Simple Questions, Simple Answers (FAQ in the OP)

[iamtootallforthis]

Hello helpful people. I'm just wondering what software the Lightsaver V2 uses to program it? If it's jing-eon I will be sad

O2D firmware and you flash it with flip I think.

Duck's software is literally the bottom of the **** barrel

Yeah it isn't all that hard IMO. I just did it with my viper and it was easy.

Ah okay, I was looking at metalliqaz's firmware and was going to try that first but if I find all the files for O2D then I might try that.

Check the viper v2 group buy thread

[arf]

I've got a Leopold FC750RT which only has one winkey, isntead of the two that I'm used to. I haven't been able to remap the fn key to winkey using Autohotkey as it doesn't actually send a key code to the OS. What option would everyone suggest?

1. Reprogram the keyboard firmware or replace the controller with a more customizable one (haven't been able to find any info on this for the Leopold)
2. Get the Varmilo VA87M, which has two winkeys and seems like basically the same keyboard.

[Melvang]

I've got a Leopold FC750RT which only has one winkey, isntead of the two that I'm used to. I haven't been able to remap the fn key to winkey using Autohotkey as it doesn't actually send a key code to the OS. What option would everyone suggest?

1. Reprogram the keyboard firmware or replace the controller with a more customizable one (haven't been able to find any info on this for the Leopold)
2. Get the Varmilo VA87M, which has two winkeys and seems like basically the same keyboard.

I haven't been following Leo's keyboards so forgive the question, but is that keyboard MX/clone or Topre?

[SpAmRaY]

I've got a Leopold FC750RT which only has one winkey, isntead of the two that I'm used to. I haven't been able to remap the fn key to winkey using Autohotkey as it doesn't actually send a key code to the OS. What option would everyone suggest?

1. Reprogram the keyboard firmware or replace the controller with a more customizable one (haven't been able to find any info on this for the Leopold)
2. Get the Varmilo VA87M, which has two winkeys and seems like basically the same keyboard.

I haven't been following Leo's keyboards so forgive the question, but is that keyboard MX/clone or Topre?

That particular Leopold is the MX variety and Leopold currently only ships genuine cherry mx switches.

[Melvang]

I've got a Leopold FC750RT which only has one winkey, isntead of the two that I'm used to. I haven't been able to remap the fn key to winkey using Autohotkey as it doesn't actually send a key code to the OS. What option would everyone suggest?

1. Reprogram the keyboard firmware or replace the controller with a more customizable one (haven't been able to find any info on this for the Leopold)
2. Get the Varmilo VA87M, which has two winkeys and seems like basically the same keyboard.

I haven't been following Leo's keyboards so forgive the question, but is that keyboard MX/clone or Topre?

That particular Leopold is the MX variety and Leopold currently only ships genuine cherry mx switches.

If that is the case, personally, I would buy another board.  Then just because I am fairly decent with a soldering iron, remove the stock controller and wire in a teensy straight to the matrix.  But I suck at the firmware level, so I stick with IBM F keyboards.  Much easier messing with the keymap on a Xwhatsit controller.

[jcc04]

How long does it take for GMK to shine and how noticeable is the before and after.

[iamtootallforthis]

How long does it take for GMK to shine and how noticeable is the before and after.

Depends on usage and a lot of other factors.

[Melvang]

How long does it take for GMK to shine and how noticeable is the before and after.

Depends on usage and a lot of other factors.

Other factors include the amount of direct sunlight, type of artificial light (LEDs emit a lot of UV), cleanliness of your hands during typing, the chemistry of your hands, and can possibly come down to the individual chemistry of that particular color of plastic.

[iamtootallforthis]

How long does it take for GMK to shine and how noticeable is the before and after.

Depends on usage and a lot of other factors.

Other factors include the amount of direct sunlight, type of artificial light (LEDs emit a lot of UV), cleanliness of your hands during typing, the chemistry of your hands, and can possibly come down to the individual chemistry of that particular color of plastic.

Once caps shine though it is very noticeable.

[Joey Quinn]

Once caps shine though it is very noticeable.

While it is very noticeable, if the caps shine uniformly instead of just a few keys shining I think it looks good.

On the subject of shine time, I've been using my GMK TA alphas for over a year and they don't show any shine yet.

[Sempre]

Does a 1.50 ANSI tkl plate exist for the phantom pcb?

[SpAmRaY]

Does a 1.50 ANSI tkl plate exist for the phantom pcb?

Yes

[Sempre]

Happen to know where?
mechanicalkeyboards' site only has 1.25

[SpAmRaY]

Happen to know where?
mechanicalkeyboards' site only has 1.25

There are tons in the wild from the original group buys they show up in classifieds every so often.

