My Custom Mechanical Keyboard 1.1

I built my very first custom mechanical keyboard about a while ago. It was a shift from a full-size, 104 keys, Cherry MX Red switches mechanical keyboard to a 60%, Gateron Brown switches custom mechanical keyboard.

After using it every day for a few months, I have tried and learned something more about this mechanical keyboard world:

• 60% keyboard is actually easier to use than I thought it would be. I’m able to work fine without physical functions and arrow keys.
• I don’t like the feel of tactile switches. Gateron brown switches work just fine but I think I like the CherryMX Red switches better. This is absolutely a personal preference.
• I also found a YouTube video of a mechanical keyboard build which shows how cool it is having black keycaps on a red plate.

So I decided to do some “tweaks” to my keyboard.

Research & Get Parts

I only wanted to change 2 things:

• Change from tactile to linear switches.
• Change the plate from black to a red one.

I found out that I have to redo basically everything because the work requires removing all the parts, replacing some with new ones, and putting them back together again.

With this fact, I could even build a new one instead but decided to still go with the current one. Building a new one sounds like a better idea. However, it comes at a bit more cost for a PCB and a new case.

Gateron switches are still my preferred choice. There are 4 types of linear switches from Gateron to choose from: Clears, Reds, Yellows, and Blacks which have less to more actuation weight respectively. I went with the Yellows (55g) which is a bit heavier than the CherryMX Reds (35g) and the Gateron Browns (45g) I used before.

Plates are easy to find on Aliexpress.com. This time I ordered a red plate from a different shop. It is not exactly the same as the black one I already have but they are compatible. My old plate supports only ANSI layout while the new one supports both ANSI, ISO, and other layouts. I like the layout and shape of the black one better though but in the end, it is not a big deal.

Left: new, Right: old (image: aliexpress.com)

I also order a set of yellow blank keycaps as I got a pretty good deal from buying 2 sets together with my colleague Ting.

Building

I skip the build process because here it is actually the same with the previous post, except there are extra steps of de-soldering all switches and unmounting them from the PCB.

It was a bit of exhausting task but in the end I could remove all switches without breaking any of them or the PCB. Breaking the PCB was my biggest concern.

Started by filling some main keys in.

New plate and switches are now in place.

The Keyboard 1.1

Here is the result. It’s a pretty subtle change but it makes the keyboard look a bit less boring.

Red plate is more visible in a good sunlight.

I put in a few yellow key caps I mentioned earlier for some keys. The purpose is to help to guid me of important keys.

• Number 5 at the top row. It helps with typing long numbers like a credit card number or a password that contains some numbers in it.
• The p key. I use Visual Studio Code a lot during the day and the most used keys are ⌘ + p . Sometimes I accidentally hit ⌘ + o instead. It then opens the OS’ Open File dialog which is way slower and is annoying. Having a yellow p helps me not to accidentally hit ⌘ + o instead of ⌘ + p . A big time saver.
• The other two are my function keys.

Gateron Yellow switches do feel heavier than CherryMX Reds. They require a bit more typing weight and I have to a adjust myself a bit too. Normally I am not a keyboard smasher so there are some times that I mistype it because I press the key too soft with my normal typing weight.

Admittedly, there are sometimes I smash the keyboard for whatever reason. It feels very good on this keyboard. I kind of like it :)

Although it is still not perfect, I am happier with the keyboard now.

The Keyboard at work.