Update: Disassembly + Re-assembly

I figured it makes more sense to make a new page entirely to discuss the updated, finalized PCBs as well as how they would fit into the MOONDROP DASH keyboard. I received spare sets of most things and they shipped in individual plastic bags to also allow closer examination of the PCB and its components.


The USB hub daughter PCB has been optimized with different capacitors that are now black in color too, and the actual hub controller is from a different batch from before. There is no difference in functionality, although note that now we have a low profile ribbon cable connector here to pair it with the primary PCB.


The finalized primary PCB shipped with the foam and tape on either side, and this now allowed me to get a closer look at what turned out to be two separate foam sheets on the front between the plate and the PCB itself! At this stage I figured I might as well show you more photos of the screw-in stabilizers as well as the factory lube job done.


The other side of the primary PCB looks mostly untouched except of course for the matching ribbon connector to get the USB power and data from the daughter PCB. This is now placed much closer to allow for cleaner routing compared to the long, relatively ugly connector before. The PCB also now comes marked as revision 2.1.8 compared to 1.4.1 before, and the ATMEL ATmega32U4 USB microcontroller is also from a newer batch as expected.


Replacing these two PCBs meant removing the older ones first, with the USB hub simply installed via three tiny Phillips head screws. Removing the primary PCB required me to take out every single keycaps and then also each switch, so I figured I might as well take a few photos along the way to allow you to better appreciate the plate-mounted nature of the MOONDROP DASH.


I was just about ready to install the newer PCBs until I realized MOONDROP had also added in some foam isolation and damping for the daughter PCBs too. But just a single foam sheet on top was not enough and the company has a foam sandwich now to where the bottom foam section, also machined to perfectly fit the DASH as with the top foam piece, necessitated removal of the MoonRiver 2 PCB. This isn't as easy to do since it is held in place by a single tiny screw that has hot-glue on top, but I wanted to show you exactly how the retail units would ship and this re-assembly section can be imagined as disassembly of the retail units in reverse. It makes for a cleaner keyboard and certainly far more isolation than I deemed practical. I then placed the new tape and foam sheets provided for the primary PCB and closed up the keyboard with the polycarbonate panel to get it back to working condition, except now I had the final version of the MOONDROP DASH ready to go!