Disassembly

Given the hot-swappable nature of the switches and these being newer switches too, I wanted to take one of the Cherry MX2A Speed Silver switches apart to begin this section. This is a 3-pin mechanical switch employing the traditional Cherry MX stem design, so we have the usual overall construction with the top, crosspoint stem/slider, spring, and housing that also has the metal leaf for the actuation mechanism. What makes this newer version differ from the previous Cherry MX Speed Silver switch has been covered in more detail on this page and it's mostly inside the switch. This includes the new switch dome on the bottom housing that the spring sits on. The stem is now lubed, as is the spring at the bottom, and shaped to fit the new barrel-style spring which is narrower at the ends than in the middle to prevent buckling. The stem on the switch as well as guidelines in the top housing are improved for a smoother, more consistent travel with minimized switch wobble when in use. Cherry is also now rating the switches for a 100 M keystroke lifetime to try and beat the others at their own game. This version uses 3 pins at the bottom although I understand there are 5-pin versions also available. The workings of the switch itself hasn't changed with the extension on the stem pushing the gold-plated copper sections together in the bottom housing to complete the circuit and actuate the switch. The Speed Silver has a shorter stem given it actuates earlier than the MX2A Red.


Disassembly of the keyboard itself is quite simple since Ducky has gone with screws to secure the Tinker 75 together. There are just four of them accessible from the back, following which you need to use a thin flat object to pry apart interlocking plastic tabs in the two-piece case. The top piece comes off first wherein you can see the use of brass inserts for the screws and there is an internal cable going from a daughter PCB with the Type-C port in the bottom panel to the primary PCB itself. We can also see a thick foam sheet between the PCB and the plastic panel to help prevent reverberations from keystrokes.


Ducky retains the use of a gasket mount with the ProjectD Tinker 75 as we saw with the higher end Outlaw 65. This means there are several silicone gaskets going around the sides of the plate sandwiching the plate/PCB section between the case panels to effectively decouple the keystrokes and minimize vibrations while adding further support if you have a heavy hand. I noticed that this meant the case creaked a bit when picking up the keyboard from the sides but it's not an issue when the keyboard is actually laying down on your desk. You can also remove the plate and switches for further modding or re-lubing if you so desire. Ducky is using good quality Kailh hot-swap switch sockets here which is nice to see. It also has a Westberry Technology WB32FQ95 32-bit USB microcontroller with QMK/VIA open-source support. All the components, including the switch sockets and SMD LEDs, 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.