Finding a stepped Caps Lock key

[Vistance]

Hello everyone, I'm thinking of buying a mechanical keyboard. My first was an ABS M1 which had black alps, which I actually hated compared to my membrane keyboards (Did not like the stiff keys and made far more typos than with a normal keyboard) which I long since sold. I'm thinking of getting a keyborad with MX Blues, but I digress - the main issue I'm noticing is almost all mechanical keyboards have non-stepped caps lock keys.

Now I'm a great touch typist, but my habit is to rest my left pinky on the shift key, ring finger on the gap or stepped area of the caps lock key, middle finger on W, index finger on D, and thumb on space (I play enough games this just feels natural to me). This was one of my biggest complaints about the ABS M1, the non-stepped caps lock key made my left hand feel lost on the keyboard plus I'm just used to doing this. It doesn't even seem to matter the price point but no one hardly offers stepped caps lock keys, I can't even find one that was custom fabricated either.

I'm probably going to be SOL on this given I'm probably going to buy the CoolerMaster QuickFire and the default keycaps are black, and the caps lock has a small window in the middle for the LED. But lets assume the keycap color doesn't matter and simply it's a stepped caps lock key with a window in the lower middle - anyone know where I could find one of these? Or am I going to be tortured with no space between the caps lock and A key unless I can find a POS keyboard?

[trax]

Cherry keyboards (G80-3000 series, their sold on amazon etc for around 50 eur) have a stepped caps lock.
They don't look cool and their build quality doesn't feel superior but I never cared.

[Vistance]

Only problem is I'm trying to get a tenkeyless, which I've never seen a version of in that style. I've kind of expected I'll just have to get used to the caps lock key, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if anyone knew of a stepped caps lock key to replace it with (I'm pretty set on the keyboard because of the price and features).

[trax]

Ok well, Imsto sells some very nice keycaps for an ok price. (thick pbt ones).
They come (or some packages come) with a stepped caps lock and a flat caps lock.
The stepped caps lock doesnt work on all keyboards (does work on Cherry ones but probably not on a TKL Filco or CM) but you can mod it as shown here: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=32280.0

The dude also offers capslock modding Pm him here: http://deskthority.net/akimbo-u1783/

[Vistance]

Ah, thanks for the info. So I suppose 3rd parties are my only option for something this specific? Just curious for future reference, which keyboards have more readily available customization to them? I'm staying under $100 for this first mechanical keyboard but I won't rule out ever spending more money later on if I enjoy this one.

[trax]

I cant think of any TKL keyboard with a stepped caps lock, sorry.
Either way, lots of people (if not most) replace the original keycaps with custom ones.
Stock caps are most of the time low(er) quality.

The most customizable keyboards are probably the ones that are made by the community: Phantom, KMAC... But getting your hands on those is unlikely and they are very expensive.

Tbh apart from Cherry Corp keyboards all the other ones (Filco's, Ducky's, CM's..) are pretty much the same (customisability wise). They all support the same keycaps.

If you want to have smaller form factor I recommend a KBC poker. The only thing people don't change about that is the PCB. For a poker you find caps (obv), cases, plates, usb cables.

[Vistance]

I've seen that Poker but was not a fan of no function keys, or the cluster of keys (Home, Insert, Del, etc.). I do want a more compact keyboard than my current G15 so I can put the mouse next to it, but I don't need a micro sized keyboard. I know they make the Pure and Race which offer more of those keys, but haven't there been complaints about the keys feeling a bit too close together on those and using unusual key cap sizes?

[bounce]

well you aswell try to find a model m spacesaver i think it has a stepped caps aswell but i heard they are hard to come by
and they are probably as stiff as your alps back then

[Vistance]

I thought of the Model M spacesaver, I have a full size Model M from '86 though sadly totally missing a few keys entirely. Have you checked the price on a spacesaver lately? They're $150-$250+ on eBay, way out of my desired price range - I'd probably go with something Topre based if spending that kind of green.

[bounce]

i told you it may have some cons

[Ascaii]

Have you considered a Cherry g80-1800? It is not really TKL, but still is rather compact with the compressed layout. Here is a pic of one of my boards:

g80-1800ergo.jpg (146.45 KiB) Viewed 5737 times

There are ansi versions available, as well as versions in the classic cherry greys/beige coloration or pure white versions via Taobao. I am assuming you're american since you haven't made any comment on your location (hint: add it in your profile, it helps).

If you are actually from europe and are in need of an ISO layout 1800, I can help you out, I have several spare beige 1800s with doubleshots. Also, there is the g80-11802 (compaq) that uses MX Brown switches, which pop up on ebay regularly.

P.S. if you send me a list of the model M keys you are missing ill check my bags of loose caps, might be able to help you out.

[rindorbrot]

You can get center stemmed stepped capslocks at techkeys.us for 6$ a piece.
That fits on basicaly every Keyboard with a flat capslock.

[Vistance]

Thanks Rindorbrot, that's exactly what I was looking for. I tried a bunch of searches but had no luck finding anything like it. So the only slight issue is that those do not have a window notch for the LED - is that something I can modify myself? Maybe involving a dremel tool and perhaps some clear plastic to fill the hole?