I do not know if there is a current off the shelf source but I know they get requested a lot.

[Axiomatik]

So I have a sentraq S60 RGB keyboard and run into a couple questions while programming it.

1. If I want to put load a new hex file, do I need to reset the entire keyboard and reload the driver?

2. I first flashed the keyboard using the default hex file from sentraq and then reflashed using a custom QMK layout. However I didn't add the RGB functionality back in (FN+Z,X,C). Looking back at QMK I don't know which scancodes(is this what they are called) were used in the original sentraq file. So if somebody could please advise it would be much appreciated.

[CommonCurt]

Does a 1.50 ANSI tkl plate exist for the phantom pcb?

Message one of the guys from mechanicalkeyboards.com on here.
I ordered a stainless steel ANSI 1.50 phantom plate from them, but I don't think it's listed on their website yet.

[Sempre]

There are tons in the wild from the original group buys they show up in classifieds every so often.

I do not know if there is a current off the shelf source but I know they get requested a lot.

Message one of the guys from mechanicalkeyboards.com on here.
I ordered a stainless steel ANSI 1.50 phantom plate from them, but I don't think it's listed on their website yet.

Thanks
Hopefully they do have it, if not ill make a wtb thread

[alienman82]

removed.

[CommonCurt]

Does a 1.50 ANSI tkl plate exist for the phantom pcb?

Message one of the guys from mechanicalkeyboards.com on here.
I ordered a stainless steel ANSI 1.50 phantom plate from them, but I don't think it's listed on their website yet.

bro thanks.  I will do that too.  I'm also building one since Delirious was nice enough to send me a free case. 
Going to daily that baby for years

They should still have some because I don't think they ever listed them on the website.
I do wish they would have had some made in aluminum, but the stainless steel turned out nice.
What kind of case are did you get?
I'm thinking about getting one of these https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=89893.msg2433972;topicseen#msg2433972

[alienman82]

removed.

[SpAmRaY]

I can't remember if I asks this before or not.

Anyone have any recommendations on the best way to trim ~85 LED's to fit into SIP sockets?

[iamtootallforthis]

I can't remember if I asks this before or not.

Anyone have any recommendations on the best way to trim ~85 LED's to fit into SIP sockets?

I just clip them one by one and insert right after clipping.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photoelectric_effect/13136031895/in/album-72157642317342363/#

[Sifo]

I remember seeing a picture showing where to cut LED pins for use with sip sockets, anyone got it? First time working with them.

[iamtootallforthis]

I remember seeing a picture showing where to cut LED pins for use with sip sockets, anyone got it? First time working with them.

Check my post above yours

[Sifo]

I remember seeing a picture showing where to cut LED pins for use with sip sockets, anyone got it? First time working with them.

Check my post above yours

i'm ****ing stupid

[elcubismo]

Looking for the thickest, PBT-est MX keycaps, preferably blank or side print, and (hopefully) something that is readily available. I like cherry/oem the most but I'm fairly open about the profile when it comes down to it. I have some pbt side prints from maxkeyboard, which say they are mostly 1.5 mm with about 1.2 for the modifiers, but I want whatever is the highest quality available. Trying to endgame my novatouch once I get that norbauer case in a few weeks.

I've seen some blanks on geekkeys that look like a good possibility, but also wondering if I should hunt down some enjoyPBT or Imsto caps. I thought that 1.5 mm was the thickest pbt available, but then I see videos like this one:

Those look way thicker than my caps, but maybe it's just the angle?

Just now I compared the caps on my pok3r, and they are noticeably thicker than the ones from maxkeyboard, even to the naked eye.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Joey Quinn]

More

Looking for the thickest, PBT-est MX keycaps, preferably blank or side print, and (hopefully) something that is readily available. I like cherry/oem the most but I'm fairly open about the profile when it comes down to it. I have some pbt side prints from maxkeyboard, which say they are mostly 1.5 mm with about 1.2 for the modifiers, but I want whatever is the highest quality available. Trying to endgame my novatouch once I get that norbauer case in a few weeks.

I've seen some blanks on geekkeys that look like a good possibility, but also wondering if I should hunt down some enjoyPBT or Imsto caps. I thought that 1.5 mm was the thickest pbt available, but then I see videos like this one:

Those look way thicker than my caps, but maybe it's just the angle?

Just now I compared the caps on my pok3r, and they are noticeably thicker than the ones from maxkeyboard, even to the naked eye.

Any help would be appreciated!

For the money I'd go with gateron caps which I think are exactly the same as ePBT.

