4 ms·

Careful, like all good hobbies it's incredibly addictive. I'm building my 8th keyboard this calendar year alone.

• ge96 4y ago
  I don't build em but I have 6 mech keyboard so far. Just been trying different switches over time per model. 65% gang
  • nvr219 4y ago
    I love my 65% but having esc and ` on the same key is annoying.
    • moondev 4y ago
      With gmk you can set the esc key to tlde, and then a "short long press" to esc on the same key
    • martijn9612 4y ago
      Why not map escape to caps lock with QMK or VIA? If you cannot miss your caps lock, place that behind a layer. There are quite some options to tackle this as long as you can flash a custom keymap.
    • samatman 4y ago
      The traditional remapping for esc is pressing alt, because the alt key sends the escape key in terminals. Being able to fiddle with your keyboard layout is part of the fun of mechanicals, I happen to have this remapped at the OS level, because even on a laptop keyboard (yes I have a physical escape key) it's more convenient 90% of the time to press left Alt than the reach my pinky all the way up into Esc land.
  • jstx1 4y ago
    You could also get a hot-swappable board to easily try new switches without getting new keyboards all the time.
    • ge96 4y ago
      That's a good idea. So far cherry MX reds are my daily driver with the curving square key caps (don't know the name yet) as opposed to the round ones. I tried gatteron yellow but too hard and gatteron red too soft ha.
  • rpmisms 4y ago
    I'm addicted to Orthos, have 3 Plancks, a Preonic, and an XD75. Need to build another for my Steam Deck.
    • ge96 4y ago
      Oh the Planck is neat, the visible circuitry. The main thing for me is I need to have the arrow keys and the top row keys have to be the esc/numbers.
      • rpmisms 4y ago
        Check out the Preonic. Arrow keys, ortholinear, numrow.
• smrq 4y ago
  It's a trap for sure. I built two 45%s and one 120% in the past year or two. Already planning the next one...
  • vladvasiliu 4y ago
    Do you do your own designs? While I'm not exactly sure what a 120% is (macro keys?) I've been looking for something like a gaming model with macro buttons on the left and / or on top, but otherwise 75%. Ideally split but single piece. Think MS Sculpt with extra buttons on the left. Haven't found one. So I was contemplating building one, but I'd have no idea where to start. I've quickly browsed the reddit page, but in those parts they seem much more interested in very compact models.
    • rgoulter 4y ago
      You could look at hand-wiring a keyboard. e.g. QMK have a handwiring guide https://docs.qmk.fm/#/hand_wire https://docs.qmk.fm/#/hand_wire Or, for a circuit board, it's probably easiest to find an open source design of a PCB, and figure out how you'd change it from there. One thing you'd have to worry about is how to create a case for it. 3D print? Layer acrylic together? Re-use a standard size?
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    • ThatPlayer 4y ago
      I would start with http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/ http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/ to generate a layout that you want. Then there are a few tools [0] to take that layout and generate a plate based off that layout. You can then either 3d print, or laser cut it yourself, or send it off a shop to do it for you. I don't know PCB design, so I think handwiring is the best bet for a first build. QMK has a handwire [1] guide, and I also use them for the microcontroller software. Though for the build I'm working on now, I wanted a few extra features that would be hard to do purely handwiring (per-key RGB LED and hotswap), so I use a PCB designed to hold a single key [2]. It allows me to do custom layouts without learning PCB design, but it is a lot more work than handwiring. You would still have to build the matrix yourself like a handwire. [0] https://kbplate.ai03.com/ https://kbplate.ai03.com/ [1] https://docs.qmk.fm/#/hand_wire?id=hand-wiring-guide https://docs.qmk.fm/#/hand_wire?id=hand-wiring-guide [2] https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11420&start= https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11420&start=
• prmoustache 4y ago
  Why are people using "building" while all they do is merely assembling?
  • samatman 4y ago
    There's a whole hobby called model building, building a mechanical keyboard is more like building a model than you appear to think. That's why. Why do you go on the internet and ask aggressive questions predicated on a wrong premise? Just out of curiousity.
    • prmoustache 4y ago
      There is no aggeessivity in my question. I assembled many model kits and it never occurred to call myself a builder. Model kit builder concieve the kits and or create parts out of raw material, epoxy putty and/or 3d printing. Similarly a bicycle builder will solder/bond individual tubes to build custom frame and fork, possibly custom stem and/or racks. A brand that source frame builts in Asia will but mount the ready made part will say "assembled in <insert the country>. Maybe I am picky with semantics but it strikes me as arrangant to call ourself builders when we just pick up and assemble parts.
      • ProZsolt 4y ago
        But they selecting the individual components, buying them from different vendors, then assembling them to the final thing. You can "build" a PC or a bicycle without creating any custom part, but the end result will be unique. A keyboard has less parts(board, switches, keycaps and maybe a controller) but I think it still count as built. If you order everything as part of one kit, like the furniture from Ikea, then yes, you just assembling it together.
      • samatman 4y ago
        Serious question: is English your first language? There's no ambiguity here, the hobby is called model building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_building https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_building