Simple Questions, Simple Answers (FAQ in the OP)

[do_Og@n]

which cherry board can I get the doubleshot keycaps that have gray mod?  I can only found 1 on ebay, but the price is really expensive  all other have white or black

Are you looking for 1.5x mods, 1.25x, or the 1x?

[jonathanyu]

which cherry board can I get the doubleshot keycaps that have gray mod?  I can only found 1 on ebay, but the price is really expensive  all other have white or black

Are you looking for 1.5x mods, 1.25x, or the 1x?

actually I am just looking for the "Tab" key

[CPTBadAss]

Does the Cherry G80-11900 have the same PCB mounted switches with no plate? I feel like modding a keyboard but don't feel like buying a soldering iron just yet.

Looking at Glod's pictures, the G80-11900 is plate mounted.

[Photekq]

All G80 boards (unless there are a few obscure exceptions I haven't seen) are PCB mounted, including the 11900.

I ain't seeing a plate in those photos cpt.

@jonathan there are a metric ton of cherry boards with the classic two tone keycaps. too many to list here. look for g80 and g81 boards - they both have mx compatible caps.

[CPTBadAss]

That black thing isn't a plate? Eh. Whatever. Guess it's PCB mounted.

[Photekq]

Nah, that's a pcb mang. If it were a plate it'd cover up the bottom half of the switches and wouldn't have all those jumper wires on it.

[CPTBadAss]

Looked at it and thought the daughterboard was something else. Oh well.

[do_Og@n]

@ CPTBadAss & Photekq - Thank you for the response. I though it would be PCB mounted but it's been a long time since I've played with the 11900 or 11800 series.

[jonathanyu]

All G80 boards (unless there are a few obscure exceptions I haven't seen) are PCB mounted, including the 11900.

I ain't seeing a plate in those photos cpt.

@jonathan there are a metric ton of cherry boards with the classic two tone keycaps. too many to list here. look for g80 and g81 boards - they both have mx compatible caps.

are all of them have doubleshot caps?

That black thing isn't a plate? Eh. Whatever. Guess it's PCB mounted.

that black thing is the pcb

[Photekq]

are all of them have doubleshot caps?

No, not all of them. But a fair deal of them do. You can use the model numbers to tell if they are doubleshot - see here. It's also quite easy to tell from just looking at them.. the text on doubleshots should be a very clear black, text on dyesub should be a very dark grey, text on lasered should be a lightish grey.

It's worth noting that cherry keyboards ISO sets are much easier to find, if you're happy with the ISO tab (two arrows, no 'tab' text - my personal favourite tab)

[jonathanyu]

are all of them have doubleshot caps?

No, not all of them. But a fair deal of them do. You can use the model numbers to tell if they are doubleshot - see here. It's also quite easy to tell from just looking at them.. the text on doubleshots should be a very clear black, text on dyesub should be a very dark grey, text on lasered should be a lightish grey.

It's worth noting that cherry keyboards ISO sets are much easier to find, if you're happy with the ISO tab (two arrows, no 'tab' text - my personal favourite tab)

After some searching on , I can only find one board is doubeshot and have gray mod. and it has a " no tab" tab(two arrow), the board itself is in a pretty good price, but shipping to us is $40 

[goobus]

Hey guys here's a close up of a prt of the PCB. I see there are SMD diodes here but there are 2 holes to either side of the SMD am I supposed to fill those in with solder?

[MOZ]

Those are there if you decide you want to go with though hole diodes.

[bMind]

More quick questions

Q1: Are QuickFire Rapids I can see on Amazon (sold directly from Amazon) all come in black now? No gray case?
Q2: Anyone heard about a successor to QFR?
Q3: When talking about build quality is QuickFire Rapid and WASD V2 on the same level? I'm considering WASD because I can customize the board and get it with customized caps set 'out of the box', while with QFR I will have to order it separately.

[CPTBadAss]

Q1: Are QuickFire Rapids I can see on Amazon (sold directly from Amazon) all come in black now? No gray case?
Q2: Anyone heard about a successor to QFR?
Q3: When talking about build quality is QuickFire Rapid and WASD V2 on the same level? I'm considering WASD because I can customize the board and get it with customized caps set 'out of the box', while with QFR I will have to order it separately.

Q1) I think the grey cases were the older models so yes, you're right.
Q2) No.
Q3) I've heard the WASD PCBs aren't that great, talked to Sifo about this. And I don't like the WASD keycaps. They feel thinner than SP caps to me. If I had to pick between the QFR and WASD based on caps, I'd easily choose the QFR. But other than those two complaints, I've heard that most people are very satisfied with their WASD keyboards. I personally have only typed on one for a few minutes so I don't have a very good impression of them one way or another.

