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Sexy Mechanical Keyboard Thread

was it easy to mod the LEDs? my DuckyShine III could use some new LEDs

i found it simple enough, but i've been soldering 30+ years.

sourcing the LED's was a bigger task here in the UK.. They expensive at places like RS and Maplin, CPC.

Paid about £10 in the end for 150 of them.
 
i found it simple enough, but i've been soldering 30+ years.

sourcing the LED's was a bigger task here in the UK.. They expensive at places like RS and Maplin, CPC.

Paid about £10 in the end for 150 of them.

If i was to send you my keyboard, would you fix it for me? :p
 
If i was to send you my keyboard, would you fix it for me? :p

it is possible, but what do you need doing.

full led replacement or just a few ?

if you pay postage and cost of LED's and say bung me £25(if full replacement) for Labour then yes i will.

:)
 
it is possible, but what do you need doing.

full led replacement or just a few ?

if you pay postage and cost of LED's and say bung me £25(if full replacement) for Labour then yes i will.

:)

£25 for labour? So no doing it for a few beers then? :p yeah 'most' of the leds are dead. I dont even bother using the backlight feature anymore and i havent done since last year sometime
 
rsz_20160810_113028.jpg

My new setup at work. I work in system engineering and I value a good keyboard. I think the G610 is a pretty nice, no frills mechanical keyboard for a good price (I work at a Logitech distributor, though...), but it does not play nice with KVM switches (speakers emit noises when lighting is active), is a tad high and has no O-rings. Other than that, I can quite recommend it.
 
£25 for labour? So no doing it for a few beers then? :p yeah 'most' of the leds are dead. I dont even bother using the backlight feature anymore and i havent done since last year sometime

i Don't drink pal just work hard in IT/Repairs.

and £25 is a few beers in london.. ;)
 
i Don't drink pal just work hard in IT/Repairs.

and £25 is a few beers in london.. ;)

I can get you 4 pints of Stella for under £9
 
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Made a little cup of delicious keyboard soup at work. Bought some o-rings for my Rosewill RGB80 (Khali blues) and decided I might as well give it a bit of a cleaning while I'm at it.

C80Gx_lcw7LTbTEBOUSIyfZ_199U7jx5IX4pC3nR1-BcKPZRmwMyFQZ4dE9HUwtdDMMwFTHWXj9z27TNSvvkQQa4gMRpsTLTSb5Q9dfTDV7NvvbCL_K10OtzSDbLRdZau26pOPgJ5_p9jEdc4pS8R-tMj0a-5t0yT1vTeQb6MknKd2b_Wmjs2nDTQbIPFOe48IC2Ow88Isv7VHSnZsy6bNRqbg53DWq7dvI0V9YIODPgg_vdn7A4Ia_ZDKCoL4BWfl0fLpEGJChOmM-JQpimsaENEuaYuBw4mwXfSzsi3XFlhqytVgzuDtznRvpnfSYVwKHE8VDlcKsnRXSj29RYfiZhXS1IWH_vLyIkjlzJykGI3xGz2d-JjQ2nhDJdVI6NEZfi1Y1ZNsDNJmY_lUHq0yDEcNtKYROrEyJqmU1a2B-xzdF2-yionKmKb_OQtmIBKB0Fg7hI9ObXod8cmbjQrerCuBr40x-b3rfErok9hmQ_vf9ng_tIRLdgGBeMCGEZrGpv34-uAl7-xY26W7DHcLH1oOWSKx0sfLpWokNEZ83wlQjnOKEbalJBXx0uJW_vxlKticbs2EJzlll9xtcsKHCmm9mCeiA=w1306-h979-no
 
Ok, gotta question for all the Sexy People here, and thought I might get a little better response than in a separate thread. We've got 3 mechs in the house, and while my Roccat is annoying the hell outta me right now with the LEDs, I still love the feel. I forget what I got her, but she can't stand using anything else now. What I'm looking for, is a little something for Christmas for her: custom keycaps. She is completely a Dog person, so caps in a dog-theme are my search pattern (I want glow in the dark, but that's another project :) ). I can't seem to locate anything useful out there at all. Does anyone have any recommendations, short of stickers, for a dealer who has something dog-like they provide? Thanks!
 
