#drop keycaps

[leondanteart]

My new keeb from Drop x LOTR collab!

It's beautiful however I have some complaints despite being a keeb noob.

One: It's not hotswap. Which I was excited to get one that's already soldered. However, the metal plate and pcb have no foam in between them. Creating an atrocious metallic ping when you press some of the keys. I don't solder so I can't fix it unfortunately.

Two: I was switching the shift keycap out and one of the stabilizers broke off with the keycap💀 I would fix it but I would have to desolder it to get to the stabs.

My only complaints are around the fact that its soldered and I can't desolder it to fix the problems. (˘_˘٥) Also I think it's expensive for its price, when comparing it to my Yunzii x Coolkiller keyboard (which was cheaper by like 10$ lol).

What I do like about it; It's beautiful, the keycaps feel great, the green case is very nice! This is my first keyboard with tactile switches, and I like the sound. I have to play music or wear headphones when typing on this keyboard to drown out the pinging, though. As a fan I think it looks great, kinda wish I had just bought the keycaps and built a keyboard instead.

I did get to do my first mod, and it was the tempest mod!

[cuteteacakes]

This is weird... I removed my space bar cap to fix one of the two springs, and now I'm missing the keycap remover and a spring. What in the tricky pixies tomfoolery is this?

[dullahandyke]

`love the fact that the definition of 'sport' is loose enough to apply to pretty much anything with a competitive community. yeah i do esports (take typing tests alone in my room and grind my teeth when i hit below 110wpm 96%acc)

[exculis]

man i dont even look at etsy any more. thats just all scams these days.

[mikeshouts]

MMi Keycaps Retro TV Console Artisan Keycap: It’s A Classic Nintendo Console Keycap!

Lovely!

Follow us for more Tech Culture and Lifestyle Stuff.

[ikittykaye]

Keyblossom 💕💖💗💓💞 Such a sweet keyboard @drop Expression Series Keyblossom Keyboard Features a springtime style with the art of super cute bunnies and a rose. Pink aluminum ENTR case with the matching rose keycap set. I’m in love with the design on this board. Available now on preorder until Oct. 17th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #mechkeyboard #keyboards #Keeb #PinkAesthetics #keyboard #pastelpinkaesthetic #pinksetup #switches #PastelAesthetic #Kawaii #keyblossom #drop #deskmat #KawaiiSetup #CustomKeycaps #KawaiiAesthetic #keycaps #razerquartz #gamingkeyboard #artisan #keyboard #customcables #thatclickyfeeling #geekhack #gamingsetup #mechanicalkeyboard #customkeyboard #desksetup #mechanicalkeyboards https://www.instagram.com/p/CixbJrsLtOg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[redamoureux]

─ Romantic Homicide

Emesis Blue Soldier Short Scenario

• genre: romantic

( # warnings ; SPOILERS, hurt/comfort, trauma, mild hallucination, mention of character death, implied timeloop, inconsistent timeline, ooc (?)

─ a/n: been kinda fonding over soldier lately, and after watching emesis blue i gotta write this, man deserves some comfort, also the ending is a little rushed so it might sucks :'D

Enlighten me, my dear

Why am i still here?

The rain pitter-pattered steadily on the window as you continue typing away on your computer, staring at the screen while occasionaly glancing at the keyboard to ensure you click on the right keycap.

You were too concentrate on writing your report that you didn't hear the door creaked open as a figure lightly closes it back and slowly walks past the other desks, approaching your section.

As if by chance, you pause typing midway a sentence, feeling a presence behind you. Your eyes widen slightly as you continue to stare at the screen, a shadow faintly appears behind your reflection.

Before you could act on your fight or flight instinct, a pair of hands grabs roughly onto your shoulder and a voice booms almost right next to your ear. "BOO!!" You screamed and instantly got up to try to fight off the intruder, almost losing your balance and groaning a little due to bumping onto your desk, dropping papers and whatnot. With a little struggle you turned to face the intruder, ready to fight for your life─ yet instead you were met with a cackling soldier.

You confusingly blink a few times before you made a knowing face and you let out a sigh of relief, allowing your shoulder to drop.

"Heheh, i got you good didn't i?" Soldier comments, still laughing. At that you let out of another sigh and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, yeah, right you did."

