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Keyboard Nut Thread

Was wondering where this thread went :)
Behold my takings from last years kbdfans GB. Upgraded my kemove shadow with some Kailh Box Dark Yellows and some generic 9009 dsa caps. Switches feel hella smoov - didn't expect to enjoy heavy linears this much. Also big ups to @PandaAttack1 for the stand! My iPad probably gets more attention with it than the keeb but I use it every day! so handy
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Anyone using a 60% on their MacBook/iMac?

What program are you using for your remapping?

I see sadly AutoHotKey is not supported on macOS.
 
Anyone using a 60% on their MacBook/iMac?

What program are you using for your remapping?

I see sadly AutoHotKey is not supported on macOS.

I used to some time ago, but I think I used a zsh script

EDIT: Here's the documentation for what I think was the way I did it, it's been some years since I last used a mac

 
So my buddy @DangerDwarf and I got our keebs from a mate in Straya today!

Top Sofle is mine and the custom 60% is theirs.

Really struggling to adjust to a split keyboard :p Both keyboards have Banana Splits and the 60% is lubed and filmed
 

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So my buddy @DangerDwarf and I got our keebs from a mate in Straya today!

Top Sofle is mine and the custom 60% is theirs.

Really struggling to adjust to a split keyboard :p Both keyboards have Banana Splits and the 60% is lubed and filmed
First time posting here but been quite the lurker, thought I'd throw in some extra pics I took

She feels and sounds amazing, spacebar pops got me feeling some type of way
 

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So my buddy @DangerDwarf and I got our keebs from a mate in Straya today!

Top Sofle is mine and the custom 60% is theirs.

Really struggling to adjust to a split keyboard :p Both keyboards have Banana Splits and the 60% is lubed and filmed

Lovely Keyboards you have there!!!
I tried adjusting to a Split layout as well, never gonna happen. As far as I'm concerned, unless you type for a living, Split is out.
It is not a thing that you can simply integrate into your casual usage IMHO.
 
Lovely Keyboards you have there!!!
I tried adjusting to a Split layout as well, never gonna happen. As far as I'm concerned, unless you type for a living, Split is out.
It is not a thing that you can simply integrate into your casual usage IMHO.
Oh for sure, thank fuck I type for a living then, I guess :p

The ortho layout has actually been throwing me off more than the split nature of the board, which I suppose is a good sign
 
Oh for sure, thank fuck I type for a living then, I guess :p

The ortho layout has actually been throwing me off more than the split nature of the board, which I suppose is a good sign
When I first saw the ErgoDox site my first thought was that you could use the left side as one of those game pads, like a Razer Tartarus. Interestingly those are also ortholinear.
 
Welcome to the madness and never ending wallet black hole. Very Nice board BTW!!!
Damn my wallet is constantly crying, can't stop myself from looking at new things to buy. Considering copping a hotswap DZ60 off ctrl-shift-esc soon as well since I'm still noob to soldering and got some milky yellow to try out
 
When I first saw the ErgoDox site my first thought was that you could use the left side as one of those game pads, like a Razer Tartarus. Interestingly those are also ortholinear.
I'm familiar with the ErgoDox! I plan on trying to use this board as one of those pads, but we'll see how successful that idea is in the long term :p

Ah well, that's how projects go
 
can anyone help me sell 68 novelkey creams hand lubed with krytox 105g0 around 2 months old
 
can anyone help me sell 68 novelkey creams hand lubed with krytox 105g0 around 2 months old

Since this isn't actually a sales thread, I am allowed to comment on the pricing of these switches here. Cream Switches can be bought for R840 locally for 70 switches, so I'd consider seriously looking at your pricing bud. Them being lubed doesn't really add a value to them, in fact I generally wont buy pre lubed switches due to the fact that many people do not know how to lube them properly. If I do buy lubed switches, I soak and wash them in alcohol to remove old lube and then relube myself.

Just some advice dude as I see this is your first sale.
 
ok cool. the thing is shipping would be around R200 making them cost more new, plus pre lubed switches are nice for a lot of beginners who aren't brave enough to lube there own switches. Will take what you said into consideration, just trying not to come out at a big loss
 
So I thought I'd give you guys my thoughts on some switches that seem to be super popular at the moment and for the last while. Please remember, these thoughts below are MY OPINIONS and not scientifically researched theories. If you feel different, great, good for you, I don't feel like turning this into an argument, so please, play nice. These are my experiences and can be so different to others, and we all know how personal switch choice can be. It's like trying to argue with someone that the best colour is green!! Which it is, but that's no the point!!

