Disassembly

While magnetic switches are getting increasingly more common, they're still rare enough and are currently undergoing extensive R&D to bring out variations quicker than for mechanical switches. The NuPhy Air60 HE also ups the ante by using newly released low profile magnetic switches, so of course I had to take one apart to see what Gateron has been doing. The Low Profile Magnetic Jade Pro uses all POM parts and honestly feels like the best magnetic switch I've tried in general. The two support pins in the base help for sure, but now we see the housing also has dual rails with extremely tight tolerances for the stem to go up and down, reducing switch wobble further. The spring is also more like those in regular mechanical switches owing to the use of a thin stem here, with Gateron instead shifting the magnet to the side. This cleverly increases the range of movement for the magnet, as compared to full-size magnetic switches which typically have it at the bottom of a short/fat stem, while still keeping the entire switch decidedly low in profile. As the stem moves down, so does the offset magnet which is picked up by the Hall sensor in the PCB. This means the bottom housing is sealed where the stem is positioned, which can also affect acoustics to a small extent.


Disassembly of the NuPhy Air60 HE is quite simple, provided you know where all the 10 Phillips head screws are located on the metal case, which is also the switch plate in this design. You will have to remove some keycaps to access these, and note that one of these screws is hidden under a QC pass sticker, meaning there will be a telltale sign of disassembly if you go ahead. I also noticed a hardware reset button positioned alongside the Caps Lock switch, which can be helpful if you don't have access to the software for a factory reset that way. With all the screws removed, the top section can be lifted off and we see a shaped silicone sheet in the bottom case panel—thicker at the top than at the bottom, similar to the case itself—to help dampen keystrokes.


NuPhy has also implemented a foam tape on the PCB, although this doesn't feel as useful for a magnetic switch PCB than it does for hot-swap mechanical switch PCB. Peeling it off slightly provides a better look at the Hall sensors associated with each switch, along with the other components. I appreciated that the tape had cutouts for the various hardware drivers anyway, making it easy for me to realize NuPhy is using a USB microcontroller that the brand has paid extra to be customized and named as its own part. There are few SG Microelectronics components here too, although nothing worth spending more time about. All the components, including the SMD LEDs and capacitors, are soldered to a multi-layered PCB, with a separate foam sheet between the top panel and the 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.