These boards are often described using percentages - the larger the percentage, the larger the board - and common ones include 60 percent, 65 percent, and 75 percent. Since you’re going custom, though, you’re able to get into the more niche layouts, which are great if you want a really compact board and don’t mind having to hunt down some keycaps in nonstandard sizes. These cover a big chunk of the keyboards you can readily buy from mainstream retailers. There are two main options: full-size keyboards, which include pretty much every key you’d expect, and tenkeyless keyboards, which strip out the numpad. The first choice you’ll have to make about your keyboard is its size. But these are the most common choices out there, along with some general rules about what might work for you. When planning out your build, you have an almost bewildering array of options, and it would be impossible to try to list them all here. To put the board together I’ll need little more than a screwdriver, soldering iron (plus accessories like a soldering iron holder and a solder sucker in case you make any mistakes), and solder. Don’t worry, I’ll get into all these options in a little bit. You can get different sizes of keyboards (which means different case and circuit board sizes), different kinds of stabilizers, and differing ways that keyboards mount their switches.
It sounds simple, but where things get complicated are with the sheer amount of options available. The keyboard components will vary based on what kind of keyboard you’re building, but in simple terms, here’s what you’ll need:
So I found it really helpful to look on popular keyboard forums including the Mechanical Keyboards subreddit, GeekHack, and Deskthority to find their recommendations.Ĭlockwise from top PCB, switches, case, USB cable, mounting plate, soldering iron and accessories, solder, stabilizers, a screwdriver, and keycaps. The Chinese retailer AliExpress has a huge selection of parts, but it can be a bit of a Wild West if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Even Amazon is a little bit of a stretch. What you needĪ keyboard isn’t made up of too many parts, but they’re not something you can just pick up in a store. My soldering is by no means great, but I ended up with a functioning keyboard after just a couple of hours of work, and I think most people would be able to achieve the same. Some of the steps are a little fiddly, and if you’re not careful then you could end up breaking something that’s not easy to replace. It wasn’t too tricky, but if you’re going to try it yourself then you’re going to want to take your time. So I have a pretty good idea of how the assembly of a keyboard works, even if I hadn’t gone through the entire build process before. I’ve swapped out numerous keycaps, de-soldered and replaced the switches on a Das Keyboard 4, modified an Apple Extended Keyboard II to work over USB, and I’ve even installed a customizable microcontroller in a Filco Majestouch 2. I’ve modified plenty of keyboards in the past. This was my first time building a keyboard from scratch, but I’m not a complete beginner. I built a board with a 75 percent layout, so it omits the numpad, and squeezes the arrow keys and function row into a compact layout. But at the end of the process you’ll end up with something that’s completely individual to you and your needs, whether it’s typing, gaming, or some horrific Frankenstein mix of the two (here’s to you Typing of the Dead: Overkill). The components can be expensive, you’ll need to do a lot of soldering, and there’s every chance you might break something if you’re not careful. For the ultimate bespoke keyboard, you have to build one from scratch. Modifying an existing keyboard will only get you so far, though. You can buy different keycaps, change their mechanical switches, and in some cases even swap out their USB cables or microcontrollers to get a keyboard that’s tailored to your preferences. For a lot of people, however, much of their appeal comes from customizability. Some people like how long they last, others like the way they feel, and plenty of people claim that their tactile feedback makes them easier to use. Depending on who you ask, mechanical keyboards have any number of benefits.