Is Keychron K6 a decent option for someone who want a hotswap kit on budget?

yes

Read a lot of reviews saying the keycaps are terrible and the switches are basic. So as long I replace the keycaps and switches with something better, Keychron K6 can actually be good?

Yes. I started with K6 as well. Mod the stabs, changed the switches to lubed and filmed gateron milky yellow (bought the gateron browns and lubed them but wanted to try linears too) and using Metropolis-clone keycaps. It's a great board to start with if you are just getting into the hobby.

this is usually due to uneven wire tips, bent wire, or warped key caps. to solve this normally we try to make wire tips to point to the same angle and direction, tune the wire to be as straight as possible, then apply the so-called holee mod (reference videos about holee mod are as follows):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOSSqpHAws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDX-jwbqie4

here is another new one, called tailor's stab mod, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S61CynOwOc

basically all the above means to use soft material to make stab holes for wire tips smaller, so that the wire tips have less room for free plays. note that if the tape or thread is too thick or too thin, the result might not be what you want.

alternatively, you can also stick the foam/tape on top side of wire tips only, covering the whole tips. usually i just use 0.2mm eva foam with single-sided adhesive to do this.

edit: if you have a warped key cap, just soak the key cap into boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, take it out and press both sides until it's cooled down. if this still cannot fix the warped key cap, get new ones that are straight.

This post has been edited by horns: Feb 25 2021, 05:17 PM

everything is good once u r on a budget.
as long as u did something to a board, u spend more money to it.

after awhile in this hobby, my pov is all off the shelf board are more or less the same. bad caps, bad stabs, switch is another story.
apart from certain highly praised brands in community such as Filco, Leopold and Varmilo, i applied my pov on other brands.
so buy what u can, learn the mods and apply on ur board, n u go from there.

all in all, above are my pov. others might differ.

thanks for the tip horns! I wanted to do that hole-e mod but then decided to conduct my own experiment first.
Here's what I did:
1) Re-lubed the stabs housing and wires
2) Put extra band-aid on the plate to reduce rattling
3) Change the stabs
4) Change the switch for a stock Gateron Yellow
5) Remove the TX Film from my lubed Gateron Yellow

To my surprise, it was actually 5) that fixed my problem. Could I be that the TX film is causing the switch housing to be too tight and making uneven noise? It doesn't make sense but somehow it fixed my issue and my backspace sounds consistent and even now

yes you should always test different ways to fix issues

the part that no. 5 is the culprit might be possible, but unlikely imo. it's possible because the housings were not secured properly, or the switch didn't sit flush on the plate/pcb. (not because of it being too tight)

I'm honestly kinda surprised, now thinking whether I should just remove all my switch films. Too much work though for 68 keys

haha just do whatever you want that you see fit

i usually test everything with a hot-swap board first. (e.g., gk64, kbd67, or melgeek's z70ultra) starting with stock, then depending on time allowed, i progressively test the switches with different tunings. finally i will make soldered builds with them.

after i mod my k6, i've been happily typing on it since then.

What I did was

cut some eva foam to fit the bottom space

foam in between plate and pcb

change switches to lubed and filmed FFF linear

clip the stabs and lube them

change to some cheap china PBT keycap

It's amazing. Well amazing enough until my custom keyboard from the groupbuy arrive which is expected in a month or two.

Hello all sifus, ayam is trying to hhkb professional hybrid type-s anyone knows where I can get in malaysia or do know any retailers can do oversea order ?

fff is one of the better linear switches

right, the main goal about this hobby is always to find out better configurations for your board, so that it can give better typing experience to you, based on your preferences.

it's never about how cheap or expensive your kits, or parts are.

agree so much to that statement.

tho cant deny some expensive stuff is indeed better.

it really depends on areas that you're looking at. quality wise, expensive stuff are better, especially when they provide rare keyboard constructions. they are meant for collection purposes.

however, if you're like me, who wanna build reference bare bones from time to time, with new switches, new stabilizers, etc., unobtainiums like pcbs, plate options, will become a problem to the continuity of such projects.

well, i will still get some later on, because i wanna support the original creators, especially local creators. let's see if i had the luck

