Need a cheap board to harvest.

[lam47]

I would like to know if there is a cheapish keyboard that uses MX keycaps.
Not overly interested in the switches.
Needs to be UK layout.
Do any of the membrane cherry boards have them?

Thanks.

[Chloe]

I think the keycaps on the MY switches (G81-xxxxx range) are the same.

[lam47]

Thats good to know thanks.
Anyone got one to confirm?

[itlnstln]

He didn't want YOUR keycaps, Chloe, he wanted some that would work with MX switches.

/bad joke

[lam47]

Oh my Christ.

[xsphat]

MY keycaps will fit MX switches. I have done it.

[lam47]

Nice one thanks mate. Now to find the cheapest one

[lam47]

Like this one?
http://www.inmyshop.com/products.asp?partno=J82-16000LPNGB-2

[lowpoly]

Cherry G81 is correct and should work. Good price as well.

If you get a used one that is old enough you can even have double injection molding. The G81 was sold with different branding as well, I have a Pea**** with Model M inspired design and an NCR with the standard 3000 case.

Forum replacements are fun. It's Peaco-ck without the hyphen.

[bhtooefr]

LOL @ the word filter... I thought vBulletin's word filter didn't do that.

Here's a test that screws up a lot of word filters that use that method... Matsu****a. (Hint: another name for Panasonic.)

[lam47]

Can only find it in white.
Still so cheap!!! I can bloody paint the keys.

[lam47]

The filter on the neogeo forum used to replace the words and could be really funny.
I wonder.
Bollocks
Wanker

[lam47]

Lol English swearing FTW!

[wellington1869]

Can only find it in white.
Still so cheap!!! I can bloody paint the keys.

that looks like exactly what you need bro. Nice price too. You could always use all-white keys for the alphabet cluster (and black for the rest) and give the board a funky look.

[lam47]

I was thinking of doing that but the other way around. Hope the keys are the right depth!

[wellington1869]

I was thinking of doing that but the other way around. Hope the keys are the right depth!

you really lucked out didnt you

[lam47]

Tell me about it!
Well don't actually because I know

[Chloe]

I want to try something like Eclairz has done in his avatar with grey, beige and black.

[lam47]

Show me that sounds cool!

[Chloe]

http://geekhack.org/member.php?u=117

[lam47]

Agreed, very good look!
Who is it that has the mac boards with the brown keys? I would like a brown board!

[wellington1869]

Agreed, very good look!
Who is it that has the mac boards with the brown keys? I would like a brown board!

A dark or chocolate brown keys would be a very smart look. I'm surprised we dont see that a standard color more often.

[bhtooefr]

A dark or chocolate brown keys would be a very smart look. I'm surprised we dont see that a standard color more often.

Simple, because brown keyboards belong on Apple IIs or Commodore 64s, not modern computers.

[lam47]

Hey now lets not diss the brown.
Its xsphat I think who has some good looking brown keys.

[Eclairz]

I harvested my keys from the steelseries 6G keyboard but those sorts of key caps were taller so I had a different height, but in a way I didn't need to look at the keys anymore.

I'm aiming to havest a DAS keyboard evertually and slowly blank out keys one by one until i master invisible typing. Sometimes I wonder if the DAS could come in white blank keycaps as well.

Other types of key caps, you could consider relegendable keycaps like the one x-keys make which are compatible with cherry switches. Haven't tried any myself though.

http://www.xkeys.com/accessories/keycaps.php

Multicoloured as well ;-)

Also a link to other views of my keyboard

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=424&page=5

[wellington1869]

Also a link to other views of my keyboard

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=424&page=5

nice.
http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=24&d=1212601694

[itlnstln]

Not for nothing, Eclairz, but your desk is... uhh... used for a lot of work?  I would almost use the word clusterfu*k.

[lowpoly]

I harvested my keys from the steelseries 6G keyboard

Where did you get the gray ones from?

[zwmalone]

Eclairz, if your ambitious enough, do this instead of harvesting from a Das.

[itlnstln]

This wouldn't work for two-color molded keycaps.  It might work for laser-etched ones, though.

[bhtooefr]

That doesn't work on caps that have the imprints molded into the cap, though, like what the Model M has. You'll sand the damn key through before you get to a blank surface.

Edit: Damn, beaten to it. But, it should also work on silkscreened ones. (Then again, nail polish remover might work on silkscreened ones.)

[lowpoly]

Won't work for current Cherry white lettering on black caps either.

