The Mechanical Keyboards Club

[Mastertrixter]

On 18/02/2023 at 09:56, Supercrumpet said:

 

Updated!

 

 

All added, thanks for posting! Nice collection. Honestly I don't think I've heard of the Aqua King switches before, I'm curious about how they feel despite my typical lack of interest in linear switches.

I’m definitely a linear guy. I’ve tried lots of different switches and the aqua kings after being lubed are my current endgame. They are damn near silent and paired with the gasket mounted v1 and the Keychron stabs they produce some eargasmic thoccs.

 

Im sure I’ll try lots more but so far this is my number 1.

[neurotix]

Getting a Keychron K8 Pro rgb tkl with Gateron blue switches. Had a $40 discount on mechanicalkeyboards.com for a set of keycaps we ordered in 2020 that were on backorder and never came.

 

Eventually, in a few months it'll have Kailh Box Navy switches and o-rings. I'll have to do more research into o-rings as I've only used WASD and threebulls Blues.

[neurotix]

Ok, I have the Keychron K8 Pro TKL now. It's decent to just ok with Gateron blue switches. I think they kinda suck tbh. We have a Rosewill K85 with Kailh blues and they are definitely superior- louder click, tighter spring and higher actuation force from what I can tell.

 

Anyway, I ordered 90 Kailh Box Navies off Amazon. I also ordered SDYZ dye sub Great Wave Off Kanagawa keycap set.

 

To match the keycaps, I also ordered some Classic Muscle Car plum crazy plastidip.

 

So I will be disassembling the Keychron fully, masking off the top edges of it, and spraying the top plate with the plum crazy plastidip which I think will match those keycaps well. Depending on the finish of the plum crazy, I may also spray it with Plastidip pearlizer.

 

In the process I will probably take a look at the stabs and despite everyone saying the Keychron stabs are really good, I might clip and lube them as well.

 

This should be a fun project

[maddangerous]

I've got a kinesis Freestyle Pro I need to unbox and start using, with MX silent reds.

I've also got two of these that need building

 

 

 

Had the parts for years, never got a soldering iron

[neurotix]

Got my keycaps and switches today. The Box Navies were $50 instead of like $30 on NovelKeys but *shrug*

 

Keychron K8 Pro disassembled enough to spray the top plate with Plastidip plum crazy. Glad the Keychron has removable rails so I don't need to mask anything off with masking tape, but unhappy that the "aluminum" case is actually plastic on the inside and just aluminum rails on the sides.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

 

Spray station for the top plate Plastidip. One coat so far. About to do another.

 

Cardboard with two regular ass red bricks to elevate it. Since Plastidip in multiple coats sticks to cardboard or newspaper.

 

Edit: 3 coats sprayed. Letting it dry overnight before reassembling the board. Then I'll have to do switches, keycaps and o-rings.

 

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

Switches, o-rings and keycaps.

 

[neurotix]

Done. Can be added to my list, please.

 

Keychron K8 Pro TKL, custom Plum Crazy plastidip, Kailh Box Navies, Captain O-ring blue o-rings, SDYZ Great Wave Off Kanagawa keycaps.

 

 

[maddangerous]

1 hour ago, neurotix said:

Done. Can be added to my list, please.

 

Keychron K8 Pro TKL, custom Plum Crazy plastidip, Kailh Box Navies, Captain O-ring blue o-rings, SDYZ Great Wave Off Kanagawa keycaps.

 

 

 

That plum crazy plastidip looks really awesome!

Is that tough to apply?

[neurotix]

9 minutes ago, maddangerous said:

 

That plum crazy plastidip looks really awesome!

Is that tough to apply?

Nah it's like spraypaint. I used it on my fullsize GMMK as well. Just put down some newspaper, and in this case I used two bricks to elevate it, reason being if you directly have it on paper, the overspray will make it stick to the paper, and then when you go to peel off your top plate there will be a layer of it on the paper too and it might stick and pull some of the plastidip off what you are spraying.

