(There's lots of trustworthy soldering services available right on GH!).
Can't tell if this is a joke or not
There is though. Granted, there's also plenty of shady people here too.
Whatever you do please don't be like kin25.
Many Korean designer told me (including kin25) SMT is a must-in-feature when it goes global.
Hand soldering option can make the price and schedule not acceptable.
That's why I'm planning to go for SMT. it's a lot cheaper than hand-soldering and even more accurate.
But to be honest, I don't like SMT, I think it's not what custom keyboards should be, I feel ready-made from that.
Struggling to build is one of joy when it comes to hobby, -yes when it's affordable- soldering iron isn't that much. it's a little hard to learn how to solder little ICs, yet it's enjoyable.
but a few pieces of CNC work? no joke there, and also PCB. producing PCB is not that pricey but a bit hard to design since you need a bit of electronical knowledge background. That's why I share my PCB(Vergo type.T-II) outline design file on public. You can design your own PCB for VE.A.
Wow, I said a lot
that could make some people uncomfortable.
GH is forum for custom keyboard discussion, So I think this is OK even in this thread which is -interesting check for keyboard kit-.