The switches in question :

The "FAMOUS/INFAMOUS" Kailh/Novelkeys CREAM Switches (FROM HERE ON KNOWN AS NKC's)!

I thought with such an amount of chatter on almost all forums, including this one, it was time for someone to take the plunge and give a solid quick opinion on these switches, and share my experiences with everyone.

Kailh/Novelkeys CREAM Linear Switches:

Contrary to popular belief, these switches are not particularly new on the market. They were announced in late 2018. They have just seen a massive spike in sales due to a famous Keyboard YOUTUBE personality (TaehaTypes - One of the most popular Mech Keyboard Reviewers/Makers/Designers) making a keyboard for another famous YOUTUBE personality (TFUE - One of the worlds most popular Fortnite players). This opened up the world of custom mechanical keyboards to a much wider audience, and especially the keycaps themselves. In fact, you can actually take this event (TFUE Keyboard) as the official moment when everything that had to do with custom mech keyboards became almost impossible to get your hands on, and the prices shot through the roof. It was always difficult to lay your hands on the stuff we love, and pricey, but things just got worse from here.

Back to the actual switches. The switches are Cream in colour throughout, which is actually a really nice look. It would have been cooler if they did the stems in a different unique colour, but hey it is what it is. These switches fall under the Linear segment of switches, and have a 2mm actuation with a 4mm bottom out. They have a force of 55g. They are manufactured from a material known as POM (polyacetal and polyoxymethylene), and these were the first switches to be made of this material from top to bottom: top housing, bottom housing and stem. This material is known for it's sturdiness. This material also has a specific characteristic of releasing a layer of it's own material for lubrication purposes. This has been marketed at "Self Lubricating", but this term is very misleading!! They will not feel like lubed switches after a little while, and in terms of Keyboard use case scenarios, these will probably never feel that much better than stock. Rumour had it that at around 20000 actuations, you would have broken these switches in and they would be way better than stock. I can confirm this in not true, as I actually sat one evening and tested this theory up to over 50000 actuations(Nearly 4 Hours and a very tired hand), and whilst they did feel a bit better, they were nowhere near what lubed switches feel like.

The cost of these switches locally is R120 for 10 switches, which is dead inline, if not cheaper, with international prices. It puts them in the mid-high segment of switches.

So there are two very different experiences with these switches when it comes to stock and lubed. Massively more so than any other switch I have ever used. Most switches out of the box are actually quite good, and are used in everyday keyboards with no issue whatsoever. NKC's are a little different. Out of the box, these switches have a very loud scratchiness to them. Don't get me wrong, they are still smooth and this scratchiness does not affect the operation of the switches per say, but it is very noticeable in terms of sound. In fact, sometimes while I was typing with them, the actual noise coming from the switches was actually quite hypnotizing, and you can easily get lost in the sound and feedback the switches give you. I did quite a few times. But. not what we are looking for in a switch, well, not me anyway.

Then, I lubed them. The difference between the stock and lubed switch is night and day. Please don't mistake this for me saying they were the best switches in the world, it's just the difference is massive. The scratchiness disappears completely, and I mean completely. The sound of the keys change completely. The feel changed completely. It is literally like having two different switches. The force immediately lightens up, the sound gets deeper and the smoothness cranks up a notch or two.

Sounds great right?

Well yes, and no. You see, these switches have received a lot of hype over the last year or so, and that hype can be either great for a product, or if it doesn't meet those hyped expectations, it can be detrimental. This kind of fell into the latter for me. Whilst I don't think these switches are bad by any means, especially when lubed, I also think there are better feeling switches out there for the same or less money. For me anyway. Would I be unhappy with a keyboard with these switches fitted? No, not at all. But it's definitely not the end game switch I was expecting or that they were hyped up to be. The feel of the switches was very smooth, but not the smoothest I have felt before, in fact quite a few switches feel smoother than this for me. The sound was also good, but not as "thonky" as I was expecting, except in a specific setup which I will discuss a bit later. The overall feel of the actuation was quite good, so no issues there.

