Post your keyboard/keycaps!

[yuchipashe]

My keyboard hoarding disorder so far(at least those that has arrived so far, there's 12 more incoming )

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[CountNoctua]

AoPo AP108 with Kailh Box Brown switches and SA Dasher keycaps:

rosewood_dasher_and_endgame_yoyo_1.jpg

rosewood_dasher_and_endgame_yoyo_2.jpg

(Also features, 2sick Endgame yoyo)

Quite dashing

[Khers]

Finished building this the other day:















LZ MP with keycaps from a Cherry G81-3100SDU. The switches are nixies, mounted in a pc plate. The PCB is a hiney h87a thin, 1.2mm rather than the usual 1.6mm.

[Muirium]

Very posh. Well, until you pulled out the shag carpet, at which point it turned pimp…

[Khers]

Do you question my 4 year old's taste in carpets?

On a more serious note, I though the shagpile was rather fitting considering the amount of gold on display. Not entirely sure I'm that much of a bling man, but the side pieces are screwed in, so it's an easy adjustment.

[CountNoctua]

WhiteFox with black Gateron Inks and dark grey PBT caps





Designer name sounds vaguely familiar

[AJM]

From an era, when rubber-dome keyboard didn't only look like an IBM Model-F XT, but - in some respects - were also build like one.

IBM-style thick plastic upper case with lovely "dewdrop" paintjob:

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It's even better than the IBM in respect to its screw holes having metal inserts:

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Keycaps on the other hand are not so great. Legends are sharp and dark, but they're all over the place. And a misprint takes the cake : (Who spots it first?)

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[depletedvespene]

Keycaps on the other hand are not so great. Legends are sharp and dark, but they're all over the place. And a misprint takes the cake : (Who spots it first?)

bull-4.jpg

So... Germans appropriate the lowercase beta letter from the Greeks and now they take the uppercase lambda as well?!?!?!?!

[AJM]

Ah ...... no, that's just a very, VERY bold circumflex accent.
What I mean is the umlaut "U", which should be "Ü", but here they printed the lowercase version "ü".

[depletedvespene]

Ah ...... no, that's just a very, VERY bold circumflex accent.
What I mean is the umlaut "U", which should be "Ü", but here they printed the lowercase version "ü".

I noticed that one, too, but it was exceedingly obvious (as is the improper size for the three umlauted vowels).

Also note the improperly italicized (sp?) eszett.

[AJM]

That's true, but the size of the umlauts wouldn't have bothered me, because they are too small on the IBM Model F XT as well. And if IBM does it, it's ok.

[depletedvespene]

That's true, but the size of the umlauts wouldn't have bothered me, because they are too small on the IBM Model F XT as well. And if IBM does it, it's ok.

In spite of IBM being IBM, the company DID make some mistakes here and there. One look at the XT layout is proof enough.

[AJM]

You made a typing error there: It must read "One look at the so-called 'Enhanced' layout is proof enough."

[depletedvespene]

You made a typing error there: It must read "One look at the so-called 'Enhanced' layout is proof enough."

No, I didn't. The Enhanced layout requires much more than a simple cursory look to notice the few, little problems it has (and most of them have to do with failure to future-proof enough the layout... as the Num Lock key shows us remorselessly).

[Muirium]

To non-German eyes, umlauts are so strange they don't even look right when they are right! Clearly, the legends would look better with the umlaut dots better wrapped around the glyph, rather than sitting high as a separate hat on top. But I fear that's all too normal.

Meanwhile: yes the XT is atrocious, but the Model M layout is the gold standard, even now. AT (which I'm typing on now) was halfway there.

[kmnov2017]

The German keyboard layout is just hideous. QWERTZ is the most retarded thing that ever happened to a keyboard. But then I had the misfortune to see an AZERTY layout on a Belgian colleagues laptop, that was the last meeting I had with him ever !!!

[vometia]

In spite of IBM being IBM, the company DID make some mistakes here and there. One look at the XT layout is proof enough.

I suppose it could be argued that the PC's entire design was a mistake! I remember a lot of commentators at the time were underwhelmed with its capabilities considering its stratospheric cost, and several observed that it was a lacklustre design that just made the statement, "yeah, it's a rush job but we want a slice of this new market because we're IBM."

But they admitted that the keyboard was nice. I don't recall so many comments about its weird layout: there were a lot of weird layouts.

To non-German eyes, umlauts are so strange they don't even look right when they are right! Clearly, the legends would look better with the umlaut dots better wrapped around the glyph, rather than sitting high as a separate hat on top. But I fear that's all too normal.

I'm predictably having a bit of a Spın̈al Tap moment at the mention of umlauts.

Meanwhile: yes the XT is atrocious, but the Model M layout is the gold standard, even now. AT (which I'm typing on now) was halfway there.

I still have a soft spot for the LK201, said to be the originator of the inverted T, as it was fairly ubiquitous on my first "proper" computers i.e. Vaxes, though I think even then I found some of the design decisions quite bizarre. Specifically the function key numbering. I never did find out the rationale in spite of working at DEC for a few years.

