The Mechanical Keyboards Club

[neurotix]

9 minutes ago, Fluxmaven said:

I'd say just swap switches but I've desoldered exactly one full keyboard without a desolder station (just used wick and a solder sucker). That experience took years off my life and is why I only want to buy hot swap PCBs now.

 

Yeah, I mentioned that earlier in the thread. I would need to invest in a $300 Hakko desoldering gun. I hate hate hate hate desoldering. It's not too bad for retro game batteries, but it's awful for capacitors in retro consoles I've recapped. I use a solder sucker as well, for some reason I can't get wick to work properly and actually do anything and I have brand name SuperWick.

 

Eventually a lot of my game consoles will need full recaps, or possibly my stereo components, when that happens is when I'll get a good desoldering gun.

[Sir Beregond]

3 hours ago, The Pook said:

 

how do you delete someone else's post

I laughed lol.

 

OK but seriously, that's why they have different switches. Different strokes, different folks. I'm not knocking them if you like them, except for Zach, eff that guy for bringing his into an open office at a job I had years ago and being a pretty damn loud typer.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Sir Beregond

[Fluxmaven]

At my last IT job My boss and I both had clicky boards. This hipster kid that collected manual typewriters started and loved our boards. I sold him my old V60 mini with Blues. So on occasion someone would walk through the hallway and get caught in the crossfire of all three of us hammering away. 

 

To be fair, we all had private offices with doors. If anyone else was bothered by it they could shut their door or ask us to shut ours. As far as I know, nobody ever cared. 

 

On an open floorplan, I would use a quieter board

[bonami2]

Just got myself a new keyboard

 

Roccat Vulcan 2 Max

 

Vulcan II MAX Optical Gaming Keyboard | Roccat

WWW.ROCCAT.COM

---

Providing smooth, hyper-fast actuation and incredible durability with a 100 million click life cycle, the Vulcan II Max...

 

[neurotix]

Oh that's sick. I love it. Especially the lighted palm rest. How much was it and what type of switches does it have?

[bonami2]

42 minutes ago, neurotix said:

Oh that's sick. I love it. Especially the lighted palm rest. How much was it and what type of switches does it have?

Red switches but they are Optical 

• TITAN II Optical Mechanical Switches

In house switch it seem and they work fine. I think you can even replace them they are not soldered.

 

Seem to perform the same as my k70 mx red

 

The backplate is Silver with a chrome surounding bezel. It insane

Edited November 26, 2022 by bonami2

[neurotix]

41 minutes ago, bonami2 said:

Red switches but they are Optical 

• TITAN II Optical Mechanical Switches

In house switch it seem and they work fine. I think you can even replace them they are not soldered.

 

Seem to perform the same as my k70 mx red

 

The backplate is Silver with a chrome surounding bezel. It insane

 

 

How much was it? Maybe if I can sell some of the boards I have that I don't use anymore I could get one, though it looks pricey.

 

You're comparing the switches to MX Reds (I have these in two old boards) so I take it the in house switches are linear, not clicky? (I prefer and love clicky switches).

 

Thanks

[bonami2]

3 hours ago, neurotix said:

 

 

How much was it? Maybe if I can sell some of the boards I have that I don't use anymore I could get one, though it looks pricey.

 

You're comparing the switches to MX Reds (I have these in two old boards) so I take it the in house switches are linear, not clicky? (I prefer and love clicky switches).

 

Thanks

Yep they arent clicky. Red or brown option only.

 

On roccat canadian site it 300$ and for some reason i was able to get it from somewhere else at 240 cad.

 

So probably like 180-220usd 

 

It pricey. But it replacing my k70 rgv rev 1 with panasonic rgb controller that was about the same price 6-7 years ago. Probably won't change it till it die. It my third keyboard in my lifespan. A g510 logitech that broke. Then k70. Then now this one.

 

Rocca announce it as the best looking rgb keyboard in the world.

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by bonami2

[Sir Beregond]

5 hours ago, bonami2 said:

Just got myself a new keyboard

 

Roccat Vulcan 2 Max

 

Vulcan II MAX Optical Gaming Keyboard | Roccat

WWW.ROCCAT.COM

---

Providing smooth, hyper-fast actuation and incredible durability with a 100 million click life cycle, the Vulcan II Max...

