Same here. Tiered Maker space membership would definitely satisfy my needs. Another plausible solution is turning schools into community workshops at off-regular hours.
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That is exactly what happens over here in certain areas of Europe. I can even book a session over the Internet at the local university workshop.
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Hope that catches on in here, in California if not all of US.
- Make more use out of equipments taxpayers paid for.
- Accept equipment donations as well as allow storage of personal equipment in return for sharing.
Have you checked at some local libraries?
My local library has recently opened a public maker space. I haven’t really used it or even checked out what they have in much detail, but it seems pretty well stocked, with a few 3d printers, laser and vinyl cutters, and various other basic tools.
Like a lot of libraries, my library has also long had a “library of things” catalog for lending various helpful objects (including tools). I imagine that, if someone donated soldering equipment, many libraries with such programs would be happy to host it. Actually, some libraries might even go out and acquire such tools (with their own discretionary budget), if suggested by the community that they serve.
Here are some examples of what I mean from California libraries:
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I did while back but not recently. Thanks for the reminder. 
UPDATE: w00t! Local library has Makerspace. No desolder gun but I’m going to ask.
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Re-built one of those NightFoxes. I managed to find a 1/16" allen key in the bottom of a tool bag and got this thing open - I will say those screws are my least favorite thing about the keyboard. The PCB I actually kind of like, North-facing aside.
I actually re-built the whole thing in an evening on this lap-bench here - this random plank of wood has been though a lot of use through the years.
Some build details
This had a “True Fox” layout to start with - but the PCB supports a handful of different configurations. The plate doesn’t, but…
snip snip
A little PE foam…
A little force-break with plastic mask
Oh yeah! I tried Staebies on this build. Turns out the PCB also supports screw-in stabilizers - and after a little snipping here and there, the plate accommodates them well enough. The backspace sounds a bit off, probably thanks to the hastily hand-modified plate - and the spacebar is a touch sluggish - but something I do like about these stabs is how stable they are. Low rotation, possibly to a fault. If everything lines-up just right, these are on-rails - like the Enter key on this keyboard. If things don’t line up quite right, they’re either sluggish or awkwardly crunchy, like the Backspace.
Stab quirks aside, I’m pleased with this as a cheap keeb project.
8 Likes
Was thinking you could bling out the screws with some colorful anodized ones, but those usually come in metric.
1 Like
I was thinking the same…
I wonder if there are any metric-head screws with the same threads as those… at very least I can probably find some 1/16" ones made of something less soft. It was neck-and-neck whether that tiny tool or those mushy heads were going to give-out first…
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Just a fun little macropad project.
Picked this up a while back when it was in sale from Bolsa Supply. This is their Damapad in “Peach,” but it’s more like gold or rose gold-esque. Tossed some spare Aluvia keycaps on it and have plans to try to come up with my own graphic or animation for the OLED display.
I liked this kit because I didn’t have to solder the USB plug to the PCB.
The tolerances are pretty good, but the rotary knob can be a little snug, but there was just enough wiggle room to get things perfect before tightening the PCB to the top plate.
Trying to get better at this soldering business. These joints aren’t cold, just dull because of lead-free solder.
Went with Cthulhus on all of the 1U’s and did Cream Sodas on the stab’d keys as the Kailh black’s long-pole stems allowed too much teeter-totter action on these Durock V2 stabs.
While the additional rotary knob makes the pairing with my Olivia Edition Zoom65 redundant, no one can accuse me of not being a fan of excess😉
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Half-way through tapering-off end of Kailh Black v2 stems to fit Cherry Black bottom housing. As you can see with stems on the left-side, only needs tiny bit off the edge but difference in sound and feel is like night and day: mushy thud to solid smack.
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Momma ain’t raise no quitter!!
Went through and desoldered the rest of those atrocious switches and pulled the plate mount stabs.
I wasn’t expecting much for $40, especially after @Deadeye’s attempt at the same exercise of futility.
After lifting a pad during my last attempt to desolder these switches from this board, I took things slower and worked at making sure as much solder as possible was removed before I attempted to try to pull the switches. Several grueling hours later, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
I then went to work on testing the PCB to verify that pulling the pad didn’t do permanent damage. Looks like soldering in a Millmax socket was able to correct the damage I had caused.
I decided to use some extra Alpaca colored Durock V2’s that have just been sitting around for about a year. Since I figured this board was probably going to sound like garbage no matter what I threw at it, I figured that cheap switches would be the play. Cheap switches that sound good no matter what you throw them in? Sounds like a job for Gat Pro Milky Yellows!!!
After soldering was done, I looked over and saw I had additional plate foam from working on another board and tossed that in between the back case and the PCB after cutting it to size. After everything was screwed back together and the stock keycaps were back on, I have to say, for $40, it doesn’t sound too bad at all… 
Now, it’s far from my best sounding board, but for the price, it definitely impressive… after the hours of painstaking work, soldering iron burns, sore thumbs, and colorful language. 
Not-So-Ninja Edit: For transparency, and also detailing my journey in this hobby; turns out I had another bad/lifted pad. Millmax didn’t work on this one, so I ended up having to jumper one pin to another switch. Looks ugly, but worked like a charm!
Also, here is a shot for the plate foam I am using as case foam:
10 Likes
Great solution with the socket there - glad to see you went back to it and succeeded in rescuing the board.
