Disassembly

Given the Ducky One 3 SF allows for hot-swappable switches and this being my first experience with the all-new Cherry MX Clear RGB switch, how could I not start this page with a switch disassembly? The actual construction of the switch is no different from other such MX-style cross-point stem switches, including from the OG that is Cherry, of course. This particular switch employs a clear housing with "Cherry" engraved on one side and an integrated diffuser for lighting from an SMD LED underneath on the other. There are no overly complex side rails, with two simple guide rails aiming to keep the stem in place as it moves up and down. Unfortunately, this is where I feel some of the newer switches have done better in minimizing switch wobble as well as any lag in switch movement. The stem itself comes un-lubed and is a clear tactile experience—pun intended. The spring is shorter than most others on the market today, but has a higher Hook's constant to compensate for it. It all comes together in the switch base housing the metal contacts, which come together as the stem pushes the outer part in at actuation to complete the circuit that is read by the USB microcontroller and sent to your display as the output.


Disassembly of the Ducky One 3 SF is quite involved, and there isn't much reason to do so unless you want to mod the keyboard further by replacing or re-lubing the stabilizers perhaps, and it begins with the removal of the side plates held in place via interlocking plastic tabs. Use a thin, flat object to pry them out, which exposes three Phillips head screws per side that hold the top frame in place. With all six screws removed, the same process follows with more such interlocking plastic tabs to separate until the top frame can be lifted off as seen above.


There are four more screws to remove now, and these are accessed on the front after removing some specific keycaps for access. At this point, the plate/PCB section can be separated fully from the bottom case panel, which is ABS plastic as well and has a foam sheet between the PCB and case to minimize reverberations going through this otherwise empty case. It's one of the new additions Ducky has made with the One 3 SF, on top of hot-swappable switches, Cherry MX Clear RGB switches, and pre-lubed, well-built stabilizers. Also note the cutouts on the side the yellow parts stick into—this is clearly not the same case as for the One 2 SF.


The PCB is black, and the soldering is of exceptional quality throughout. This is clearly a machine-assembled item. There are a few more screws here that you can remove for further disassembly, especially if you want to access the stabilizers mounted on the steel plate, but that would also mean removing every single switch from the orange-colored Kailh 5-pin hot-swap switch sockets. I did not bother to do so, but will point out the thick silicone pad between the plate and PCB to further dampen downstrokes, which will appeal to the custom keyboard market, no doubt. Going around the PCB gives a closer look at the various components of interest, including the Type-C connector and set of four dip switches soldered to the board. The Ducky One 3 SF is powered by a Nuvoton NUC1261SG4AE 32-bit USB microcontroller based on the ARM® Cortex®-M0 core with 256 KB of onboard flash memory, 20 KB SRAM, and 4 KB ROM. There are also three separate Macroblock MBI5043GP 16-channel, 16-bit color depth LED drivers for the onboard lighting control. All the components, including the switch sockets, LEDs, and capacitors, are soldered to a dual-layered PCB rated for longer life expectancy and signal stability.

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.