Disassembly

Given the hot-swappable nature of the switches, it only made sense to take one of the Mountain Linear 45 switches apart. This 3-pin mechanical switch employs the cross-point Cherry MX stem design, so we have the usual construction with the top, a crosspoint stem and slider, spring, and housing that has the metal leaf for the actuation mechanism. The switch does come pre-lubed on the sides of the stem and slider, and bottom of the spring. It's done well enough not to necessitate re-lubing in my opinion, at least for the typical customer looking at the Everest 60 as a pre-built keyboard. This is clearly a linear switch with no bumps or protrusions along the path of the stem as it meets the metal contacts to initiate switch actuation.


Disassembly of the Everest 60 keyboard is quite simple given the typical aluminium frame assembly. Simply remove some specific keycaps as seen above to access eight Phillips head screws placed in a countersunk fashion on the frame, which also acts as the plate. Once all screws are removed, the top section can be lifted up far enough to get to the internal USB cable connecting a daughter PCB on the case to the primary PCB connected to the frame. Two thin ribbon cables on either side go to the two Type-C ports on the sides for the optional numpad to connect to, with the central cable taking in the USB signal from the PC. Disconnect all three carefully to fully separate these two pieces, which reveals a foam sheet that dampens keystrokes. It has precise cutouts to accommodate the various PCB components under the PCB and is on the thicker side, which is always good.


Mountain has gone further and implemented multiple pieces of even thicker silicone so that the various gaps in the foam sheet above don't subtract from of a deeper, more satisfying sound signature. These also cover the various electronics in play via multiple daughter PCBs, including what is no doubt a long PCB at the top to host the three Type-C ports for the cable. The silicone pads appear to be glued on, making further modding less than trivial.


The PCB is black and completely separable from the frame by removing all the keycaps and switches. Doing so provides access for replacing or re-lubing the stabilizers if unsatisfied with the job Mountain did. The company is using Kailh 5-pin hot-swap sockets, which is the current go-to standard as far as I am concerned. Solder quality is exceptional, and the PCB is definitely machine-assembled. Notice all the side-mounted RGB LEDs contributing to the side lighting; they direct the light towards the plastic diffuser that surrounds the PCB. Between the PCB and aluminium frame is yet another foam sheet, further adding to the sound dampening effect Mountain is deliberately targeting. Powering the keyboard is a Sonix SN32F248 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 USB microcontroller with two separate Sonix SLED1734 hardware LED drivers to handle all the onboard RGB LEDs. All the components, including the switch sockets, SMD RGB LEDs, and capacitors, are soldered to a multi-layered PCB.


Disassembly of the Everest 60 numpad is similar in that you have to remove specific keycaps and use a precision Phillips screwdriver to remove four screws. Note the two guiding posts to align the various parts. As expected, the internals are simpler than the Everest 60, and take note of the secondary inner frame through which the Type-C connectors poke. Akin to the main keyboard, there's another ribbon cable, this time under a piece of tape. I also appreciated the foam sheet and plastic diffuser.

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.