Disassembly

Disassembly of the Ducky Shine 6 is fairly simple if you know where all the screws are. Some are quite obvious when examining the keyboard from the back, and there is one also hidden under the warranty void warning sticker here. There are two other hidden screws, with one under each of the two small rubber pads (not the feet) at the top as shown above. All eight screws have a Phillips head, so a similar screwdriver will help here. Once done, use a thin flat object to pry apart the two pieces of the case.


Here is a closer look at the interlocking tabs that hold the case pieces together even with the screws removed, and note also the grooves in the top corners that need to be slid out carefully lest you break something. With the top panel piece removed, there are two more screws holding the plate/PCB piece in place on the bottom case panel, and these too require a Phillips head driver. Now, you have enough room to lift up and away the plate/PCB piece from the plastic case.


Turning the PCB over, we see an internal USB cable from the case that originates at the micro-USB port to the internal USB connector on the PCB itself. Dislodge it carefully and you can completely remove the case. Note the crack in the screw-downed piece in the case too; Ducky was made aware of this and had already notified their factory about not over-tightening the screws here. I happened to get one of the few that were made before this went noticed, although it has no effect as it is now. If the piece had cracked, things could have been worse, however. We also see a confirmation of the ABS composition of the case and get a closer look at the translucent plastic pieces on the sides that allow light to pass through.


Now we can get a better look at the PCB, and note here also the use of plate-mounted switches that go through the stainless steel plate and are soldered into the PCB. The PCB is red in color and has the Ducky logo printed on, also lets you know that this was made in Taiwan where Ducky is based out of. On either side are four LEDs pointing outwards on a black tape, and these are responsible for the side lighting on the Shine 6. It was around this time that I noticed something was loose, moving around inside the keyboard, and with the case removed, a small solder ball emerged. It appears that it tore loose from a spot where hand-soldering was done, and Ducky confirmed as much, saying the factory staff are told to do so if necessary to maintain the high quality of assembly. Unfortunately, assembly was not as high in quality in this case since it was able to work itself loose during transit. Granted, my sample was individually shipped in a box as opposed to retail units that come tightly packed together, so it is extremely unlikely to happen to others, which is exactly the case given the lack of complaints from existing owners.


The rest of the solder quality is exceptional and undoubtedly machined rather than hand-assembled. Plenty of tantalum capacitors surround the power and data delivery section, and here, we get a better look at the dip switches which too are soldered on to the PCB. Ducky is using 3528 SMD RGB LEDs, which promises an improved brightness over most other RGB keyboards. Powering the Ducky One 2 keyboard is a Holtek HT32F1654 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M3 USB microcontroller with up to 72 MHz operating frequency, 64 KB of onboard flash memory, and 16 KB SRAM. There are also multiple Macroblocks MBI5042 series discrete LED drivers supporting 16-bit color depth PWM control across 16 constant-current output channels. As it stands, all the components are soldered on to a dual-layer PCB Ducky prominently advertises on the product page for some reason even though there is nothing new here.

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