Well I fell down the custom keyboard world.

[TrojanWhore]

I have an ISO purple m1, good boards but I want to get mine cerakoted a deeper purple

Yeah I'd like it a bit darker/more vibrant! Spent a while considering caps and opted for something higher contrast (darker) with purple accents.... we'll see how that turns out!
I was also considering some grey gradient side-lit ones (which I may still buy), but didn't want to try and find a matched colour.

Tbh I had initially wanted the silver one, so was considering whether I could sand-blast it back to raw aluminium and then laquer it

 

[$anch3z]

Yeah I'd like it a bit darker/more vibrant! Spent a while considering caps and opted for something higher contrast (darker) with purple accents.... we'll see how that turns out!
I was also considering some grey gradient side-lit ones (which I may still buy), but didn't want to try and find a matched colour.

Tbh I had initially wanted the silver one, so was considering whether I could sand-blast it back to raw aluminium and then laquer it

It's anodised so not sure how successful sandblasting would be. The stock stabs are ok but get yourself some dielectric grease as they take some lubing, I found krytox 205 a little too thin, regardless its a great board to drop into the rabbit hole

 

[TrojanWhore]

Yeah was thiking that if it was anodised that wouldn't be an option lol. Thanks for the tips on the stabs/lube, was thinking earlier about getting some krytox or similar but it slipped my mind... is there anything else you could recommend for the stabs? (preferably something easy to get hold of... )

Edit: D'oh, I guess you're recommending dialectric grease... is that non-conductive?! (being paranoid)

 

[$anch3z]

Yeah was thiking that if it was anodised that wouldn't be an option lol. Thanks for the tips on the stabs/lube, was thinking earlier about getting some krytox or similar but it slipped my mind... is there anything else you could recommend for the stabs? (preferably something easy to get hold of... )

Edit: D'oh, I guess you're recommending dialectric grease... is that non-conductive?! (being paranoid)

Yes t the dielectric grease, superlube or something similar - loads available on the rainforest

 

[TrojanWhore]

I'm a bit confused .... Is dielectric grease electrically conductive (or not)? - Seems to be often used for battery terminals etc. (also is this the same thing as silicone grease?)

I would have assumed that for lubing stabs at least, electrical conductivity would have been undesirable (in case it gets on the PCB etc)!

 

[$anch3z]

I'm a bit confused .... Is dielectric grease electrically conductive (or not)? - Seems to be often used for battery terminals etc. (also is this the same thing as silicone grease?)

I would have assumed that for lubing stabs at least, electrical conductivity would have been undesirable (in case it gets on the PCB etc)!

Short answer no, long answer according to google:
'Does dielectric grease conduct electricity? No, it does not conduct electricity. Even if it is used at points of electrical connections, it is incapable of conducting any electric current. Instead, it acts as an insulator and protects your connections from various agents like moisture, dirt, etc. Additionally, dielectric grease can also provide protection against corrosion.'

 

[TrojanWhore]

Ah ok, tbf it makes sense that if not consuctive that it wouldn't make any difference for car batterys, when you'r etalking about 50-100A of current!
I'm looking at some 'Silverhook' branded stuff, I assume this wil be ok (as well as some cheap, small, paintbrushes for warhammer etc.)

I thought I'd bought all I needed... now I'm looking at £10-50 worth of lube/tools to assemble the thing properly (if I go as far as a 'lubing station' with a tray to hold the switches, stem holder and all the rest of it).

Keycaps arrived today and I got shipping confirmation for the board/switches, although the tracking info is in Chinese so I have no idea when they'll show up

I'll try to put some pics up in the next few days!

 

[CGrieves]

You don't need to lube switches. Yours will be lubed adequately from the factory. It's a lot of work for often marginal benefit, unless there's something wrong with a particular batch of switches.

Worry about lubing switches later, if at all.

 

[t2na]

Ah ok, tbf it makes sense that if not consuctive that it wouldn't make any difference for car batterys, when you'r etalking about 50-100A of current!
I'm looking at some 'Silverhook' branded stuff, I assume this wil be ok (as well as some cheap, small, paintbrushes for warhammer etc.)

I thought I'd bought all I needed... now I'm looking at £10-50 worth of lube/tools to assemble the thing properly (if I go as far as a 'lubing station' with a tray to hold the switches, stem holder and all the rest of it).

Keycaps arrived today and I got shipping confirmation for the board/switches, although the tracking info is in Chinese so I have no idea when they'll show up

I'll try to put some pics up in the next few days!

You don't need a lubing station either if you do decide to go down that route. All you need is 2 brushes, lube and you're good to go. I like using a switch opener but you can manage without as well.

Most current switches now come lubed but a few years ago it was really rare for this to be the case which is why you'll find most recommend going the lube route. In all fairness the quality you get from self lubing will definitely exceed factory lube, it just depends on how much you notice the difference. I still prefer to lube switches myself - but I also prefer soldered boards so I really make the hobby as much of a pain in my arse as possible.

I used to use dielectric grease for stabilisers and still have one of my boards that's done that way - but regular lube is also fine.

 

[[HB]Rugrat]

Keychron Q6 (barebones), Gateron Oil Kings, pick keycaps to taste.

