Keychron K3 Ultra-slim Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Disassembly

Written By: Mike Villasenor

Comments: 11

Keychron K3 Ultra-slim Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Disassembly

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

20 minutes

Introduction

This guide will show you how to tear down the Keychron K3 keyboard. This is a complete teardown that involves removing the keys and keyboard frame to access the PCB. Thia guide is for the K3 with hot-swappable switches

Tools

Step 1

Unplug the keyboard and toggle the leftmost switch to the 'Off" Position
For reference, the switches are located on the top of the keyboard.

Step 2

Using a keycap puller, carefully remove the keys from the keyboard
NEVER attempt to remove the keyboard keys on any keyboard without a keycap puller or tool specialized to remove keyboard keys, not using the correct tool may damage the keys

Step 3

Check that your switches are hot-swappable. If they are not, trying to remove them will damage your keyboard.
The mechanical switches are NOT hot-swappable, and the colored stem is smaller and more oblong.
The optical switches are hot-swappable, and they have a larger colored stem which is mostly square.

Is having non-hotswappable keys means we cant disassemble it?

Hasan Gülşen -

Step 4

Use a switch puller to remove the switches.
If you have the included switch puller from Keychrone, it may be tough removing said switches.
Each switch has small tabs on the corners to grab and remove them. (The Included switch puller might require extra strength to remove)

BEWARE!!! My Keychron K3 looks exactly like this but the switches are soldered on!! If you just pull (like I did) you’ll break them!

trevorsklar -

The optical switches (pictured) are hot-swappable, and the colored part of the switch is approximately square. The mechanical switches are NOT hot-swappable, and the colored part is smaller and oblong.

trevorsklar -

Step 5

Use a # 1 philips drill bit to remove the 4 screws on the keyboard

Step 6

Use a spudger or another wedge tool to pry open the plastic base from the aluminum chassis.
Use caution when removing the base from the chassis as there are tabs that hold them together!
CAUTION: The battery is located on the plastic bottom. The battery is connected to the PCB located near the orange switches and USB

Step 7

Use tweezers to disconnect the battery from the PCB.
Use caution when removing the PCB! Pull away from the connector. Do not attempt to jiggle the cable as this may loosen/damage the connector

What is the part number or specs for the battery?

Wendy Tang -

Hi Wendy!

I could not find an OEM replacement for the battery, but I did find a battery that a user used in a DIY project with this keyboard. It is not the same one used typically, but this one was reported to give 2x the battery life compared to the OEM one

Kuromi -

Hi Tech Guy! The Ebay link is no longer working. Do you still remember the battery model?

Yu Lu -

Hi! This is the "Tech Guy" I did change my username. I do apologize for the broken link. I did find two replacement links and will add specifications for the battery in terms of size, milliamp hours, and voltage

Amazon Aliexpress

Dimensions (mm): 130mm x 32mm x 3mm

Mah: 1600mAh

Kuromi -

Step 8

Remove the 14 screws with a # 1 Philips screw driver bit
To remove the PCB from the aluminum frame, use a spudger to wedge it out.

Step 9

The PCB is now removed and able to work on.
When you reassemble the keyboard, make sure to put the orange toggles with the two nubs pointing towards the switch side of the aluminum frame.