geekhack
geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: legodt on Mon, 23 December 2013, 15:14:24
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I have recently come across an offer for 102 brown switches for 30 dollars (still attached to their keyboard). Would it be smart to buy the board, pull out the switches, and build a board using a PCB from the classifieds? With only moderate soldering experience, is building a board from scratch a worthwhile experience? And if not, what else could I do with a board full of brown switches?
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Well you got to have a case, keycaps, stabilizers, possible diodes, led's etc to go along with a pcb and switches.
You also have to have a soldering iron, solder, desoldering gear etc.
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Why build a board when you can just stick them in a pre-made board?
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What is the process involved with swapping switches across boards?
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What is the process involved with swapping switches across boards?
Depending on how they are mounted and if your replacing stems and springs it all depends.
But if its a stock plate desolder and solder back.
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Ask Jesse (Obra) ;)
http://blog.fsck.com/2013/12/better-and-better-keyboards.html
http://www.slideshare.net/obrajesse/2013-osdcmadeakeyboard
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yes, it is worth it :)
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why don't you just buy a Cherry board? Then you don't need to desolder anything. When you have decided that a particular switch type is your favourite, you can always buy the keyboard itself or build your own.
Too many people try building their own Kmacs or whatever's costly, then discover they didn't like the switch type and sell.
I have recently come across an offer for 102 brown switches for 30 dollars (still attached to their keyboard). Would it be smart to buy the board, pull out the switches, and build a board using a PCB from the classifieds? With only moderate soldering experience, is building a board from scratch a worthwhile experience? And if not, what else could I do with a board full of brown switches?
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Depend,IMO if you have layout own,i think i should make it,
if the layout still same with most layout, i prefer to buy :)
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why don't you just buy a Cherry board? Then you don't need to desolder anything. When you have decided that a particular switch type is your favourite, you can always buy the keyboard itself or build your own.
Too many people try building their own Kmacs or whatever's costly, then discover they didn't like the switch type and sell.
I have recently come across an offer for 102 brown switches for 30 dollars (still attached to their keyboard). Would it be smart to buy the board, pull out the switches, and build a board using a PCB from the classifieds? With only moderate soldering experience, is building a board from scratch a worthwhile experience? And if not, what else could I do with a board full of brown switches?
um, would you mind explaining what is a cherry board? It sounds interesting...
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Cherry is a brand of keyboard. Same as Filco, Ducky, Tex, Topre, or any other keyboard manufacturer.
My first mechanical boards was the Filco MaJestouch2 Ninja. Ninja just means side printed keys.
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Yes, it's worth it.
Also you don't need a PCB for prototypes. Direct soldering works very well. The most difficult part (for me) is to prototype the mounting plate because of loooong iteration times. The rest is easy.
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If by custom you mean mixing and matching from various keyboards, absolutely. It can be a cheap way of experimenting to find what you want.
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Is it worth your time: Almost certainly. Experience doing anything is always great. Soldering is a great skill and you'll pick it up very quickly if you do an entire board. Plus, if you like it after you are done, you'll be more attached emotionally than if you were to have just purchased a board.
Is it worth your money: It's your money. Do you want to spend more or less than just buying a brand name keyboard? You might find that you don't like it in the end, so it's worth including that in what you are willing to spend to get a working keyboard out of those brown switches.
If you are fine with the layout of the existing cherry brown keyboard, why not try to fix it instead of using it as a parts board? It's all up to what you want to do and where you want to put your money. I'd take the PCB and the switches because I find projects like this fun.