Soldier gave a last chuckle and calming down before he peers at the computer screen behind you and sees your yet to be done draft document. "What are you workin' on?" He questions, pointing at the screen. You turned your head a little to take a glimpse at what he is pointing at before looking back at him. "Oh, it's just some reports that i need to submit to the chief tomorrow." Soldier nods while making a small cognize sound as a reply.

"So uh, what are you doing outside here in the middle night?"

"I woke up because i had a weird dream earlier. And i just wanted to check if anybody is still in the station." The conversation was abruptly interrupted by sizzling and gurgle-like sound coming from a coffee machine placed on a nearby cabinet, which took both of your attentions. Soldier walk towards the machine, taking a plastic cup before pouring in the coffee. "Ah wait, that belongs to my-" you try to object to which soldier respond by sipping the coffee loudly. "-co-worker.."

"You said something?" You gave him a look but shrugged and decided to just brush it aside. You kneel down to pick up the things that dropped earlier, and shortly after he came next to you helping picking up the stationeries. As he checks around, from a distant, he notices a small envelope beneath the table and retrieves it before scanning the back and front of it.

As you're sorting out the papers, he places the envelope infront you, "beep, you have one new message." With a voice trying to imitate a robot. You stared at it before you took it and thanked him. You observe it briefly thinking it may be a letter from a colleague, but you became puzzled upon learning that the letter was something you've never seen or received before, yet it has your name on it. "What is it?" Soldier asks, seeing your confused look. "Oh it's nothing, i just don't remember ever getting this from anyone."

"Ohhh, maybe it's a letter from a ghost?" He jokingly said, making a hand gesture. You shaked your head, "Pft, obviously not silly. I must've forgotten about it somehow, I'll just look into it later." You put down the envelope and walked to the drinks cabinet and brew yourself a cup of matcha tea. While stirring the cup, soldier walks towards you holding the coffee pot on one of his hands and a plastic cup in the other. He tilted his head a little seeing your drink. "You like matcha tea?"

"Mhm, it helps me stay awake during overtime."

"I can't really understand why you enjoy that, it tastes bitter." "Have you ever tried it before?" "Yes of course i did."

"Well then, guess we simply have different taste in drinks." "Affirmative."

Drizzling slowly escalated into downpour ringing clearer as you both drink in silence before he says a trivial thing that led you two into a good deal of time of random talks and playful bickerings which ended up making you two stay at the office longer than intended.

I don't mean to be complacent with the decision you made, but why?

───────────────────────────────

Monday, October 21, 1968

1:43 AM

"─Increasing clouds, with a low round 26. Breezy wind between 15 and 20 mph. And a similiar day tomorrow with only a few patches of rain across the middle and southern side of the midlands with infrequent amounts of sunshine during the day."

"The same can be said for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the weather gradually improves with more sunshine and less cloud rains clouds hovering across the sky."

"However the temperatures increases significally over─"

The meteorologist was interrupted the poor radio reception signals caused by the storm and is swiftly replaced with static noises.

You stared tiredly at the cup of your favorite tea on your hand. Watching as small stirring formed in the drink, with your vague reflection staring back. You were briefly lost in a chain of thoughts as your mind think back about a certain someone.

You look up to stare at the dark and rainy view behind the window that was partly covered by the blinds. You bring the cup closer and drink slowly, the warm drink gradually soothes your nerves to which you let out a small sigh to. You look back at the window, expecting to have nothing much to look at.

Until Your whole body suddenly tense when your gaze fall upon a black figure stiffly standing in the rain.

Despite the fact you couldn't see their eyes, you could just feel it's intense stare.

You tried holding eye contact with it for as long as you could, not even blinking, fearing you might miss it. You're unsure what to do, as if on cue however, a car drove past in a fast speed, driving through a puddle and splashing them and within a bat of an eye, they were gone.

Quickly placing down your tea, you ran closer to the window opening the blinds so you could take a better view and placing one of your hands on the cold window. Looking left and right, checking spontaneously, you furrowed your brows slightly and pinch the bridge of your nose. Feeling a little foolish for thinking that there was anybody outside in the middle of a rainstorm.

You turn to look at the ticking clock on the wall, just realizing that it's already practically morning. Maybe it's the best to go home and take some sleep now.

In the back of my mind

You died

───────────────────────────────

Sunday, November 3, 1968

10:31 AM

"Code 8, request for backup to Lazarus Funerals chapel, Chief was shot and the culprit is getting away!"

