Keyboard-Fi

[Jayden]

What's your budget?

Does basic soldering count? But best to be less of that level of modifications

 

[vLEGIONv]

Does basic soldering count? But best to be less of that level of modifications

That puts you in a better place then most people. the majority will be through-hole soldering, and for most keyboards the most complex things you'll ever solder are SMD diodes or leds. This will open you up to the world of ergo's and splits, or more specialty stuff.. I had zero idea what I was doing soldering and used a very basic $20 usd soldering kit to finish my first keyboard, which took 6 hours. That includes reading guides and desoldering mistakes.


if you're in singapore, take a look at kbdfans (pricey at times) or kprepublic(cheaper pick, large selection). if you don't want to mess around soldering, just pay attention to stuff like this. It's already soldered, just need to pick your switches, case, keycaps, and toss it all together.

Cost is going to be heavily dependent on what you decide to pick up. pcb/components to fill out the pcb shouldn't ever go above $100 (some of those presoldered pcb's are as little as $30 usd), but where you get caught up are switches, cases, and keycaps.
You can spend $3 per 10 for gateron yellows... or spend $18 per 10 for west german vintage blacks.
You can spend $30 for an aliexpress set of knock off keycaps... or wait 8 months for a $200 group buy set.
You could buy a simple case for $60 usd... or get one made out of brass that'll cost you $500.
World's your oyster, you might as well send it right off the bat to something tailored to you, and you don't HAVE to spend a ton of money to do it.

Tl;dr mechanical keyboards are a giant waste of money

 

[Jayden]

Yup, I can do basic soldering I would say.

And boy that is really a huge range of prices right there! Yes I am based in Singapore and I will definitely take your suggestions into consideration

 

[nepherte]

Being from Singapore, there are plenty of local vendors (mostly offering group buy stuff):
- https://ilumkb.com
- https://monokei.co
- https://hexkeyboards.com

Be aware though, that most things they sell are through group buys (easily taking 1 year to deliver) and individual parts of a keyboard (such as keycap sets)

 

[vLEGIONv]

Yup, I can do basic soldering I would say.

And boy that is really a huge range of prices right there! Yes I am based in Singapore and I will definitely take your suggestions into consideration

If you actually understand what you're doing you'll be fine building from the ground up. by my third keyboard I've gone into building my own earbuds, handwiring boards, and a pcb solder job for a split or 60% takes me 2 hours tops now. It's really not difficult, just kind of tedious.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out what switches, keycaps, and board you want to go with

 

[Jayden]

Being from Singapore, there are plenty of local vendors (mostly offering group buy stuff):
- https://ilumkb.com
- https://monokei.co
- https://hexkeyboards.com

Be aware though, that most things they sell are through group buys (easily taking 1 year to deliver) and individual parts of a keyboard (such as keycap sets)

Wow 1 year would be too long man. But I will look at the links you provided here though! Its always good to read up more I guess

 

[Jayden]

If you actually understand what you're doing you'll be fine building from the ground up. by my third keyboard I've gone into building my own earbuds, handwiring boards, and a pcb solder job for a split or 60% takes me 2 hours tops now. It's really not difficult, just kind of tedious.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out what switches, keycaps, and board you want to go with

I'm one who's kinda into tinkering stuff, so I hope i will do fine when the time comes

 

[nepherte]

E-White Polaris HHKB Layout | Polycarbonate Plate (universal) | Alpacas (tx films + krytox 205g0) | Durock v2 screw in stabs | GMK Crimson Cadet

 

[ThEvil0nE]

WOOTING One

 

[Watagump]

Redragon K556 RGB LED Backlit Wired Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Aluminum Base, 104 Standard Keys​

Made the move to a mechanical, took a while to find one I liked. Tried several Corsair before settling on this one. It has brown switches and costs around $50.

 

[nepherte]

Monokei Kei R2 | HHKB Layout | Brass bottom weight | Full brass plate | Pinokos (krytox 205g0 + tx film) | Durock v2 stabs (krytox 205g0) | GMK Modern Dolch Light

 

[ChevyMonsenhor]

Assembled my first custom a few months ago.
Base: Idobao ID80 (V1 case, V2 PCB) + Acrylic bottom plate
Switches: JWICK C Black V2 on mains, Kailh Box Ancient Grey on mods + misc
Stabs: Everglide V2
Lube: Krytox 105 (all switches), dielectric grease (stabs)
Keycaps: Keypro Red Warrior PBT DS (GMK Red Samurai copy)

Sounds pretty good too!

 

[mikey1964]

I can't recall if I'd posted Topre keyboards, but I'd recently gathered them for a group shot for another forum. Anyway, here goes:

Topre Type Heaven with blue dye-sub keycaps, Topre RealForce 103UB 55G with yellow dye-sub ketcaps.

A group shot of my Topre keyboards (I'd forgotten to include the Type Heaven, but did include the RealForce 103UB....on left (top to bottom), CoolerMaster Nova Touch with Miami keyset, Leopold FC660C (black), and another CoolerMaster Nova Touch with a Galaxy keyset. On the right, two HHKB Professional 2 (I'd swapped their keycaps) and the Topre RealForce 103UB 55G.

I just love the feel of Topre, especially the 55G, such a joy to type on...I've rotated out of my Topre keyboards, I'm presently using a Ducky Shine 4 69 Fire, with its nine Cherry MX switch types, and LED with 6 different LED colors (RGB wasn't quite out yet at the time).

 

[AppleheadMay]

Monokei Kei R2 | HHKB Layout | Brass bottom weight | Full brass plate | Pinokos (krytox 205g0 + tx film) | Durock v2 stabs (krytox 205g0) | GMK Modern Dolch Light

Classy!

 

[AppleheadMay]

Has any one seen this keyboard yet?
https://viendi.co/8l/
I'm in love!