Disassembly

Disassembly of the i-Rocks K72MN begins with the removal of the large aluminium frame, which is held in place with eight screws on the back. One of these is hidden underneath a "Do Not Remove" sticker that will leave telltale signs of disassembly, and you will need a precision Phillips head screwdriver to remove all of them. Once done, the frame simply plops down and away from the frame.


At this point we can get a closer look at the frame as well as the wood grain finish, and we also see threaded inserts that were used for the installation in the first place. The wrap goes over the visible sides and is glued onto the aluminium on the back, with the bare sections not seen in use. The rest of the keyboard is much smaller in size, and there are four screws on the top as well as two more screws.. sigh.. underneath the certification sticker on the back. I thought we were past this, but you can now separate the plate/PCB piece from the bottom ABS plastic panel.


There is an internal USB cable to dislodge to completely separate the two, and we see a piece of tape securing the connector housing on the bottom panel in addition to two more screws over a metal plate. This plate adds structural integrity to the connector housing, and the steel plate does the same for the PCB. The aluminium frame does this too, so there's definitely no flex here once everything is set up properly. The PCB is a matte black, and the switches are soldered into it through the plate. Solder quality is adequate, showing some signs of less subtle manufacturing here. Powering the keyboard is a USB microcontroller which was not readily identifiable. All the components, including the switches, indicator 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.