Well I fell down the custom keyboard world.

Raymond Lin · 28 May 2025 at 20:50

Nedb37 said:
I've built two of them over the weekend, the other two I've had on the go for a while. All together, plus the Cycle8, these are from the last year or so.

I can't wait for my QK Alice Duo to arrive, got my keycaps and Switches at the ready!

Jenz · 1 Jun 2025 at 19:14

Is there a recommended barebones kit for someone building their first keyboard?

I have switches and keycaps (building one for my brother). Needs to be tri-mode?

Raymond Lin · 1 Jun 2025 at 19:19

Jenz said:
Is there a recommended barebones kit for someone building their first keyboard?

I have switches and keycaps (building one for my brother). Needs to be tri-mode?

Keychron? you don't need to get Switches or Caps.

Or do you want to build it from scratch?

It's not the most exciting, nor the best value but it is decent.

Jenz · 1 Jun 2025 at 20:46

Raymond Lin said:
Keychron? you don't need to get Switches or Caps.

Or do you want to build it from scratch?

It's not the most exciting, nor the best value but it is decent.

I would to buy a barebones that I just need to add switches and keycaps?

Raymond Lin · 1 Jun 2025 at 20:58

Jenz said:
I would to buy a barebones that I just need to add switches and keycaps?

You can choose whether it comes with switches and keycaps.

Actually, just checked, Keychron doesn't do the dongle thing so it's just cable or Bluetooth.

Nuphy you can just get the board, but they only do ANSI layout, it is tri mode though.

For example. https://nuphy.com/products/gem80-t?variant=40929293566061

It is bloody hard to find a ISO board with these specs.

Jenz · 1 Jun 2025 at 21:15

Sorry should have been clearer Ansi layout is fine

RedMogg · 1 Jun 2025 at 22:56

Jenz said:
Is there a recommended barebones kit for someone building their first keyboard?

I have switches and keycaps (building one for my brother). Needs to be tri-mode?

Personally, I'd grab an Epomaker Aula F75 for £60-70ish - bought one for my Dad at Xmas with Reaper switches and really liked how it felt. It's tri-mode, with a knob, plus hot-swappable.
You wouldn't spend much less on a barebones board, so you'd get a spare/extra set of keycaps & switches to play with...
I've since put Reaper switches in my new keyboard (Weikav Stars75-S) and really enjoying the feel & sound.

Jenz · 3 Jun 2025 at 19:52

RedMogg said:
Personally, I'd grab an Epomaker Aula F75 for £60-70ish - bought one for my Dad at Xmas with Reaper switches and really liked how it felt. It's tri-mode, with a knob, plus hot-swappable.
You wouldn't spend much less on a barebones board, so you'd get a spare/extra set of keycaps & switches to play with...
I've since put Reaper switches in my new keyboard (Weikav Stars75-S) and really enjoying the feel & sound.

Well I had some AliX coupons so I picked up a Leobog Hi75 Pro, some of the Reaper switches and a GMK Nautilus clone keycap set delivered for £72 inc VAT. Will see how it works out. Am sure my brother will be pleased.

I also fell down the well and backed the Wobkey Zen65 Ultra here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keeb/wobkey-zen65-keyboard
I saw they had a Rainy 75 ISO also for about £110 so I grabbed one of those also for myself. Again can always pass it on.

GregI · 3 Jun 2025 at 23:23

I thought I would ask here. I'm looking to get a new keyboard. I currently have a Corsair K70 Cherry MX and had that for about 9 years.

I'm looking to atleast try this hall effect rapid trigger stuff. I've heard some people recommend going for something called a sayodevice pcb but honestly building a keyboard from scrtach (and properly) seems like I'd just mess it up. Obviously the Wooting is something I know of but jesus it's gonna end up being £170+ plus tough to return.

Some other stuff I looked at has been DrunkDeer and Nuphy for around £120 which is upper on the budget range I would pay but there's just so much out there.

Raymond Lin · 3 Jun 2025 at 23:42

GregI said:
I thought I would ask here. I'm looking to get a new keyboard. I currently have a Corsair K70 Cherry MX and had that for about 9 years.

I'm looking to atleast try this hall effect rapid trigger stuff. I've heard some people recommend going for something called a sayodevice pcb but honestly building a keyboard from scrtach (and properly) seems like I'd just mess it up. Obviously the Wooting is something I know of but jesus it's gonna end up being £170+ plus tough to return.

Some other stuff I looked at has been DrunkDeer and Nuphy for around £120 which is upper on the budget range I would pay but there's just so much out there.

The one I was looking at was this Luminkey Magger 68

Magger68 Performance HE Magnetic Gaming Keyboard Ano-Black

Ultra-Fast Magnetic Pro Switch: Experience unparalleled responsiveness with the Magger68' s GATERON Magnetic Pro switches, offering a lightning-fast 0.3ms latency and adjustable actuation points from 0.1mm to 3.5mm. Superior Build Quality: Featuring a split top and bottom case sandwich...

www.luminkey.com

RedMogg · 3 Jun 2025 at 23:43

GregI said:
I thought I would ask here. I'm looking to get a new keyboard. I currently have a Corsair K70 Cherry MX and had that for about 9 years.