Ha, well - I did spend a good while on the project, but I modded the plate with hand tools which kind of opened its own little can of worms. I think it sounds pretty decent for a $40 workhorse, my less than stellar stab tuning aside:
3 Likes
Morse code keyboard for field operations
This KPRepublic JJ40 with unusual key layout is half of my morse code (CW) keyer/logger project for amateur radio field operations.
What is still missing is an Adafruit RP2040 microcontroller unit with USB host, LCD screen, SD-card, real time clock and Li-ion cell. This will contain the logic for keying a transmitter and logging contacts.
What appears to be a space bar is actually an Enter key.
More oddities can be read from the keyboard’s QMK firmware file, available here.
I added four aluminium feet with rubber O-rings available from Aliexpress to protect the acrylic back from the roughness 
of nature. This also provides optional tactical 
lighting 
from the back LEDs.
Specs
- KPRepublic JJ40 PCB & housing
- IP56 dustproof Kailh Silent Brown tactile switches
- switch springs replaced with Gazzew 68g springs
- Krytox 205 lube on springs and switch top housings
- left over JWK stabiliser from my Ikki68 Devoted
- Krytox XHT-BDZ grease for the stabiliser
- KPRepublic WoB DCS keycaps
- YMDK 2u DCS keycap from Aliexpress
- Stannol 60/40% tin-lead solder ⌀1mm with flux core
- no PCB screws
- 3ℓ dry bag for rain protection
while hiking 
- USB Mini cable
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Rescued another NightFox for a friend of mine
- MT3 Cyber (base + novelties)
- “TrueFox” → “Aria” (trad65) layout via modded plate
- BOX Crystal Navies (5-pin polycarb version)
- TX V3 stabs lubed with 205g0 + Nyogel (actually used the wedges this time)
- PE foam in case
- Copper / rose-gold colored phillips screws
- Burger mounted (half / “open-face” - single ring per screw)
Some details
On a black keeb, I really like these yellow accents with Cyber. Also, I realized that the case screws used a standard thread - same as stabs - so I replaced the godawful 1/16 allen ones for some good ol’ phillips - and in a more fun color. Here you can see the keeb attached to the embellishing machine I run at work.
Here you can see my trusty lap-bench, the obscenely warm and low light of my living room, and the BOX Crystal Navies I used in the build. These are a less common version of the BOX Navy with a 5-pin, polycarbonate bottom housing. Aside from the pins, these have a punchier sounding click thanks to the harder bottom housing material.
Here you can also see the simple mods I made to the plate to accommodate a traditional backspace position and screw-in stabs. The only tool I used for that was a basic pair of flush cutters - which went a lot more smoothly the second time around - no bends this time.
This keyboard is for a seasoned weeb, so some thematically-appropriate vinyl decals seemed in-order. Tibetan burger-fox on the left because burger-mounting, and Rebecca from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on the right, because cyberpunk.
Not the prettiest solder joints, but they work. Here you can see the “burger bun” - I only used the one between the plate and case. There’s not a ton of give or anything, but it does more or less work like a force-break and dampen vibrations. It also serves to elevate the plate just a bit so that it barely sticks above the case, instead of sitting just below it and forming a tray.
No surprise - it’s extra crunchy, with the spacebar making a deep, satisfying “thunk”. I’ll post a recording sometime soon when I’m back home.
5 Likes
So nice, I bought it twice!!
Specs
- WKL Smokey Acrylic top case
- Anodized black bottom case
- Mirror PVD Dusk weight
- Tri-mode non-flexcut hot-swap PCB
- Carbon Fiber plate
- Owlstab V2’s (GS2 on housings, GS3 on wires)
- Parallel Limited x JWK Pewter Tactile switches (L+F)
- GMK Dualshot R2 keycaps (not “married” to this set on here…)
- THOK Titanium Sunset artisan
The PVD isn’t scuffed, it’s just the sheet I was using as a diffuser was creased
9 Likes
It blows my mind a little to see people still working with WhiteFox/NightFox from years ago. I still remember the hype I had for the second round after just entering the hobby. I funded the Kickstarter and got a prebuilt and was ultimately disappointed after learning more about keyboards. The hako trues remain the worst switch I’ve used to this day and the stab rattle was absolutely atrocious and amplified by how quiet the switches were. I had a grand dream about desoldering and switching everything out but…uhhhh got distracted by other things halfway through desoldering and it’s just been sitting around like that since… Still feels like a pretty neat part of the keyboard hobby history though so it’s kinda fun to see it resurfacing here.
3 Likes
~240 Kailh Black v2 stems getting coated with RO-59. Don’t need a lot to coat batch this size but doing it this way is sloppy so I’ll be doing 4 coats total. This is the 2nd coat.
Tip to avoid a lot of RO-59 getting trapped in crannies.
- Start with ~70 stems, making sure they’re coated well.
- Add more, 40 to 70 at a time. Stems coating each other like sweaty moshing concert.
These will be used like Tabasco sauce to liven up boring switches. Needs the long pole tapered for most bottom housing. Get long poles at Geonworks instead unless you love to grind.
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You need one of these:
“It’s not stupid if it works” 
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My wrists work well enough for now but that’s really cool. As to the wrist method, finding the right size plastic tub and noise were the hardest part.
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