[bMind]

Q1) I think the grey cases were the older models so yes, you're right.
Q2) No.
Q3) I've heard the WASD PCBs aren't that great, talked to Sifo about this. And I don't like the WASD keycaps. They feel thinner than SP caps to me. If I had to pick between the QFR and WASD based on caps, I'd easily choose the QFR. But other than those two complaints, I've heard that most people are very satisfied with their WASD keyboards. I personally have only typed on one for a few minutes so I don't have a very good impression of them one way or another.

Thank you good sir, always helpful :)

I think generally there is a problem with QFR availability in Europe, at least when it comes to MX Browns. So I might end up picking one from Amazon. Though it's a pain that shipping cost will be almost equal to price of the board itself :/ And I want white caps soo much @__@

I could wait for some restock of course but I don't know..

[Narcix]

Is ttesports meka linux compatible?

[do_Og@n]

Is ttesports meka linux compatible?

If you can install it like it was a normal keyboard than yes....but the extra function keys may not work (volume, winlock, etc).

[HoffmanMyster]

Those are there if you decide you want to go with though hole diodes.

Which, to be clear, you would not do in this case, since there are SMD diodes there already.  You would only decide to do that if you were building it up fresh and there weren't diodes at all.

[Dubsgalore]

That black thing isn't a plate? Eh. Whatever. Guess it's PCB mounted.

PCB Mounted is a golden cherry rule bro
While it's black on one side, it's the Cherry PCB itself

[kansas city shuffle]

Has anyone came across any problems with their WASD replacement key caps staying on?

I've noticed that on my new key cap set after a few days of use that a few caps pop off when typing on my Filco Majestouch 2/104. This is after I've pressed them down thoroughly, is this just me (with a bum set) or has anyone else come across this?

Cheers!

[CPTBadAss]

Has anyone came across any problems with their WASD replacement key caps staying on?

I've noticed that on my new key cap set after a few days of use that a few caps pop off when typing on my Filco Majestouch 2/104. This is after I've pressed them down thoroughly, is this just me (with a bum set) or has anyone else come across this?

Cheers!

Which caps specifically? The mods?

[rowdy]

Has anyone came across any problems with their WASD replacement key caps staying on?

I've noticed that on my new key cap set after a few days of use that a few caps pop off when typing on my Filco Majestouch 2/104. This is after I've pressed them down thoroughly, is this just me (with a bum set) or has anyone else come across this?

Cheers!

Welcome to Geekhack!

Key caps should sit firmly on the keys.  If you can turn the keyboard upside down and tap it on the desk and have key caps fall off - they are way too loose.

One solution is to put small squares of, say, plastic ziploc bag over the stem under the key cap before you press the key cap down onto the switch.  This method works very well for Costar stabiliser inserts - no reason why it should not work for 1x key caps too.

[HoffmanMyster]

Has anyone came across any problems with their WASD replacement key caps staying on?

I've noticed that on my new key cap set after a few days of use that a few caps pop off when typing on my Filco Majestouch 2/104. This is after I've pressed them down thoroughly, is this just me (with a bum set) or has anyone else come across this?

Cheers!

WASD has great customer service.  You might want to inquire with them if there's anything they can do to help you with this issue.

That said, I've never had an issue like you've described, but in the short term the suggestion from rowdy can get you by.

[Pacifist]

So I took off my left shift on my keycool 84 to put a big blue O ring from my wasd sampler. Tried to put the cap back on, but the stabs don't stay in place, so if you lift it up, the stab falls out and when you bottom out, the wire goes between the case and the cap.

Any fixes? I'm typing without a stab right now and its pretty weird (plus pretty sure it applies some stress on the switch)

[ComradeSniper]

So I took off my left shift on my keycool 84 to put a big blue O ring from my wasd sampler. Tried to put the cap back on, but the stabs don't stay in place, so if you lift it up, the stab falls out and when you bottom out, the wire goes between the case and the cap.

Any fixes? I'm typing without a stab right now and its pretty weird (plus pretty sure it applies some stress on the switch)

Try pushing the stabilizer plug in with a piece of a plastic bag or a tissue around it. That should make it tight enough to stay in place.

[rowdy]

So I took off my left shift on my keycool 84 to put a big blue O ring from my wasd sampler. Tried to put the cap back on, but the stabs don't stay in place, so if you lift it up, the stab falls out and when you bottom out, the wire goes between the case and the cap.

Any fixes? I'm typing without a stab right now and its pretty weird (plus pretty sure it applies some stress on the switch)

Put a small square of something, say plastic ziplock sandwich bag, over the stem before you put the insert in.

Ninja'd - is this in the OP?

