Oh well.... after long long struggles to get me self a mech keyboard with whether to custom or premade .... finally have decided and pulled the trigger on Tecware Phantom Elite TKL .... with Kailh Speed Bronze switch .... after this .... my search for Cherry MX Green (3 pin) and Side Printed Key caps begins ....
Building a custom keyboard would be me next holly grail .... but need to find a PCB that can support dual spacebar configuration and TKL design .... and potentially usb-c .... hence this part need to go for a deep search .... bonus if could get it setup in ergonomic layout .... hahaha.... asking too much ?? maybe....

+1

yes, this trend is getting popular. i do hope more form factors will be covered also, like 60% to tkl, with bottom-plate or top plate mounting at least.

there is a hot-swap 75% pcb from ymdk at taobao, but the layout is ortholinear. hot-swap sockets are not compatible to solderable pcbs. due to the hot-swap socket design, the two sockets that are used to secure pins must be installed onto the pcb, but solderable pcbs do not have such openings for them.

tecware phantom elite tkl is less optimal at its stock configurations. you should use it for a while first, then start plan tuning it.

Tai Hao Midnight Sun in their own Cubic profile. Bye bye laser printed PBT, hello double shot ABS.

Profile is similar enough to OEM that I can still keep my steel and wood caps. Colours are very nice. Although there is some kind of imperfection on almost all keys. Many of them you can see the face is, um, smudged? Maybe just needs to be wiped down with alcohol or something.

The red F5-F8 feels a bit too much for me. Might get a dozen wood R4s for them and the media buttons.

maybe you should soak them in warm soap water for a bit, and rub them with paper towel.

there are a lot of little things about key caps, e.g. materials, thickness, profiles, legends, printing technologies used, and compatibility to various layouts. once you have tested most of them, normally you will stick to sets that fit certain criteria.

lai lai share share tips on the possibilities ... eheheh....

need to short each CC pins to GND with 5.1k resistor for the host to be able to recognise it

you can do the following:

1. lubricate the switches; (at least springs, side rails, sides of sliders)
2. lubricates the stabilizers; if you wanted, you can clip the legs of inserts;
3. put foam (usually 3mm thick) between plate and pcb;
4. fill up the space between pcb and the bottom case with foam.

you can find videos to do the above at youtube. you can do every mod progressively, i.e. one at a time to check out differences before and after each mod.

Just bought tecware phantom tkl rgb, my first mechanical keyboard, feels good man.

Malaysia Mechanical Keyboard Meet Up 2019 is set on this Sunday 10AM to 2PM at Bean Brothers MY (Linc KL) G-1, No.360, Jalan Tun Razak, 50400 Kuala Lumpur. here's the event post at fb: https://www.facebook.com/events/2475209169432250/

if you have some time to kill, feel free to join us.

Aw maaan. I can't make it. How often do these things happen?

usually it happens once annually. it's a casual meetup for everyone to share, try out, and discuss mkb related stuff.

as we all have different individual preferences, so we just bring our stuff and let people to experience if we want. to me, it's a good event for those who wanna have first-hand experience on various combos of switches, plate types, stabilizers, cases, key caps, form factors, keyboard constructions, mods, etc., from entry-level stock or modded commercial boards, to rare self-made hand-wired custom builds.

Soaking didn't work unfortunately. I'm wondering if it's some kind of 'stretch mark' from the double shot insertion or whatever it's called.



If I look at the keys that have more than 1 legend, e.g 1 and !, almost all of them have this kind of mark travelling from 1 legend to the other.

This post has been edited by niakulah: Dec 28 2019, 05:45 PM

er ok but i think this is like qc issues. i have tai-hao caps, but it's pbt, and with different colorways. i cannot recall if they have similar issues.

i have a Unicomp Model M buckling spring (IBM Model M clone)
use only 2 months, bought in USA, anyone interested?

Was afraid of that. Good thing this was from Aliexpress, I can easily dispute this; The system is quite biased towards the buyers.

Anyway, I've contacted the seller first to see what he says about it.

hi guys, i would like to ask, can we repair key from our keyboard at lowyat?

things is mine gigabyte force 7 missing the shift key ( i think my cat gnaw on it and now its gone. )

Guys, suggestions needed. My G-Pro kb keycap got crack and I find the replacement is quite expensive. Right now I search for new kb and my list are ikbc f/t/d 108 and ducky one 2 horizon/midnight for full layout. My budget is <450. The similar suggestion also appreciated.

oh ok. my practice is to request the sellers to help check the contents first before sending them to me. usually they really do that imo because so far so good hehe

you should contact quovadis123 or GRexer for this

ikbc f108 or ducky one 2 should be ok. check their specs and see which one fits your preferences more

summoning both heroes!