For my first post in over a decade, I figured I'd make it a good one that hopefully some folks will find helpful.
About two years ago, Vortex announced a pre-order for their aluminum chassis SSK replica kit in a handful of different colors and layouts.
Being a fan of a 7U spacebar and WKL boards, I couldn't resist and figured it'd make an awesome Christmas gift to myself. Got one on order, and promptly forgot all about it.
A full year goes by, and around November of 2023 the keyboard kit finally shows up!
For some really good pics of how the kit generally shows up and what to expect, check out this review here
https://olli.works/post/vortex-model-m-ssk-kit-review-sponsored/Not my review, but they did a great job taking a ton of detailed photos.
My kit in particular was the blue case, which admittedly I regret as it's a bit too bright / light blue for my taste, and a grey or black would fit the persona of the board much much better, but alas, we'll work around what we've got now.
Now to note, there's been a ton of chatter within the Reddit and Discord communities regarding Vortex and this kit in particular as a ton of folks never got their kits or had issues.
Notable issues mentioned by folks:
- Color inaccurate to samples
- Hotswap sockets / plate are very tight
- Case alignment issues
- No assembly instructions
- Difficult to assemble
- Unable to configure firmware
Now, as far as my experience, I actually assembled the board and had it tested before I bothered to do any digging into other folks' experience.
Issues I encountered during assembly:
- Gasket was not properly punched for all layouts, I had to trim some switch holes to allow for the pins to make contact.
- Ribbon cable connection is a PITA and you risk scratching the case when you do it as the cable is definitely too short.
- No window in the PCB for the caps lock status LED which is mounted on the underside of the PCB
- Switches are indeed quite difficult to insert
- Getting all of the layers to align while assembling the plate / PCB together can be a pain
- Firmware was not programmed for a TKL keyboard...?
There isn't a ton of info on setup and configuration after assembly either, so we had to do a good bit of FAFO but eventually that led me to using
https://vial.rocks/ The Vortex site mentions VIA and VIAL as options for configuration.
VIAL worked with no fuss and showed that the board is seeing some phantom switches above the arrow keys, I simply set these to empty to disable them. VIA however never connected to the board.
I did a quick test on all switches to verify they work and so far I'm having no issues, this thing types great (typing this overview with it)
I'm a little annoyed about the caps lock LED situation since you can faintly see the light shining through the board. Also a little peeved that the plate is set up for an offset capslock, but the PCB isn't.
The bottom of the chassis also doesn't appear to be flat as it rocks from corner to corner.
Aside from everything, given the parts supplied and supplying my own as they called out, I was able to assemble a functioning keyboard that I quite like typing on, and think I'll enjoy even moreso with a better matching set of keycaps.
I think my biggest complaint is that the plastic version of the boards get pop-out legs to raise the angle of the board but the metal versions didn't.
Oh well, here's a pic of the board with a set of WYSE caps sans the caps lock since I couldn't offset the switch.
Parts used:
- Vortex SSK ANSI 7U WKL in Blue
- Gateron Baby Kangaroo V2 Switches
- Durock V3 Screw-in Stabilizers
- Vintage WYSE Keycaps
- Amazon Special USB Cable
