so the whole EC kit is $132? Kinda pricey, no?
I see now. The kit is pre-assembled. I guess they are saying on the page that since it’s a bit difficult to assemble for the average person, they’re currently only selling it assembled.
So you could do the PCB and plate and source the rest of the parts. I’m assuming the plate holes are not tapped.
PBT Fans Spark R2 is coming soon with a Katakana base kit option and an alternative accents kit.
I wrote to them a few questions and got some nice info:
The sliders & housings for the assembled kit, are their own that they are selling on their shop :
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ms9Upcy
Also they have their own domes:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOq8cWU
They don’t have silencing rings but said they were open to install them if you sent it to them.
Now the things get interesting:
Current stabilizers are Costar style one buy they plan to do a new iteration of the PCB that will support pcb screw in stabs. The pcb size has the same footprint and should fit most GH60 sized keyboards. Also asked if the PCB can be used with a daughterboard and they said yes.
Another interesting part is that I asked if they could edit a .dxf file to convert one existing mx plate file to support the housings/sliders&EC pcb and they said yes, just to send them the file and they will modify it.
So basically, I feel we are very close to the EC dream… get the new revision PCB with screw in stabs, add topre/deskeys/NIZ/SRZ Kbd store housings&slides, get a custom plate for one of favorite case boards and turn it into EC.
Right now there’s a lot of new info and questions about quality, feel, tolerances and case compatibility, and will probably put a pause on my quest and wait for more info and review from others, as my time is very limited nowadays.
Bonus: they also mentioned an 80% EC pcb
Those sliders look interesting. Any idea how they compare to Deskeys? price is quite steep if it’s just a knockoff.
A new, low priced 3D printed TKL from RNDKBD, the PLATKL:
It’s a gasket mounted hotswap board with underglow for $131.25 USD. Seems like a great deal to me, I’ve got two PLA75’s and they’re great to type on.
matt3o had a stream about MTNU with alpha and 1.25u modifier samples
Interesting concept. Not a huge fan of the cross on the right tho. Or the button on the right. seems like i’d it it with my mouse a lot.
I think the cross is supposed to be part of a + - control a la volume control (or at least look like it) but them being crammed together definitely makes it look like a cross. And I’m not surprised to see less, but better in some of the renders. It seems strongly influenced by that design philosophy.
this is better than my 65% macro keeb, now i have to purchase one 
Definitely a neat concept.
Not so confident with the USDM vendor selection though. I feel like they’re too new for a board this expensive. I feel like there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that’ll go for anything less than $500 with all the options they’re considering.
The name is also reminding me of a certain Monke who tried to wrangle the Topre Deskmat group buy with Kumamech/Polartech. An experience I look none too fondly on.
I bought Dolch Gicarh keycaps. Which turned out to be a scam. But I was able to get my money back. Through your bank.
Chosfox has an all-POM clicky made by JERRZI:
No clue what it’s like, but I’d imagine extra crunchy
They’ve also got their own, non-weeb version of the Lucy silent.
NovelKeys has a bunch of on clearance / flash sale, mostly special editions of NK65s and NK87s. Nothing’s blowing my mind here but if you wanted a nuclear-green keyboard with GMK Awaken on it, it’s available at a modest discount.
I actually kind of dig the Lucy’s colorway… I have yet to toss them into a board, but in hand they are feel pretty good. Don’t really have any other silent switches to compare them to, though.
I am kind of avoiding getting into the clicky switch side of things, as I think light-to-mid tactile is about as far as I can go with my sensory journey with keyboards.
As far as full POM switches go, I also have yet to try out my Clackbit switches as life has gotten in the way.
So, Invokeys has there Black Sesame switches back in stock as V2 and are pre-lubed:
Looks like Divinikey has a sale going on till the 26th.
Anyone up for a resoldering project? $30
$18 shipping aside, comes w/Halo stems so pretty good deal. Thx for the tip.
My bad. They’re not Halo but (Kailh Box) Hako stems. Urgh. Night and day difference in value. It’s still a decent deal though.
I have a bud that just asked me about building two 65% keebs for him, this works out nicely.
I can at least use the springs from those Hakos, too - I’ll rebuild a few of these.