 

 

Nice! My wife picked up a Roccat over the summer and really likes it a lot better than the K70 she had before.

[Supercrumpet]

On 26/11/2022 at 14:10, bonami2 said:

Just got myself a new keyboard

 

Roccat Vulcan 2 Max

 

Vulcan II MAX Optical Gaming Keyboard | Roccat

WWW.ROCCAT.COM

---

Providing smooth, hyper-fast actuation and incredible durability with a 100 million click life cycle, the Vulcan II Max...

 

 

LED wrist rest is interesting. I wonder if that will catch on as a trend.

[bonami2]

6 minutes ago, Supercrumpet said:

 

LED wrist rest is interesting. I wonder if that will catch on as a trend.

It really nice it should be more common

[Fluxmaven]

So when I built my little sister a PC I let her take my Anne Pro (60%). She said she likes it but wished it had a few more buttons like arrows.

 

Say less fam

 

Epomaker Mini Cat 64

Kailh speed silver switches

YMDK plum blossom keycap set

 

The keycap set doesn't accommodate for nonstandard layouts like 1u shift.. So it's not perfect but I didn't want to blow more on a custom keycap set than the whole board cost.

 

 

Cuteness turned up to 11

Has arrow keys

Gets rid of switches I'll never use

 

[EHW Ai]

11 hours ago, Fluxmaven said:

So when I built my little sister a PC I let her take my Anne Pro (60%). She said she likes it but wished it had a few more buttons like arrows.

 

Say less fam

 

Epomaker Mini Cat 64

Kailh speed silver switches

YMDK plum blossom keycap set

 

The keycap set doesn't accommodate for nonstandard layouts like 1u shift.. So it's not perfect but I didn't want to blow more on a custom keycap set than the whole board cost.

 

 

Cuteness turned up to 11

Has arrow keys

Gets rid of switches I'll never use

 

 

Neat that you let your little sister have your Anne Pro 

 

But there's one thing missing above: pink leotards and your hairy legs 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by iamjanco

[Fluxmaven]

18 minutes ago, iamjanco said:

 

Neat that you let your little sister have your Anne Pro 

 

But there's one thing missing above: pink leotards and your hairy legs 

 

 

No leotard, but I do have leopard print swim trunks and I'll be hand delivering the new keyboard to her in Florida... So we can probably get a photoshoot lined up

[Avacado]

39 minutes ago, Fluxmaven said:

but I do have leopard print swim trunks

[neurotix]

That kb looks great. Kinda jealous. I'd do something like that for my wife and she'd love it but she's an accountant and works 100% remote so she has to have a numpad.

[Fluxmaven]

Pretty much all of my builds are smaller form factor. I keep a separate mechanical numpad for times when I need that. 

 

At the same time I ordered the Mini Cat 64 I ordered a Portico75. So I'll post that when it shows up and I put it together. It was around the same price, but should be a bit nicer board. It was the practical option until I saw the other one on Amazon.

 

 

[Fluxmaven]

Portico75 showed up today. The board itself is awesome for the money. Without extras it was actually cheaper than the Mini Cat board. I picked it up with a bag of SP Star Magic Girl tactile switches, Equals V3 tangerine stabilizers, and a purple coiled cable for just over $100 shipped. Granted that was during their 12 days of Christmas sale.

 

It's marketed towards beginners as being something ready to just drop switches into and go. Mine did have a couple screws that were loose in the bag and others that were about to fall out. I just tightened everything up and moved on. 

 

I started popping in the Magical girl switches but decided to try out a linear switch for the first time in a long while. I really like heavy tactile and/or clicky switches and have been pretty anti-linear for years. There are lots of options that weren't around years ago so I picked up some Glorious Lynx to try out and filled out the rest of the board with those. 

Thankfully it's a hot swappable board so I can take them off easily if I hate them 

 

It's easy to program with VIA and I adjusted the keymap a bit to my taste. Not sure which keyset I'll run on it yet. I do have an Aliexpress DSA Astrolokeys knockoff set on the way or I might dig out my EnjoyPBT Sushi keyset. 

[neurotix]

20 hours ago, Fluxmaven said:

Portico75 showed up today. The board itself is awesome for the money. Without extras it was actually cheaper than the Mini Cat board. I picked it up with a bag of SP Star Magic Girl tactile switches, Equals V3 tangerine stabilizers, and a purple coiled cable for just over $100 shipped. Granted that was during their 12 days of Christmas sale.