There is also a weird thing that that happened to me while using these switches. I found when typing fast, I was missing presses while typing. I first thought it might be me getting used to them or later I thought maybe it was an intermittent PCB problem, but it wasn't, it was the combination of my typing style and the switches. And I have no idea why it was happening. I can comfortably type on heavier switches no problem, and on lighter, so I really never found out why it was happening. Even on different PCB's, Plates, Keycaps and complete boards, this still happened.

But their is one scenario where I found these switches really performing well. Stick these on a keyboard with a full aluminium/metal case and a gasket mounted brass plate with a heavy brass weight at the bottom, and the sound from these keys is really really nice. Then again, in this scenario, a lot of switches sound really really good.

Final thoughts:

They are good switches but they HAVE to be lubed. They perform well under most scenario's, but IMHO, I don't believe that these are the best out there with regards to what I have felt. The advice I would give is to try these on a Hot-Swap board and see if you like them. If you don't, you can move them on to the next person, but hey, you might find them to be your favourites, who knows? The POM "Self Lubricating" Marketing is a bit misleading, so don't rely on that at all. I did not have a single dead switch in the 70 that I got, and I had no issue with the actual operation of any of the switches at any point. I've now tried these in two very high end boards (Not Mine), and they seem to resonate a lovely frequency on metals. The more metal in your board, the better these sound.

Just for reference, I reviewed these switches in 2 different boards, a GK61XS and a TOFU 60 with Brass Plate and Brass Weight (All with Sound Insulation). I also got to feel them on 2 other boards for reference, with the same results and thoughts as on my boards.
Also, this opinion piece is not sponsored at all, and no one has asked me to do this write up, I just thought it would help a few people decide if they want to go down this path or not.

If you do want to get your hands on these locally, you can contact @ctrlshiftesc_za or jump on their website at www.ctrlshiftesc.co.za
If there were other people selling these in SA, I would also put them here as well, but there isn't, so tough!!!

Hope you all enjoyed and got some value out of this.
 
So I thought I'd give you guys my thoughts on some switches that seem to be super popular at the moment and for the last while. Please remember, these thoughts below are MY OPINIONS and not scientifically researched theories. If you feel different, great, good for you, I don't feel like turning this into an argument, so please, play nice. These are my experiences and can be so different to others, and we all know how personal switch choice can be. It's like trying to argue with someone that the best colour is green!! Which it is, but that's no the point!!

The switches in question :

The "FAMOUS/INFAMOUS" Kailh/Novelkeys CREAM Switches (FROM HERE ON KNOWN AS NKC's)!

I thought with such an amount of chatter on almost all forums, including this one, it was time for someone to take the plunge and give a solid quick opinion on these switches, and share my experiences with everyone.

Kailh/Novelkeys CREAM Linear Switches:

Contrary to popular belief, these switches are not particularly new on the market. They were announced in late 2018. They have just seen a massive spike in sales due to a famous Keyboard YOUTUBE personality (TaehaTypes - One of the most popular Mech Keyboard Reviewers/Makers/Designers) making a keyboard for another famous YOUTUBE personality (TFUE - One of the worlds most popular Fortnite players). This opened up the world of custom mechanical keyboards to a much wider audience, and especially the keycaps themselves. In fact, you can actually take this event (TFUE Keyboard) as the official moment when everything that had to do with custom mech keyboards became almost impossible to get your hands on, and the prices shot through the roof. It was always difficult to lay your hands on the stuff we love, and pricey, but things just got worse from here.

Back to the actual switches. The switches are Cream in colour throughout, which is actually a really nice look. It would have been cooler if they did the stems in a different unique colour, but hey it is what it is. These switches fall under the Linear segment of switches, and have a 2mm actuation with a 4mm bottom out. They have a force of 55g. They are manufactured from a material known as POM (polyacetal and polyoxymethylene), and these were the first switches to be made of this material from top to bottom: top housing, bottom housing and stem. This material is known for it's sturdiness. This material also has a specific characteristic of releasing a layer of it's own material for lubrication purposes. This has been marketed at "Self Lubricating", but this term is very misleading!! They will not feel like lubed switches after a little while, and in terms of Keyboard use case scenarios, these will probably never feel that much better than stock. Rumour had it that at around 20000 actuations, you would have broken these switches in and they would be way better than stock. I can confirm this in not true, as I actually sat one evening and tested this theory up to over 50000 actuations(Nearly 4 Hours and a very tired hand), and whilst they did feel a bit better, they were nowhere near what lubed switches feel like.

