I built a keyboard

I finally built my first keyboard. My Steelseries Apex Pro was slowly dying. Great keyboard though. It had some cool features like the volume control and different RGB profiles. Over time I started to use those features less often. I eventually got a DAC with its own volume control because the one on the steelseries stopped working. Some of the individual RGB lights started dying too. Then the individual keys started to not work. With all these issues, I knew I had to fix it or get a new keyboard. I don’t know how repairable a steelseries keyboard is, it looked complicated when I opened it. So instead of trying to fix it, I started looking into building my own so if a key died in the future I would know how to fix it myself.

I know a lady who started building her own keyboards a few years ago so I asked for some guidance and recommendations. She led me to a few websites and let me try some of her keyboards. I decided to go with one she had, the KPREPUBLIC Feker Machinic 02, Teeces Linear Blue Sky Switches, and a bunch of random keycaps. The keyboard main body part is a 96 or 98% keyboard. I want a 10pad. The Letters on my keyboard are from RoyalKeycaps. They’re the Unknow Pokemon keycaps. Also DDR arrows for the arrow keys. The rest are from Alt Customs, they were selling RANDOM color combos, all keycaps for like $7. So I bought 2 sets for the most color options. 

I bought everything little by little over time. When the switches came in I ordered a DIY keyboard kit that came with lube and tools to remove caps and switches. I spent 3 nights lubing 110 key switches. The KPREPUBLIC keyboard was delayed. I bought it from Amazon but it was being sold and shipped through a 3rd party and they were shipping it from China. I waited a few weeks but it didn’t come when it was supposed to so I bought a different one. The Glorious GMMK2. This one did come in and it was pre-built. I wanted a barebones kit but they only come prebuilt. I removed all of the switches and keycaps and replaced them with my own. It’s been great so far. 

It has its own software for RGB control and programming. The one thing I couldn’t get it to do is have a dedicated HOME and END button. I use those a lot. My bottom keys are different sizes then the norm so some of my keycaps didn’t fit. I have 1u size for right side Alt, Fn and Ctrl keys. They’re usually 1.5u. And my Del, Ins, PgUp and PgDown keys are up top, R4. Some of those keys normally come in R3 so some of those didn’t fit right up there either. So I used the original keycaps it came with for those weird spots.

I learned a lot from my first build. I’m still waiting for the KPREPUBLIC one to come in. It’s still saying it’s being shipped, I know it’s stuck somewhere so I’ll be patient before I go looking for a refund. The GMMK2 sounds good. I don’t have a strong opinion on sound or feel yet so I can’t say for sure that this is the best but it does feel a little smoother and a bit quieter than my last keyboard. Next time I’ll plan a little bit more on colors and Rows and all that. I think the GMMK2  is compatible with other software so I’ll look into that later. Hopefully I can have a dedicated HOME and END keys and maybe an easier RGB customizer. 

If anyone has any more tips or recommendations let me know on my socials!