I’ll do some research, there is still so much I have to learn unfortunately in terms of components and their characteristics.
It’s true - though I think you have a lot more patience than I do! By the time I even knew what “plate mount” meant I was three keyboards in.
I definitely concur about the K-type’s hot garbage stabs - the upside is that they are very easy to replace. The K-type / various sized Drop equivalents use plate-mount stabs, so there are plenty of options available for superior replacements. Whatever you pick, lube them!
So basically what you are saying, knowing also what I’m going for based on the other post, that if money aren’t necessarily an issue to potentially but a ALT and just keep the case? I saw that one can buy just the case with the PCB. Are most PCB out there compatible with that case? They use plate-mounted stabs so no screw in which I understand are better but that because the plate is the actual case right?
Oh, I was just talking about making your K-type a little better - I don’t have any more advice in terms of your compact keyboard search at the moment.
The Alt is a fine product, but I don’t think other PCB’s would fit in its case without modding - and if you’re going to be building or modding anyway, starting with a board that supports PCB-mount stabs is definitely preferable IMO. I’m still on the hunt for my own personal perfect 65% myself!
Oh yes I could do that for sure, but I definitely want to go small form especially because I’m using my k-type as daily driver now that I’m working from home and it’s definitely too big for what I do with it, I d ouse 60% of it and occasionally arrows.
I honestly don’t mind their PCB, I’m just being picky on the fact if I want to install certain switches I will have to cut out the stabilising pins, for example, this setup seems quite tasty to me on a second thought and I’m contemplating copy it almost as is. I just don’t know if I want to give my money to mass drop though based on what they did to Hataa & Co.
I feel you about the stabilizing pins and about Massdrop as a company - I prefer not to do business with them either, personally. (Still - nowhere else to get Halos!) That said, I think Brian P. has a great build going on there, and the Alt really is a solid platform. (Quick note - you don’t have to remove all the switches or take apart the case like Brian did to change the stabs. All you have to do is remove the switch between the stab so you can get the wire past it and you’re good to go.)
While stabilizing pins are optimal both for alignment and not having to butcher your switches, I will say the CTRL I have doesn’t suffer from any alignment or mounting wiggle - the switches I just popped into it are more straight than the ones I soldered-in to my Durgod Hades.
A note about Zilents in particular - it seems the community generally considers them to be the de-facto best silent tactile (which isn’t unreasonable given Zeal’s proven quality) - but I have to point out an issue present in all the samples I ordered; out-of-spec resting position. Scroll down to the two bottom photos in this post and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
I don’t know if all Zilents have this or just the ones in my bag of samples - but I found this issue on almost every Gateron-manufactured silent switch in my collection. The main reason I mention it is that I believe it is an un-intentional result of how the top dampener is made, and it affects the travel and more importantly the feel of the switch. Even some of the linears feel tactile because of a “bump” created by the switch stem resting above its intended starting position, and sort of nestling-down into place before beginning normal travel.
No other switches I’ve seen (so far) besides other Gateron-manufactured silents (like Aliaz) have this issue - but not all Gateron silents appear to have it in equal severity; both the regular silent blacks and silent Inks I have do seem to rest a little high, but neither so much that the intended feel of the switch is changed.
Thanks a lot for the great and informative reply, there is lots of food for thought in there and it got me thinking for sure.
I’d had that you probably don’t have to but the halo from them when you can buy the hako from kono directly (I didn’t check the reviews for those though).
Yay for 40%s with dedicated arrow keys! That’s totally what I dig, too. (And currently also trying out 30%s. )
Also have one UT47.2, one Vortex Core (was my first 40%) and multiple MiniVans. I also have one Keebio Fourier which was my first split keyboard. I usually used it fitted together, not split… Oh, well.
Don’t have Plancks as I’m not that much into ortholinear layouts. Have the Zlant instead. (And I love the idea of an semi-staggered, semi-ortholinear layout like the Alpha28 has. )
Definitely need to make a group picture of my keyboard family once, too.
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