The cost of these switches locally is R120 for 10 switches, which is dead inline, if not cheaper, with international prices. It puts them in the mid-high segment of switches.

So there are two very different experiences with these switches when it comes to stock and lubed. Massively more so than any other switch I have ever used. Most switches out of the box are actually quite good, and are used in everyday keyboards with no issue whatsoever. NKC's are a little different. Out of the box, these switches have a very loud scratchiness to them. Don't get me wrong, they are still smooth and this scratchiness does not affect the operation of the switches per say, but it is very noticeable in terms of sound. In fact, sometimes while I was typing with them, the actual noise coming from the switches was actually quite hypnotizing, and you can easily get lost in the sound and feedback the switches give you. I did quite a few times. But. not what we are looking for in a switch, well, not me anyway.

Then, I lubed them. The difference between the stock and lubed switch is night and day. Please don't mistake this for me saying they were the best switches in the world, it's just the difference is massive. The scratchiness disappears completely, and I mean completely. The sound of the keys change completely. The feel changed completely. It is literally like having two different switches. The force immediately lightens up, the sound gets deeper and the smoothness cranks up a notch or two.

Sounds great right?

Well yes, and no. You see, these switches have received a lot of hype over the last year or so, and that hype can be either great for a product, or if it doesn't meet those hyped expectations, it can be detrimental. This kind of fell into the latter for me. Whilst I don't think these switches are bad by any means, especially when lubed, I also think there are better feeling switches out there for the same or less money. For me anyway. Would I be unhappy with a keyboard with these switches fitted? No, not at all. But it's definitely not the end game switch I was expecting or that they were hyped up to be. The feel of the switches was very smooth, but not the smoothest I have felt before, in fact quite a few switches feel smoother than this for me. The sound was also good, but not as "thonky" as I was expecting, except in a specific setup which I will discuss a bit later. The overall feel of the actuation was quite good, so no issues there.

There is also a weird thing that that happened to me while using these switches. I found when typing fast, I was missing presses while typing. I first thought it might be me getting used to them or later I thought maybe it was an intermittent PCB problem, but it wasn't, it was the combination of my typing style and the switches. And I have no idea why it was happening. I can comfortably type on heavier switches no problem, and on lighter, so I really never found out why it was happening. Even on different PCB's, Plates, Keycaps and complete boards, this still happened.

But their is one scenario where I found these switches really performing well. Stick these on a keyboard with a full aluminium/metal case and a gasket mounted brass plate with a heavy brass weight at the bottom, and the sound from these keys is really really nice. Then again, in this scenario, a lot of switches sound really really good.

Final thoughts:

They are good switches but they HAVE to be lubed. They perform well under most scenario's, but IMHO, I don't believe that these are the best out there with regards to what I have felt. The advice I would give is to try these on a Hot-Swap board and see if you like them. If you don't, you can move them on to the next person, but hey, you might find them to be your favourites, who knows? The POM "Self Lubricating" Marketing is a bit misleading, so don't rely on that at all. I did not have a single dead switch in the 70 that I got, and I had no issue with the actual operation of any of the switches at any point. I've now tried these in two very high end boards (Not Mine), and they seem to resonate a lovely frequency on metals. The more metal in your board, the better these sound.

Just for reference, I reviewed these switches in 2 different boards, a GK61XS and a TOFU 60 with Brass Plate and Brass Weight (All with Sound Insulation). I also got to feel them on 2 other boards for reference, with the same results and thoughts as on my boards.
Also, this opinion piece is not sponsored at all, and no one has asked me to do this write up, I just thought it would help a few people decide if they want to go down this path or not.

If you do want to get your hands on these locally, you can contact @ctrlshiftesc_za or jump on their website at www.ctrlshiftesc.co.za
If there were other people selling these in SA, I would also put them here as well, but there isn't, so tough!!!

Hope you all enjoyed and got some value out of this.

This makes me want to do a writeup of my banana splits, but I really do not feel qualified to do one
 
This makes me want to do a writeup of my banana splits, but I really do not feel qualified to do one

Do It bud.
These are opinions, and the more opinions we have of various things on here, the better the decision making process is for everyone.
I'd love to know what the Banana Splits are like, been looking at them for a while now!!!
 