[Pacifist]

Its not the cap that won't stay in, its the stab. Its loose and moves out(but still attached to cap). The other stabs don't do that

[MKULTRA]

Its not the cap that won't stay in, its the stab. Its loose and moves out(but still attached to cap). The other stabs don't do that

Costar stab?

[Pacifist]

Its not the cap that won't stay in, its the stab. Its loose and moves out(but still attached to cap). The other stabs don't do that

Costar stab?

Don't know what stabs are what, but its the wire stab, and not the cherry stab with the + switch

[lilky]

So I've tried out 4 different brands of MX blue keyboards extensively now: Leopold FC200R, Razer Blackwidow (for ****s and giggles), CM QFR, and Filco MJ2.

Strangely enough, two of the keyboards, the Filco and the BW, had blue switches that were extremely light and felt like browns except with the tactile click. The switches on the Leopold felt much heavier, and the QFR felt even heavier, almost like green switches. I've tried out multiple Filcos and BWs, so I know that production batch has nothing to do with it. I have only tried out one Leopold FC200R and one QFR though.

What's even stranger is that the OEM for Filco and CM is Costar, while the OEM for Leopold and Razer is Cherry. What is this madness?!

Does anyone know why there appears to be 2 different types of blue switches on the market? There appears to be a light, ~45g blue switch and a much heavier ~55-60g blue switch. I absolutely loathe the feeling of heavy switches and would like to buy a keyboard with the lighter versions of the blues, but now I'm scared to buy more blue keyboards because I have no way of knowing whether they will be the heavy type or the light type. Can someone shed some light on this please?

[goobus]

Those are there if you decide you want to go with though hole diodes.

Which, to be clear, you would not do in this case, since there are SMD diodes there already.  You would only decide to do that if you were building it up fresh and there weren't diodes at all.

Thanks. So would I need to fill in the hole with solder even though I'm not using through hole diodes?  My guess is no right?

[jdcarpe]

Those are there if you decide you want to go with though hole diodes.

Which, to be clear, you would not do in this case, since there are SMD diodes there already.  You would only decide to do that if you were building it up fresh and there weren't diodes at all.

Thanks. So would I need to fill in the hole with solder even though I'm not using through hole diodes?  My guess is no right?

No, if you have SMD diodes installed, the through holes are redundant.

[HoffmanMyster]

Those are there if you decide you want to go with though hole diodes.

Which, to be clear, you would not do in this case, since there are SMD diodes there already.  You would only decide to do that if you were building it up fresh and there weren't diodes at all.

Thanks. So would I need to fill in the hole with solder even though I'm not using through hole diodes?  My guess is no right?

You are correct, you do not need to fill them in.  If you think about it, what would that accomplish?  The pads are metal all the way around the hole, so there is no "gap" to bridge with solder.  You're good to go as far as diodes are concerned. 

[Pacifist]

I'm thinking of making either a pad similar to the razer orbweaver or a custom numpad with extra macros.

I do debate, and we use computers to do research and whatnot. We have some custom macros to organize everything, and a pad would make hitting the F# macros much easier.

I assume I would need  the PCB, case, and switches. Where would I go for custom PCB and cases? Thinking of using ergo clears as the switch.

[CPTBadAss]

Does anyone know why there appears to be 2 different types of blue switches on the market?

Check this thread out. Cherry isn't the OEM for Leopold and Filco. And there's not two different types on Blues on the market. Just one.

Where would I go for custom PCB and cases?

Custom PCBs can be made at PCBWing and cases you'll have to get it designed and cut. I think AcidFire (The User) and BigBlueSaw (the website) will cut acrylic.

[acer589]

I got a Type Heaven and I need to turn the spacebar around. How the **** do I do that? I tried pulling it, and it seemed like it REALLY didn't want to come.

[acer589]

Nevermind, searched that **** a little harder and found it. Was worried the stabilizers were one-way, but it all worked out.

[Pacifist]

So I took off my left shift on my keycool 84 to put a big blue O ring from my wasd sampler. Tried to put the cap back on, but the stabs don't stay in place, so if you lift it up, the stab falls out and when you bottom out, the wire goes between the case and the cap.

Any fixes? I'm typing without a stab right now and its pretty weird (plus pretty sure it applies some stress on the switch)

Does anyone have a fix? Its the stab thats not staying in place. I believe its costar (its a wire).

It stays in place until you lift it up and then it slides out of place, but none of the other stabs do that.

[goobus]

Thanks everyone who helped, will post iphone potato pics when it's assembled with dolch set!!

[CPTBadAss]

So I took off my left shift on my keycool 84 to put a big blue O ring from my wasd sampler. Tried to put the cap back on, but the stabs don't stay in place, so if you lift it up, the stab falls out and when you bottom out, the wire goes between the case and the cap.

