geekhack
geekhack Community => New Members => Topic started by: Zealousy on Tue, 18 August 2015, 03:31:33
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Hello all! I grew up cutting my teeth on an 8086 with an IBM Compatible keyboard with the huge Return key, but it wasn't until just a month ago that I returned to the land of mechanical keyboards. On the suggestion of a friend, I purchased this Ducky Shine Zero
(http://i.imgur.com/ry0YBA6.jpg)
and fell in love with the clacky Cherry MX Blue feel and sound. I had the disease. Since then, I've been hanging out on IRC channels, talking to fellow enthusiasts, reading everything I could find on here, Reddit, DA, just scouring all the websites I could come across to learn more about ABS vs PBT, switch types and histories, what's wrong with a non-standard bottom row, keycap profiles, you name it. A week ago while browsing Craigslist I came across a man selling his Leopold, "barely used" were his words, and picked it up on the cheap. Well, the thing had been regularly used for some time, including noticeable wear on the keycaps, and the most gunk I have ever seen underneath a keyboard. I had just purchased a WASD keycap puller, so I got to work. I took this:
(http://i.imgur.com/JdE5BZC.jpg)
to this:
(http://i.imgur.com/pHQxZB4.jpg)
with the help of guides I had read here and elsewhere about denture tabs, pillowcases, and dryer cycles. In the future I hope to learn to mod my keyboards to clip my cherry stabs, lubricate sliders and springs, solder and desolder switches, and maybe eventually put a custom board together with some help from my friends and family, and of course the community :) Right now blues are my favorite, but I really like the feel and sound of greens based on my WASD switch tester as well as the clears (although they feel a little stiff, which I've heard from others is their only complaint.) I hope to soon try ALPS/Matias, Topre, and all the other switches out there. Talking to my close friends about this hobby outnerds even the nerdiest of them, so I must be doing something right.
Thanks for having me!
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Talking to my close friends about this hobby outnerds even the nerdiest of them
Exactly the sentiment i get when explaining my interest (some argue obsession) with mechanical keyboards.
I've gotten one dude so far willing to help on my future custom keyboard build but that is about it ;)
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Welcome! If you're a fan of blues and greens, I bet you'll like Matias clickys a lot, they're considered to be some of the best tactile click switches.
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Thanks for the tip! I'm interested in trying the ALPS/Matias switches for sure - the quiet click has come highly recommended to me. I hope to try a Planck this weekend at the Massdrop HQ, which will help with figuring out my goals in the hobby.
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Welcome to Geekhack!
Sometimes I wish I'd got a blue LED Ducky instead of the green one I have, but someone else is borrowing that keyboard now, so I don't mind.
With a little care, it's amazing how well a keyboard can be restored. Especially true for Model M keyboards, which are 25+ years old and clean up very nicely indeed. Sounds like you have made the right choice :)
MX clears are very popular switches, and about the only word I have heard against them is that keycaps can be very tight to remove.