Disassembly

Disassembly of the Hexgears Impulse is on the easier side of things with 17 Phillips head countersunk screws on the front that keep the keyboard together. The screws are underneath specific keycaps that need to be removed, as seen above, and there are no hidden screws, which is nice to see. There are three main pieces here, including the plastic bottom and the frosted plastic side frame, and the metal frame/PCB piece which still has an internal USB cable connecting it to the cable that is a part of the plastic bottom panel. Dislodge the connector and all three pieces can be separated completely.


The frosted white plastic frame goes all around the keyboard and is a fundamental part of the keyboard aesthetic that is not very visible from the front with a top-down view. It is especially relevant when the keyboard is connected since the PCB has several extra RGB LEDs (including on the Impulse monochrome) on the sides that go through this frame for uniform side lighting in addition to the backlighting that comes from one LED (white or RGB depending on the keyboard version) per switch. The PCB itself is black, and the switches are soldered through the metal plate neatly, along with the rest of the components. The PCB design appears to have been finalized in late 2018, and the keyboard is powered via an HFD1101KBA 64-bit USB microcontroller, as well as a dedicated HFD9901LIA LED driver. There is no real information available online about these, but they do the job just fine. 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.