Disassembly

Disassembly of the Ducky One 2 SF is on the simpler side of things, but as with most plastic case keyboards, multiple stages are involved. To begin with, use a thin, flat object to pry apart multiple interlocking plastic tabs that keep the top case panel in place with the rest of the keyboard. You will likely leave dents in the plastic case, or possibly break some of the plastic tabs, so only disassemble the keyboard if absolutely necessary. Once done, removing specific keycaps will help access five Phillips head screws, and a precision screwdriver is useful in removing those. With that done, take the PCB/plate off the bottom case panel for a better look at the things ticking inside.


The switches here are plate-mounted in that they are literally mounted on the steel plate and soldered through to the PCB underneath. The steel plate adds structural integrity to this well-built keyboard, and the PCB is black and of exceptional solder quality. This is no doubt machine-assembled, as with most Ducky keyboards today, with each switch having an associated SMD 3528 RGB LED. The PCB also has the Ducky logo printed on, letting you know that it was made in Taiwan, which is where Ducky is based out of. We can also better see the set of four dip switches here, which we will discuss in more detail on the next page.


Powering the keyboard is a Nuvoton NuMicro NUC123-series 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 core-based USB microcontroller with the core running at up to 72 MHz, and 68 KB on-board flash memory and 20 KB SRAM. There are also three separate Macroblock MBIA045GP LED drivers for the RGB lighting control. All components, including the switches, LEDs, and capacitors, are soldered to a multi-layered PCB.

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