Thanks for that - that q6 seems quite hard to get hold of. I watched a couple of videos about custom builds that suggested that barebones keyboards are often done in batch orders or through kickstarter-style campaigns, so you may have to wait a while to get a particular model. I bought a much cheaper option (Glorious GMMK) to get started with and will take my time to upgrade. So far, it feels great.

 

[TrojanWhore]

Shiny things have arrived I'm not going to build tonight as they only turned up an hour ago (thanks Yodel!)

@$anch3z - The stabs don't appear to include fibre washers, do I need those? (there are some little sticky things shown at the right of the photo, but I think these are for a force break mod)
Also, it came with a sheet of tape, but as I understand it this will interfere with the plate foam as it has cutouts for the switch sockets - Should I not bother with this?

(apologies for lighting/mic shadow/state of deskmat!)

 

[marinersfan]

My keyboard has Akko switches.

 

[TrojanWhore]

Yeah on first impressions they seem really nice, really looking forward to seeing what they sound like once installed!
A little concerned though, as I read somewhere (after ordering them) that the clear light difusing bits on the bottom edge may interfere with cherry profile caps.... fingers crossed

 

[CGrieves]

I wouldn't worry too much about stabiliser pads. Unless the stabs are poor quality and don't fit tightly, I've never noticed much of a difference with pads.

Looks like your board is ISO- did you get an ISO compatible keycap set too, as the pic only shows ANSI caps?

 

[TrojanWhore]

I wouldn't worry too much about stabiliser pads. Unless the stabs are poor quality and don't fit tightly, I've never noticed much of a difference with pads.

Looks like your board is ISO- did you get an ISO compatible keycap set too, as the pic only shows ANSI caps?

Thanks! Yeah that's only the top layer of keycaps, there are another 2 layers with all the ISO bits and various options for some of them
There's also another pack of switches I just thought the photo would be a bit cramped with it all in!

 

[$anch3z]

Shiny things have arrived I'm not going to build tonight as they only turned up an hour ago (thanks Yodel!)

@$anch3z - The stabs don't appear to include fibre washers, do I need those? (there are some little sticky things shown at the right of the photo, but I think these are for a force break mod)
Also, it came with a sheet of tape, but as I understand it this will interfere with the plate foam as it has cutouts for the switch sockets - Should I not bother with this?

(apologies for lighting/mic shadow/state of deskmat!)

As CGrieves said, you can go through adding them on, I did when I built my M1 but may or may not make much difference. Yup it's those stickers, IIRC they are screw-in stabs so you should be able to eliminate most if not all of the movement.

Also, have a read of the build guide that came with it, I had to snip some plastic legs off of the return switch

 

[TrojanWhore]

As CGrieves said, you can go through adding them on, I did when I built my M1 but may or may not make much difference. Yup it's those stickers, IIRC they are screw-in stabs so you should be able to eliminate most if not all of the movement.

Also, have a read of the build guide that came with it, I had to snip some plastic legs off of the return switch

I might leave them off for now, was expecting round washers like in another guide I found (can't link becuase they also sell stuff!). The product page also said it included teflon pads for force break, so had assumed they were those.

The leaflet that came with the board only details the Fn shortcuts I think, but I did see on the product page that on the ISO version, the enter/return key is only 3 pin compatible, while the rest are 5 - Luckily I won't need to worry about that as the demon switches are 3 pin anyway!

 

[TrojanWhore]

Well, it's all built now took me about 2.5 hours with some breaks in between... I don't want to spam the thread too hard so I'll put most of the pics in spoilers....

Spoiler: It begins

Lubing begins


Stabs installed, until I realised I needed to put the switch foam in between the stabs and PCB


Board with case


Took the top part off again as I was worried about pushing the switches in without support, didn't end up beaing an issue!

It all detected first time in VIA (thank god!).... I have to say I was so impressed with the clear light diffusers on the front of the switches, they really make the RGB pop... very tempted to pick up some caps that make better use of it (pudding/side engraved, or especially the wormier white fogs - not ISO so would have to mix and match, bu I think I've spent enough for now!)

Spoiler: VIA/LED test

The finished product:


I'll try to find time to record a sound test vid some time soon, but I'm very happy with it overall (a couple of keys are a bit pingier than I'd hoped!)
And I have a 90 degree cable coming tomorrow which I hope will match the case well, assuming the stem is long enough to reach the recessed port!

 

[TrojanWhore]

Cable didn't fit the recessed port, so running the 90 degree end from my PC, not really a problem as it's only blocking the SPDIF port, which I don't use.

In a bit of a dilemma at the moment though, as I love the way it looks but my living room isn't brightly lit and I had trouble finding some of the uncommon keys the other night... considering some shine through side etched keycaps for it now...

 

[t2na]

Cable didn't fit the recessed port, so running the 90 degree end from my PC, not really a problem as it's only blocking the SPDIF port, which I don't use.

In a bit of a dilemma at the moment though, as I love the way it looks but my living room isn't brightly lit and I had trouble finding some of the uncommon keys the other night... considering some shine through side etched keycaps for it now...

Or a head torch?