How to make a keycap puller from two paperclips and not break your keyboard

(Image credit: FUTURE)

In order to thoroughly clean your mechanical keyboard, you may want to remove the keycaps. The best way to do that is with a keycap puller, but keycap pullers are one those mysterious objects that I always swear I have in a drawer somewhere but can never find. That shouldn't halt a summer project, though, whether you want to clean the gunk out of your board or replace your old crusty keycaps with some fancy new ones. You can just make your own keycap puller with stuff you probably have lying around. 

I decided to use the HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini's keycap puller as a design inspiration for the one we're making today. It's small and easy to store along with being the right size for yanking off any sized keycap. 

The reason you want to use a keycap remover instead of your clumsy fingers is that you don't want to risk damaging your keyboard by breaking a stem. A keycap remover acts as a pair of tongs that slip underneath the key allowing you to safely pull it off with a vertical motion and no side-to-side wiggling. Mechanical gaming keyboards can costs upwards of $150, so why risk breaking it over something as trivial as using the right tool?

The only things you'll need for a quick and dirty keycap puller are:

  • 2 x paperclips
  • 1x twist-tie 
  • Pliers
  • Ruler (optional)

You could try to eyeball the bends you'll be making with the pliers, but a ruler will help in making sure those bends are precise enough to fit over your keycaps. The average paperclip is about six inches long when straightened out.

1. Straighten out the paperclips

Step one is pretty self-explanatory. You want to completely straighten out the paperclips, which will make it easier to get the bends you want with the pliers. The pliers will also help in straightening out the segments you can't do with your fingers.  

2. Let's get bending

This is the part that will require some precision. In each paperclip, we are going to make two 90-degree bends with 1 cm between them, so that the paperclips resemble long rectangles with one missing side (see the gallery above). The easiest way to do this is to hold the paperclip in place with the pliers and push on the clip with your thumb.

3. More Bends

Your two puller pieces should look like staples with very long legs. Now take the ends of each puller and make 90 degree bends that face outward, like the feet of a stretched-out omega (Ω).

4. Tie it all together

Lay the two bent paper clips on top of each other. Scrunch together the feet and wrap the twist tie around them, tying them together. Go around twice. From here, wrap the ends around each foot. It should resemble a cute little handle. If you have any excess bit of the paper clip sticking out, you can use the pliers to snip away at it. 

There you have it, with about ten minutes' work and virtually zero cost, you made yourself a keycap puller. Now go clean that keyboard!

Jorge Jimenez
Hardware writer, Human Pop-Tart

Jorge is a hardware writer from the enchanted lands of New Jersey. When he's not filling the office with the smell of Pop-Tarts, he's reviewing all sorts of gaming hardware, from laptops with the latest mobile GPUs to gaming chairs with built-in back massagers. He's been covering games and tech for over ten years and has written for Dualshockers, WCCFtech, Tom's Guide, and a bunch of other places on the world wide web. 

Latest in Gaming Keyboards
The Corsair K70 Pro TKL gaming keyboard seen from above, with the wrist rest attached, on a well-lit desk. Game mode has been activated, bathing every key in red light.
Corsair K70 Pro TKL review
Cheese platter with camembert, walnut cheese, gorgonzola and taleggio
I've never wanted a keyboard with cheese keycaps and a little mouse on it until I saw this one
A close up image of the Drop + The Lord of the Rings Gondor CSTM80 gaming keyboard
Forget Gondor, Drop's latest LOTR-themed keyboard has my approval because it's got a tiny little sword on the Enter key
Wooting 80HE on a desk and controlled by the Wootility.
There's one reason I come back to this one rapid trigger gaming keyboard over the rest, and that's great software
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard (C64 Edition
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard review (C64 Edition)
Lemokey L5 HE 8K gaming keyboard with RGB enabled on a desk.
Lemokey L5 HE 8K keyboard review
Latest in News
A woman with an arcane slingshot uses it to light a distant fire
Deconstructeam's next game is about training to shoot a single fireball at an impossible target
assassin's creed shadow naoe
We asked two parkour athletes to rate the realism of Assassin's Creed's acrobatics, and a surprising 'crime against parkour' might actually be one of the most realistic things they saw
Mechs fight on the outside of a spaceship
MechWarrior 5: Clans is getting DLC with playable Elementals and a fight on the outside of a spaceship
Aloy - Horizon
'I feel worried about this art form:' Unsurprisingly, the real Aloy from Horizon isn't a fan of AI Aloy
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'