Ok, gotta question for all the Sexy People here, and thought I might get a little better response than in a separate thread. We've got 3 mechs in the house, and while my Roccat is annoying the hell outta me right now with the LEDs, I still love the feel. I forget what I got her, but she can't stand using anything else now. What I'm looking for, is a little something for Christmas for her: custom keycaps. She is completely a Dog person, so caps in a dog-theme are my search pattern (I want glow in the dark, but that's another project :) ). I can't seem to locate anything useful out there at all. Does anyone have any recommendations, short of stickers, for a dealer who has something dog-like they provide? Thanks!

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70816.0

That would be my best guess to a way of obtaining what you want. I did once get a kitty keycap from WASD; it seems if you provide the image, they will make what you want. http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index....cap-singles/custom-art-cherry-mx-keycaps.html

I am sure you may find more completely custom options, but I do not recall seeing anything mainstream which was dog related in the past.
 
Ok, gotta question for all the Sexy People here, and thought I might get a little better response than in a separate thread. We've got 3 mechs in the house, and while my Roccat is annoying the hell outta me right now with the LEDs, I still love the feel. I forget what I got her, but she can't stand using anything else now. What I'm looking for, is a little something for Christmas for her: custom keycaps. She is completely a Dog person, so caps in a dog-theme are my search pattern (I want glow in the dark, but that's another project :) ). I can't seem to locate anything useful out there at all. Does anyone have any recommendations, short of stickers, for a dealer who has something dog-like they provide? Thanks!

What will this dog-theme look like, may I ask? It sounds nice and is definitely an original idea, but do you want an artisan (custom, hand-crafted sells keycap that sells for anything from $25-125 for just that keycap) to go on Escape (where it always goes if you only have one artisan), or do you want something across the whole board? If you do indeed want something that makes the whole board convey your love for canine companions, it's hard to think of something that might fit the bill unless every key was to have simply a sprite(?) of a dog. That might impair the functionality of the board though.

There's nothing that corresponds to a "dog" theme, but I suppose you could have a custom keycap from WASD (with a little image of a dog) on Esc and the rest of the board in a brown-on-white or pink-on-white or some color scheme like that. Royal Kludge ABS caps could work if you're looking for the pink-ish colors, but it just dropped on Massdrop and will be a while before it comes back. If you'd really want to go off into the deep end then PBT Valentine from Originative is still up...about the highest quality (dye-subbed PBT, comparable to EnjoyPBT, and in Cherry profile too) but it'll cost you. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/royal-kludge-doubleshot-abs-keycaps https://www.originativeco.com/products/pbt-valentine?variant=17866564357

Back to the idea of the artisan, there's no one that makes a paw-shaped artisan at the moment. Frustrating, yes, and I would've thought that someone would offer one eventually due to all the dog lovers out there. Lootkeys' thread has not been active on GH for almost 6 months now. Although he did show a bit more originality with experimenting with different profiles and concepts, straying from the usual skull-shaped or demon-themed artisans, he was last active on GH July 30th and doesn't have a website outside of Geekhack. You can try making an account and sending him a PM, it doesn't hurt.

On r/mk there is a list of Artisan makers (active and non-active, I presume, so you gotta go and visit each page), located here https://www.reddit.com/r/Mechanical..._artisan_keys_.28handmade_in_small_batches.29

----------------

I stumbled upon this old artisan maker on GH from the reddit thread called ArtKeycaps. From his sample photos, there are artisans that roughly resemble a dog (a chihuahua is what he was aiming for). See for yourself

CrptXwJ.jpg


(I can't tell which one is the demonic dog and which one is the regular dog :laugh:)

If these are too demonic-looking for you, it shouldn't matter as there are unfortunately no sales in his shop anymore though, and I don't know if he's still taking custom orders. He's not been on since October 2015, and the thread has been dead since May 2015 :(.

-----------------------

I hope you do find something that suits your needs. In the mk community it can be a bit frustrating if you want something that no one has done before/is doing.

ALSO @Ahhzz Be aware that the Roccat Ryos MK does not have a standard bottom row.

The standard bottom row is 1.25u Ctrl, 1.25u Win, 1.25u Alt - 6.25u Space - 1.25u Alt, 1.25u Fn or Win, 1.25u Menu, and 1.25u Ctrl.

Standard Winkeyless (an older layout from the IBM Model M and older 90's Cherry G80 keyboards, which you will find support for if you buy into expensive keysets such as EnjoyPBT or anything made by GMK) is 1.5u Ctrl, 1u Win, 1.5u Alt - 7u Space - 1.5u Alt, 1u Win, 1.5u Ctrl.

