G'day from the Land Down Under

[goofygoober]

Hey hey Everybody!

Little introduction (a little embarrassing) but up until the last week, had no idea this world existed! Two days ago, I wondered my way onto kbdfans and saw the release of the KBD67v2. Fell in love and jumped on it! Luckily even with my horrible internet, I managed to grab one!

The DIY set doesn't come with keycaps, switches, stabilisers and cable. (I'm sure I've forgotten something here).
Been doing a bit of research everyday after work. Just wondering how I could check if the keycap sets would suit my keyboard? I've noticed some keysets have different size keys (i.e. for the backspace key).

Also I've always been interested in keyboards and especially typing speeds. More recently, I've been looking into fixing my terrible 8 finger technique and potentially transitioning to Dvorak. (I don't use my pinkies). Hoping to fix my form and break 120WPM barrier!


If anyone has gone through this or has tips, that would be super! Glad and excited to be part of the community!

-I'ma goofygoober yeah!

[Maledicted]

Hi goofygoober. Welcome to Geekhack.

The KBD67v2 looks to be a 65%. You'll need cap sets that support the 65% form factor. I think you mostly need to make sure that a set has a 1.75u right shift cap, and that whatever caps you put on the furthest right column match the profile of their respective row.

Dvorak is going to make things even more difficult as far as keycap profile goes, unless you find a 65% set that is either for Dvorak or has no contour at all. Every row has its own contour/curve to it. If you mix caps from rows for which they were not designed, it becomes uneven. I honestly don't mind my TG3 "cop keyboard" and BL82 having no curve at all myself.

I have never assembled a 65%, or any other kit board, myself, unfortunately.

[switchnollie]

Welcome

Have you seen the Mountain Dew flavored Doritos?
They're an Australia exclusive

[goofygoober]

The KBD67v2 looks to be a 65%. You'll need cap sets that support the 65% form factor. I think you mostly need to make sure that a set has a 1.75u right shift cap, and that whatever caps you put on the furthest right column match the profile of their respective row.

Dvorak is going to make things even more difficult as far as keycap profile goes, unless you find a 65% set that is either for Dvorak or has no contour at all. Every row has its own contour/curve to it. If you mix caps from rows for which they were not designed, it becomes uneven. I honestly don't mind my TG3 "cop keyboard" and BL82 having no curve at all myself.

I have never assembled a 65%, or any other kit board, myself, unfortunately.

O right right! I'll keep an eye out for the 1.75u right shift cap.
Surely the cap's profile would match if they are coming from the same set? Slightly confused about that.

Yeah that's a really good point, I probably would have not thought of that at all. Thanks for the insight, really appreciate it!

[goofygoober]

Welcome

Have you seen the Mountain Dew flavored Doritos?
They're an Australia exclusive

I have not unfortunately! But will keep an eye out for it during my next grocery run. Will update you if I try them!
I did however had Lamington flavoured Smiths Chips. And I would say that was a very "interesting" experience to say the very least.  )

[Maledicted]

The KBD67v2 looks to be a 65%. You'll need cap sets that support the 65% form factor. I think you mostly need to make sure that a set has a 1.75u right shift cap, and that whatever caps you put on the furthest right column match the profile of their respective row.

Dvorak is going to make things even more difficult as far as keycap profile goes, unless you find a 65% set that is either for Dvorak or has no contour at all. Every row has its own contour/curve to it. If you mix caps from rows for which they were not designed, it becomes uneven. I honestly don't mind my TG3 "cop keyboard" and BL82 having no curve at all myself.

I have never assembled a 65%, or any other kit board, myself, unfortunately.

O right right! I'll keep an eye out for the 1.75u right shift cap.
Surely the cap's profile would match if they are coming from the same set? Slightly confused about that.

Yeah that's a really good point, I probably would have not thought of that at all. Thanks for the insight, really appreciate it!

It seems you understood what I meant by the end of your comment, but most keyboards have some kind of specific profile to them, created through the use of caps with varying shapes and heights, like this:



The very top one is actually a curved plate instead of creating the curve on a flat plate through different caps. This is one of the benefits of the Model F and M platforms. With either of those sorts of keyboards, you can put any caps anywhere you like so long as there's space, and Unicomp does offer Dvorak as an option for their new production Model M keyboards.

This is a bit of an anomaly. Most keyboards will have flat plates and contoured caps. You might be able to find flat caps for flat plates, but I imagine they're not for everyone. Should be similar in that regard to laptop keyboards.

Welcome

Have you seen the Mountain Dew flavored Doritos?
They're an Australia exclusive

I have not unfortunately! But will keep an eye out for it during my next grocery run. Will update you if I try them!
I did however had Lamington flavoured Smiths Chips. And I would say that was a very "interesting" experience to say the very least.  )

I don't even know what Lamington, or Smith Chips are, but you'll have to play some COD while eating those Doritos. I can't imagine any other way to eat such a thing.

[goofygoober]

This is a bit of an anomaly. Most keyboards will have flat plates and contoured caps. You might be able to find flat caps for flat plates, but I imagine they're not for everyone. Should be similar in that regard to laptop keyboards.

Cool cool thanks for the clear explanation. Makes perfect sense now!

Also could you direct me to some resources to read up on keycaps? I finding it hard to find information on what size keycaps I'll need for my kbd67v2.
My guess along with the 1.75u right shift cap, I'll also need a 6.25u spacebar? I'm not 100% sure.

[goofygoober]

I don't even know what Lamington, or Smith Chips are, but you'll have to play some COD while eating those Doritos. I can't imagine any other way to eat such a thing.

Lamingtons are a must try if you are a fan of coconut. It's a sponge cake covered in chocolate sauce and coconut shavings!

[Maledicted]

This is a bit of an anomaly. Most keyboards will have flat plates and contoured caps. You might be able to find flat caps for flat plates, but I imagine they're not for everyone. Should be similar in that regard to laptop keyboards.

Cool cool thanks for the clear explanation. Makes perfect sense now!

Also could you direct me to some resources to read up on keycaps? I finding it hard to find information on what size keycaps I'll need for my kbd67v2.
My guess along with the 1.75u right shift cap, I'll also need a 6.25u spacebar? I'm not 100% sure.

Unfortunately, I do not. I don't think that 65% boards even have a completely standardized layout, much less cap size. Just going by the picture of the board with caps on it, and the random Google searches I did earlier, It looks to me like you're just going to need the 1.75u right shift and 1u caps for whatever you want to jam into the furthest right column, which is where the concern for profile comes in. 6.25u spacebars are standard for mechanical keyboards, although there are exceptions to the rule (mostly gaming boards and retro boards, like AT-ish layouts). Just about any cap set that's not meant specifically for say, Razer, or Corsair, should have a 6.25u spacebar.

Everything else looks standard to me:

I don't even know what Lamington, or Smith Chips are, but you'll have to play some COD while eating those Doritos. I can't imagine any other way to eat such a thing.

Lamingtons are a must try if you are a fan of coconut. It's a sponge cake covered in chocolate sauce and coconut shavings!

So, sort of like a sno ball? You're making me wonder if I can find these things in the U.S.