Project L review (Alps SKCM Neon Green/Lime)

Chyros · 07 May 2016, 17:39

I teased this last week, and here it is now! Hope you enjoy!

Fuck knows how I managed to avoid making a dick joke through the hole thing :p .

seebart · 07 May 2016, 17:45

Very good custom job Chyros, once again we have similair taste, although I'm quite happy with the original.

I love this keyboard, has some of the most interesting feet ever.

photos-f62/wang-model-724-725-3770-us-t ... wang%20725

Spoiler:

Soarers converter? Why not just an DIN > PS/2 adapter? You forgot to mention tiny enter on the numblock, something I've never seen before.

wiki/Wang_725-3770

E3E · 07 May 2016, 18:53

Sweet, nice to see your take on these, Chyros. I think we all converged on the idea of searching the Alps part number at the same time, though I'm more than content with what I've got. I noticed that some suppliers had SKCMAT listed.

I do wonder though... Without a doubt, the two rarest Alps SKCM/SKCL switches are SKCM Lime and SKCL Brown.

But which are more rare out of those two? SKCL Brown is a random chance in, what I guess would be any boards supplied by Gold Star Alps in Korea, and SKCM Green is, for all we know, only available in one keyboard that went to a very expensive printing system in the early-to-late 1990s.

Redmaus · 07 May 2016, 19:50

Darn I had tried to get some SKCMAT switches but all the suppliers were out of stock I was too late

Anyway good review I think you chose the right board to put them in.

That really is a cool keyboard, also if anyone didn't know the ANSI caps of it are used in the kingsaver.

emdude · 07 May 2016, 19:52

Very nice review! SKCM Lime seems like a fascinating switch and the Wang is also pretty neat!

Scottex · 07 May 2016, 20:33

A truly unique keyboard with this restoration, very nice review

Chyros · 07 May 2016, 20:39

Thanks guys!

derzemel · 07 May 2016, 21:16

oh, wow, I am seriously impressed

TuxKey · 07 May 2016, 21:33

need to watch this on youtube...perhaps later on tonight on apple TV big screen so i can have a good look

after the misses go's to bet hahah..

Touch_It · 08 May 2016, 06:03

Very cool, despite my dislike of iso. Fat ass enter though is pretty awesome.

As a final note I seriously enjoy all your reviews chyros. Thanks for sharing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Engicoder · 08 May 2016, 06:36

Great review as always. Nice to see something custom. I like that you kept those old templates...gives is a nice old feel. Volume control is interesting...but begs the question: Does you Wang go to 11?

E3E · 08 May 2016, 07:42

Yeah, very well put together, Chyros. Kudos to you for the presentation.

I did notice that, in comparing bamboo to pine, you mentioned that bamboo switches were the later model with slits (after which you mentioned that pines came with slits as well but with emphasis to show contrast, haha) and also read the Wang's model number, which clearly read "724," as "725," haha. I'm not trying to be a critic, but it just made me chuckle a little.

You put everything together very well though.

TuxKey · 08 May 2016, 10:46

liked the vid even as a ANSI guy

perhaps a new company could start up these switches again..they sound awesome..mechanical topre cool..

E3E · 08 May 2016, 11:04

Yep, that's how I've always seen them. They're pretty much what Topre would be if they were discrete plastic-housed switches.

Chyros · 08 May 2016, 11:16

Haha did I say that? That's pretty silly xD .

E3E · 08 May 2016, 14:46

I was wondering if it was just because of the awkwardness of trying to film a first-person perspective obscuring your view or if you prerecorded the lines and added them to the video.

Sounds more like the former though.

So is this one going to be a daily driver for you, Chryos, or a mantle piece more like the KB101A?

Chyros · 08 May 2016, 16:30

E3E wrote: I was wondering if it was just because of the awkwardness of trying to film a first-person perspective obscuring your view or if you prerecorded the lines and added them to the video.

Sounds more like the former though.

So is this one going to be a daily driver for you, Chryos, or a mantle piece more like the KB101A?

Well with weekly reviews I keep moving from board to board, I don't have much of a choice xD . I insist on testing each board I review as much as possible, so I'm already typing on net week's board

. So I put it back in the box with its unmodified brother.

I could probably happily use it every day, but frankly I still prefer Blue Alps to the Lime ones. They're still the most satisfying ones to use IMO. That said, I'm quite happy with the way Project L turned out

.

E3E · 08 May 2016, 18:27

That's been something I've been torn on too, honestly. I really love linear greens and browns, I really love SKCM blue and haven't pulled myself away from my Orion with them for weeks, but I also really enjoyed using SKCM Limes.

I put SKCM Browns in my other hotswappable 60% because I won't dare put a soldering iron to the PCBs of my Docutechs though I wanted a similar enough feel.

It's a hard choice, but blues are probably the most common switch to just default to more than any other switch for practically anyone that likes Alps. SKCL Green probably comes in second place there.

Do you have an order of favorites when it comes to Alps, Chyros?

Chyros · 08 May 2016, 22:54

E3E wrote: Do you have an order of favorites when it comes to Alps, Chyros?

Hmm, that's not easy xD . All I know is my favourite is blue, really nice ones are orange, salmon, green, lime, white, pine black and lime, and less good ones are cream damped, white damped, and bamboo black. I haven't tried yellows or browns in an actual board yet, so I'm reserving judgment on them - that said, I suspect I'd like them, especially brown.

Redmaus · 08 May 2016, 22:58

Chyros wrote: So is this one going to be a daily driver for you, Chryos, or a mantle piece more like the KB101A?

Well with weekly reviews I keep moving from board to board, I don't have much of a choice xD . I insist on testing each board I review as much as possible, so I'm already typing on net week's board

. So I put it back in the box with its unmodified brother.

I could probably happily use it every day, but frankly I still prefer Blue Alps to the Lime ones. They're still the most satisfying ones to use IMO. That said, I'm quite happy with the way Project L turned out

.[/quote]

Hey if its just gonna sit in a box might as well ship it to me Chyros

Chyros · 08 May 2016, 23:29

Redmaus wrote:
Chyros wrote: So is this one going to be a daily driver for you, Chryos, or a mantle piece more like the KB101A?
Well with weekly reviews I keep moving from board to board, I don't have much of a choice xD . I insist on testing each board I review as much as possible, so I'm already typing on net week's board . So I put it back in the box with its unmodified brother.

I could probably happily use it every day, but frankly I still prefer Blue Alps to the Lime ones. They're still the most satisfying ones to use IMO. That said, I'm quite happy with the way Project L turned out .

Hey if its just gonna sit in a box might as well ship it to me Chyros

[/quote]Haha, no way Jose xD .

Redmaus · 08 May 2016, 23:33

Darn, can't blame me for trying

Just ship me a lone pine green then?

Chyros · 09 May 2016, 00:27

Redmaus wrote: Darn, can't blame me for trying

Just ship me a lone pine green then?

You know where to contact me ;D .

alienman82 · 10 May 2016, 06:38

removed.

seebart · 10 May 2016, 08:21

alienman82 wrote: still jealous, but I always love your videos!

Not jealous at all, but still a good video.

andrewjoy · 10 May 2016, 11:26

Cool vid , my proget "l" is to take your dell idea to make a gaming board and make one of my dampend white alps SGI granites into a linear.

I need names.

SGI-L ?

Granite L ?

SGL ?