The Ryos MK is 1.5u Ctrl, 1u Win, 1.5u Alt - 6u Space I think??? (biggest problem is whether space is a regular 6.25u, a nasty proprietary 6u, or a nasty proprietary 6.25u) - 1.5u Alt, 1u Menu, 1u Win, 1.5u Ctrl, and it will throw a wrench into the works if you buy cheap(er) keysets from WASD or Tai-Hao or Royal Kludge for example, where the standard layout is the only one that is supported.

I'm afriad it will also be difficult to find keys to fill the 5 macros on the left hand side of the board, which are of varying "row" profiles.
 
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Corsair K95 on sale at Woot, $99.
 
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My new setup at work. I work in system engineering and I value a good keyboard. I think the G610 is a pretty nice, no frills mechanical keyboard for a good price (I work at a Logitech distributor, though...), but it does not play nice with KVM switches (speakers emit noises when lighting is active), is a tad high and has no O-rings. Other than that, I can quite recommend it.

Hey I almost bought the 610 on sale. Beautiful keyboard Reviews say it has a plastic frame, is it solid? No flex?
 
What will this dog-theme look like, may I ask? It sounds nice and is definitely an original idea, but do you want an artisan (custom, hand-crafted sells keycap that sells for anything from $25-125 for just that keycap) to go on Escape (where it always goes if you only have one artisan), or do you want something across the whole board? If you do indeed want something that makes the whole board convey your love for canine companions, it's hard to think of something that might fit the bill unless every key was to have simply a sprite(?) of a dog. That might impair the functionality of the board though.

There's nothing that corresponds to a "dog" theme, but I suppose you could have a custom keycap from WASD (with a little image of a dog) on Esc and the rest of the board in a brown-on-white or pink-on-white or some color scheme like that. Royal Kludge ABS caps could work if you're looking for the pink-ish colors, but it just dropped on Massdrop and will be a while before it comes back. If you'd really want to go off into the deep end then PBT Valentine from Originative is still up...about the highest quality (dye-subbed PBT, comparable to EnjoyPBT, and in Cherry profile too) but it'll cost you. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/royal-kludge-doubleshot-abs-keycaps https://www.originativeco.com/products/pbt-valentine?variant=17866564357

Back to the idea of the artisan, there's no one that makes a paw-shaped artisan at the moment. Frustrating, yes, and I would've thought that someone would offer one eventually due to all the dog lovers out there. Lootkeys' thread has not been active on GH for almost 6 months now. Although he did show a bit more originality with experimenting with different profiles and concepts, straying from the usual skull-shaped or demon-themed artisans, he was last active on GH July 30th and doesn't have a website outside of Geekhack. You can try making an account and sending him a PM, it doesn't hurt.

On r/mk there is a list of Artisan makers (active and non-active, I presume, so you gotta go and visit each page), located here https://www.reddit.com/r/Mechanical..._artisan_keys_.28handmade_in_small_batches.29

----------------

I stumbled upon this old artisan maker on GH from the reddit thread called ArtKeycaps. From his sample photos, there are artisans that roughly resemble a dog (a chihuahua is what he was aiming for). See for yourself

CrptXwJ.jpg


(I can't tell which one is the demonic dog and which one is the regular dog :laugh:)

If these are too demonic-looking for you, it shouldn't matter as there are unfortunately no sales in his shop anymore though, and I don't know if he's still taking custom orders. He's not been on since October 2015, and the thread has been dead since May 2015 :(.

-----------------------

I hope you do find something that suits your needs. In the mk community it can be a bit frustrating if you want something that no one has done before/is doing.

ALSO @Ahhzz Be aware that the Roccat Ryos MK does not have a standard bottom row.

The standard bottom row is 1.25u Ctrl, 1.25u Win, 1.25u Alt - 6.25u Space - 1.25u Alt, 1.25u Fn or Win, 1.25u Menu, and 1.25u Ctrl.

Standard Winkeyless (an older layout from the IBM Model M and older 90's Cherry G80 keyboards, which you will find support for if you buy into expensive keysets such as EnjoyPBT or anything made by GMK) is 1.5u Ctrl, 1u Win, 1.5u Alt - 7u Space - 1.5u Alt, 1u Win, 1.5u Ctrl.

The Ryos MK is 1.5u Ctrl, 1u Win, 1.5u Alt - 6u Space I think??? (biggest problem is whether space is a regular 6.25u, a nasty proprietary 6u, or a nasty proprietary 6.25u) - 1.5u Alt, 1u Menu, 1u Win, 1.5u Ctrl, and it will throw a wrench into the works if you buy cheap(er) keysets from WASD or Tai-Hao or Royal Kludge for example, where the standard layout is the only one that is supported.

