Where did you get those colored springs, from Taobao?

yes, i found them at taobao. i didn't get them.

for after-market custom springs, it's better to stick to tx and sprit for better weight consistency, and overall value for money. custom springs are not cheap. a brief check and you will find out despite strict qc to maintain +-1g deviation for tx springs (110 units per pack), they are still relatively cheaper than cn-made springs from famous brands like durock or ttc (100 units per pack).

This post has been edited by horns: May 3 2023, 02:40 AM

Generally I see people recommending using TX stabs as well. I recently bought a FLCMMK stabs in shopee that was advertised as no holee mod needed. After using it, I found out it is not true and I did have to do the holee mod to get rid of the ticking.

yes tx stabs are popular, because it's like with built-in holee mod. it supports pcb-mount only. fl-cmmk is plate-mount.

well, it's true. i don't apply holee mod to fl-cmmk stabs also, and they work fine. first, check and make sure the stabilizer housings are installed properly, sitting flush on the plate; second, make sure there is no housing wobbles after it's installed. (in short, check the installation) i lube all my stabs. note that not all openings for stabs can fit the stabs properly. the common fix is to stick tapes to fill up gaps to prevent housing wobbles.

in general, proper stabilizer installation is essential. well-tuned stabs can still perform badly due to improper installation.

Thats the thing. I did use the stick tapes to prevent the housing from even slight wobble, it stills tick. I thought it was the wire is not balance, but it is not. Finally I just did the holee mod and it solves it. That goes without saying that lubing the stabs is a must. I just use 205 on the wire and the housing internals like what is normally shown on youtube. lolx.

But that ticking once u notice it, it is very annoying. lol. Initially I did not want to take the stabs out to fix it, but finally gave in as it is just too annoying. lol

But probably it is my plate that is not good since from your experience FL-cmmk stabs do not need any mod. I will keep that in mind.

a wire that is not balanced might cause such an issue also. however what i do is to make sure it's relatively straight, with both tips pointing at the same angle, more or less. after lubed, the sound will usually be gone in my case.

to me, lubing is essential. in very rare cases when the ticking sound comes back, especially for pcb-mount stabs, i just inject lube into stem holes for wire tips. this usually works for me.

yes, the compatibility of cutouts and stabs used depends on our luck. this is one of the reasons people pick pcb-mount stabilizers, instead of plate-mount. during my previous part selections, i have come across plates with bad cutouts. it's impossible to install plate-mount stabs on them, and hope for the best. however, i think i can still file these openings to fit pcb-mount stabs, so i just keep them.

i'm not sure if you noticed this, but stabilizer tuning is one of the most important things to do to any board. once these long keys are tuned to your liking, you will have peace of mind, even if the rest of the board are not optimized yet.

I totally agree with that stabilizer tuning. This long keys that are wobbly and annoying are the worst.
And selecting a switch for the long keys to get the sound and feel you like also take some time.

I see that normally the long keys will use a diff switch vs the alphas as when I'm using the same switch, the long key will produce a sound that is so different vs the alpha that I feel is a bit annoying.

this is because one of the basic rules in mkb tuning is to make sure all keys behave the same way. that means despite the obvious differences, long keys should be tuned to behave like 1-u keys.

i use switches with heavier springs for esc key and spacebar. i like the kick-back force when i slap the spacebar hehe. the use of heavier switches for spacebar can be found in old soldered prebuilts. it makes sense because thumbs are the strongest, and most people rest their thumbs on spacebar when typing.

long keys are supposed to make different sounds, compared to 1-u keys. the key caps are different in size and shape.

Really awesome thread to read guys. Amazing effort.

I've had my black anodised KBD8x MKII with lubed zealious v2 67g for a few years now. Incredible board. It's like driving a limousine every day.

But now wanting to get into neovim in my advanced years, and the staggered qwerty layout makes absolutely no sense (even less sense than having to constantly reach for the mouse atm, it's finally driven me mad). Now I see why some insane people using colemak-dh and split ergo keyboards are not actually insane.

Does anyone here assemble these as a service? Apologies if it's not right to ask here. Looking for a corne or similar keyboard (would take any suggestions as I'm quite new to this form factor and layout), ideally wireless (as long as it doesn't have to be recharged more than once a week or even less frequently - not even sure if that's a realistic request?).

That's it. Part asking if someone can help with a keyboard, but also part asking for some advice or suggestions, because corne is maybe the most prominent board and I've probably missed out on some amazing alternative that one or a few of you might know. Thanks!

