Fixing Up the Ducky One Keyboard

TLDR

Fixed up the 2016 Ducky One.

Background

The Ducky One was my second mechanical keyboard and gateway into the mechanical keyboard world. I bought the Ducky One with Cherry MX Brown switches back in 2016. I was too scared to build my own keyboard at the time, and I heard so many great things about the Ducky brand. So I ended up buying a prebuilt keyboard.

After using the keyboard for about for about eight years, it was time to open it up and do some deep cleaning and adjustments.

Deconstruction & Reconstruction

Dissection

How far keyboards have come!! Back in 2016, I was so scared to make my own keyboard because I had to solder the switches on.
I ended up teaching myself how to solder since I needed to use it for one of my classes, and it’s actually really easy.

The Ducky One had the switches soldered into the PCB, so I had to figure out how to desolder it. And man, desoldering is very, very time consuming. At first, I tried using a solder wick with flux and I couldn’t get it to work at all. Luckily my kit came with a desoldering pump and that worked a lot better. The most annoying part of using the desoldering pump was that it’s messy and had to be cleaned very frequently.

After desoldering, it was time to lube the switches and stabilizers…another time consuming task! Cherry MX Brown are tactile switches so I lubed the housing with Tribosys 3203. The stabilizers were very dirty, so I’m glad that I cleaned them.

I ended up changing the Esc key switch to a Kailh Box Winter for fun…The Kailh Box Winter has a lower actuation force than the Cherry MX Brown, and I use the Esc key frequently.

Mending

Now to solder the switches to the PCB. EZPZ.

The board still sounded a little hollow to me, so I ended up putting tape on the back of the PCB. The hardest part of the tape mod was cutting out the holes for the connectors and screws. I ended up just eyeing it and it turned out great.

I wanted to add foam to the bottom of the case as well, but the cover wouldn’t close with with the foam on.

Good as New

Well, as good as it can be. The shine on the alpha keys are from almost 8 years of use and I can’t get rid of it. But man, does typing feel as good as new! Lubing the switches and modding the board really helped with the feel and sound.

I honestly could have just left the board desoldered and sell the Cherry MX Brown switches for like $30. I don’t have any plans of using this keyboard in the future. This keyboard was more like a test run of my soldering and desoldering skills. I guess my skills were fine because the keyboard is still fully functional!

November 2025 Update

As of November 2025, I gave the Ducky One away. I have no use for it anymore and I probably wouldn’t get any resell value out of it. Like come on, this is a keyboard made in 2016! Mechanical keyboards have come a long way since then. You don’t have to solder anymore!

I’m glad I found someone who will actively use it. Goodbye, Ducky!

-LW