Hi guys, wanna ask out of curiosity sake.

I see lotsa discussion about the switches & keycaps, but I just curious if the keyboard board itself is important like would it matter if a cheapo keyboard swap with cherry switches would be much different from a branded unit that has the same switches?

This post has been edited by babylon52281: Oct 5 2024, 03:29 PM

Oh I see. Recent seen a lot of offers for Aula & Leaven keyboards and they are really cheap when compared with branded ones.

Anyone tried budget keebs like Leaven, Thunderobot, Zifriend, CPS? Any of these are good for beginners?

Heeyyy guys,

I finally plunged into the world of mechanical keebs.

Introducing the Thunderobot K104S, a basic barebones full sized keeb with ARGB and hotswappable Red Switches. Yup, it has all 104 keys and for only RM 99


My reviews usually are long winded but my brief usage is... its better than my HP office keeb, with the Red switches (Thunderobot, TR branded) & excessively lubed stems.


It has very vivid RGB lighting that shines thru the ABS keycaps seen here after I remove the top case (trying to look see how to mod)


Prolly will do a more indepth review (from a beginner noob perspective) but maybe in a separate tered so I do not overwhelm the page here. At least I hope it can be a guide to those who might be put off by the cost of this hobby.

I know decent keebs goes into the hundreds RM even just for 75% ones but as a beginner I think starting on a basic budget model suits my needs and allows me to explore more. Yes the reason for it being this cheap due to using ABS keycaps not PBT, and it doesnt have tri-mode or built in battery so its a deskbound keeb but it works for me, my PC dont travel so why should my keyboard be. For some reason the cable is Type C detachable tho.

Also doesnt get to the "marbly" or "creamy" or "thocky" feel/sound of those far more expensive keebs. But I am wanting to change that with more questions on modding later...

This post has been edited by babylon52281: Jun 2 2025, 02:52 AM

A fuller review of my Thunderobot keeb is now up
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/5526067

Bear with me as Im just a noob beginner at this.

Yea I get there is such thing as endgame keebs for those veteran keebers who knows exactly what they want and if such a product drops it would have perfectly suit their needs without much further modding.
These keeb makers also pretty much knows which target buyers their after so I guess they would see no reason to make it hotswap.

Question on case foam modding as I understand it gives a better sound profile to budget keebs like mine.

Im a bit confused which is the material to go with so I will just layout what I have on hand:

IXPE PE foam (3mm)


Expanded PE EPE foam (5mm)


Thin HDPE foam layer (1mm)


I do have concern if any of these will create static charge and kill the PCB as its not going to be shielded ontop of the case foam.

I got these free so I dont mind chucking either any after selecting the one to use.

This post has been edited by babylon52281: Jun 7 2025, 04:20 PM

It seems my keeb has 3 layer below the switches


And below it has quite a bit of space. I will use it for a while, get the hang of it, and see again if adding foam will help.

So far been to various ALL IT and Thundermatch has quite a few choices to test. For my case, last year I was in Tokyo so I had the chance to go test all I wish in Akiba. Particularly, Yodobashi had nearly all the keyboard models on sale with demo units to test. That was how I used them to narrow down the type of switch I prefer.

I go to their flagship stores ie Lowyat, Midvalley KL, Sunway, where they have gaming rigs setup, so I tried those gamer setup keebs as well some of their demo keebs. At lowyat theres other big stores got demo too; viewnet, sri comp, etc

Most petroleum based grease will turn brownish when oxidise and becoming darker as it oxidise longer. Once expose to air when use its only possible to delay rapid oxidation by stuffing into airtight bag with anti oxidiser agents (like in preserved food packets). So far I been doing that to preserve my CPU thermal pastes and afaik it works.

And to prolong further can store inside freezer (not fridge as it can create water vapour inside the sealed bag air unless its also vacuumed out).

Food grade is basically carbon based, in a way similar to petroleum based. Will faster degrade. More hardier grease would be silicone based. But this will also suffer dry out eventually.

Yeah I not too familiar with keebs grease, only work with industrial grade stuff on daily basis but they also share the same symptom of degradation as you described if keep too long.

I see some utubers using WD40 for relubing switches.

Here is a mod tip. I have been looking around for materials to mod my keeb and recently found that Mr DIY sells EVA foam sheets for RM 3.90



When compared to online sellers for bottom case EVA foam, their prices cannot fight above.

I noticed not all Mr DIY has this, but since theres plenty of them you can hunt around few shops will bound to find one.

For case foam such as above, what do you good folks usually used for adhesive to stick to the plastic case? PVA glue? Thin double sided tape? UHU glue?

Oh I see, so the idea is to make it not hard to remove ya. Then I might want to try gam sekolah (clear glue that squeeze from small bottles)

Heeyyy guys! Did my first keeb mod over the long weekend;

The long gist is here
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...ost&p=112164204

In summary, after few months using the Thunderobot K104S I still didnt like the linear switches that came with it so I changed those OEM TR Reds to Kailh Box Whites


I was nearly complete changing over until some issues made me stop to take out a few Kailh switches that I put on to find this


Long story short, I found out the rear pin is slightly bit wider than the usual Outemu types switches (inc the keeb OEM switches) which cause it unable to slot into the connector. That was why that rear pin was squished. Reading around I never heard that Kailh switches had this problem

Kailh rear pin width 0.9mm


OEM Cherry type switch pin width (both) 0.6~0.7mm


Lesson learnt.

Next mod I did was to put 2mm thick EVA foam sheet into the bottom case that I bought from EcoShop.


Cheap as dirt and I have a huge piece leftover.

Summary: I didnt realise keeb parts swapping isnt as universal standard and I would be more cautious next time I change anything, safe to say this huge surprise nearly ruined my appetite for modding and perhaps it was fortunate that I much prefer typing on those Box Whites to ever want something else for now.

Oh yeah, for those interested my K104S unit is using BYK 916-00997A MCU controller


This post has been edited by babylon52281: Sep 19 2025, 01:08 AM

What really helped me along the way was an online key tester that put on screen each key press at real time. Thru this I know if I had good switch connection and testing for any that failed (I found 2pcs that stop working after ~10 presses).

The tester looks like this


Also during the changeover they key press settings went wonky and I didnt know how to fix it so I reset the keyboard in Windows by reinstalling the driver


That solved the problem and the keyboard functions as normal again.

Hi, thanks for sharing your point. From my limited experience Im not really sure what would be considered 'normal' switch dimensions, however measuring some of those Outemu samples I have and the keeb OEM Reds, their about the same for both pins (0.6~0.7mm).

Kailh website & documentation didnt really mention the size difference altho their switch drawings (which omitted the pin widths) showed both pins arent the same size (in red lines)


I wondering if this a Kailh thing, or just the Box switches, or perhaps compatibility from one make to another isnt as drop in plug & play as I had assumed. I dont know much about keebs to know what is what really.

In my search for switches I find Outemu are widely sold and comes with a lot of variety types. These are super cheap to buy a few & try around (which I did on a key tester)


It also helps you compare the pin sizes of these switches to your keeb Reds before you buy the whole lot, so you dont repeat my mistake. Haha