Any fixes? I'm typing without a stab right now and its pretty weird (plus pretty sure it applies some stress on the switch)

Does anyone have a fix? Its the stab thats not staying in place. I believe its costar (its a wire).

It stays in place until you lift it up and then it slides out of place, but none of the other stabs do that.

Don't bump your questions.

It helps when you do a bit of Google research and tell us what stabilizer you have exactly. I have no idea what you're looking at. Both a Cherry and Costar stablizer use a wire so that's not helping.


(Picture borrowed from WhiteFireDragon.

Is it the top (Costar) or the bottom (Cherry) stabilizer? If it's the top one, there has been an answer for your question already.

So I took off my left shift on my keycool 84 to put a big blue O ring from my wasd sampler. Tried to put the cap back on, but the stabs don't stay in place, so if you lift it up, the stab falls out and when you bottom out, the wire goes between the case and the cap.

Any fixes? I'm typing without a stab right now and its pretty weird (plus pretty sure it applies some stress on the switch)

Put a small square of something, say plastic ziplock sandwich bag, over the stem before you put the insert in.

Ninja'd - is this in the OP?

[genkidama]

I'm relatively new to geekhack and am reading a lot and got some questions in my head. 

I'm just wondering about keycaps. I'm reading about PBT, ABS, POM. Are the POM keycaps backlit-friendlier than the others?? It seems that way for me.
Or are all keycaps that a laser-engraved backlit-friendly, when they are not with infill? Is it even possible to make backlit-friendly comic logo keycaps that are thoroughly lit? Like the Batman signal with a white LED underneath it.

[Tokiloki]

Hey there geekhack.org community,

so I've been thinking about building my own mechanical keyboard . I have experiences in soldering.

Is there any  guide , tutorial or explanations of how to build an own mechanical keyboard or is it even possible ?

I'd like to hear some feedback thanks .

And is there any switch which is as light as the MX Brown switch or MX Red but has that clicky sound as the MX Blue one?

Thanks

Tokiloki 

[MOZ]

Blue is pretty light.

Check out the making stuff together subforum.

[BlueBär]

1. Is there any  guide , tutorial or explanations of how to build an own mechanical keyboard or is it even possible ?
2. And is there any switch which is as light as the MX Brown switch or MX Red but has that clicky sound as the MX Blue one?

1. There are quite a few threads that might help you, check out the "Making stuff together!" subforum, most people that built their own keyboard documented it quite well. Also take a lok at the Prototyping New Keyboard Designs thread.
2. MX Blues have the the same spring inside as reds or browns. If you want a lighter switch, you will have to swap the springs in the switches with some from Originative for example (their 55g and 45g springs are lighter than the ones from blues).

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Hey there geekhack.org community,

so I've been thinking about building my own mechanical keyboard . I have experiences in soldering.

Is there any  guide , tutorial or explanations of how to build an own mechanical keyboard or is it even possible ?

I'd like to hear some feedback thanks .

And is there any switch which is as light as the MX Brown switch or MX Red but has that clicky sound as the MX Blue one?

Thanks

Tokiloki 

MX Blues use the same springs as MX Browns and Reds, so there isn't a lighter clicky switch. As for building a custom board, someone more qualified can answer those questions (as I have never built a custom board) but I have seen many threads of people building their own boards in the making stuff together subforum.

[bMind]

Filco keyboards have Costar stabilizers (Filco Majestouch 2 TKL to be precise), correct?
Are the caps better/worse than the ones on QFR (beside the ugly font on QFR of course ) and how they compare to thick PBTs?

[genkidama]

I just wanted to say that my questions are all answered.

Thanks anyways :]

[CPTBadAss]

1) Filco keyboards have Costar stabilizers (Filco Majestouch 2 TKL to be precise), correct?
2) Are the caps better/worse than the ones on QFR (beside the ugly font on QFR of course )
3) how they compare to thick PBTs?

1) Yes
2) They're ok, I hate the coating on the QFR caps. But they're SP-thin ABS caps.
3) They're not as thick and feel different.

[bMind]

1) Yes
2) They're ok, I hate the coating on the QFR caps. But they're SP-thin ABS caps.
3) They're not as thick and feel different.

Thank you

QFR with shipping and tax will be around $121, while Filco $204. And since I want dark grey PBT caps (though I don't know when I'll be able to grab them since they're kinda pricey), I was wondering if $80 more for Filco is justified by just the fact that I will have to look at the ugly font on QFR for some time (months probably ). Thought it's probably more than the caps..like build/PCB quality, modding capabilities etc. But still as far as I've read, they're not miles away from each other. This will be my first, but probably the only mechanical keyboard for a long time so it's not really 'ah, I'll get QFR now because I'll be getting a Filco later either way'..