this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
17 points (90.5% liked)

Mechanical Keyboards

8854 readers
2 users here now

Are you addicted to the clicking sounds of your beautiful and impressive mechanical keyboard?
If so, this community is for you!

Here you can discuss everything about mechanical keyboards (and only mechanical keyboards).

Banner by Jay Zhang on Unsplash

founded 4 years ago
17
Looking for a truly DIY keyboard kit (feddit.ch)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I would like to build my first keyboard, but I feel like the DIY-kits available don't let you get your hands on the keyboard enough. For instance, I looked into the M1W barebone as it checks all the criteria I have (I would prefer a 75% board, with a knob, and wireless option), except the only thing left to do is to plug-in the switches and put on the keycaps.

For example, the Zoom 75 is something I feel would suit me, but it's 200$, not counting the 60$ shipping, and it's "only" the board, so I need to buy the switches and the keycaps as well.

I saw the "Practice 75" board, which is nice, but for example there isn't the knob and I would need to solder the switches to the board.

Is there a board out there that would ticks all the boxes ?

Thank you in advance for your answers !

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Pok 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?

There's a whole range of DIY, from just swapping out keycaps, to designing, manufacturing, and hand-wiring from the ground up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know very well, but I would like to get my hands on the PCB I feel like, to know how it is mounted, what difference it can make

[–] tankplanker 1 points 1 year ago

Thats more down to the case and plate than the PCB, you either need a case that supports multiple mounting types like carpool (https://github.com/dingusxmcgee/Carpool) or completely separate cases. For carpool you use the same PCB for all mount types and just change the plate.