"10-4, Affirmative. Help's on the way. Make sure to vacant the area and restraint anyone from coming near."

"─10-1, this 177, i wasn't be able to receive- what the hell is going on?"

"There had been several reports about an attack happening in Governor Jules Archibald's funeral and shortly after, a presumed assassin emerge from the coffin and starts shooting people."

"Hold on, isn't that where your friend was attending to?"

"You mean that bozo? Heard he was just tryna cause trouble for us."

You stayed quiet, gritting your teeth. stepping on the pedal harshly in silent anger, wanting to get over this as soon as possible.

Earlier on, you'd heard the breaking news announcing Jules Archibald's passing and shortly afterwards, an agent reached out to you informing about Jules's funeral. Though it was like he was essentially bringing up more about soldier. You weren't sure what that agent is up to, but your mind wasn't focusing on that as you were more concerned about jane.

Ever since he was assigned to work alongside a private detective, you two barely were be able to talk to each other. During a few of your calls with him, he'd always update you about his work with the detective and other sector.

Which you'd obviously be happy for him, if it wasn't for the fact how at times he'd sound questionably troubled. One time he'd tell you about a rather alarming task that he was told to undertake and when you question it later, he'd confusingly and jokingly ask you what you're talking about.

You've brushed it aside since he kept ensuring you that he was doing well.

But now your suspicion amplified with these recent events that just somehow has a tie led on jane. You really don't want to doubt him, yet in the back of your mind you just know that something bad is going on.

And you're determined to find out the truth.

At last, you've reached the location, practically abandoning your car and ignoring the rain as you ran to the street, seeing cars crashing to each other and several bodies laying around. You cringed internally at the sight as you kept running until you've reached the chapel.

You pant and slowed down as you saw some police officers who had also just arrived to examine the crime scene. While you became distracted at the bloody scene. Blood splattered on the wall against the podium table with a body laying beside the opened casket. Though you recover quickly and looked around the place hoping to see a familiar face, to no avail.

"Hey!" A annoyed voice called and you swiftly turn your head towards the man. "What are you doing? you look like a damn lost puppy, just what are you even looking for?"

"I was just searching for someone." "Well that person is likely dead now, not that i care much. Where are the rest of the unit? They are supposed to be here by now." "They're on their way, sir." The officer sigh obviously irritated. "Whatever. Make yourself useful and help the others outside or something." You lowly nodded and he walked past you while muttering in low tone.

You took as many evidences as you could get, checking for any cameras placed nearby that could possibly help and interrogate bystanders. One was be able to take pictures of one of the gunmen, and when you paid close attention, you were capable of seeing the other gunmen on some pictures. You stared at photographs in bewilderment as you constantly compare those with a clear picture of jane. Sure most of these are rather blurry but you couldn't exactly deny the resemblance between the two men.

You brought back the proofs and documents with you back to the office to begin dicussing with your co-workers and forming speculations. With this in mind, you decided to try to call jane, hoping that he in some way would answer. No respone. You tried once again. No respone.

You began dialing the number every now and then, yet it remain having the same result again and again. Numerous wanted posters of him was printed and plastered around the street.

Some time passed by, with little new informations discovered it's making it difficult for you to find out what really happended. Which over time has began pressuring you. You know that you couldn't stay forever doing this, so slowly you start to drop it little by little and try to continue with your life.

And i didn't even cry, no not a single tear

And i'm sick of waiting patiently for someone that won't even arrive

───────────────────────────────

Thursday, December 7, 1968

5:00 AM

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Your sleep was suddenly interrupted as you groan and mindlessly extended your arm to reach the alarm, pushing every other thing aside. Finally slamming the noisy machine a few times to stop, you stayed in the same position for a moment and huff, forcing yourself to sit up straight with some struggles.

It's been a month since the incident with jane still on the loose. Some theorize that he must've somehow got killed one way or another because apparently they believed it shouldn't have taken this long for the authorities to find him, which you find clearly absurd.

You took a deep breath, deciding to stop thinking and let yourself to relax today. Starting your day with your usual routines and doing a few things such as cooking simple foods and preparing yet another cup of your favorite tea.

Pouring hot water into the cup while humming a melody, you placed down the kettle and sat down, drinking the tea.