 

It's fairly easy, it's basically an aerosolized rubber. As you spray coats, it will build up in a layer. I only did 3 coats on mine. Also if you decide you don't like it, unlike spraypaint, you can peel the stuff off but its tedious.

 

For the Keychron, you will need a bit driver set with a 2mm hex (I believe) as well as a small Phillips screwdriver to be able to open the thing and take the top plate off. Of course, keycaps and switches need to be removed first.

 

Why, do you have a board you want to spray?

Edited April 26, 2023 by neurotix

[maddangerous]

1 minute ago, neurotix said:

Nah it's like spraypaint. I used it on my fullsize GMMK as well. Just put down some newspaper, and in this case I used two bricks to elevate it, reason being if you directly have it on paper, the overspray will make it stick to the paper, and then when you go to peel off your top plate there will be a layer of it on the paper too and it might stick and pull some of the plastidip off what you are spraying.

 

It's fairly easy, it's basically an aerosolized rubber. As you spray coats, it will build up in a layer. I only did 3 coats on mine.

 

For the Keychron, you will need a bit driver set with a 2mm hex (I believe) as well as a small Phillips screwdriver to be able to open the thing and take the top plate off. Of course, keycaps and switches need to be removed first.

 

Why, do you have a board you want to spray?

 

oh nice!

 

I had considered it for a keyboard, and also for the outside of a case, just haven't decided if I'm going to go that route though.

[neurotix]

1 hour ago, maddangerous said:

 

oh nice!

 

I had considered it for a keyboard, and also for the outside of a case, just haven't decided if I'm going to go that route though.

What keyboard?

 

Also, here is my new board hooked up in purple

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

Some better pictures.

 

Since the USB-C to USB cable it comes with is so short, we ordered a 6 foot braided purple USB-C cable off Amazon. It comes with a USB-C to USB male adapter. It looks great. Check the images with lighting.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

 

[Fluxmaven]

Came out nice. BOX Navies are one of my favorite switches as well.

[neurotix]

7 minutes ago, Fluxmaven said:

Came out nice. BOX Navies are one of my favorite switches as well.

Thanks Flux. I thought you might like this one.

 

The Box Navies, being completely new to me, feel pretty much like a Box White just with a really really stiff spring. I was hoping they clicked louder like my thicc click Jades, but they don't. Either way, it was a fun project to build this one and I've adjusted to typing on it. I think my favorite switches are still Box Whites in my E-Yooso Z-88 though.

Edited May 5, 2023 by neurotix

[Supercrumpet]

On 26/04/2023 at 14:57, neurotix said:

Done. Can be added to my list, please.

 

Keychron K8 Pro TKL, custom Plum Crazy plastidip, Kailh Box Navies, Captain O-ring blue o-rings, SDYZ Great Wave Off Kanagawa keycaps.

 

 

 

Finally added, sorry for the delay. Looks fantastic, I love the plate paint!

[maddangerous]

On 26/04/2023 at 17:56, neurotix said:

What keyboard?

 

Also, here is my new board hooked up in purple

 

 

 

Nice!

 

I've got two Switchplate Peripherals Southpaw. Here's the geekhack GB thread

 

I got both a bent plate and integrated case kit. I'm hoping I haven't lost the pieces over time  It's been many years, there were difficulties in the group buy and I haven't had time to learn to solder and such since.

I also had always hoped to make an ergodox.

 

So really I'd considered plastidipping all three, but I thought the southpaw bent plate would look coolest, imo.

[The Pook]

ayo ding dongers

 

I need a wireless keyboard for my laptop when I'm out of the house.

 

currently have a cheap Dieyra 60% but no matter how much I use it I can't get used to the half-size right shift.

 

I'm looking for either: 

 

a) a TKL to replace my main keyboard that also has wireless (so I can just bring that)

b) a budget-ish 60% (<$100)

 

for a: I was looking at the Keychron K8 Pro (no 2.4, and some people say the BT is awful?) 

for b: RK Royal Kludge RK61 Plus (is 2.4 and BT, but going by reviews QC is a bit of a dud)

 

anything else I should look at? only real requirements are TKL or smaller, full size right shift, and hot-swappable.

