When most people think of mechnical keyboards, they think of the standard Cherry MX switches that come in most gaming keyboards. But custom mechnical keyboards are a whole different world and can be a slippery slope into a rabbit hole of endless options and upgrades.
Despite this any mechnical keyboard enthusiast addict will tell you that the journey is worth it. The keyboard is the peripheral you use the most, so why not invest in a good one? At the core any mechnical keyboard can be modified to become a 'custom keyboard', whether this be by changing the switches, keycaps or even the entire PCB. The options are endless and can be overwhelming for a beginner.
One of the largest improvements you can make to a keyboard is lubing the switches and stabilizers (as werid as that sounds). Have you ever noticed when you press larger keys such as the spacebar, enter or backspace that they can sound a bit rattly? This is because the stabilizers are not lubed properly. Lubing the stabilizers can make a huge difference to the sound of the keyboard by removing the rattling sound. This is a common mod that most keyboard enthusiasts will do to their keyboards, although in my opionion it can be one of the hardest to get right.
As you can see from the image, mechanical keyboards can come in all shapes and sizes.
( The Owlab Spring a Arisu layout keyboard )
When customising your own keyboard, you can deciede to completely customise a kit or just buy a pre-built keyboard and modify it. The options are endless and can be overwhelming for a beginner. But at the core of any mechnical keyboard are the following parts:
- Case: This is the outer housing of the keyboard and can be made from a wide range of materials such as polycarbonate, aluminum, wood and basically anything else you can think of.
- PCB (Printed Circuit Board): This is the brain of the keyboard and is responsible for registering key presses. It can be either hot-swappable or soldered. Hot-swappable means you can easily change switches without soldering, while soldered means you will need to solder the switches using a soldering iron.
- Plate: This is the part that holds the switches in place into the PCB (especially for hot-swappable PCBs) and can be made from a variety of materials the most common being aluminum, polycarbonate, POM, FR-4, carbon fiber and brass.
- Switches: These are the mechanical components that register key presses and what will have the biggest impact on the found and feel of the keyboard. There are many different types of switches and manufaturers each made with differences in matierial and design which can affect the sound and feel of the keyboard, I will go into more detail later explaining the different types.
- Stabilizers: These are used for larger keys such as the spacebar, enter and backspace to prevent them from wobbling and rattling. They can be lubed to improve the sound and feel of the keyboard and in my opionion are one of the best things to modify on any keyboard to vastly improve it.
- Keycaps: They are what you see and touch when using the keyboard and are attached to the switches. They come in a wide range of shapes and designs the most common being the Cherry Profile and the most common materials being ABS and PBT.
As well as all of these core components, there are lots of other parts / items that you may want to buy such as lubriciant for the switches and stabilizers, foam to put inside of the case to make it sound more 'full', or tools such as a soldering iron if you choose to not get a hotswap PCB.
( An HHKB Layout Keyboard )
What different layouts are there?
There are many different types of layouts to choose from when building your own keyboard. These layouts are mostly refered to in percentages based on a full sized keyboard (A 100%). The mainly used layouts are 60% just the main typing keys, 65% main typing keys with the arrows, 75% which adds the F1-F12 keys, 80% or TKL this is just a 100% keyboard without the numpad and then finally the 100% which has a numpad.
Now these are just the most common layouts, there are many more strange layouts such as the Alice / arisu layout that was in the picture earlier, which is a layout designed to be 'ergonomic' (it just looks cool in my opinion). Or the HHKB layout which is a a layout that has removed the large backspace and has blockers where the control keys would normally be, suprisingly this is the layout that I actually use the most as much as the blockers are very much a gimmick I do enjoy the smaller backspace key.
There are probarly thousands of different switches that have been sold at this point but at the core mechnical keyboard switches can be split into 3 types, linear, clicky and tacticle switches. Linear switches are smooth with with no interferences as you press the switch, tacticle switches have a bump within them some of these range in the noticiblity of the bump, for example the most well known tacticles are Cherry MX Browns. However, many people believe these switches 'suck' due to how miniscule the bump is and isnt really noticible while typing making them feel closer to a linear switch than a tacticle.
The reason there are so many different switches available is due to all the different switch manufaturers and the variances in design, materials, springs and overall quality of the switch. This changes can vastly change the sound and feel of the switch, the only real way you can find out if a switch is for you is by trying it out, looks of companies sell sample packs of switches the other way is by watching sound tests / reviews of the switch but this can only show you so much as many other factors come into play for sound tests such as the microphone used.
If you deciede to build your own keyboard instead of modifying a pre-existing one you most likely will be buying a keyboard kit, these typically at the minimum come with the case, pcb and plate to give you the base to build the keyboard from with your own switches, stabilizers and keycaps. However, different kits range in what they include with some of the newer 'budget' kits including all of the parts you would need to build a complete keyboard.
In the keyboard community sometimes you will be fortunate and be able to buy something instantly as its 'instock' while other times you will be not so lucky and have to deal with something called a 'groupbuy'. This is when you are basically preordering the item, commonly keyboard kits and keycaps are normally up for group buys due to the manufacturing time.
Group buys can be short and be under a month but in lots of cases group buys can take upwards of a year and sometimes even longer. One of the biggest culprits of long group buys is the keycap manufatuer GMK who are the producers of some of the most popular (and most expensive) keycap sets.
The best way to stay up to date of the keyboard group buys in my opinion is just from youtube I would highly recommend Alextos as he posts great reviews of the latest keyboard kits and isnt afraid to speak his mind on the product unlike other some other youtubers.
Now you may be wondering who are some good keyboard kit producers, I won't go through them all but here are a few that I would personally vouch for:
- QwertyKeys for great budget keyboards.
- OwlLab an sub-brand of QwertyKeys for higher quality boards.
- Keychron a popular budget keyboard seller with pre-built / barebone options available.
- Akko a great manufacturer for budget keyboards, switches and keycaps.
- GeonWorks a premium korean keyboard manufacturer with a focus on reducing costs for the consumer.
Although these are all great world wide sellers of keyboard kits and other products you will most likely need to buy the other parts for your keyboard from a local UK vendor, these vendors mainly focus on selling the other parts such as swithes, keycaps, springs, lube and then occasionally they will have keyboard kits:
- protoTypist One of the largest vendors for keyboards & accessories.
- MechBoards A large older vendor for keyboards & accessories, but they lack some of the more popular modern items.
- KeebCats Medium vendor for keyboards & accessories
- KeyCrox Small vendor for keyboards & accessories
- MechMods Small vendor for keyboard accessories
This guide would of given you a basic knowlege regarding mechnical keyboards however I would highly recommend watching some youtube videos regarding how to build your own such as this one from Matthew Encina. Another great resource for information about this community is Alexotos's Website which contains a wide range of tutorials as well as a list of basically every keyboard vendor globally.
I wish you luck on your journey to joy and fufilment bankruptcy that comes with being appart of this hobby. Although if you have any questions or just want some advice on the topic please feel free to reach out to me on my LinkedIn or in our Discord Server!