An Imsto set would be higher quality but that's because Imsto does really good dyesubbing and the caps are usually made by BSP but again, for the money, I'd go with gaterons unless your really want to spend the extra money.

Edit: Noticed you want blanks, in which case mentioning Imsto is pointless because they only do dyesubbing, they do not make keycaps. Also front printed keycaps will have pad printing instead of dyesub, not sure if this matters to you but it's good to know.

[elcubismo]

More

Looking for the thickest, PBT-est MX keycaps, preferably blank or side print, and (hopefully) something that is readily available. I like cherry/oem the most but I'm fairly open about the profile when it comes down to it. I have some pbt side prints from maxkeyboard, which say they are mostly 1.5 mm with about 1.2 for the modifiers, but I want whatever is the highest quality available. Trying to endgame my novatouch once I get that norbauer case in a few weeks.

I've seen some blanks on geekkeys that look like a good possibility, but also wondering if I should hunt down some enjoyPBT or Imsto caps. I thought that 1.5 mm was the thickest pbt available, but then I see videos like this one:

Those look way thicker than my caps, but maybe it's just the angle?

Just now I compared the caps on my pok3r, and they are noticeably thicker than the ones from maxkeyboard, even to the naked eye.

Any help would be appreciated!

For the money I'd go with gateron caps which I think are exactly the same as ePBT.

An Imsto set would be higher quality but that's because Imsto does really good dyesubbing and the caps are usually made by BSP but again, for the money, I'd go with gaterons unless your really want to spend the extra money.

Edit: Noticed you want blanks, in which case mentioning Imsto is pointless because they only do dyesubbing, they do not make keycaps. Also front printed keycaps will have pad printing instead of dyesub, not sure if this matters to you but it's good to know.

I was looking at those gateron blanks on mechanicalkeyboards, was wondering if they were the same thing. I also noticed just a little while ago that there is an NKPC blanks group buy going on massdrop.  Thanks for the tips!

I don't mind pad printing for fronts since I probably won't be touching them too much

[Joey Quinn]

I was looking at those gateron blanks on mechanicalkeyboards, was wondering if they were the same thing. I also noticed just a little while ago that there is an NKPC blanks group buy going on massdrop.  Thanks for the tips!

I don't mind pad printing for fronts since I probably won't be touching them too much

Save yourself the wait with massdrop, buy these https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=89965.0.

[elcubismo]

I was looking at those gateron blanks on mechanicalkeyboards, was wondering if they were the same thing. I also noticed just a little while ago that there is an NKPC blanks group buy going on massdrop.  Thanks for the tips!

I don't mind pad printing for fronts since I probably won't be touching them too much

Save yourself the wait with massdrop, buy these https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=89965.0.

Got 'em - thanks for the help again!

[keebwarrior]

Anyone know of any 60-75% split keyboards like the VE.A or even an ortholinear keyboard that will be for sale or coming in a drop in the near future(6 months to a year). Preferably something that can be tented, the case should have a small bezel and made of aluminum or an acrylic case with an aluminum/steel plate to mount the switches.

I am currently using a planck and it's great, but I really need something that's split because I am starting to show signs of carpal tunnel.

[Sempre]

Anyone know of any 60-75% split keyboards like the VE.A or even an ortholinear keyboard that will be for sale or coming in a drop in the near future(6 months to a year). Preferably something that can be tented, the case should have a small bezel and made of aluminum or an acrylic case with an aluminum/steel plate to mount the switches.

I am currently using a planck and it's great, but I really need something that's split because I am starting to show signs of carpal tunnel.

You could get this split 40%, though you have to build it.

http://www.switchtop.com/product/let-s-split-40-percent-pcb

[keebwarrior]

Anyone know of any 60-75% split keyboards like the VE.A or even an ortholinear keyboard that will be for sale or coming in a drop in the near future(6 months to a year). Preferably something that can be tented, the case should have a small bezel and made of aluminum or an acrylic case with an aluminum/steel plate to mount the switches.

I am currently using a planck and it's great, but I really need something that's split because I am starting to show signs of carpal tunnel.

You could get this split 40%, though you have to build it.

http://www.switchtop.com/product/let-s-split-40-percent-pcb

I just don't like the 40% layout. Smallest I really want to go is 60%, I would actually prefer to build the keyboard instead of buying one.

[Sempre]

I just don't like the 40% layout. Smallest I really want to go is 60%, I would actually prefer to build the keyboard instead of buying one.

I assumed that you wanted a 40% since you use a planck.