[Eclairz]

Where did you get the gray ones from?

my black and grey both come from steelseries 6g keyboard this keyboard came with an extra set of grey keys which is the main boon of this keyboard, luckily I found a cheap one year old one on ebay. Didn't really like the construction of the keyboard so in the end I just harvested the keys, also it is much more difficult to change the key switch spring and axis on the steel series than my cherry g80-3000 (converted to browns cherry switches (from blue) which were harvested from another used keyboard, the fujitsu mx11800, my keyboard is made from 3 keyboards at the moment haha)

Unfortunately the steelseries and cherry keycaps are both laser printed which is unfortunate, I think I will have to buy some keycaps/harvest from an old das keyboard?

[lam47]

can anyone confirm that this is a board with MX compatible keys,
The description is identical to the g81 3000 as is the picture. However searching the part number gives a few different results.
Forgot the link.
http://www.cck4business.co.uk/product-p/j82-16000lpngb-0.htm

[Eclairz]

http://park10.wakwak.com/~jpspace/key/kaitai_g81.html

an image of the g81 a cross between membrane and mechanical and in that sense shares a fair bit with topre switches where it falls down though is that it doesn't have any rubber dome for that snapback motion (cherry hint hint)

edit: posted wrong link changed it

[lam47]

Excellent link thanks!

I found it OK

[xsphat]

But don't think for a second that MY switches feel good at all, because they don't.

[itlnstln]

I'm a little drunk, but every time I read the title of this thread, I want to grow keyboards in my garden.  

[Chloe]

You could also grow a mini garden in your keyboard:
http://www.fresh99.com/practical-joke.htm

[bhtooefr]

I almost did that to a friend, but didn't care to source one of those Dell USB keyboards (and she'd facestab me if I ruined her favorite keyboard - and with the variance of those Dell USB keyboards in quality... the replacement could suck horribly. )

[Chloe]

I might do it to the Dell I have with Mother of Thousands. It would make a nice geeky planter. I like the way the board looks, it's a shame they can't use Cherry or ALPS.

[Eclairz]

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=retrieveTfg&Ne=4294922322&Ntt=keyboard&Nr=AND(avl%3auk%2csearchDiscon_uk%3aN)&Ntk=I18NAll&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&N=4294767495+4294921586&Ns=stockPolicy_uk|1||new_uk|1&Nty=1&binCount=41#breadCrumb

found a british site that make mx compatible key caps as well
but according to this site the keys are smaller in every dimension hmmmm

http://mykeyboard.co.uk/keycaps/

[lam47]

Do you think they would do space bars caps lock etc?
I have bought caps and resisters from them in the past.
Shipping is about £800 per order. (well £10)
Or it was.

[Eclairz]

Do you think they would do space bars caps lock etc?
I have bought caps and resisters from them in the past.
Shipping is about £800 per order. (well £10)
Or it was.

Nah they are just a general electronics company so they are just selling keycaps to people who build custom/bespoke systems for other people and often caps lock/spacebars are often not required.

Also I notice on many of my keyboards that every keyboard have very slight differences in the space bar length, windows, ctrl and alt also vary from keyboard to keyboard.

Anyway I was considering getting 85 single red blank key caps for my G80-3000 to make it look really bespoke and give the impression of that hand painted hhkb i saw for thousands of £$ but if it costs £800 to ship its not worth it.

RS also sell cherry switches ML and MX switches but to be honest its cheaper to buy a brand new mx/ml keyboard and havest the switches and keycaps than to buy individual keys at their prices, unless you are only replacing a few keys

For US residents its probably cheaper to buy from X-Keys instead of RS anyway, but I think buying a few to check for compatibility. The best option though is to just buy the same keyboard in a different colour.

[Eclairz]

did abit more investigating and I think they charge £10 for small orders (under £100) as they are a trade company, I work close to one of their trade counters so i may go and find out sometime

[lam47]

Yeah Im pretty sure its £10 for a small order.

[Eclairz]

well if i plan to get 85 single red/black/white/grey blank key caps which are virtually impossible to get anywhere else without good contacts for £25 + £10 (for orders under £100) = £35 which is alot cheaper than getting a das keyboard let alone any brand new cherry keyboard. Unless your hankering for blank grey/black/white/red keyboard then its best to buy a cheap new or second hand G81-3000/G81-1800 and scavenge the key caps from them.

I'm feeling a black and red theme on a black G80-3000 will look very cool, probably use reds for alphabet and numeric pad and the rest of the singles grey and the non single keycaps left black blacks. I wonder what sort of grey they have though as it can come in different shades? Im currently broke so I might try this next year after my holiday this xmas, but who knows maybe i'll get a topre on my trip to asia but recession is killing my money at the moment.