ErgoMechKeyboards
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
view the rest of the comments
My limited experience with chocolate switches is that the cap options are severely limited. Mostly you have basic solid colored caps and beyond that not much. The biggest non-basic non-OEM set I'm aware of are the MBK Legend caps.
I think this is in part because chocolate switches being low profile tend to be used on smaller travel sized boards where minimalism is often prized, although that's just a theory.
Edit: If you're willing to spend a little money and your board is hotswap, one interesting option would be to swap to the new Kailh Choc V2 switches (assuming you can find them in stock somewhere). They're chocolate form factor, but with a cherry style stem on them. Doing that and then finding a nice lower profile set of cherry caps could be one way of getting around chocolate caps being pretty drab.
Be careful, choc v1 board are almost never compatible with choc v2 switches.
Hmm is it the pin placement or switch spacing? They looked like they had the same pin placement, but I know choc V1 boards tend to use a tighter spacing than V2, but that's going to vary somewhat, and you might be able to work around that with the right keycaps (maybe certain DSA caps?). At any rate it's worth pointing out it might be a problem.
Edit: looked it up and apparently the center stabilizer is slightly larger on the V2 which often doesn't fit in a V1 board, but a V1 switch should be able to fit into a V2 board. There's also an extra stabilizer pin on V2 switches but that can be snipped off just like the ones on cherry switches. In theory depending on how closely traces are routed you might be able to enlarge the center post hole of a V1 board to fit a V2 switch but that's a very risky procedure with lots of opportunity to permanently break a board so I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone who isn't either a) made of money, or b) an expert at electronics and modding boards.
Ah, darn. Thanks for checking into this!
Thanks so much!