I bought a 10-pack of NK Creams from CtrlShiftEsc to try out.

I've got Gat Blank Ink V2s and Tealios here, so interested in comparing each soon

I have a pretty good feeling I know what the outcome of this test is gonna be :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
Both of those switches are in my top 5!!!!
 
So I've had a few questions regarding Lubes from a few people, and why not just get Krytox and be done with it. People have also asked why try and manufacture my own lube, especially when it's easy enough to bring Krytox in from overseas. I know it's late in January already and there is supposed to be a "Lube Kit" launched from me already, but the honest answer is, is that I'm learning something new every single day!!!
The lube I have now is good, but it still has the inherent problem I have with Krytox, and this is the answer as to why I want something better than just Krytox.

Adhesion!!!!

As much as Krytox is a great lubricant in it's natural state, no matter which grade of Krytox you use, the moment you add vibrations to it, it starts very slowly running downwards. As keyboard users, we are effectively creating vibrations every time we actuate a switch, and we actuate it downwards with force and then the switch naturally comes back up. You'' notice that your switches start getting louder and louder after about 10000 actuations. This seems a lot, but trust me it's not!

TLDR: Reason I want something better than Krytox? Krytox eventually runs down the switch housing and becomes less effective over time!!

So, It looks like I might be able to fix this. You see, the actual lubricating part of Krytox is suspended in a liquid, and it's this liquid that runs down the housing, thus pulling the lubricating part of Krytox away from where we want it. So what if we could apply the Krytox in another type of solution, that solution dries off, and we get left with a film of just the lubricating part of Krytox!!

Well, Hold onto your socks, I think I might have found a way to do exactly this!!

Will keep everyone updated!!! I'm on a new mission, not to create something equal to Krytox, but better!!! And I think I'm close!
 
Well, Hold onto your socks, I think I might have found a way to do exactly this!!

Will keep everyone updated!!! I'm on a new mission, not to create something equal to Krytox, but better!!! And I think I'm close!
I'm pretty sure I read about that a couple of years ago. Was some milky lube you paint on and wait to dry which leaves a film of PTFE. IIRC it did not work out so well. The difference in coefficient of friction between POM and PTFE is not that great - but now you have a surface finish like paint applied with a brush, which affects the switch feel a lot more.

Apart from that - PTFE in lubes is (IMHO) just a marketing agent and filler - studies have shown that it does not really add much to the lubricity. Another avenue I have not explored yet that might be worthwhile is buckyballs.
 
I'm pretty sure I read about that a couple of years ago. Was some milky lube you paint on and wait to dry which leaves a film of PTFE. IIRC it did not work out so well. The difference in coefficient of friction between POM and PTFE is not that great - but now you have a surface finish like paint applied with a brush, which affects the switch feel a lot more.

Apart from that - PTFE in lubes is (IMHO) just a marketing agent and filler - studies have shown that it does not really add much to the lubricity. Another avenue I have not explored yet that might be worthwhile is buckyballs.

Couldn't agree more. If you leave just the particles of the actual lubricator behind, it will remove that silky smooth feel of an actual "fluid" in between the two surfaces. My aim is to replace that "fluid" with something just as soft, but with no flow to remove itself.

Also, agree with you on Teflon. Marketing all the way, except when it comes to High Heat applications, there it has proven to be quite a decent lubricator.
 
Was wondering where this thread went :)
Behold my takings from last years kbdfans GB. Upgraded my kemove shadow with some Kailh Box Dark Yellows and some generic 9009 dsa caps. Switches feel hella smoov - didn't expect to enjoy heavy linears this much. Also big ups to @PandaAttack1 for the stand! My iPad probably gets more attention with it than the keeb but I use it every day! so handyView attachment 60257View attachment 60256View attachment 60258
DIBS
 
Couldn't agree more. If you leave just the particles of the actual lubricator behind, it will remove that silky smooth feel of an actual "fluid" in between the two surfaces. My aim is to replace that "fluid" with something just as soft, but with no flow to remove itself.

Also, agree with you on Teflon. Marketing all the way, except when it comes to High Heat applications, there it has proven to be quite a decent lubricator.
Well, I'd love to see what you are cooking up then!

Yes PTFE is for high temp applications, there are plenty more slippery polymers with more desirable characteristics except where temperature is concerned.

The lube I was referring to was RO59 (I think).
 

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