I'm afriad it will also be difficult to find keys to fill the 5 macros on the left hand side of the board, which are of varying "row" profiles.

Holy cow what a post!! Thanks very much for the info (those are some scary dogs....).

I may just have to move back to my old Corsair if I want anything for me. She's running a CM Storm, which should be a little more standard.

For a theme, I really don't know. My original thought process was very simple (and simple-minded): I have a glow in the dark fetish; I want glow in the dark Keycaps. My Baobei loves dogs. She needs dog keycaps. I originally was thinking paws, but not too sure ... Now what? :rolleyes::oops: As much as she uses the keyboard, I think I really only need a few of them capped, like maybe the function keys. The thought of a single cap for the esc key is starting to seriously appeal.... I guess I've seen the Hello Kitty themed stuff, and skulls, etc, and the complexity of the process didn't really sink in.


I'll dig thru your links, thanks again , you and Sneaky :). Appreciate the effort!! You really had a lot of thoughts about it. Thanks!

*edit I'd hit Valentine before in my search, and the reddit, so I don't feel quite so stupid, but for some reason, I hadn't found that particular reddit page. Thanks :)
 
Corsair K95 on sale at Woot, $99.
I actually don't like my K95. I've already RMA'd it once due to dying LEDs and I need to do it again. Turns out it's a very common problem.
Corsair accepted the RMA very quickly and it was mostly painless, but I think it's very safe to assume that you will need to RMA this board eventually due to dead LEDs, probably more than once.

First keyboard had three that died and a fourth that was failing. Second keyboard has one dead one now and two failing. They usually only last a few months for me.
 
Hi, what keyboard is that? I've been looking for one that has interchangeable switches. Thanks.

Epic Gear's Defiant.

The feature is called hot-swapping switches.

1. 62/60, not currently available as it is a group buy and Round 1 has not yet started https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=81548.0 compatible with virtually every MX-style switch

2. Team Wolf Zhuque, is a group buy on Massdrop and will have to wait until next round https://www.massdrop.com/buy/team-wolf-swappable-switch-mechanical-keyboard uses Gaterons

3. Epic Gear Defiant, is available for pretty cheap, roughly $79.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FJGJY5Q/?tag=tec06d-20 virtually unknown self-branded MX-style switch however ("EG" brand)


Hm. Glow in the dark might be something you'd have to undertake on your own into uncharted waters :laugh: as it's not a widespread trend in the mk community. I did, however, see this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glow-in-the...Doubleshot-Cherry-MX-Keycap-Set-/171098489228 but I'm not sure about it as I don't see a manufacturer, and it appears white when normal but green in the dark? The linked site is keypop.net, which I am somewhat familiar with, but have no personal experience with them.

$25.99 for 9 blank glow-in-the-darks is ridiculous o_O and is beyond the level of Originative's price gouging (my wallet still feels the $180 I paid for Sky Dolch :cry:). But then again, not a lot of people make glow-in-the-dark keycaps. If any of your keyboards (Ryos MK does have it) have backlighting, I guess LEDs could count as glow-in-the-dark... and that would certainly be easier as there are definitely backlit (even doubleshot PBT if you're into durability) sets out there, particularly from Vortex. I could've sworn that there were tons of Vortex SKUs on MK.com but they don't seem to be there now https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1579 is the closest they have.
EDIT: https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1578 is the black version of the shine-through ABS doubleshot Ducky set above and it is in stock, if you are interested.

GeekKeys does have a huge selection of keycaps, as opposed to keycap sets. They sell HolyOOPS aluminum keys, some of which are modeled after traditional keysets like GMK RGB/RGBY/CMYK/etc., and some of which are more creative and superhero-themed. You may find something in there that suits you (Baymax anyone? :) Aluminum 2u armored Baymax?). Maybe there's a paw-print aluminum Row 1 keycap in there?

I personally don't buy artisans because IMO pairing $125 artisans with anything less than a gorgeous, timeless and incredibly expensive GMK keyset like Sky Dolch, Hyperfuse or Triumph Adler is utter keyboard heresy :laugh: but seriously, artisans are a very slippery slope so if you do decide to go that route, beware of the prices my friend.


