present on a multi-layered PCB.

Before we move on, be advised that disassembly will void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decided to go ahead and do so anyway.