My custom TKL


It’s a return to my younger years.

I used to own an IBM m 101 back in the day, I think around 98 or 99, while I was in college. I joined the Navy in 2000 and left it in the basement of my old apartment because it used to make my old computer crash on boot, so I figured I didn’t want it anymore. SAD DAYS.



After many years of thinking about it, I decided I wanted to get one again, but I just wasn’t sure I was ready to dip my toes in that clicky sea... Until Mike Fahey showed off his collection: HOT KEYBOARD THREAD!



I fell in love instantly with some of those sweet layouts and keycaps.



It’s expensive.

A pre-built mechanical can run about 100-150 bucks for a decent model. 200 dollars can get you one with RGB LEDs, weird layouts, shine-through keys, the works. But the problem I have with those is that the good ones are rarely in stock, or are bought up instantly when they do come in. I’m looking at you Ducky Shine 5 and Vortex Pok3r RGB.



So then I thought to myself: why scavenge for one that has the switches I want but not the keycaps, or the layout I like without switches or keycaps I want, etc, when I could just make one for myself?



A custom build takes money. Lots of money. The parts alone (plates, PCB, switches, keycaps, LEDs) will run about 200-250 bucks depending on your supplier and layout. I chose a tenkey-less, or TKL, for my first build, since they’re very prevalent and I wasn’t ready to abandon my arrow keys. I got mine from 1UP Keyboards.



I also had to get a new soldering iron. I had one from my old Arduino days, but it wasn’t very precise which could lead to burnt out terminals. I didn’t want to risk having to buy a new PCB if I was being clumsy. So I got a new high quality Japanese temp-controlled model.



All told... I spent about 400 bucks on parts. OUCH.



It’s a gateway drug.

After I bought that model, I had to wait. Shipping from the supplier was fast, but some of the parts I needed came from a different company, which took a while as well. Then I realized I didn’t buy enough switches, which took another order.

That’s when my curiosity took over. What about other layouts, switches, LEDs, etc? Surely I would want to experiment?



Then I discovered Massdrop mechanical keyboards. Now I’m in line to have 4 custom builds done by the end of the summer, each with unique switch combinations and LEDs.



It’s time consuming.

The build took about 6 hours, all told. I had to break it into pieces as I waited for parts to arrive and worked on other projects. The last 4 hours was soldering about 400 different solder points on the board, as well as fix a few rookie mistakes (put in your stabilizers, if any, FIRST).






It’s incredibly satisfying.

I don’t know if I’ve ever been so pleased with any electronic device I’ve made before. I’ve crafted a few things in the past, but this is just so much more fun, probably because I got to choose each piece as well as make it aesthetically pleasing.



I keep having to convince myself to not buy another one of the same model just to use different parts. It’s not an easy battle.