To be honest.
I feel krytox 205g0 on stabs to be quite useless.
These days I just use a lot of dielectric grease. Until it’s pretty much swimming in it.

I see a lot of pre builds doing it and so I do that too.
It’s messy, but requires way less tuning.

Works even on <rm100 budget kits.

This post has been edited by LegendLee: May 4 2023, 02:22 PM

I saw some guides also recommending just squeezing in those dielectric grease into the stabs. But it just look so "messy".
But saying that I do believe that the grease method does work as the grease definitely will cushion the wire in the housing and prevent wire knocking around the housing.
But I just prefer to keep it as clean as possible if I can help it.

Probably I should get some dielectric grease to try if I can tahan the messiness.... lolx

tx springs are usually relatively 'softer' in feel compared to stock cherry mx springs. i think this is also true for their other series.

from tests, tx xl 18mm 57g is relatively lighter than expected. i use this spring weight because this batch of jwick black v2 has a 58.5g (linear rated). lighter long springs are useful because they have relatively higher starting force compared to linear rated, so i can be more relaxng when i rest my fingers on the board. it produces a different typing feel. (like at slower speed during key travel from top to bottom, i.e., the flatter force curve) this is not obvious when you use tx 16mm long springs.

KBD8x MKII is a good kit.

all invented layouts serve their purposes in their ways.

i'm not sure if the split ergo guys in mymkb fb group can offer this, but you can try your luck asking them.



This post has been edited by horns: May 4 2023, 08:13 PM

Yes. It will look messy.
I literally just dip the end of the stabilizer wire into dielectric grease like how you would dip fries in sauce.

But it works.
While it’s also very messy, once you put the keycaps on, you won’t even know the grease is applied.

it's just different schools of thought (clean vs. messy) stabilizers in my builds are mainly lubed with krytox gpl 205g0 only.

however, excess grease treatment is a useful quick fix that can be applied when necessary.

edit: the grease method is a proven method to get rid a lot of unpleasant things in stabilizers. it's ok to just stick to that.

however, once you know more about actual causes of various things that happen to your stabs, you will learn to fix them accordingly, instead of just covering them up.

at the very least, make sure the installation is done properly, and check that the housings are sitting flush on the pcb or plate (meaning clips that are used to secure housings on to pcb/plate are installed correctly)

This post has been edited by horns: May 4 2023, 04:13 PM

sluggish spacebar might be caused by key cap walls being too thick, that leads to additional frictions during key travel, not because of bad installation or tuning.

this happened to me sometimes, when cherry profile key caps are used. i rechecked everything, but eventually the sluggishness was gone after i replaced just the spacebar key cap.

This post has been edited by horns: May 5 2023, 09:58 AM

this is my latest build (top), jwick black v2 and tx xl 18mm 57g spring.



as usual, gmk makes good key caps. everything is on point. however my ept kuro shiro r1 has a double-warped spacebar. i replaced it with spacebar from jtk zen.

edit: this build used fl-cmmk plate-mount stabilizers because i wanted to test the stock pc plate that supports plate-mount stabilizers. as suspected, openings need tapes to fill up the gaps, in the case of fl-cmmk stabs.

other than that, everything is ok.

This post has been edited by horns: May 5 2023, 12:05 PM

recently got wishing to try this JWK Black v2 linear switch. how it perform on stock state?

currently in wishlist:
JWK T1 Tactile
JWK Ultimate Black
JWK Black v2
Feker Matcha
Kailh Box Crystal Robin
Kailh Box Jelly Fish

all these i think slightly heavy switch compare to my graywood i using now.
as i go with the ultra light switch, gonna to try slightly heavier, to see how it perform.not sure which to get first to test

Just wanted to ask you, do you prefer tactile or linear?

jwk/jwick switches are famous for spring and leaf pings. you must lube them accordingly to minimize such noises. in short, don't use them at stock.

i use jwick black v2 and ultimate black as base switches for frankenswitches. (e.g., spring, stems, switch top, bottom housings; note that not all parts from other brands are compatible). they are at the lighter side of my spring weight range at stock.

also, there is no need to use switch films for these two. switch tops are tightly secured to the bottom housings.

For home PC i using full 75% with Graywood v3
For office pc, same 75% layout alphabet all using graywood v3, other all using MMD Holy Panda (clone)

so...for me linear and tactile both ok ahaha...
that clicky then not, to prevent noise pollute.

ah shoot, lucky i ask before getting it.
then i just aim for feker or kailh then.