When all of a sudden there was a few knocks on the front door that made you nearly choke on your drink and you look at the door. You weren't expecting anyone to come today, so this got your curiousity.

You stand before the door, your hand hesitatingly float just a few inches from the doorknob before finally turning open the door, making a click sound.

You weren't sure who you assume would come but certainly not-

"..Jane?"

You stared at the man infront you in utter disbelief.

He was also seemingly taken aback at your reaction, shifting to stand up straight on reflex. With wide eyes you look up and down at him, he's standing in a rather awkward way and wears his easily recognizable blue jacket which was smudged with some stains and dirts on it aswell as his helmet. You were still gawking before he spoke up almost lowly, "Hey.." giving a small wave.

As your mind is still processing everything, you moved yourself aside from the door as a silent gesture for him to come in. He steps inside as you look around the outside before locking the door again.

"Uh, you can take a look around a little first, i- need to do something real quick." You stammer still in disbelief. He nodded, seemingly acknowledging the awkward tension between two of you. You walk fast to the bathroom, closing the door as you lean on the door still feeling overwhelmed hence you're unsure how to react to his sudden appearance.

You gaze at the mirror and stare at your nervous reflection, listening to the faint mumurs of voices arguing in your head. You closed your eyes, frustrated and perplexed. After pondering for a little longer you decided that it's probably the best if you try to listen to jane's side of the story to really understand what ever is going now right now. You have a feeling there's going to be alot to unravel.

Going back to the living room, you found him staring at one of the picture frames hanging on the wall of you and your colleagues. Hearing the door click he spun around and you interject.

"Do you want me to get you another clothes?" You offered, and he took a last glance at the picture before nodding. You walked closer to him and hold out your hand and he takes off the jacket and hands it to you, then you toss it into the laundry hamper and went to fetch some unused clothes you had in store as precaution.

"Hey, Jane?" You called out, "I've prepare some hot water and towels for you to use in the spare room." You gave him the necessity and leading him to the said room.

You weren't sure if he had already ate breakfast yet, so just to be sure, while waiting you heat up and prepare the food you cooked earlier and washed the dirty clothes. After he returned you proffer to which he accepted and thanked you in a monotone voice before you two sat and eat in silent.

When you glanced up at him, you were met with a stoic and an almost emotionless face. He kept his gaze down and you could almost swear you never saw him blink.

Throughout the day, you two kept a distance. Occasionally he'd come up to you and ask some specific questions about your early life and friends which you hesitantly answered whilst choosing your words. In an attempt to lighten up the mood a little, you showed him several old collection of yours and recalling some good and bad memories, simultaneously engaging himself aswell.

──────────

You drowsily walked down the corridor and yawned, feeling slightly annoyed having to get out of bed to get snack. The faint drizzling rain still audible from the outside.

Finally reaching the kitchen, you grabbed some random available ingredients you had in your fridge and without having to think much, you made a quick work with it.

Just as you sat down and began eating, your eyes suddenly landed on a shadowy figure sitting outside the porch. You tilted your head and took another bite of the snack before you stood up.

"Jane?" He suddenly turned stiff before he turns his head and sees you. "Oh, hello." He greeted.

"What are you doing outside? It's cold and it looks like it's about to rain any minute now." You asked, feeling a little worried. "Just enjoying the view is all." He answered. Your hands held loosely on the door as you thought for awhile, shifting your attention from him to the cloudy and dark sky before returning back to him.

"Hm. Well, i made a snack and uh, tea. Would you like some?"

"Sure."

You took the light food and drinks onto a small tray and carried it outside. You sat down next to him and placed the tray between the two of you and took your piece. He held the mug in his hand and looked at the content then pulled his eyes up from the drink to look at you munching on your snack. "Chamomile milk tea. It's good for relaxation." You remarked. He blinked and you added, "don't worry, it's pretty sweet."

Finally deciding to listen, he took a few sip and you watched as his eyes slowly lit up with delight at the taste. You sold a small laugh at his reaction as he drink more and let out a contented sigh. Still feeling sleepy while chewing on your food, your eyes and mind drifted off briefly. "I'm sorry."

Your eyes shot open at those two words, and you snapped your attention at jane. His gaze avoided yours and instead looked down at his mug. Waiting for a further explanation and given none, you frowned with confusion. What does he mean by that?