Anyway here's a 60% split keyboard. I have one right now but there are reports of some software issues:
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1919

Then there's this keyboard but it's seems the GB won't run anytime soon:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=61306.0

If you're up to it you could always hand wire your own keyboard and make a 3d printed case.

[keebwarrior]

How much would my current keyboard sell for, or what is a fair price?

Planck with gateron blues, red anodized aluminum case, black aluminum feet mounted to the case. Blank nantucket selectric keycaps with the layer keys in double shot red with blue anchors for the upper and lower arrows.

[SpAmRaY]

How much would my current keyboard sell for, or what is a fair price?

Planck with gateron blues, red anodized aluminum case, black aluminum feet mounted to the case. Blank nantucket selectric keycaps with the layer keys in double shot red with blue anchors for the upper and lower arrows.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=31779.0

[zylinderhut]

Which batteries are required for the remote of a Red Scarf II+ Ver. D? I've ordered one recently and batteries are not included. I would like to order the batteries already to have them at hand the moment the keyboard arrives
Thank you!

[elcubismo]

So, last night I stayed up late to switch out my Novatouch's dental bands for hyperspheres and added some lube. It feels great! Actually is quieter than my leopold with landing pads now. Unfortunately, I'm typing this on my Leopold because I just noticed that the novatouch's spacebar isn't registering, and the "N" key is inconsistent. I'm at work now so I haven't had a chance to open it back up, but my first guess is that my springs are not lined up correctly. Maybe I knocked them off to the side when I put the board back together.

Anyone have any experience with this?

[ideus]

How much would my current keyboard sell for, or what is a fair price?

Planck with gateron blues, red anodized aluminum case, black aluminum feet mounted to the case. Blank nantucket selectric keycaps with the layer keys in double shot red with blue anchors for the upper and lower arrows.

Use this thread for advice on pricing.

[Joey Quinn]

So, last night I stayed up late to switch out my Novatouch's dental bands for hyperspheres and added some lube. It feels great! Actually is quieter than my leopold with landing pads now. Unfortunately, I'm typing this on my Leopold because I just noticed that the novatouch's spacebar isn't registering, and the "N" key is inconsistent. I'm at work now so I haven't had a chance to open it back up, but my first guess is that my springs are not lined up correctly. Maybe I knocked them off to the side when I put the board back together.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Should just be an alignment issue 

[elcubismo]

turns out the issue is way worse! The "n" key spring looked ok, but somehow I LOST the spacebar capacative spring! Not the spring that goes over the switch, but the one below the dome... I'm so sad right now

[SpAmRaY]

turns out the issue is way worse! The "n" key spring looked ok, but somehow I LOST the spacebar capacative spring! Not the spring that goes over the switch, but the one below the dome... I'm so sad right now

Sometimes they can accidentally get doubled up so don't lose hope. Just double check to make sure two haven't nested together.

[alienman82]

removed.

[iamtootallforthis]

can I used old cherry in switch diodes on my phantom?  don't feel like ordering diodes when I could use the ones I have salvaged.

I mean you could always just test it after soldering in one right?

[alienman82]

removed.

[iamtootallforthis]

can I used old cherry in switch diodes on my phantom?  don't feel like ordering diodes when I could use the ones I have salvaged.

I mean you could always just test it after soldering in one right?

maybe, but I don't have my teensy yet.  I guess I could use my A87 PCB.

I mean it wouldn't hurt to just try one to see if it works.

[SpAmRaY]

Which batteries are required for the remote of a Red Scarf II+ Ver. D? I've ordered one recently and batteries are not included. I would like to order the batteries already to have them at hand the moment the keyboard arrives
Thank you!

Assuming all Red Scarf remotes are the same it should be a CR2025

[zylinderhut]

Assuming all Red Scarf remotes are the same it should be a CR2025

Thank you very much! Soon I will be all set up...all I need then is the red scarf itself 

[elcubismo]

turns out the issue is way worse! The "n" key spring looked ok, but somehow I LOST the spacebar capacative spring! Not the spring that goes over the switch, but the one below the dome... I'm so sad right now

Sometimes they can accidentally get doubled up so don't lose hope. Just double check to make sure two haven't nested together.

That's what I had thought too, but it must have popped out and fallen on the floor: my wife found it under the table I had been working on. Thank goodness!

Lesson learned: I no longer place the switch housing face-up over the springs/domes/pcb when putting it back together: it's too finicky and can cause me to shift something. I elevate the switch housing with supports so none of the switches are depressed, place the dome sheet over the sliders, then drop the springs into the domes and put the PCB face-down over the springs. Almost foolproof that way!

[MandrewDavis]

Anyone here have experience with getting carbon fiber plates cut? If so, what service was able to do it for you?