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geekhack Community => New Members => Topic started by: Kyi195 on Fri, 03 July 2015, 01:10:33

Title: Howdy
Post by: Kyi195 on Fri, 03 July 2015, 01:10:33
I joined a few weeks ago but I have been lurking since before then.

What originally got me into mechanical keyboards was actually my mom going on and on about it for years.  For as long as I can remember she would always go on about how she just loved mechanical keyboards; it was the clicking sound she loved.  Well a couple years ago, having been an avid lurker on /g/ where I first re-learned about mechanical boards, I did a very small bit of research and managed to get her a new keyboard for her birthday.  Thermaltake Poseidon with MX Browns.  She absolutely loved it.

After a while, and more /g/ stalking, I started to get more and more into mechanical keyboards and I just wanted to keep trying them out for myself.  Eventually, as everyone in my house works at UCF, I was able to have my dad sit on the lookout for an old IBM Wheelwriter typewriter (the one I eventually got was a 1500 model).  That was my first testing of buckling springs.  I absolutely fell in love.  The only issue was that I couldn't use it on my computer.  Everything that I was typing had to be on a physical piece of paper, and that wasn't quite what I was looking for.  After a few months I saw my boss had put a Model M on the recycle pallet at work (I work in surplus), said something about it being a PS/2 interface and we don't sell those.  Well when he wasn't around I picked up that bad boy and took it home.

Since it had come out of some storage room, it was extremely dusty as well as covered in something that I don't even want to know the identity of.  After spending an afternoon cleaning it, which was a real pain as the caps are the two-piece caps, I finally had a new keyboard.  I quickly turned off my computer, retired the Razer Deathstalker I was using before, and plugged in the Model M.  While the keys were slightly heavier than the typewriter, they were so comfy to type on.  But eventually I ran into another problem.  The sheer size of the thing took up way too much desk space AND between the size and the weight, it was extremely impractical to take with me to LAN parties at my friend's house.  Right before this I had learned of Massdrop and I knew that they had a keyboard community on there that would start drops, so I started reading up on keyboards.  Eventually it led me here, reading reviews of switches as well as full boards, opinions between TKL, full size, and 60%, etc.  Eventually I settled on the KBP V60 Mini with clears (joined the drop on MD that ran early May), and I ALMOST couldn't be happier.

While I love the keyboard, I have a few more thoughts.  I would like a white or granite style color scheme with the keys as well as a new case.  Also the green/red lights don't really match with anything around my room so I'm looking into changing those out with some white LEDs.  And finally just last week I found out that when I'm writing drum parts in Guitar Pro 5 (since I don't have a drum kit to mic, nor do I posses the skills to actually play drums) it can be a real pain to be out dedicated arrow keys and a number pad.  So the next purchases I have to make (that I can see right now) would be caps (stalking for the "perfect set" which would be a sort of granite in a DSA/SA profile), a new case (looking into making my own but I have absolutely no clue what CNC machining costs here in Orlando, saw a thread somewhere not here that said depending on size, service can be anywhere from 100 and up which is definitely not optimal), a new USB cable that I'd be making myself anyways to match the color scheme of the board (knowledge acquired thanks to stalking some of nubbinator's threads; if you see this, I thank you dearly for posting those), and a separate keypad (hopefully that sidekick in the IC board (https://www.massdrop.com/vote/physical-layouts-for-a-fully-programmable-standalone-usb-numpad)).

Anyways, that's all me, but what finally made me choose to join up on the forum proper was a hope to find more group buys (and sweet jesus, the Mira TKL in the IC is beautiful), at first just keysets, but it seems like I'm looking at everything.  Thankfully I'm too poor at the moment to be making unnecessary purchases.

Also, I believe I've already met Rowdy due to a slight mess up with posting in a different thread, so if you see this post, hello again :p
Title: Re: Howdy
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 05 July 2015, 02:49:49
Welcome to Geekhack!