He open his mouth with no words coming out before closing his mouth again and letting out a tired heavy sigh and closed his eyes for a moment. Seemingly having a terrible mental debate over what to tell. You turn away a little and lowered your head, wondering and worrying to what had happen to cause such a change in him..

"I.. i'm not jane." He suddenly stated in a low voice.

At that, your head perked up and looked back at him, slightly raising one eyebrow and squinting. Feeling like you're given even more questions rather than answers. He checks for your reaction and took a deep breath, "i'm not him." He stated once again, firmly.

"I killed him."

A look of alarm appeared on your face as you continued to stare at him, mouth agape. Your cup almost fell off your grasp before he began talking again. "Conagher slaughterhouse. Jules. There was a copying machine. He.. there were numerous copies of him. And i destroyed it all." He paused. "And it was cold. That's.. that's what cyclops feels like." He stares at his hands, and you followed his gaze. His hand is visibly trembling. Air hitched in his throat the longer he stared thus he covered his face with his hands and sobbed.

Your face switched immediately to worry once again, and you slide closer to him by instinct and raised your hand to put it on his shoulder to provide little comfort.

"I'm sorry, i've been lying to you. I don't deserve your help. I've been making you worry too much for someone you love who's dead. Replaced by me, another cheap clone of endless one." Despite your disturbed self, you felt your heart crumble upon seeing his terrified face that was now visible as his helmet was slightly slid up.

A single tear rolled down his distress yet still stoic face and you gave him a side hug. He tensed up for a moment and words were stuck in his throat before closing his eyes and slowly accepting your gesture and hugging you tightly. You could hear his sniffling right above your ear, accompanied by warm tears that intensified dropping on your shoulder.

You weren't be able to fully comprehend the whole situation yourself. Your mind is still stunned by the newfound information that your friend who you had been searching for a lengthy time now, fell out to be a clone, and that the real one is already long gone. You could easily think this must've been some sort of sick joke or that he was seriously losing his mind.. yet, his trembling body in your arms holding you tightly struggles to convice you to believe that pointless idea.

"It's not your fault." You whispered under your breath. And the two of you sat there under the awning as the rain increases very so slightly. truthfully you never exactly liked the rain and so does he. But it's always raining.

I can't believe i had said it

But it's true

@redamoureux

[duehoneydew]

its beautiful

my baby

my darling

in other words, i built a keyboard!

my other keyboard before this was a razer cynosa chroma membrane board and holy fucking SHIT this is such an upgrade i love this so much!

(technical terms:

drop sense 75 with ws morandi linear switches, sylveon keycaps from thekapco)

[figdays]

BMO Keycap // AeroHare

[callmearcturus]

ah fuck a follow-up ask but i'm also curious about your mainstays for shopping switches. i know about loobed, but. selection ultimately limited to whatever people are selling.

I've never used loobed actually. I am a freak who actually gets the newsletters from Cannonkeys, NovelKeys, Drop, and Divinikey and i think a few more places.

Divinikey and Novelkeys are amazing for getting cheap switches. I have to this day never bought full price switches I think, I always get them on sale.

It helps that.... I don't really give a shit about Boutique Switches? like, i mentioned before that I actually got some tactile bobas bc r/mk SWEARS UP AND DOWN they are the greatest tactiles of all time.

they're..... fine. not even in my top five. i was baffled at how lackluster i found them compared to other stock pre-lubed switches.

Here is my keyboard bookmark folder:

KBDFans - never used yet, they have a ton of stock but I don't love the prices and I will always buy from US shippers when I can

Akko - I've bought their 100% from their AliE store, it's my work keeb, I love it, they are the MASTERS of low price options imo and their ASA caps are great

NovelKeys - I check them every day because randomly they will do FLASH SALES on switches and slash prices heavily. also they are US-based, try to pay their workers well, take holidays off, and that kind of shit matters to me.

Drop - i don't get the hate for Drop, I love them. Frequent sales, BOGO events, wide selection, ships fast, and returns are actually viable. I think they're easy to hate on but they make the whole hobby more accessible. I want to try their DCX caps but I'm waiting for a BOGO and a friend who wants to get a set too.

Cannonkeys - GOD I WISH THEY WERE CHEAPER. they do sales on switches sometimes and those are great but fuck me they have so many good caps and I cannot bear to look bc expenny.

Divinikey - very wide and rotating selection. if you want a Keychron without the massive shipping delay, look here. also great sales.

