I thought about doing the same thing, but decided to go another route.
I took the unit apart with little problem. The likely reason you had trouble disassembling it was due to one screw. On the back there are two labels, One white with the serial #, and another black with NI info and model. There is another screw below the black label. To easily get to it, press on it and you should feel the hole then use a razor and cut enough to get your screwdriver through.
To answer your question, the rubber pads are connected, but they do not rely on this to retain each pads location. Each pad button and button slot has alignment pins, so even if the pads were seperated, they are held in place by the pins.
For me, there are buttons labeled with functions I never have or will use. I never use Sync, and I never use Cue up for one. So what I did was use a Dremmel with a fine sanding disc at high speed to remove the text from each button. The high speed with little pressure creates enough heat to bring the text off easily with no scarring or marking to the rubber button surface. Even
with the button lit from the LEDs it shows no marks.
Now using the NI made overlay (I ordered extras) I can label each button with its main and modified control similar to the encoder labels. Also now I can create mappings that would allow me to use it in a horizontal config instead of vertical.
I took pictures of the process and results, and in the next few days I will get them up and posted.
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