 

It's marketed towards beginners as being something ready to just drop switches into and go. Mine did have a couple screws that were loose in the bag and others that were about to fall out. I just tightened everything up and moved on. 

 

I started popping in the Magical girl switches but decided to try out a linear switch for the first time in a long while. I really like heavy tactile and/or clicky switches and have been pretty anti-linear for years. There are lots of options that weren't around years ago so I picked up some Glorious Lynx to try out and filled out the rest of the board with those. 

Thankfully it's a hot swappable board so I can take them off easily if I hate them 

 

It's easy to program with VIA and I adjusted the keymap a bit to my taste. Not sure which keyset I'll run on it yet. I do have an Aliexpress DSA Astrolokeys knockoff set on the way or I might dig out my EnjoyPBT Sushi keyset. 

 

It turned out great! And that cheap too?

 

How much is the Mini Cat 64? Also what do you think of the Kailh Speed Silver switches in it? Do they have a very short throw or something?

 

Both your boards turned out awesome. Making me want to build a similar board with Kailh Rose switches (clicky). However trying to be frugal lately except for my wanting an RTX 4090, lol. Spent a lot on Xmas gifts for people and I'm also going to visit my fiancee's family in LA for Christmas, those plane companies really nickel and dime you. But I'll take 70F weather for a few days and its supposed to be 5F out here one of the days I'm going to be gone. Lol.

[Fluxmaven]

7 hours ago, neurotix said:

 

It turned out great! And that cheap too?

 

How much is the Mini Cat 64? Also what do you think of the Kailh Speed Silver switches in it? Do they have a very short throw or something?

 

Both your boards turned out awesome. Making me want to build a similar board with Kailh Rose switches (clicky). However trying to be frugal lately except for my wanting an RTX 4090, lol. Spent a lot on Xmas gifts for people and I'm also going to visit my fiancee's family in LA for Christmas, those plane companies really nickel and dime you. But I'll take 70F weather for a few days and its supposed to be 5F out here one of the days I'm going to be gone. Lol.

The Mini Cat before switches or keycaps was $79.49 after tax from Amazon.

 

I'm not a fan of the speed silvers. They are a light weigh linear with a short activation distance. I think I got a bunch of them through a price mistake. They have been sitting on my shelf for a while and I'm glad to be rid of them.

 

AFAIK Kailh Rose are linear switches. Kailh BOX Pink are clicky switches. I have some of those. I actually used one for the ESC key on the Mini Cat. My sister lives in Florida so I'll be enjoying the warm weather there when I give her the board. 

[neurotix]

15 hours ago, Fluxmaven said:

The Mini Cat before switches or keycaps was $79.49 after tax from Amazon.

 

I'm not a fan of the speed silvers. They are a light weigh linear with a short activation distance. I think I got a bunch of them through a price mistake. They have been sitting on my shelf for a while and I'm glad to be rid of them.

 

AFAIK Kailh Rose are linear switches. Kailh BOX Pink are clicky switches. I have some of those. I actually used one for the ESC key on the Mini Cat. My sister lives in Florida so I'll be enjoying the warm weather there when I give her the board. 

 

Yeah I was thinking of Kailh Box pink. Do you know the actuation force (usually in grams) of them? Have you used Box Jades, Navy or White and how do the Box Pink compare?

 

I am not surprised at the Speed Silvers.. the only linear switches I've used are MX Reds but those have a longer throw distance. I have a Corsair K70 Lux with Cherry MX Reds and a Ducky One 2 with MX Reds, both of which I got when I was new to the hobby. Getting a very well worn OCN Ducky with MX Blues is what convinced me I like clicky switches.

 

I'd love to build my wife a mini cat and a seperate numpad but doing both with the cost of switches and keycaps would probably be too expensive and she's fine with what she has. (GMMK v2 fullsize, Box Whites, pbt pudding keycaps)

 

Also, where do you buy your switches and keycaps? I got my Jades through Amazon and they took over a month to come from China...if you know of somewhere to get Box switches faster, and keycaps, maybe I could do a Mini Cat for my wife for Xmas.

Edited December 17, 2022 by neurotix

[Fluxmaven]

40 minutes ago, neurotix said:

 

Yeah I was thinking of Kailh Box pink. Do you know the actuation force (usually in grams) of them? Have you used Box Jades, Navy or White and how do the Box Pink compare?