Osume - someday I will justify to myself the price of one of their keycaps sets. today is not that day. goddamn they are gorgeous tho. /DREAMY SIGH

TheKey.Company - a lot of good stuff that I sadly don't need, but I think they're comparable to Drop for a good starter resource. great switch selection, but honestly their deskmats are great. I bought my first one from them and it was life changing.

Those are my go-to places for this bullshit terrible hobby. Follow them and you to can have a batshit collection like mine.

[nick]

First Custom Keyboard Build

I'm so excited how this turned out. It has a real 80s terminal vibe to it that I really love. I remapped the keys so it should work great no matter what computer I use it with. The only missing piece is a really cool USB-C cable but I have one on order.

The Build

Drop Alt Keyboard

Cherry MX Silent Reds

DROP + MATT3O MT3 SUSUWATARI Keycaps

[machine-saint]

cerakey ceramic keycaps on a drop ctrl low-profile.

they feel like... ceramic. cool to the touch, smooth, slick. sound is slightly deeper. they show LEDs in a very interesting way, including through the sides. very fun.

[ollieinoue]

Ollie has no idea when or where he is [ @magnolia-rhodes ]

The thing about Ollie was that he could actually literally fall asleep anywhere at any time. Especially when it was not time to go to bed. Exclusively when it was not time to go to bed, even. Monty always asked him how he woke up so early in the morning, and Ollie never really had the heart to admit to him it was because he very rarely ever actually slept through the whole night. Now, he realized with a pang, he'd never get the opportunity to tell him. Well, alright fine, that was a little overly dramatic and probably not true, but it felt like it was true in the moment. In the moment that he was being shaken awake and found himself … somewhere among scattered books, with his face laid out along his laptop's keyboard, and a doc that seemed to be filled with "lkj;lkjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj" (etc) on whatever paper he'd been writing.

"Oh fuck," Ollie said, sitting up, rubbing the imprints of his keycaps from his cheek, and wondering what fucking time was it?? Had he missed an exam? Had he missed the deadline for someone else's exam? Had he been sleeping for the entire week and he missed them all? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He was really dropping the ball this quarter. In reality it was probably fine but it had really been one of those kind of naps. In a quick motion he had most of his things in his bag, and was standing up to leave when he realized the person who had woken him up was still standing there, looking as sweet and concerned as ever. "Hey babe," Ollie said, with a breathless kind of forced smile at Lola, "What time is it?" What day was it?

[ignitesthestxrs]

your nails look fantastic!!

but tbh i'm kinda more intrigued by the keyboard in the background? I didn't expect you to be like a fancy keyboard nerd?

but the nails are really great! just less surprising to me because i'd seen you do nail witchcraftery before already lol

thank you!! they are so much fun to do lolol and i am Slowly getting better at not like, trapping hair in the gel lolol

re: keyboards LOL i would not say i have risen to the level of Keyboard Nerd (as in person who knows the lingo and has opinions on it), but i definitely have Keybord Preferences. Like i'm at the level where i know there's stuff that i don't know, you know?

the keyboard in the bg of the nail photo is the Glorious Gaming GMMK 1 which i was previously using for my personal pc! but after munting the second wireless dongle for my work keyboard i finally decided to give up on wireless keyboards for my work station because the laptop travels fro my home work station to like, actual work with me and i keep kinda dropping the it places and fucking up the dongle. which then renders the whole keyboard + mouse combo useless! so now i have this wired keyboard that plugs into my work station and nothing that plugs into work laptop

the only customisation i did for this one was switching out the keycaps from plain white to the ones u can see below. the GMMK1 has some like, minor customisation software available, but it mostly only affects the LEDs in the bg. i REALLY like the sound it makes tho, it's very satisfyingly clicky without being too obnoxiously loud

and then for my personal pc i am using the Glorious Gaming GMMK2, because i liked the v1 enough that i could not be bothered to do further research on other brands. i ended up 'building' this one, insofar as 'building' means 'i purchased all the parts separately because they were on sale and cheaper to buy separately than it was to buy the whole keyboard pre-built', but there are like. three parts. keyboard base, switches, keycaps. it's more like putting together simply 3d puzzle than building anything.

i don't actually know much about switches - the ones i got for the GMMK2 were chosen solely because i needed a new keyboard and these were the cheapest available on the website i was buying them from. they are less clacky than the ones on the GMMK1, which i dont like as much, but they have a little more resistance when u press them, which i do like!