Sounds like an SSK might be the ideal keyboard for you - buckling spring, dedicated arrow keys, small enough to fit into a backpack (albeit a fairly large backpack) :)

Two part BS keycaps are actually quite easy to clean.  The lower half is mostly embedded in the barrel, and the upper surface is protected by the top half of the keycap, so it's generally only the upper half of the keycap that needs cleaning.  These are generally very easy to remove (hence why so many of them go missing on used keyboards).  I clean mine in warm water with a couple of denture tablet.  Works extremely well.  I usually given them a quick scrub, one by one, with a toothbrush in clean water after the preliminary soaking, and they turn out good as new.

It also seems that the Granite DSA keycap set is what you are looking for.  These occasionally turn up in classifieds, and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that there might be another group buy, even if it is on Massdrop.
Title: Re: Howdy
Post by: Kyi195 on Mon, 06 July 2015, 19:07:16
I'll see.  Like I said, I really like my keyboard setup right now
[attach=1]

It gives me a ton of space and the arrow key and number pad issue is really just when I'm writing drums.  After that I really don't care.  Really all I want is to change up the colors a bit with some white lLEDs to replace the dual red/green ones and to get a new keyset.  The only other board I'm GASing over atm is the Mira one which I'd probably move to my home setup if it goes through because it'd match the mouse I have for my main desktop (not the one pictures, it's a G400S Logitech) since I'd be getting the blue case for it depending on what becomes of the interest check.  But I really REALLY like these MX Clears.  Kinda want to buy a bunch from somewhere and try my hand at making Ergo Clears but that won't be for a while because money :p

All that aside, I have seen pictures of the SSK here and elsewhere and I have to say, it is quite pretty.  And I didn't think of the denture tablets to clean my keys.  I just used some vinegar and a toothbrush to clean the caps and a pipe cleaner to clean the plastic that the barrels pop out of.  Like I said it was a work keyboard at UCF and god only knows what the person who had it would do with it.  It looked like there was finger gunk/oil built up on some of the keys as well as old crumbs and hair under all the keys.  I still need to clean it more, I just don't have a driver that is small enough to take off the 3 or 4 screws on the back to actually open the case.  Thought of doing the whole run it through the dish washer thing and let it drip dry for a few days and see how that works but I'm still a little hesitant on that because of the whole electronics in water deal.  Even though I know it's not getting power, I REALLY don't want to break the board.  Plus, I've only seen people do the dishwasher thing with rubber dome keys that don't have any metal besides the USB cable.

Here's a pic of the Model M.  I was missing the right control since I got it.  Thought it fell out in the backpack I took it out with but I think it was missing since it came through.
[attach=2]
Title: Re: Howdy
Post by: rowdy on Sun, 12 July 2015, 04:34:41
Quote from: Kyi195 on Mon, 06 July 2015, 19:07:16
I'll see.  Like I said, I really like my keyboard setup right now
(Attachment Link)

It gives me a ton of space and the arrow key and number pad issue is really just when I'm writing drums.  After that I really don't care.  Really all I want is to change up the colors a bit with some white lLEDs to replace the dual red/green ones and to get a new keyset.  The only other board I'm GASing over atm is the Mira one which I'd probably move to my home setup if it goes through because it'd match the mouse I have for my main desktop (not the one pictures, it's a G400S Logitech) since I'd be getting the blue case for it depending on what becomes of the interest check.  But I really REALLY like these MX Clears.  Kinda want to buy a bunch from somewhere and try my hand at making Ergo Clears but that won't be for a while because money :p

All that aside, I have seen pictures of the SSK here and elsewhere and I have to say, it is quite pretty.  And I didn't think of the denture tablets to clean my keys.  I just used some vinegar and a toothbrush to clean the caps and a pipe cleaner to clean the plastic that the barrels pop out of.  Like I said it was a work keyboard at UCF and god only knows what the person who had it would do with it.  It looked like there was finger gunk/oil built up on some of the keys as well as old crumbs and hair under all the keys.  I still need to clean it more, I just don't have a driver that is small enough to take off the 3 or 4 screws on the back to actually open the case.  Thought of doing the whole run it through the dish washer thing and let it drip dry for a few days and see how that works but I'm still a little hesitant on that because of the whole electronics in water deal.  Even though I know it's not getting power, I REALLY don't want to break the board.  Plus, I've only seen people do the dishwasher thing with rubber dome keys that don't have any metal besides the USB cable.