[derzemel]

I haven't used The Dolch for more than a year, so, a few weeks ago decided to give it some love and care: cleaned up, corrected some bad soldering since it was my first custom project, and changed the stems from vintage black to vintage clear (kept the black springs), also removed all the white LEDs it had and put self changing RGB LED under Esc and Enter.

before:

Spoiler:

after:

Spoiler:

[User101]

Metal CCP keycaps. Just for the laugh lol

[CountNoctua]

Mmm, those would look great on a board with SA Yuri caps

[Muirium]

Perhaps. I do quite like them, impractical as they are. But the legends on those pastel guys look right suspect…

[HungerMechanic]

AoPo AP108 with Kailh Box Brown switches and SA Dasher keycaps:

(Also features, 2sick Endgame yoyo)

Incredible build, zslane!

I have been preparing a sort of budget version of that idea, also featuring BOX Browns. How are the Browns faring under those heavy SA profile caps?

There are still some issues with the BOX Browns, as much as I enjoy typing on them. The retooled ones still stretch some keycaps (they cracked a Tai Hao stem of mine), and I hear that the Browns go clicky after a period of time. I'm using them in hotswap right now, but haven't created a soldered board.

But BOX Browns on a Dasher-style colourway on a 104-key makes a lot of sense for my needs.

[zslane]

Yes, the Box Browns are very tactile. Way more tactile than ordinary Cherry MX Browns. Which is fine by me since I think Cherry browns are too much like reds to be worthwhile (might as well just go with reds). The SA keycaps went on fine, not tight at all, and typing on them is really good. Not Topre good, mind you, but still good.

[HungerMechanic]

I've used BOX Browns on my switch-testing keyboard, and honestly it went great.

Now I want to build a full-size with them, or at least a TKL. Don't even need metal, a plastic housing would be fine. Good to know that SA caps work well with them, because one day I might want to mount MT3. Currently, I am using OEM profile. The downsides of OEM keycaps are lessened with the BOX switches, because they don't wobble as much.

But I've been holding off on a BOX Brown build because of reported issues with them. People complain about them turning clicky. I have to ask myself: Do I really care if they turn clicky?

BTW, how did you get the Aopo board to build correctly? It seems quite troublesome, from the reviews I've read on MassDrop.

[zslane]

I found that installing the Box Browns was pretty painless and everything went smoothly. However...

I first tried to install Zilents, which required snipping off the two plastic stand-off legs on each switch. Even after doing that, I had a very difficult time getting them onto the PCB. Switches that were already in place would just pop out while trying to get another one in. It is clear to me now that any switch with the stand-off legs and the longer contact pins is just not a good match for the AoPo PCB.

Yes, that dramatically limits the choice of switches I can use with this hotswap board, but I'm pretty happy with the Box Browns. I mean, they aren't as nice (or quiet) as Topre switches, but I knew that going in and set my expectations accordingly.

[HungerMechanic]

Thanks for explaining these details, zslane. And sorry for taking up the picture thread with this. I find that your keyboard is a very good solution for having a full-size board with BOX Browns. In particular, it's better with BOX Browns than with Zilents, as you pointed out.

It's also perfect for BOX Browns because you can just swap them out if they go clicky. I'm going to look into this, as it's presently looking like the nicest way to use these switches. I just need to get the board assembled properly.

[Rauha]

My first ever handwired keyboard. XD84 plate & case with NOS SMK 2nd gen. clikies from Aliexpress (MX keycap stem variant) and FI/SWE keycaps from Kbdfans.




My only big noob mistake was to get a plate that did not support plate mounting the stabilisers. This lead to me not having anything to mount the stabilisers on...

Solved the problem by making a small 'mounting plate' from 1,5 mm thick plywood. Cut piece of plywood large enough for mounting Backspace, (ISO) Enter and Lshift stabilsers onto it and drilled holes for stabiliser mounting pins. Spacebar on the front row sits so low that its stabilisers nearly touch the bottom while resting, and bottom out while pressing the key. Therefore there was no need to add the plywood on spacebar. This solution works really well. Only the Spacebar is maybe slightly more rattling than it would be if mounted, but it doesn't bother me.

Warning! Some really shoddy soldering and woodwork in spoiler. I mean reaaally bad. Hide the children before checking it out!

Spoiler:

Overall I'm very happy with the result. SMK clikies are excellent switches and worth the hype. Also happy that I actually managed to get the thing working and will definately be handwiring more keyboards in the future.

[swampangel]

My first ever handwired keyboard. XD84 plate & case with NOS SMK 2nd gen. clikies from Aliexpress (MX keycap stem variant) and FI/SWE keycaps from Kbdfans.

...

Overall I'm very happy with the result. SMK clikies are excellent switches and worth the hype. Also happy that I actually managed to get the thing working and will definately be handwiring more keyboards in the future.

Looks good, even if the stabilized caps seem to be sitting pretty high. How was the fit of the switches in that plate?

Every time I handwire a board, it makes me think, "gosh I _really_ have to learn how to design pcbs".

[Rauha]

Looks good, even if the stabilized caps seem to be sitting pretty high.

The height difference in that picture is mostly camera angle thingy. They sit maybe 0,5 mm or so higher. Can't really see or feel the difference while I'm writing this.

How was the fit of the switches in that plate?

SMK switches themselves fit just fine.

But it is an ANSI/ISO hybrid plate. Propably no problems with ANSI build. However the "mounting area" for ISO-enter is quite narrow. I planned gluing the ENTER -switch in place, but my plywood 'stabiliser plate' just happened to unintentionally solve that problem as well.

[snacksthecat]

Merry Christmas (one day late)!!!