i also prefer the full layout on the GMMK1 with space in between the numpad and arrows and stuff. the GMMK2 is a 96% layout, wehich is like,,,fine, in that it has all of the buttons i prefer to press, but i don't like how cramped it was. unfortunately, the GMMK2 only comes in 96% or Tenkeyless (without the numpad) form, and bc i live in NZ and am very impatient, i could not be bothered doing further work to find a Perfect solution when i wanted to get the keyboard together like, That Day LOL.

the thing that IS very cool about the GMMK2 is that it has the level of keybinding customisation that i wanted, so i have been able to map some specific keys that i wanted but can't do on the 1.

i realise that this is a long post for a bitch who claimed she wasnt a keyboard nerd but like. idk what a macro is and can't imagine having a use for one u know, like there are things mx GMMK2 is capable of that i do not understand and don't have a call for. the Real Nerds are out there, and they have opinions on whether or not your switches need to be Lubed.

[jonphaedrus]

let's build ANOTHER KEYBOARD, the 1up level 60: weird keycaps edition

this is a budget custom level60 board from 1up keyboards in turquoise with tecsee purple panda tactile switches, akko screw in stabilizers in transparent pink (which i happened to have leftovers of from my wife build), and then some wonky keycaps cobbled together from the idobao gradient oem keycap set (a cheaper version of drop's artifact bloom rainbow set), cherry profile de/qwertz keys from kp republic's international set, and one random constellation key from my xda profile constellation set that's filling the # space.

this time, let's talk keycaps.

my husband is working his way to b1 fluency in german so he'll have an easier time getting permanent residency after we move (i also need to study, since i... dont speak much german despite being a citizen) and it's been driving him crazy to have to enter ¨ with alt on his standard keyboard, so he asked me to build him a qwertz layout keyboard. so, for black friday i kept my eye out on sales.

what he wanted:

a 65% or smaller keyboard (no need for f-row, arrows, etc, since he'll be using it specifically for typing in german and will have his laptop accessible)

underglow, not show-through per-key rgb

he wanted that rainbow keycap set from drop real bad

qwertz keycaps

lighter tactiles than his current work board, which has akko jelly purples on it

something that would be small and light enough to hook up on his lap on the couch

so, i went through all the bf/cm sales and found 1up, and then showed him and he said "yes that's exactly what i want"

the hardest part of the buying process was picking switches, since he wanted both something cheap and something a little lighter than the jelly purple actuation, and i didnt want to buy from elsewhere when i could get them included with the 1up build. i was going to do gateron milkies (since he doesnt care about per-key) but they were sold out, and i've heard a lot of good stuff about panda tactiles, so i took the jump on the tecsee.

if you're wondering: they're just as nice as people say. they're really nide. they aren't as thunky and im sure they sound even better lubed & filmed, but they're silky smooth and light enough i can use them without wanting to die.

this is the third stacked acrylic board i've built, and i have to say, stacked acrylic is both really affordable and really nice to work with. there's a lot less fidgeting with making sure things fit in solid housings, and i enjoy the peeling sticky off of each layer process because i have ocd.

some glossary:

underglow: there are LEDs on the bottom side of the pcb

per-key rgb: there's an LED for each key, called per-key or smd LED, it all means the same thing. this means every key lights up. there are some switches that aren't built to fit smd boards, so always double check that you have ones with a gap to fit.

keycap profiles: the different alignment and ways that keycaps are made, including height, shape, curve, and edge. there are about a billion. there will be a section more in-depth later.

and this time, i remembered photos!

here's all the acrylic peeled and stacked, with the top side of the pcb, on my messy dining table. so you can see here, it's really easy to take these apart and put them back together—great for upkeep.

one of the really cool parts about this pcb is that it's hotswap (i.e., no soldering required, just stick the switches in) but the hotswaps are soldered in such a way as you can adjust the layout slightly for your preference. i'm not sure if you could set it up as an iso (i didn't check) but you can see here how it looks on the bottom row, where the pink line is one switch orientation and the blue line is the other

since this isn't a per-key rgb, that means there's no need to make sure there's space for a top-facing smd led, so the switches can be placed in either direction. which is super cool!