Here's a pic of the Model M.  I was missing the right control since I got it.  Thought it fell out in the backpack I took it out with but I think it was missing since it came through.
(Attachment Link)

No, don't put a whole keyboard into water :eek:

You can find drivers on eBay that would suit the Model M, or some people find a driver of the right size and grind it down a bit so it fits into the hole under the keyboard.

I have an APC H4100E that someone was using as a footrest for probably several years, and the layers of hair and other material that was encrusted on the plate was enough to give me shudders for days.  Fortunately it cleaned up quite nicely, and now I am on the verge of getting hold of a replacement switch for the one that was kicked off.
Title: Re: Howdy
Post by: Kyi195 on Sun, 12 July 2015, 11:09:24
Quote from: rowdy on Sun, 12 July 2015, 04:34:41
No, don't put a whole keyboard into water :eek:

Yea, that's kinda what I figured and is why I haven't done it yet.  The examples I saw were all on those rubber dome Dell keyboards that you find in every school computer lab everywhere.  I just don't know how much the metal in the board would rust or whatever and I really don't want to be responsible for single-handedly ruining my board :p

And I may look for some of those drivers at a later date because I have no clue how much money I'm going to have after this trip.  But in the meantime, here's a pic from my old phone of the Model M.  I can't seem to find any closeups of me cleaning the thing so you can't see everything under the keys but you can kinda see the tops of the keys.
[attach=1]

Actually I just found this which isn't of the Model M but some off-brand keyboard we had.  I pulled a cap off and you can kinda see under it.  The M was much worse than this, though.
[attach=2]
Title: Re: Howdy
Post by: Snowdog993 on Sun, 12 July 2015, 11:22:22
Quote from: Kyi195 on Mon, 06 July 2015, 19:07:16
  Thought of doing the whole run it through the dish washer thing and let it drip dry for a few days and see how that works but I'm still a little hesitant on that because of the whole electronics in water deal.  Even though I know it's not getting power, I REALLY don't want to break the board.  Plus, I've only seen people do the dishwasher thing with rubber dome keys that don't have any metal besides the USB cable.

Here's a pic of the Model M.  I was missing the right control since I got it.  Thought it fell out in the backpack I took it out with but I think it was missing since it came through.

No.  If you want to see what a dishwasher can do to a model M keyboard.....

(http://i.imgur.com/pfoppfm.jpg?1)
(http://i.imgur.com/KHvvRKt.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/GvLEW0h.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Tv55DxM.jpg)

Not good.  It will kill it.
Title: Re: Howdy
Post by: Kyi195 on Sun, 12 July 2015, 11:29:14
Quote from: Snowdog993 on Sun, 12 July 2015, 11:22:22
Quote from: Kyi195 on Mon, 06 July 2015, 19:07:16
  Thought of doing the whole run it through the dish washer thing and let it drip dry for a few days and see how that works but I'm still a little hesitant on that because of the whole electronics in water deal.  Even though I know it's not getting power, I REALLY don't want to break the board.  Plus, I've only seen people do the dishwasher thing with rubber dome keys that don't have any metal besides the USB cable.

Here's a pic of the Model M.  I was missing the right control since I got it.  Thought it fell out in the backpack I took it out with but I think it was missing since it came through.

No.  If you want to see what a dishwasher can do to a model M keyboard.....

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/pfoppfm.jpg?1)

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/KHvvRKt.jpg)

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/GvLEW0h.jpg)

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/Tv55DxM.jpg)


Not good.  It will kill it.

And that makes it a definite no wash.