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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Its only worth on Sun, 20 April 2014, 20:33:23

Title: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Its only worth on Sun, 20 April 2014, 20:33:23
Mechanicalkeyboards.com used to sell them, but it seems not anymore.

http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=109
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Puddsy on Sun, 20 April 2014, 21:02:25
They've been out of production for a while now IIRC

but there are always a few in the classifieds
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Oobly on Mon, 21 April 2014, 07:48:18
There are still a few available from Amazon  UK, but I suspect they're just the last few stocked ones. I managed to snag one, a Limited Edition. Sad if they're not makin more as it's my favourite 60% layout. Good for coding, too.

Found a Limited with MX Blues in the classifieds section: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48727.0

IIRC, Mashby was selling some Pure cases, maybe he also has some complete boards for sale. They pop up in classifieds now and then.

The Duck Eagle has the same layout, so that could be an option?
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: ajx on Mon, 21 April 2014, 08:24:20
Duck eagle, what is it? any link?
About myself, i gave up to buy Pure, the only few Pure in stocks, comes with not the right backlit color or right switch i want.
I choose Pro over Pure.
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: BucklingSpring on Mon, 21 April 2014, 11:30:01
They've been out of production for a while now IIRC

but there are always a few in the classifieds

^This :-)
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Oobly on Mon, 21 April 2014, 12:14:17
Duck eagle, what is it? any link?
About myself, i gave up to buy Pure, the only few Pure in stocks, comes with not the right backlit color or right switch i want.
I choose Pro over Pure.

http://duck0113.tistory.com/81

It's a custom board by Duck113. Fully programmable, aluminium case, backlit. Not sure when they'll become available or the price. Edit - apparently elton5354 will run a GB in May for the Viper and Eagle, cost is likely to be around 200 dollars: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=55427.0

I bought a Pure with green backlight, but have desoldered all the LEDs and will be putting in white LEDs to replace them (when they arrive) :) At least it came with the switches I wanted (Browns). I prefer the layout of the Pure to the Pure Pro, especially the larger right shift and 1.5x modifiers.
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: iisshaun on Tue, 22 April 2014, 01:43:10
Duck eagle, what is it? any link?
About myself, i gave up to buy Pure, the only few Pure in stocks, comes with not the right backlit color or right switch i want.
I choose Pro over Pure.

http://duck0113.tistory.com/81

It's a custom board by Duck113. Fully programmable, aluminium case, backlit. Not sure when they'll become available or the price. Edit - apparently elton5354 will run a GB in May for the Viper and Eagle, cost is likely to be around 200 dollars: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=55427.0

I bought a Pure with green backlight, but have desoldered all the LEDs and will be putting in white LEDs to replace them (when they arrive) :) At least it came with the switches I wanted (Browns). I prefer the layout of the Pure to the Pure Pro, especially the larger right shift and 1.5x modifiers.

How easy is it to just replace the LEDs with white ones? I have a Pure Pro in the mail, but I could only get it with blue LEDs and I want white ones if I use the LEDs at all. Wouldn't I need new resistors etc?
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Oobly on Tue, 22 April 2014, 02:47:25
Duck eagle, what is it? any link?
About myself, i gave up to buy Pure, the only few Pure in stocks, comes with not the right backlit color or right switch i want.
I choose Pro over Pure.

http://duck0113.tistory.com/81

It's a custom board by Duck113. Fully programmable, aluminium case, backlit. Not sure when they'll become available or the price. Edit - apparently elton5354 will run a GB in May for the Viper and Eagle, cost is likely to be around 200 dollars: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=55427.0

I bought a Pure with green backlight, but have desoldered all the LEDs and will be putting in white LEDs to replace them (when they arrive) :) At least it came with the switches I wanted (Browns). I prefer the layout of the Pure to the Pure Pro, especially the larger right shift and 1.5x modifiers.

