New Keyboard newbie

[Synjin]

Hello,

                    Wasuuuup guys ^_^, I recently decided to build a new Liquid cooled gaming pc and half way through the purchase of my items (Haven't purchased liquid cooling items so I can still build it with air cooling) I changed my mind and that I wanted a nice keyboard instead. I have been browsing around just recently purchased a v60 with cherry clear, A Poker pure ii with browns and a ducky shine III with red led browns.
 
                   I was wondering if I could possibly get some guidance from people here as I was thinking of purchasing [ http://www.geekhackers.org/collections/soldering-tools-and-supplies/products/special-discount-learn-to-solder-kit ] and trying to learn to eventually assemble my own boards from puchased parts. Hopefully i will see more of the members from this forums

     Forgot to write here that I have never owned any mechanical keyboard prior to this. I've always used rubber domes and the one i currently have until the ones I ordered arrives is a Logitech g15.

[Hundrakia]

Welcome, I came to the mech world after a Logitech G19!
There is much guidance and wisdom to be gleaned from here, there's a few threads (the living soldering thread being the big one) on all of the DIY that you can imagine.
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42824.0

[Synjin]

Thanks   This forums is filled with so much information that it kind of seems intimidating. I'm actually thinking of purchasing from the Eagle Viper GB but i'm unsure if i should since it will be my first keyboard build let alone first time soldering if I do so. Based on what I've read so far, its like you have many members here that have years and years of experience with modding and building keyboards

[Hundrakia]

They definitely do, myself not included. I've years of experience tinkering, and a few years soldering!
Just make sure you do some practice soldering, before you go too crazy ahaha

[Synjin]

Would you happen to have any suggestions on how I can practice soldering before I go ham on the eagle/viper? Also, would you suggest the viper or the eagle?

[Hundrakia]

I've had neither board, so no suggestion.
I practice on broken electronics!

[SSIPAK]

Would you happen to have any suggestions on how I can practice soldering before I go ham on the eagle/viper? Also, would you suggest the viper or the eagle?

If you appreciate the HHKB layout go with Viper if not you can pick eagle.

[eth0s]

Hmm, well first welcome to GH.

Second, for your first mech keyboard, you might want to get one that's already built.  Making your own is fun, but you should really know what you're getting into.  Right now you don't even know what switches you like.  I would hold off on building a keyboard until you are bit more knowledgeable about mechs. 

But you can always jump into the deep end of the pool to learn to swim.  Some people drown that way, others go on to swim across the English Channel.  Well, actually I don't think that ever happened that somebody jumped into the deep end, learned to swim immediately and then continued across the English Channel.  Anyway you get my point. 

[Synjin]

@SSIPAK What are the advantages of the hhkb layout over the normal 60% sucha s poker 2 layout?

@eth0s I totally understand what you mean. I'm actually waiting for 3 mech keyboards that i ordered to arrive, one of them was for work, one for home and one for school. I was just very interested in assembling my own so I can learn while having the feeling of accomplishment and do my own mods in the future. Do you have any kits you can suggest?

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

A good way to learn to solder is to find an old circuit board (out of a broken TV or other electronic appliance) and desolder all the components.  Then solder them back in again.

Or buy a few "learn to solder" kits.

Also have a look at the thread linked above - lots of great information there!

[Synjin]

Would you advise the soldering kit I linked above or is it going to be better if I just purchase a $50 kit from a tool store?

[rowdy]

That kit will get you the soldering iron, several tips, some solder, an iron holder, a soldapullt and a pair of flush cutters - pretty much a complete soldering toolkit in one go.

I would recommend that if you don't have any of the equipment already.

Then all you would need is something to practice on, like a PCB from an old electronic appliance.

After a bit of practice, you can start buying the bits to build your own keyboard, such as PCB, switches, diodes and so on.

[Synjin]

Thanks for the tip, decided to just purchase the full kit instead so i wont have to worry too much about getting parts. I just ordered a viper kit from the group buy. Is there a thread that would tell me what other items I need to purchase to fully assemble the keyboard? such as what kind of stabilizers and the size of them since I saw that there was a group buy for stabilizers up

[rowdy]

Rather than me guessing, you'd probably best read through the Vipre interest check thread and group buy thread.

Any remaining questions should be posted to the GB thread for the most informed response.

[Synjin]

I actually was helped by elton so all my questions have been answered. Sure love this forums