Hello, just wanted to share my keyboard venture.
1st mech keyboard was Corsair strafe with mx silent red few years back.
Heart started itching when 1st saw Logitech g915, what catches me was wireless, thinness, rgb, lightspeed.
Then discovered Razer bw v3 pro, went to lowyat plaza to get it, only green switch was available, bought it anyway.
Regretted after a few days, from silent red to clicky, harsh.
Then discovered hyperspeed multi device, basically pairing Razer hyperspeed mouse to keyboard dongle, save some usb port.
It didn't work with my basilisk ultimate, RMA case open, got RMA number, etc etc.
Bought Ducky one 2 sf mx silent red, like it, but no numpad, no f row.
Razer RMA returned, same issue, no pairing, fed up.
Out of the blue one day discovered I mistype a lot on "c" key, found out key chattering, open RMA again, this time I was thinking to RMA and ask for yellow switch.
But key chattering issue fixed without opening the keyboard, wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle, fixed, RMA closed. (multi-device pairing confirmed support only "new" hyperspeed device at the moment, old ones "might" get support in the future)
Trying to sell the bw v3 pro, no inquiries, decided to swap into silent red from my old strafe.
Done swapping, but later found out the rgb is not as bright as ducky. (razer pbt keycap suck, bought one set to replace bw v3 pro's ABS, better touch but dim rgb effect)
Swapping all keys back and forth from mx silent red and Razer 4 to 5 times now, few things happened.
Broke one of the bw v3 pro's mounting plate positioning pin, bending them back and forth is not fun. have to do it to remove pcb for cleaning, my soldering/desoldering skill sucks, better now.
Ducky one 2 sf uses 0.78A-0.80A on full white (68 key+2 under spacebar), Razer bw v3 pro uses 0.435-0.466A ( 104+4+1 logo), Huntsman mini uses 0.272A (61 key)
USB 2 max 0.5A, or else blue screen. USB 3 max 0.9A.
Razer's switch has light pipe, better lumens/efficiency. mx switches on Razer bw v3 pro just looked dull compared to Ducky one 2 sf.
At one point I was using silent red on left side and Razer green on right side of keyboard.
Playing with spares, I then put silent red stem into Razer's switch housing, it worked, but because Razer's switch housing's bottom is different, silent red stem's bottoming sound's like normal red.
End product is as shown.

Other things to note:
DON'T use K type soldering tip, unsteady hands with solder sucker will scratch the pcb. Use D type, not as sharp, good contact.
Don't "push" solder too much too fast into the pin, it will spill to bottom and to make a mess (to clean that I dismantled plate from pcb and broke one positioning pin.
Old switch housing cover will snap, new ones are more "flexible" "fresh".

Edit: I found one other switch, Kailh Polia with light pipe, Razer's supplier. It's tactile. Anyone know any other switch with light pipe?
Edit2: Razer's wireless hyperspeed response is similar to CM ck350, faster then Ducky one 2 sf.
tested with bloody's keyresponsePK software, have to raise keyboard height to match, have to apply equal pressure.

This post has been edited by Lucifer: Feb 27 2021, 04:24 AM

currently looking for tkl keyboard and prefer no rgb etc and end up with like 2 models so far..

leopold and filco i guess. so my question is, are these 2 good brands and which one are better so far? can i change the key caps later on like customization you guys have here?

also, can find leopold in shopee but cant find filco anywhere there. Where can you get or buy filco then?

as far as my knowledge goes, no one brings in Filco anymore so ur best bet is to get Leopold.
both are as good as each other with Leopold being easier to change caps due to it using cherry-style stabilizer.

anyone can correct me if im wrong.

Just go with anything obtainable, in this case, Leopold. Comparing Leopold around RM500+ and the unobtainable Filco, Filco comes with ABS keycaps while Leopold comes with double-shot PBT and Cherry plate-mount stabilisers which will be easier to change keycaps later on.

just go for leopold. in terms of values for money, i think it's better (compared to filco or varmilo):
1. good build quality, modifier keys with tuned stabilizers;
2. stock thick double-shot pbt key caps (1.5mm);
3. detachable cable;
4. local warranty;
5. standard key layout, so almost all key cap sets are compatible;
6. since it uses cherry plate-mount stabilizers, it's relatively convenient to change key caps.

leopold, filco, and varmilo are still undisputed in terms of good typing experience.