How easy is it to just replace the LEDs with white ones? I have a Pure Pro in the mail, but I could only get it with blue LEDs and I want white ones if I use the LEDs at all. Wouldn't I need new resistors etc?

Blue, white and high brightness green LED's often have similar voltage drop and current characteristics, so quite often you can just swap them. Orange, red, yellow and low brightness green LED's often have lower voltage drops. As long there actually are resistors in the circuit it should be safe enough to swap them out. If they're too bright or dim you can replace the resistors to taste.

I'm using some low current (10mA IIRC) white LED's to replace the greens in my Pure.

You can calculate the current going through the resistor and LED by using V=IR, where V is voltage (in Volts), I is current (in Amperes) and R is resistance (in Ohms). For instance, if the original LED's had 3.2v drop and used 270 Ohm resistors:

Vresistor = Vtotal - VLED = 5v - 3.2v = 1.8v

Vresistor = Iresistor*Rresistor

so Iresistor = Vresistor / Rresistor = 1.8 / 270 = 0.00666' A = 6.7mA

and ILED = Iresistor, so ILED = 6.7mA


If you use a new LED with only 3.0v drop, but the same resistor, the current will rise:

Vresistor = Vtotal - VLED = 5v - 3.0v = 2.0v

Iresistor = 2.0 / 270 = 0.00740' A = 7.4mA


It's not a big difference and in keyboards it's rare that the LED's are given anywhere near their max current anyway, so it's mostly a matter of adjusting the resistors if the LED's are too bright or dim for you. White LED's most often have the highest voltage drop AND the highest current rating and therefore it's quite safe to switch TO white LED's.
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: sdiearly on Tue, 22 April 2014, 03:42:26
You can wait a while,
KBT host "奕之華" will provide pure replica later~
Here is the link:
http://kbtalking.cool3c.com/article/78601 (http://kbtalking.cool3c.com/article/78601)
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: iisshaun on Tue, 22 April 2014, 05:38:52
Duck eagle, what is it? any link?
About myself, i gave up to buy Pure, the only few Pure in stocks, comes with not the right backlit color or right switch i want.
I choose Pro over Pure.

http://duck0113.tistory.com/81

It's a custom board by Duck113. Fully programmable, aluminium case, backlit. Not sure when they'll become available or the price. Edit - apparently elton5354 will run a GB in May for the Viper and Eagle, cost is likely to be around 200 dollars: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=55427.0

I bought a Pure with green backlight, but have desoldered all the LEDs and will be putting in white LEDs to replace them (when they arrive) :) At least it came with the switches I wanted (Browns). I prefer the layout of the Pure to the Pure Pro, especially the larger right shift and 1.5x modifiers.

How easy is it to just replace the LEDs with white ones? I have a Pure Pro in the mail, but I could only get it with blue LEDs and I want white ones if I use the LEDs at all. Wouldn't I need new resistors etc?

Blue, white and high brightness green LED's often have similar voltage drop and current characteristics, so quite often you can just swap them. Orange, red, yellow and low brightness green LED's often have lower voltage drops. As long there actually are resistors in the circuit it should be safe enough to swap them out. If they're too bright or dim you can replace the resistors to taste.

I'm using some low current (10mA IIRC) white LED's to replace the greens in my Pure.

You can calculate the current going through the resistor and LED by using V=IR, where V is voltage (in Volts), I is current (in Amperes) and R is resistance (in Ohms). For instance, if the original LED's had 3.2v drop and used 270 Ohm resistors:

Vresistor = Vtotal - VLED = 5v - 3.2v = 1.8v

Vresistor = Iresistor*Rresistor

so Iresistor = Vresistor / Rresistor = 1.8 / 270 = 0.00666' A = 6.7mA

and ILED = Iresistor, so ILED = 6.7mA


If you use a new LED with only 3.0v drop, but the same resistor, the current will rise:

Vresistor = Vtotal - VLED = 5v - 3.0v = 2.0v

Iresistor = 2.0 / 270 = 0.00740' A = 7.4mA


It's not a big difference and in keyboards it's rare that the LED's are given anywhere near their max current anyway, so it's mostly a matter of adjusting the resistors if the LED's are too bright or dim for you. White LED's most often have the highest voltage drop AND the highest current rating and therefore it's quite safe to switch TO white LED's.