 

I am not surprised at the Speed Silvers.. the only linear switches I've used are MX Reds but those have a longer throw distance. I have a Corsair K70 Lux with Cherry MX Reds and a Ducky One 2 with MX Reds, both of which I got when I was new to the hobby. Getting a very well worn OCN Ducky with MX Blues is what convinced me I like clicky switches.

 

I'd love to build my wife a mini cat and a seperate numpad but doing both with the cost of switches and keycaps would probably be too expensive and she's fine with what she has. (GMMK v2 fullsize, Box Whites, pbt pudding keycaps)

 

Also, where do you buy your switches and keycaps? I got my Jades through Amazon and they took over a month to come from China...if you know of somewhere to get Box switches faster, and keycaps, maybe I could do a Mini Cat for my wife for Xmas.

I don't know the activation force of pinks off the top of my head but it's less than Jades and Navies. I like Navies the best of those three. 

 

I buy keyboard stuff from all over. Amazon with prime is typically the fastest. The keyboard sites are usually pretty quick. Novelkeys, 1up, thekey.company, cannonkeys, kono, etc. Drop (used to be massdrop) in stock stuff is quick but most stuff on there are group buys that wont ship for a long time. Sites in China can be surprisingly fast or take months. KBDfans is nice to navigate. Aliexpress is kind of a clusterfuck but you can get good deals if you don't mind waiting.

I used to browse /r/mechmarket all the time, but its hard to find good deals there. Most posts are people flipping limited group buy stuff for a ton of money.  

[neurotix]

On 17/12/2022 at 13:26, Fluxmaven said:

I don't know the activation force of pinks off the top of my head but it's less than Jades and Navies. I like Navies the best of those three. 

 

I buy keyboard stuff from all over. Amazon with prime is typically the fastest. The keyboard sites are usually pretty quick. Novelkeys, 1up, thekey.company, cannonkeys, kono, etc. Drop (used to be massdrop) in stock stuff is quick but most stuff on there are group buys that wont ship for a long time. Sites in China can be surprisingly fast or take months. KBDfans is nice to navigate. Aliexpress is kind of a clusterfuck but you can get good deals if you don't mind waiting.

I used to browse /r/mechmarket all the time, but its hard to find good deals there. Most posts are people flipping limited group buy stuff for a ton of money.  

 

Box Navies eh? Don't you really have to pound on those? I was actually the most interested in those before I did my custom builds, but went with the Jades because of the lower actuation force and positive reviews, as well as a few videos of how they sound etc.

 

What site do you tend to use for switches that would have Box Pinks with fast shipping? Also, can you recommend some keycap brands or post a link to the caps on your Mini Cat? Or even some PBT white caps. I'm thinking of replicating it for my wife, just with Box Pink switches. We share keyboards so I would be able to use it as well lol. How many switches would I need for it?

 

Not sure I can get the wife to give me say $150 to put it together for her for Xmas when we get back from LA though...

 

@Fluxmavenn

Edited December 22, 2022 by neurotix

[Fluxmaven]

1 hour ago, neurotix said:

Box Navies eh? Don't you really have to pound on those? 

 

Yes, that's the best part 

 

NovelKeys is where I would go for BOX switches. They sell them in boxes of 36 so two boxes is enough to cover the board and have a couple spares. The keyset I got doesn't really fit well since it uses nonstandard shift sizes 2.25u/1u as well as 1u keys for everything right of the spacebar. I'd just look around on Amazon to find something that's geared towards 65% boards. 

 

EPOMAKER (the ones who make the Mini Cat board, have several different keysets that would all have the correct sizes for that board. 

[neurotix]

On 17/12/2022 at 15:13, Fluxmaven said:

 

Yes, that's the best part 

 

NovelKeys is where I would go for BOX switches. They sell them in boxes of 36 so two boxes is enough to cover the board and have a couple spares. The keyset I got doesn't really fit well since it uses nonstandard shift sizes 2.25u/1u as well as 1u keys for everything right of the spacebar. I'd just look around on Amazon to find something that's geared towards 65% boards. 

 

EPOMAKER (the ones who make the Mini Cat board, have several different keysets that would all have the correct sizes for that board. 

 

Thank you Flux!