OriginsThe idea for this build originated when Zeal posted a video of the color changing RGB LEDs that sprit had available for a period of time. I saw those in addition to the clear acrylic plate and knew that I wanted to do a disco board. This idea was perpetuated even more when I saw the clear housings of the new gaterons.
So, I ordered the Simply 60 kit from Zeal as well as a set of blue gaterons from Taobao. The blue gaterons are exceptionally smooth, and I would compare them more to my blue alps than cherry blues. However, I had bigger and better plans for these clear housings. I really wanted everything to be clear and gold on this board. I originally planned on getting a set of gateron clears and swapping out the internal leafs to cherry. Unfortunately, I was late to the show and the clears were sold out by the time I went to order. So, I settled on ordering the blue gaterons and swapping the internals with some cherry clears.
Step 1
The first step consisted of disassembling my Gaterons. Each switch needed to be opened, the copper leafs needed to be popped out of the housing and sorted, and all of the springs and stems needed to be sorted. One this was done, I did the same with the cherry clears that I ordered for the swaps.
Step 2
As many of you know, there is a small defect with the Gateron molds. This being that the pegs for the PCB mount are just barely too thick to fit into a PCB properly. This means that you can either a) cut off the PCB legs or b) sand them down to fit properly. I went with option b because I prefer the added stability of the PCB mount legs. This was by far the most tedious and time consuming part of the process. Luckily, I had the entire season of House of Cards to get through, so that helped me feel less like blowing my brains out through the entire process. Testing the fitment was very important in this whole process because the housings are so close to being correct as it is, that I wanted them to still fit and be stable without wobble.
Step 3
Sip Sockets...After this board and my TX1800, I can safely say that I will never be using these damn things again. The convenience and ability to swap LEDs and switch components whenever I want is nice, but removing these things is a complete pain in the ass...I spent an evening watching a Red Wings game and separating all of the ones for this board from the plastic that they came in. Overall, I'm very happy with them.
Step 4
My favorite part! The lubing and assembly of switches! I completely forgot to take pictures of the piles of cherry internals and the swapping into the gateron housings. For springs in this build, I decided to go with 62g Sprit Gold springs. Along with those are the genuine Cherry gold leafs and clear sliders. For springs, I use a very thin application of Krytox GPL 105 oil on the top and bottom of the spring. For sliders, I use a 50/50 mix of GPL 105 and GPL 205 on the sides of the slider where it makes contact with the housing. On clears, this was my favorite combination of krytox that I tried and this is the third board that I've used the mixture on. The last image is before the switch tops went on, but with everything lubed and in place.
Step 5
The next step was putting the switch tops on and soldering the SIP sockets in place. Once that was done, I installed the board into it's case and cut the LEDs to size. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of that process either. When cutting the LEDs to size, I noted the positive and negative side, then cut diagonally so that the positive lead was slightly longer than the negative and then inserted the LED into the socket and that was it. Overall, the process took about 4 months because I was dilly-dallying on purchasing some items. Of course, I waited to purchase the Cherry clears and they went out of stock for a while. As soon as they came back, I purchased them immediately to get them swapped out asap. I also had about a 2 month wait for the TEX acrylic case from Massdrop after I ordered the Simple 60 kit. Ordered the case in January and it arrived in late March. The last setback was the LED and SIP group buy. I understand that life happens, and I was in no hurry to finish this board (though I definitely wanted to finish it before I move in two weeks). I'm ridiculously happy with the way everything turned out, and in all, I think the board cost me no more than $160. I'm definitely happier with this than I would have been with another poker build.
The last step for this build was going to be a white jelly POM keyset and soldering the color shifting LEDs onto the bottom of the PCB. I attempted a couple of the LEDs on the bottom of the PCB, however, they're too thick for the case. I intend to find the 2x3x4mm ones that Sprit has, as I tested that one, and it fit on the bottom just fine. As for the keyset, I'm actually going to forgo one. Once I finished the board, I was ridiculously happy with how it came out and just found myself watching the colors shift. As a result, I will be mounting this board behind my PC on the wall and plugging it into one of the USB ports on my BenQ XL2420t to power the LEDs. It's a truly mesmerizing board.
Step 6?ENJOY!
http://i.imgur.com/8fXM5mP.webmSpecial Thanks to:
Zeal for running the Simply 60 buy and sparking the concept(and kickstarting my addiction to strawberry kit-kats...seriously dude, I was fat enough before I ordered this kit...)
Nuclearsandwich for running the SIP and LED buy. Without you, this board would not be anywhere near possible. I've had 3-4 of the RGB LEDs have bad color cycles so far, and resoldering that many times would definitely ruin the PCB.
Kevin Spacey for being the best Francis Underwood he can be
and last, but certainly not least, my Fiancee for allowing me to continue to drop cash into this hobby. Without her approval, this project would have stayed in the concept phase.
