[Recommend] Good Mechanical Keyboard

[nez]

What's plate form?

A form inserted between the PCB & Plate.
It is already precut (but only need slight mod to fit)
I bough mine from carousell.

 

[Nuclear Boy]

A form inserted between the PCB & Plate.
It is already precut (but only need slight mod to fit)
I bough mine from carousell.

You mean 'foam'? I have a piece of that inserted between the plate and PCB already. Though it is made of felt, not foam. Also have foam put in between PCB and the case.

 

[gerrickchua]

Anyone got experience ordering kb from banggood before? I bought a TK68 bout a week ago but until now it’s still processing, seller haven’t even shipped out or anything yet.

Is this normal?

 

[nez]

You mean 'foam'? I have a piece of that inserted between the plate and PCB already. Though it is made of felt, not foam. Also have foam put in between PCB and the case.

Oh. It came with it or you diy it yourself?
For mine, I insert with form but still sound hollow. Only after the plate form that it would sound less.

 

[Nuclear Boy]

Oh. It came with it or you diy it yourself?
For mine, I insert with form but still sound hollow. Only after the plate form that it would sound less.

I bought one pre-cut for that keyboard off TB

It's not what I'd consider noisy, maybe it's a characteristic of plastic case. My current kb is also alu plate + plastic bottom, but only switch noises (Outemu Blue) unless I smash my keys hard, but doesn't sound hollow still. The bottom case is a lot thinner than the RK100 though, since it isn't hotswap and doesn't have a battery.

 

[XcoldstarX]

Just finished building my HEX 6.C

 

[Nuclear Boy]

Just finished building my HEX 6.C

Wow that's pretty silent. Had to turn up the volume to even hear something.

 

[XcoldstarX]

I went for a "as silent as possible" build.

Switches: Gazzew Bobagum (lubed the normal way, not Gazzew way, so there's less scratchiness)

I got custom cut 4mm plate foam and case foam. Did the Holee mod for the stabilisers.

 

[FroztSpectre]

I went for a "as silent as possible" build.

Switches: Gazzew Bobagum (lubed the normal way, not Gazzew way, so there's less scratchiness)

I got custom cut 4mm plate foam and case foam. Did the Holee mod for the stabilisers.

How's the key feel?
Outemu silent switches too damn mushy for me.
MX Silent Reds are slightly mushy but still fine.
Thinking of switching away from Outemu silents.

 

[XcoldstarX]

How's the key feel?
Outemu silent switches too damn mushy for me.
MX Silent Reds are slightly mushy but still fine.
Thinking of switching away from Outemu silents.

I haven't tried the Outemu Silents, but compared to the MX Silent Reds, these are a lot smoother and less mushy in terms of feel.

 

[noobzpro]

whats the best mechanical keyboard now. require backlight. thanks budget around 300-500

 

[Phen8210]

Those looking for full sized + removable cable can consider Hyper X Origin Alloy. I bought it at discount $159, now its $199.

This is a full sized keyboard that has a floating key design, sleek but solid aluminum chassis, RGB LED and removable USB C cable (Which is rare for full sized).

Hardware is solid, except for the stabilizers which are mediocre. However, software and RGB customization is lacking.

 

[FroztSpectre]

Keyboard finished building.

Full Album Pictures:


Parts:
Kit: Sky980 (Inclusive of PCB Plate Foam): RMB204
Keycaps: AKKO Midnight ASA Profile: RM249
Switches: 110x Gateron Yellow KS-3-X47: RMB98
Switch Films: HTV 0.13mm (120 pieces): RMB23
Stabilizers (Plate mounted): Everglide Panda V3 (5x 2u and 1x 6.25u): RMB55
Assuming an exchange rate of S$1 : RMB4.77
Total cost is approximately S$131.87~
Overseas shipping fees, cost of lubes, are all excluded in the above calculation.

Extra Mods:
- All switches lubed with Krytox 205g0, and springs are lubed with Krytox 105
- Stabilizers lubed with Krytox 205g0, and the wires are lubed with Peramtex 81150
- Holee mod on all stabilizers.
- Additional packaging foam added into case
- Tempest tape mod on the back of the PCB

 

[dreamaurora]

whats the best mechanical keyboard now. require backlight. thanks budget around 300-500

Top of the line off the shelf mechanical keyboard (of course all have backlight) at this budget:
- Corsair K95
- Coolermaster MK850 (this is my current keyboard and it's awesome, the RGB effect is really pretty)
- Das Keyboard 4
- Steelseries Apex Pro
- Roccat Vulcan Pro
- Drop ALT

 

[noobzpro]

thanks for the list. i have been reading around and it seems custom keyboards is the way to go now? with that budget isit possible? also what are the companies in sg which provides such service or can i order parts myself. btw im looking at full size keyboard.

 

[FroztSpectre]

thanks for the list. i have been reading around and it seems custom keyboards is the way to go now? with that budget isit possible? also what are the companies in sg which provides such service or can i order parts myself. btw im looking at full size keyboard.

$500 can you a very good custom full size keyboard already lol.
Don't think there's any specific company in SG that customize keyboards right now.
But there are individual sellers on carousell that provides such services though.

 

[dreamaurora]

thanks for the list. i have been reading around and it seems custom keyboards is the way to go now? with that budget isit possible? also what are the companies in sg which provides such service or can i order parts myself. btw im looking at full size keyboard.

Depends on your need. Do you game and use macros? Do you like fancy RGB effect? Do you need dedicated multimedia controls and USB passthrough? Then you should stick to those I listed above. You can remove the caps and use custom caps if you want more personalization.

Or if you want to build one from scratch you can get a barebone Drop ALT and purchase your own switches and caps.

 

[FroztSpectre]

Oh, just remembered that full sized custom keyboards are not very common. Most custom keyboards are using small form factors like TKL, 1800 (quite rare), 75%, 65% or even 60%.

I haven't seem much full-sized custom keyboards out there, but i know GMMK does have a full size kit available. Not the best option though. Taobao has budget full-sized custom keyboard kits as well. Quality is not as good as those $300 custom kits though.

Otherwise can always buy prebuilts and mod them directly to make them semi-custom.

Edited:
Oh, if you're looking for full sized keyboard because of the numpad. Have you considered getting a 1800 layout (see mine above) keyboard, it also has a numpad but way more compact (3 columns smaller than a full size). Otherwise, a TKL + a separate numpad "keyboard" works well too.

 

[XcoldstarX]

thanks for the list. i have been reading around and it seems custom keyboards is the way to go now? with that budget isit possible? also what are the companies in sg which provides such service or can i order parts myself. btw im looking at full size keyboard.

Check out the HEX 6.C. It's a locally designed full size southpaw (number pad on left side) keyboard. They are releasing extras for sale soon. I shared a photo and video of mine a few posts back.

Edit: The extras are being release at 9pm tonight.

https://hexkeyboards.com/

 

[noobzpro]

Thanks all for the replies. I'm now inclined to get a tkl and a numpad. I'm familiar with taobao too.

What pcb and casing do you all recommend. I'm looking at hotswap ones by kailh.

Is cherry switches still the brand to beat? Also with cherry still need to do lubrication?

Any recommendations of parts, much appreciated!