Ah I see, thanks for the reply. I only want dim white LEDs too, so I guess it shouldn't be much of a problem. The Pure Pro has 7 brightness steps anyway, so if it's too bright I can turn them down. It's just that I keep my monitors at 0% brightness, so I don't want a sun beaming at the bottom of my sight from the keyboard.

Also, how tidy does it look in the end? Changing resistors would be another story, but if it's just de-soldering and then soldering the new LEDs, it should look relatively clean right?
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Oobly on Tue, 22 April 2014, 06:12:53
...
Also, how tidy does it look in the end? Changing resistors would be another story, but if it's just de-soldering and then soldering the new LEDs, it should look relatively clean right?

All depends how well you do the soldering, but it can look just as good as before the swap if you're good. If you're not, it should still look decent since it's just the LED pads that you need to touch with the iron.
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: iisshaun on Tue, 22 April 2014, 06:37:11

All depends how well you do the soldering, but it can look just as good as before the swap if you're good. If you're not, it should still look decent since it's just the LED pads that you need to touch with the iron.

Yeah depends on the person doing it of course, but yeah, not a tough job. Will something like this do? http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-3mm-12000mcd-Super-Bright-Light-Bulb-White-Led-Lamp-New-Free-Resistor-/181352247215?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a396fafaf Or should I wait for the board to arrive and check out the existing LEDs and resistors before finding the new LEDs?

Cheers for the help too btw, I derailed the thread a bit though :-[
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Oobly on Tue, 22 April 2014, 08:25:26

All depends how well you do the soldering, but it can look just as good as before the swap if you're good. If you're not, it should still look decent since it's just the LED pads that you need to touch with the iron.

Yeah depends on the person doing it of course, but yeah, not a tough job. Will something like this do? http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-3mm-12000mcd-Super-Bright-Light-Bulb-White-Led-Lamp-New-Free-Resistor-/181352247215?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a396fafaf Or should I wait for the board to arrive and check out the existing LEDs and resistors before finding the new LEDs?

Cheers for the help too btw, I derailed the thread a bit though :-[

There are only 2 types of LED's that really work well in Cherry switches, 2x3x4 rectangular flat (without shoulder) and 3mm (without flange). The ones you linked to have flanges and won't fit.

Something like this: http://www.ebay.com.my/itm/100pcs-2x3x4mm-Rectangle-White-Water-Clear-LED-Light-Leds-/320999089508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abd096564

The flat LED's are easier to find than the flangeless 3mm round ones.



To the OP: Looks like Feng still has a few Pures with red switches in stock! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pure-60-Programmable-Mechanical-Keyboard-Red-MX-Switch-/331057414849?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d148f42c1
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: Razor Lotus on Tue, 22 April 2014, 13:49:16
got mine off amazon while back :)
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: ajx on Tue, 22 April 2014, 13:53:46
got mine off amazon while back :)
Feng's Pure, non backlit version, isn't it?
As far as i know, putting LEDS into non backlit keycaps, it wont light such as backlit keyboard normally does
It will make most likely a glow effect on these keycaps
Title: Re: Where to buy a KBT Pure?
Post by: iisshaun on Tue, 22 April 2014, 22:42:44

There are only 2 types of LED's that really work well in Cherry switches, 2x3x4 rectangular flat (without shoulder) and 3mm (without flange). The ones you linked to have flanges and won't fit.

Something like this: http://www.ebay.com.my/itm/100pcs-2x3x4mm-Rectangle-White-Water-Clear-LED-Light-Leds-/320999089508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abd096564

The flat LED's are easier to find than the flangeless 3mm round ones.

Awesome, I'll pick up some of those and give it a go. Cheers again.