when installing switches on a hot swap board, you have to be really careful of pin alignment. the spaces that the pins go into in the hot swap can be jarred loose, and the pins, if bent, won't make connection, preventing the switch from working. here's an example of what bent pins look like

the top switch in both these photos has straight pins, the bottom in both photos has one bent pin. the good news is, bent pins are really easy to fix: you can usually bend them back with your fingers, if it's just a slight misalignment, or you can use tweezers.

to prevent bending, when you insert a switch, always press in the pin-side first. so if you look at the holes on the pcb above, a "north" facing pin insert (the pink line) you'd push in the top side of the switch first. a "south" (the blue line) you'd push in the bottom first. you can then flip the pcb over to check and make sure everything went in.

here's a close-up of hot swap sockets on the bottom of the pcb. the pink circles show where the pins are in the housings. success! all of these are inserted correctly.

once this board was built, it came time for the keycaps. as i said up top, this is a bit of a cobbled-together keycap set, in that there's a few different-height sets combined. so let's talk about.... keycaps.

there are about a billion different guides to keycap profiles. rather than rehash them here, i'm going to talk about the simple stuff, because i was so confused trying to figure this out.

there are, put simply, two different "styles" of keycaps, broken up into dozens of different profiles. there are "uniform" keycaps, where all the keys are the same height, and "sculpted", where the keys are staggered to shape the profile of the board to be taller at the top, lower in the middle, and rise again at the bottom. the most popular uniform keycap profiles are xda and dsa. the most popular sculpted keycap profiles are cherry and oem. you can find a whole bunch of other types and options, too. some companies (like tai hao and akko) tend to only produce certain profiles (tai hao and osa respectively)

here's a side by side of xda, oem, and cherry keycaps all in the same row. they're all slightly different heights, shapes, and sculpts.

in sculpted keycap profiles, each row is of a slightly different height. for qwety layouts that would be r1 (number row), r2 (qwerty row), r3 (home row), r4 (zxcv row), r5 (space/ctrl row). function row usually is either r1 or r5.

since this keyboard is a little cobbled together, keycaps wise, you can see here the different height of some of the keys. if you're looking into non-qwerty layouts, i'd suggest a uniform profile. you can get international inserts like the ones i got for my husband here, or buy the international sets for nor/de/fr, but you can also just buy dsa or xda and swap keys around as needed.

now, be aware when mixing and matching sets, unless you can guarantee that your keycap sets come from the same manufacturer (i.e., cannon keys, idobao, drop, etc... so if you aren't buying knockoffs or recolors) the printing may be slightly different. here are two different xda profile keycap sets, side by side.

you can see the constellation set is wider and a little flatter, while the night sakura set is taller and a little skinnier. they're both still xda, but the print is very slightly different. (in all fairness, the night sakura may actually be kam knockoffs, im not sure. they were advertised as xda, but they don't quite match the profile).

one of the other things keycaps will be marked as is PBT vs ABS—this is the variety of plastic they're made from. pbt is more sturdy. thats really all you need to know.

finally, there are what are called "doubleshot" and "show-through" keycaps. doubleshot means that the keycap is made from two different types of plastic, machined together, and it makes them a little more sturdy. most show-through keycaps are also doubleshot, but the lower plastic isn't the full body of the key, but a transparent layer to allow the light from the per-key rgb to show through.

finally, you can get what are called "artisan" keycaps. these are single keycaps, usually custom or small-run, and they can be made of ceramic, plastic, resin, glass, metal...etc. some are standard shapes, some arent.

from left to right, this is an oem r1, cherry r1, artisan from hirosart, and osa r1. as you can see, these are all very different heights and shapes. artisans are super cool (expensive) but also very fun. you should get one if you have a mechanical keyboard. they spark So much joy.

finally, here's a sound test. not plugged in because im lazy. sorry about the horrible flashing of my actual keyboard in the background (flashing light warning: please just listen if you want to hear the sound test and you're light sensitive)

[blackindiaink]

One of my favorite boards in my collection. the Helheim Designs Freja65. Such a beautiful board made of 5 pieces of glass fused together with awesome PCB art by Angel.

It is a gummy O Ring mount 65% board that sounds and feels good with whatever switch I have put in it. Currently, it has Gateron Cream Sodas and Drop Mito Keysterine keycaps in the Arctic colourway. The artisan cap is a special Halloween edtion metal artisan from Stupid Bullets Tech from 2022.