 

thank 

 

 

 

[neurotix]

Go with the Keychron K8 Pro. It's Bluetooth compatible, and hot swappable. I built one a few months ago and love it:

 

 

[The Pook]

17 minutes ago, neurotix said:

Go with the Keychron K8 Pro. It's Bluetooth compatible, and hot swappable. I built one a few months ago and love it:

 

 

 

have you used the BT or just using it wired? 

[neurotix]

20 minutes ago, The Pook said:

 

have you used the BT or just using it wired? 

Just using it wired. BT doesn't work in my version of Linux. If I upgraded to the latest version of my distro it would work but then I'd need to set my Linux up again which takes a day or two.

 

In the last photo if you look I do have a matching purple usb cable. I plastidipped the top plate in Classic Muscle Car Plum Crazy plastidip.

[Fluxmaven]

So I got a 110 pack of Cherry MX Clears on clearance for $15 at Microcenter. This sparked the decision to do another "budget" keyboard. I have been enjoying the Portico75 build that I've been using on my bedroom setup and figured I'd build something similar. I actually ended up just picking up an open box barebones Redragon K649 Pro for $40. So far so good, got a nice 75% board with hotswap and Bluetooth and I'm only in it $55... I then proceed to spend 3X that on keycaps 

 

The keyset I picked up from Drop (IDK why they changed their name from Massdrop). For now I'm running the biip MT3 Extended 2048 standard alphas and modifiers. I also ordered the colored accent modifiers and a separate set of Caps for Causes: MT3 NoveltyCats. When the cat caps show up I'll sprinkle those in in place of some of the function keys and swap to the colored modifiers.

 

The black housing Cherry switches don't let much light through so I did use C³Equalz X TKC Dragon Fruit switches for the function row to let more RGB get through. If I ever get REALLY bored I might pull the clears and rebuild them to be more RGB friendly. I have a bunch of Kailh speed silvers with milk bottoms and clear tops that I'll never use because I still hate linears. Could sacrifice those and lube the MX clear stems while I'm at it... Or just spend more money and buy a different switch entirely lol. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Fluxmaven

[neurotix]

On 13/08/2023 at 00:18, Fluxmaven said:

So I got a 110 pack of Cherry MX Clears on clearance for $15 at Microcenter. This sparked the decision to do another "budget" keyboard. I have been enjoying the Portico75 build that I've been using on my bedroom setup and figured I'd build something similar. I actually ended up just picking up an open box barebones Redragon K649 Pro for $40. So far so good, got a nice 75% board with hotswap and Bluetooth and I'm only in it $55... I then proceed to spend 3X that on keycaps 

 

The keyset I picked up from Drop (IDK why they changed their name from Massdrop). For now I'm running the biip MT3 Extended 2048 standard alphas and modifiers. I also ordered the colored accent modifiers and a separate set of Caps for Causes: MT3 NoveltyCats. When the cat caps show up I'll sprinkle those in in place of some of the function keys and swap to the colored modifiers.

 

The black housing Cherry switches don't let much light through so I did use C³Equalz X TKC Dragon Fruit switches for the function row to let more RGB get through. If I ever get REALLY bored I might pull the clears and rebuild them to be more RGB friendly. I have a bunch of Kailh speed silvers with milk bottoms and clear tops that I'll never use because I still hate linears. Could sacrifice those and lube the MX clear stems while I'm at it... Or just spend more money and buy a different switch entirely lol. 

Somehow I missed this. That's a fine looking keyboard man! Nice desk setup too.

[neurotix]

Here's all of my clicky keyboards I've built compared to Kailh clone MX Blues which should be mostly identical sounding to Cherry MX Blues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which one do you guys like best?

 

Let's try to keep this thread going!