DanielT - My Collection

DanielT · 13 Apr 2016, 14:11

Update 04.07.2016
After a little more than 2 years since I have started with this hobby my collection is pretty much what I wanted to be

1. GON NerD60 Black Edition - 55g Vintage Blacks / PCB Mount - Galaxy Class Set (the first one) - Silver Alu Case (Hammer Style)

2. GON NerD60 white PCB - 55g Vintage Blacks / 3mm Black GON plate - GMK Dolch set - Vortex Aluminum Case - Oktoberfest Blank

3.Update 22.07.2016 GON NerD60 [CTRL]ALT Edition - "Nixie" MX Black with MX Red springs PCB Mount - Dolch + Originative GMK Purple mods - Stock Poker Case TEX Alu Case - SLS Green Esc Candy Corn Blank CC.
UPDATE: This keyboard is now running TMK firmware

Spoiler:

4. Hasu Alps64 prototype - Black Alps - Dell Caps - Stock Poker case - Dolly and Fn from Nubbs :

6. HHKB - Red Ctrl - Conduit Grey CC

7. HHKB Pro1 Rev. A0 - Hack Orange CC

8. Dolch PAC Keyboard - Icestorm BBv2

I still have one board to finish, that is a GH60, I need only the case, should be here in a couple of days.
9. And the GH60 is finished too - GH60 PCB from the infamous GB (bought from an original participant) - 55g Vintage Blacks - Original WoB Cherry caps, GMK Purple mods and matching green GMK spacebar and Esc - cheap aliexpress case (the best cases after the original Poker ones)

10. This is not my board, it belongs to my wife. She wanted something outrageous and funny so this board is exactly that. It's a g80-1800 , it's PS/2 modded to USB something really simple. Anyway she loves this board and I'm glad I could do this for her.

11.Update 22.07.2016 Because I liked so much the first GH60 I got another one from techkeys.us , I made this one a classic, MX Black 55g GON springs, orange stickers from techkeys.us, Dolch with Red EK Esc Bloodsplat HKP Esc and stock PokerPok3r case:

Spoiler:

and a shot of the stickered switches, it's the first time I had the patience to do this, it takes some effort and I have yet to find out if it's worth the trouble or not. So far I didn't notice something life altering, but the wobble of the top casing is reduced to zero. Anyway it looks nice and gives the board a very classic old-school look :

12.Update 22.07.2016 GON NerD60 Orange LeandreN Edition PCB, old MX Black with 55g GON Springs, TEX Orange alu case, SKIDATA+ caps and HKP Esc (Cyan/Brown/Orange) The firmware was replaced by TMK

It's a beautiful board. Finally I have the SKIDATA caps I've always wanted, they got the orange right this time, I'm happy I could trade Hyperfuse for these.

Spoiler:

I'm very pleased with my collection, I have an artisan cap for each board with a little story to tell, I have the caps I wanted. At this moment the board that I like the most is the [CTRL]ALT 60, I know it has a plain Poker case, MX Red, but I love how it feels, after a couple of months the MX Reds turned really smooth and have the perfect weight, the caps combo Purple + Gray is perfect, it's light. On the second place is the GON NerD60 with the GMK Dolch.
But I love all my boards and I keep them in my daily rotation, with the exception of the IBM SSK, I type very rare on that one, couldn't say why, so the greatest fan of buckling spring, maybe I'll trade it one day for some nice 60% board...

As you can see there is nothing glamorous about my collection, nothing really rare just boards that are used with love.

Old boards no longer mine:

Spoiler:

Khers · 13 Apr 2016, 14:19

I'll be first here as well then.

Amazing collection! Would rather fancy some of your 60's...

DanielT · 13 Apr 2016, 14:30

if I were to recommend on board would be the [CTRL]ALT, people hate for no reason MX Reds, you just need to use them, no lube no nothing, and it must be PCB mount and use a stock case, it's just the best board ever

Redmaus · 13 Apr 2016, 14:40

Wow I really don't like artisans, but that oktoberfest blank looks really nice!

The SSK is classy, are you gonna turn it into FSSK?

Khers · 13 Apr 2016, 14:44

Ok, that's interesting. But it does rather comply with my favorite Cherry switch; (ideally lubed) old, used, MX Blacks with a spring swap for lighter springs (my fingers are much to weak for standard blacks), like the ones I put in my one and only custom Cherry-board (unfortunately that one is not a 60 - what were I thinking).

The layout is only the first threshold towards building a nice custom though, recently I've stumbled into a for the time being seemingly impossible quest of finding a case I fancy. Sure there are loads of 60% cases on the market, but very few that appeal to me. You seem to have staid away from the usual suspects though, and I adore your Hammer-style cases. How (and perhaps rather importantly, when) did you find them?

DanielT · 13 Apr 2016, 14:50

For me the best 60% case is the stock Poker case, it's light, portable, cheap and it looks good, but most important it doesn't make the board too rigid.
I got my Hammer style cases from QTAN more than a year ago, they were fairly cheap and quite nice made, the silver one is close to perfect while the blue one has some small defects but it doesn't bother me. I like their design because it's simple and at the same time it doesn't have that brick look.

@Redmaus: The SSK will stay as is, that board is pristine, no broken rivets no nothing so I don't have any plans to change that.

seebart · 13 Apr 2016, 14:57

Very nice Daniel, the Dolch PAC is my fave. Your collection is well...60% ! Yeah leave the that super nice SSK stock.

scottc · 13 Apr 2016, 15:00

Nice collection! It's very focused. That's great. Sometimes I wish I didn't have all of my huge vintage boards and instead had something like this.

lolpes · 13 Apr 2016, 15:19

scottc wrote: ↑Nice collection! It's very focused. That's great. Sometimes I wish I didn't have all of my huge vintage boards and instead had something like this.