I guess that's the gamble with LEDs. If it's off-the-shelf, it's going to be the tall, rounded generic kind regardless of brand. The Ducky Mini that I put away doesn't have any dead LEDs after all this time, but the Ducky Shine 3 that came out at roughly the same time is plagued with reports of dead LEDs. Sucks that backlighting is so big with mks yet manufacturers don't give half a damn about picking some better quality, more innovative LEDs. In the GH/reddit/DT communities, I think SMD LEDs are starting to make an appearance en masse. Winkeyless has always used it in their B.face/B.mini X2 PCBs for underglow on the bottom of the PCB and some other peeps are using it as a replacement for traditional LEDs. But unless manufacturers use it :( nothing will change
 
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Epic Gear's Defiant.

The feature is called hot-swapping switches.

1. 62/60, not currently available as it is a group buy and Round 1 has not yet started https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=81548.0 compatible with virtually every MX-style switch

2. Team Wolf Zhuque, is a group buy on Massdrop and will have to wait until next round https://www.massdrop.com/buy/team-wolf-swappable-switch-mechanical-keyboard uses Gaterons

3. Epic Gear Defiant, is available for pretty cheap, roughly $79.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FJGJY5Q/?tag=tec06d-20 virtually unknown self-branded MX-style switch however ("EG" brand)

Wow, Thanks for responding.
 
Nice stuff ... is there a way to buy these modular EG switches somewhere (cant find it on amazon)

I didn't even know they sold them separately :laugh:

I hope you're thinking of getting them strictly for keyboard science as EG's switches appear to be proprietary. There appears to be an LED integrated into every switch and even though it's one of the highly rated low-profile "cube"-type LEDs, that will complicate things if trying to use them to replace broken switches in another board or building a new board. I was hoping that they'd just be another option in the sea of MX clones (Gateron, Kaihl, Outemu) but sadly that does not appear to be the case. It might have been my mistake putting it in the same list as the 62/60 and Team Wolf as those two don't use a proprietary mount type for the hot-swap switches.

That said, this board might be more durable in the end...in the 62/60 thread it was generally agreed that hot-swappable switch keyboards are the wrong place to look if one is looking for durability compared to even the most ordinary "normal" MX keyboard. EG makes some pretty tasty claims as to the longevity of the hot-swap mechanism. Of course the 70 million keystroke rating for the actual switches is complete BS lol...first it was 30M? then it was 50M for genuine Cherry switches then all these rip-off Kaihl-Razers of observably lower quality claim 60M and now EG 70M. One can't even get a genuine Cherry switch to 50M in a reasonable amount of time.
 
I hope you're thinking of getting them strictly for keyboard science as EG's switches appear to be proprietary.
It just seems logical when buying keyboard with replaceable switches to buy a pack of matching switch replacements :laugh:
 
Big shit! Das Keyboard releases a LED "13" version.... without Volumne knob like their Pro board!!!! WTF guys!!!!!! I have the money ready and you do not notice!
 
Hey I almost bought the 610 on sale. Beautiful keyboard Reviews say it has a plastic frame, is it solid? No flex?
It seems to be exceptionally solid to me. I notice no flexing, though ymmv. The only thing that takes a little getting used to (for me, at least) is the height. It's a rather high keyboard, which is exaggerated by no palm rest.
 
Speaking of exceptionally solid, here is my Filco Majestouch 2 that I just finished putting back together. The caps are just EnjoyPBT US Black + GMK RGBY, but what's special about this board is the Tex case that it's been put in. 100% 6061 CNC + anodized aluminum, no plastic whatsoever in the frame. Tex also makes a 6061 CNC-ano aluminum case for 60% keyboards which I have and is anodized to a better standard, but obviously that one can't hold a candle to the sheer heft of this guy. No discussion necessary about "flex"; one's bones will flex before this case flexes. Typing is also sheer bliss.

DSC_5166.JPG

DSC_5168.JPG DSC_5170.JPG

For those who need a refresher, the Majestouch 1 TKL was regarded as the "OG" TKL board, at least on the mass market. The MJ2 continues that legacy. Even with its stock plastic case, I am willing to be that the MJ2 TKL weighs more than any tenkeyless on the market (save for Korean customs like the LZ-GH and LZ-FE of course), and it's probably due to the sheer heft of the plate it comes with. So with this full suit of aluminum (quite a few mm thick in every part, sides are quite a bit thicker), you can imagine how much it weighs. When I hold it in my hands, it reminds me much more of holding my old SG05 mini ITX rig than the rest of my 60% keyboards :laugh:

The joke that you can use a IBM Model M for home defense is now obsolete. The Tex-clad Filco is now the mass-produced home defense weapon to end all home invasions.
 
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