[IC] A true GH/DT custom keyboard kit - What do you want to see?

[J888www]

This Post reminds me of a Geekhack member by the username of Lowpoly who spent a couple of years asking for opinions for his project build for forum purchase. He received much input and encouragement but at the end of the day, some Korean built his keyboard and put it on the market.

[Prelim]

indeed, the project seems to be dead

[photekq]

I never forgot about this... I just had to go for a while.

I didn't show the internals of this, but it was top mount with rubber on the top/bottom of the plate rim. I was always curious to see how rubber/other damping materials would affect typing feel in a custom and I seem to remember me and riot bouncing ideas off one another before anything similar had been done (his ideas were a lot more sensible than mine iirc).

Slowly coming back to activity over the past month or so, being met with the insane number of new customs and the rise of different variations of the "gasket" mount made me realise that this simple mount probably needed a refresh. I've tried to not look too deeply into these "gasket" mounts since I'd like to maintain the blank slate that my hiatus gave me.

Something I always found while trying new keyboards and different MX switches is that different mounting methods suit different switches. Of course, this is nothing new. Everyone knows that boards like the 356L and 356N were designed with specific switches in mind. However, more importantly, I recognise this is going to vary between each person; it's entirely subjective. I've been wondering why there's no custom that offers multiple options for mounting beyond changing plate material/design. The only exceptions that jump to mind would the Koala and the KMAC series, but I don't consider standard plate mount + PCB standoff mount to be enough variation.

Alright, enough bullshit. I'm working on a HHKB layout board with extensive mounting options (coming close to double digits so far I think? and that's not including different plate materials) varying from my own versions of old/existing mounting methods to completely new mounting methods. I hope that this will give people the opportunity to truly tailor their typing experience for themselves from the ground up without having to buy a new keyboard for each new mount. After all, isn't that what a custom keyboard should allow you to do, rather than restrict you? And no, putting multiple mounts within one keyboard doesn't compromise any of them. I've made sure of that.

Internals are coming close. Aesthetics TBD. Name/logo TBD. I want a TKL one too. I'm busy for the next few weeks so there won't be much progress, but expect to see more soon. I finish university in a few months; prototyping will start after that.

[DJSwayde]

How exciting. HHKB layout means true HHKB (with 6u spacebar), or MX HHKB (with 7u spacebar)?

[photekq]

How exciting. HHKB layout means true HHKB (with 6u spacebar), or MX HHKB (with 7u spacebar)?

I should've said "OG compatible" HHKB :

[abrahamstechnology]

No-frills fullsize ANSI Alps keyboard.

[samuelcable]

How exciting. HHKB layout means true HHKB (with 6u spacebar), or MX HHKB (with 7u spacebar)?

I should've said "OG compatible" HHKB :

That's swaydes favorite kind

[DJSwayde]

How exciting. HHKB layout means true HHKB (with 6u spacebar), or MX HHKB (with 7u spacebar)?

I should've said "OG compatible" HHKB :

That's swaydes favorite kind

You're not wrong. I'm guessing stepped caps is also supposed to be compatible?

[samuelcable]

No-frills fullsize ANSI Alps keyboard.

Alps interest is already pretty small and a fullsize interest is even smaller and combined makes a very tiny market of people wanting a fullsize custom Alps board. Couldn't imagine enough people for a factory to care about it

[Myoth]

After all, isn't that what a custom keyboard should allow you to do, rather than restrict you?

I'm 100% interested in this, the lone fact that you mention the KMAC as an exemple, is intriguing as I got one exactly for this reason, so I am definitely interested in something that goes beyond what the KMAC stands for ( ... bezels included)

board with extensive mounting options (coming close to double digits so far I think? and that's not including different plate materials) varying from my own versions of old/existing mounting methods to completely new mounting methods.

is exactly what I ever wanted in a board ...





Do include the option for Alps, I'm sure Alps peeps (including me) would like to experience something else with Alps, there is so much you can do with top mounted boards ...

Spoiler:

No-frills fullsize ANSI Alps keyboard.

Fuck off

[photekq]

Even though I'm not an alps user I would definitely like to make it an option. However, for prototyping I'll be sticking with MX. I imagine I'll have to get a few prototypes made before I'm happy with the finished product, and 10+ prototypes for some smaller components used for a new mounting method.

[Findecanor]

No-frills fullsize ANSI Alps keyboard.

BTW. There is a AEK/AEKII replacement PCB project in early stages over at Geekhack.
Support for other Alps keycaps (not rotated switches under function keys), PC modifiers, and Cherry MX ( ) are already planned features.

[Hak Foo]

To me, projects like the Hyper7 and GH-122 make the most sense as community projects.

There seems to be enough of a market to maintain TKL and smaller kits as commercial items, but the small cluster of users wanting 100% and bigger are left to try to organize something themselves.