Yeah I also wish you didn't have them...SAT cough...cough

DanielT · 13 Apr 2016, 15:21

The great thing about 60% is that I can have a lot of them and all can be stored here :

and all my keycaps go in here :

HzFaq · 13 Apr 2016, 16:06

Nice collection there dude

. Nice to see I'm not the only one that likes dark caps and PCB mount boards

.

seebart · 13 Apr 2016, 16:08

DanielT wrote: ↑The great thing about 60% is that I can have a lot of them and all can be stored here :

Yeah right that's the reason you love 60% right?!? Good one.

It is true though.

Storage is a bummer.

cookie · 13 Apr 2016, 16:12

Meh... not enough HHKBs to be called a "Collection"

JK! I am very impressed to see your collection, very tastefull! I like the HHKB style shift/fn combination very much

Also nice cap collection and all different cases... you must really enjoy rotating between your boards!

seebart · 13 Apr 2016, 16:15

seebart wrote: ↑
DanielT wrote: ↑The great thing about 60% is that I can have a lot of them and all can be stored here :

Yeah right that's the reason you love 60% right?!? Good one. It is true though. Storage is a bummer.

And no these are not all keyboards (only about eight of these boxes):

Spoiler:

DanielT · 13 Apr 2016, 16:39

@seebart: that is one crazy storage

I try to avoid that kind of pileup. To be honest I have 60% because I love the format. I would love to see your collection, I know you have a lot of cool vintage boards.
@cookie: thanks

the whole point of having more keyboards is to have a nice rotation. I have worked a lot to get to this point.

Prelim · 15 Apr 2016, 19:46

awesome Daniel, you're a 60% man hehe

we have similar tastes but I always find mx reds to be too much light for my personal typing, I guess I should try it for a week or so, since I'm used to 62/65g korean springs now.

DanielT · 15 Apr 2016, 20:18

You should try MX Red or 55g springs, if you want I can send you some 55g springs I have a lot of them and really don't need so many as all my boards are done, and I can send you also those Dolch blanks

Prelim · 15 Apr 2016, 20:29

I also have some 55g samples from SPRiT, but it's very different to try a single switch than typing in an entire board though

DanielT · 15 Apr 2016, 22:29

I can give you enough for one board

DanielT · 18 Apr 2016, 11:06

Updated with GH60, a simple board and I love it, typing on it right now

emdude · 18 Apr 2016, 11:11

Really nice, I like your GH60 in particular. Reminds me of Evangelion (perhaps that is the reason you chose that color scheme?).

Your Galaxy Class board is also great, whoo LCARS!

DanielT · 18 Apr 2016, 11:19

Thanks

The inspiration for the GH60 is more this board photos-f62/post-your-keyboard-keycaps-t7834.html , it's more Joker than Evangelion

Galaxy Class is one of my favorite sets, it's from the original GB with all the kits, including the super expensive Tsangan add-on.

derzemel · 18 Apr 2016, 11:26

damn man... that is an amazing collection

emdude · 18 Apr 2016, 11:28

DanielT wrote: ↑Thanks
The inspiration for the GH60 is more this board photos-f62/post-your-keyboard-keycaps-t7834.html , it's more Joker than Evangelion

Ahh okay, cool! I also thought of Evangelion because I recalled seeing a GB for set themed after it sometime ago.

DanielT · 18 Apr 2016, 11:37

derzemel wrote: ↑damn man... that is an amazing collection

Thanks

It took me more than 2 years to reach to this point.

shreebles · 18 Apr 2016, 18:30

DanielT wrote: ↑ if I were to recommend on board would be the [CTRL]ALT, people hate for no reason MX Reds, you just need to use them, no lube no nothing, and it must be PCB mount and use a stock case, it's just the best board ever

Funny, I remember one of the nicest typing experiences I had was using a standard modern Cherry G80 3000 (no vintage, no nothing) in black with original black POM caps, after I put 55g springs in there.

My hands just flew on that board, and it felt and sounded really nice.
The PCB mount can be really cool with thick caps.

I tried the springs on a G80 1800 and for some reason it felt much worse

I have no idea why.

I'd use that G80 again if it weren't so damn huge.
Maybe I'll need to do a linear PCB mount build in 60%, now that I've become accustomed to that form factor.

I tried "smooth" linears like Gateron and even Nixies, but their complete lack of tactile feedback was weird to me.
On Blacks and Reds, it's almost like the scratchiness gives me some orientation as to how far I have pushed the switch.

Do you think PCB mount is a good option for any 60%? Or only the more solid ones that can take the pressure?

All in all I really dig your collection. I enjoy the split right shift myself, though it can make for some keyset compatibility issues.

DanielT · 18 Apr 2016, 19:10

For a 60% you can go PCB mount without any problems, in fact a plate is more something fancy than needed to be honest. I have all type of setups as you can see and the best are PCB mount by far. So you can go PCB mount without the fear of breaking the board, I have a buddy with huge hands and he can type on PCB mount MX Blacks on a 60% like it's the most solid board ever made.
Short Right Shift is not that of a compatibility issue, most sets include 1.75u shift, never had problems finding the caps as you can see

Mr. J · 18 Apr 2016, 21:06

Woah, love no 1 Galaxy Class Set!

Madhias · 18 Apr 2016, 21:36

60% all the way! But that storage reason is really good

DanielT · 19 Apr 2016, 08:57

Storage is always a pain, but for me is really simple