Does anyone here build keyboards???
https://kbdfans.com/collections/diy-kit
(I don't know this brand - first URL that popped up...)

There are many many different brands from super expensive to China cheap - whats similar is that you pick a frame, a PCB, switches, keycaps, weight...

At any rate, I had no idea what I was missing; I bought a used one for $50 - and its the cheapest of the cheap;
Zouya GMK67
Rainbow switches (rainbow switches - what even is that??!)
Awesome ukiyo-e themed keycaps (Japanese style paintings of waves/whales/ships/suns... you know what it is.)

And its freaking awesome! OMG - yes, the frame is cheap bendy plastic and the swiches, while clicky and easy to type on, are flipping weak. The guy that sold it to me was a keyboard fanatic, tho, and lubed the interior of the switches and changed the springs - so they feel pretty OK. They are NOT, however, Cherry MX or Gaterons. :P

Anyway - I'm gonna get into this! I must have a heavier frame, and its pretty cool that if I upgrade I can just built another keyboard from the old parts!

Anyone else???



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (911:1503/0)

Does anyone here build keyboards???

i don't personally, but you might be interested in this site:

https://shop.yushakobo.jp

this is one of the more well known shops where a lot of small batch stuff gets distributed in the jp keyboard hacker space. there's all kinds of stuff on here where you can buy prototypes/revisions of someone's ongoing experiment to make the perfect (for them) keyboard.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

Does anyone here build keyboards???

I've got an XD75re (15x5 ortholinear) with Gateron brown switches... And I forget the keycaps but they are white and yellow, XDA profile. It's loaded up with QMK firmware with a custom layout.

Works great, no glaring issues. I guess the only one I can think of is that when pulling out some of the keycaps, the switches will pop out with them too as it has hotswap sockets and no plate holding the switches down. I can change the layout as I wish because of QMK and a bit of config editing and then uploading to it over USB. I haven't changed it in a while however. Ortholinear takes a bit to get used to but it's not too bad. I just had to get used to the bigger keys being the size of one regular key (1u is it?). I don't really use the RGB lighting underneath but I did solder in the optional LEDs for capslock or other things.

Custom mechanical keyboards can be quite the money sink. If you use a computer a lot I could see someone getting a keyboard or two but after that, I don't quite see the point of those collectors with half a dozen to a dozen keyboards... Though, I never really experimented with switches or lubing switches.

... Electricity is really just organized lightning.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (911:1519/1)

Does anyone here build keyboards??? https://kbdfans.com/collections/diy-kit

Y I ordered one kit there - full aluminium body. Was expensive but worth it. Soldering the own keyboard is really nice. However these days I just buy barebones with hot swap sockets. From time to time I like to swap key switches - or keycaps.

Getting into building mechanical keyboards is a rabbit hole :).

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (911:1503/0)