I'm looking to atleast try this hall effect rapid trigger stuff. I've heard some people recommend going for something called a sayodevice pcb but honestly building a keyboard from scrtach (and properly) seems like I'd just mess it up. Obviously the Wooting is something I know of but jesus it's gonna end up being £170+ plus tough to return.

Some other stuff I looked at has been DrunkDeer and Nuphy for around £120 which is upper on the budget range I would pay but there's just so much out there.

Search for:

"IROK Mars 68 Pro HE" (also available in wireless)
"Monsgeek FUN60 Max" (wired & wireless).
"IPI Flash68" (CNC Aluminium)
"Mchose Ace68 Air Magnetic"

Each have HE switches, customisable and mostly under £50 - they're a good, affordable starting point...

GregI · 4 Jun 2025 at 11:48

Thanks for the ideas. Why is everything like this have to be imported where the shipping costs are close to the price of the actual item.

Raymond Lin · 4 Jun 2025 at 11:54

GregI said:
Thanks for the ideas. Why is everything like this have to be imported where the shipping costs are close to the price of the actual item.

Most of them are on certain Chinese shopping site where it is often Free Shipping.

hornetstinger · 4 Jun 2025 at 11:56

Issue with keycaps is missing 3 £ and also make sure correct enter and shift key sizes.

I prefer the large left shift with the american keyboard, but I prefer the large enter key on UK keyboards.

Tecware Elite looks decent but it's american style

Raymond Lin · 4 Jun 2025 at 12:02

hornetstinger said:
Issue with keycaps is missing 3 £ and also make sure correct enter and shift key sizes.

I prefer the large left shift with the american keyboard, but I prefer the large enter key on UK keyboards.

Tecware Elite looks decent but it's american style

If your board is ANSI then there is no way to convert it to ISO.

You can get 1 off artisan keycaps but you need to pay attention to keycap shape, Cherry keys are most common, otherwise it will stick out weirdly to the rest.

I just live with the lack of £ sign on the keyboard, the £ sign on my Magi66 is still there, but the hashkey however, I need to press Option + 3 for #, Shift + 3 gets £.

CGrieves · 5 Jun 2025 at 12:11

Raymond Lin said:
If your board is ANSI then there is no way to convert it to ISO.

You can get 1 off artisan keycaps but you need to pay attention to keycap shape, Cherry keys are most common, otherwise it will stick out weirdly to the rest.

I just live with the lack of £ sign on the keyboard, the £ sign on my Magi66 is still there, but the hashkey however, I need to press Option + 3 for #, Shift + 3 gets £.

There's several mech boards with multi-layout PCBs around, so you can definitely achieve an ISO enter and ANSI left shift on the same build.

Raymond Lin · 5 Jun 2025 at 12:16

CGrieves said:
There's several mech boards with multi-layout PCBs around, so you can definitely achieve an ISO enter and ANSI left shift on the same build.

Interesting, I didn't know you can do that.. I know you can do arrows or no arrows.

t2na · 5 Jun 2025 at 14:28

Raymond Lin said:
Interesting, I didn't know you can do that.. I know you can do arrows or no arrows.

Neo 75 Cu comes with that on the hotswap PCB, first time I've ever seen it where you had the option of ISO enter as well as ANSI left shift, and 7u space too! Even had stepped caps & split backspace, was really impressive seeing it all on a single hotswap PCB.

hornetstinger · 5 Jun 2025 at 14:35

Impressed with the Aula F75, nice thonky feel, feels heavy, not rattly.

Have linear and tactile keyboards now.
Cherry (PBT) and OEM (ABS) profile keycap

TrojanWhore · 7 Jun 2025 at 01:46

hornetstinger said:
Issue with keycaps is missing 3 £ and also make sure correct enter and shift key sizes.

I prefer the large left shift with the american keyboard, but I prefer the large enter key on UK keyboards.

Tecware Elite looks decent but it's american style

I could get used to the horizontal enter key, but the ANSI 65 I bought was driving me a bit nutty for general use.... I regularly use the '\' key for drive/folder addresses and it was a 3 key combo on the US board.

I bought a keycap set from the main reseller of any and all things for about £23 and it has everything in correct sizes and legends (although the space bar is about 1mm too tall, there were a few others, but I haven't tried the other one the same width as I assumed it was just a different colour - only noticed the difference last week) - Sets that are 172/173 keys seem to have everything as far as I've seen.

Pred-edit: Having just looked up the differences in layouts, it appears the \ key is above enter on ANSI, I think on the board I have it was another tab key, though may have been because language was set to UK in Windows.. might have to experiment again some time! (but very happy with my ISO Monsgeek M1 75%

...except when I miss the numpad)