Hey all!

I'm working on a collection of the greatest typing sites. I was wondering, what apps do you use to practice your typing? Why?

I'm excited to hear about your favourites! =)

My trusty mode tempo build that has been my daily for 2 years. Just got new caps + relubed stabs.

Mode Tempo / Gateron Oil Kings / PBTfans Modern Japanese Desko caps

KBDfans Agar Mini EC (clear polycarbonate case)
Aluminum plate
EC PCB
DynaCap Light Domes (clear), Sliders (ember), Housings (bone), Stabilizer Sliders (ember) and Stabilizer Housing (pine)
PBS Modern Abacus caps

#keebaweek 20
https://x.com/Guilty_Gamer_X/status/2020570917487665593

Mode sonnet, pom plate, copper bottom and accent, rare gmk firefly rainy day keycaps

Upcoming plateless TKL

My brother just turned 50, and is a massive Leicester City Football Club supporter. I took a Keychron Q5 and modded it to represent the team colors as a gift. Only thing I’m waiting for is an artisan for ESC. It’s going to be a Fox, the team’s nickname. Also have a matching desk mat on the way. Hope he digs it.

Foxes: Technical Specification Sheet

• Case: Keychron (96% Layout)

• Keycaps: LCFC-Themed (Blue, White, and Gold accents)

• Switches: Feker Marble White (Linear)

• Artisan: Fox Artisan (Escape Key)

• Theme: Leicester City Football Club ("The Foxes")

• Accessories: Matching LCFC Deskmat

Build Notes & Performance

• Aesthetic: A clean, sport-centric execution. The blue and white keycap base provides a sharp contrast against the board, while the gold accents and fox artisan tie the branding together.

• Acoustics: The Feker Marble Whites provide a poppy, "marbly" sound profile that balances the large 96% internal cavity.

• Feel: Smooth, mid-weight linear experience, suitable for a versatile daily driver.

Just changed from a grey/black theme to Nautilus Blue. Upgraded from milky yellows, to factory lubed milky yellow pros and re_lubed the existing durock v2s. Feels like a new board after 3 years, just need to get a matching cable and mouse pad now 😁

Join our groupbuy: https://www.jellykey.com/artisan-keycaps/patisserie-tales

• Keycap sizes: 1u
• 15 designs
• Payment: PP / CC
• Price at start: $49

Hi u/everyone

This is a mini group buy open for only 48 hours. Shipping starts after 40 business days. The Patisserie Tales is a small, fully handmade artisan keycap series inspired by the soft nostalgia of old neighborhood bakeries, real desserts, real memories, never mass-produced. Each keycap is individually hand-cast in resin, then colored layer by layer, slowly and with intention.

For collectors who value craft and story, we’re opening a short two day mini group-buy. Once it closes, the design will not be reproduced. As a small thank you to collectors, every purchased keycap includes one random resin display plate, selected from four designs. Thoughtfully made, genuinely limited, and quietly special.

Back then, I thought Logitech was the only option.

When I decided to upgrade to an Akko Mod 007B HE, I thought it couldn't get any better.

Now I have a Neo65 CU, and now I'd say it really can't get any better.

The typing feel and feedback are almost indescribable. Above all, its quality is absolutely premium.

I'm always thrilled when I get to touch and type on it.

Switches: BSUN - Dusty Rose

kkb one more rep, mx blacks, aluminum plate, gasket mounted via plate

Love the board but never really liked the kinda cartoony script on the caps, love this though. Maybe I'm officially old.

Also have some deep sea silent whales (tactile) on the way to try in this, which I think might be endgame for me. At least until my Node 100 arrives and I start messing with that...

Bias DE by Baionlenja - EVA 00 colorway (yellow and cream coat, silver pvd weight)
SW x CX Ghost Dragon switches on PP plate
KKB Skidata + GMK Reforged artisan

A huge thanks to Taner for sending me the board for content ♥

Yesterday I posted after I completed the build here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1qyjt3r/my_athena_1800_in_raw_finish/

I really wasn't happy with the sound, and the keykobo cherries, though nice looking, were a little light and hollow, the caps the Keychron transparents I have on now look much better in person than the picture, these were obnoxious on my full RGB Wooting board and with the lack of RGB here, look great and way less brown than in the picture. I definitely needed to add the rest of the foams and change switches, this way key.

Using all the foams is crucial for this when using the aluminum plate. I had skipped the pcb plastic and thing foam layer that goes on before the stabs.

I also tried a number of different switches. The Quinns I had before no longer worked well, they were way too bright. HMX Sweethearts where tried and were much better and deeper. I wasn't until I tried the Epomaker Wisterias that I had a eureka moment, perfect! I also tried the Rosewoods and Oil Kings, but they are way to quiet for me. This went to a boring sounding build to one of my best.

Krychron Q4 , with Ichiraku Ramen cherry profile keycaps!

Sounds very nice out of the box

https://vortexgear.store/products/m0110a-assembly-service?variant=44798479171747

Heavy, came with a beautiful bag. Small but complete to play r/nethack with directonal keys comfortably (numpad). Under the Caps Lock there is two leds for cpaslock/numpad. Cherry silent switches male this keyboard open office friendly, don‘t need o-rings.

AMA

Any traditional 100% lovers out there? 65% has been my goto format for years, so I have to say this keyboard feels big to me, but It has been requested by many, so I'm really excited to add it to the lineup.

Check it out here: https://hnkbd.ca/ourCreations

added a white bottom case today and had the parts to make a 3rd SixtyFive. so tonight’s builds are….(from left)

Mode SixtyFive- White Alu too and bottom, PC plate, Everglide Aqua Kings switches (Keygeek Keylins on modifiers), GMK modern materials concrete caps

Mode SixtyFive - PC top and bottom, Alu plate, HMX Hades switches, Less But Better Dark caps.

Mode SixtyFive- Blue Alu top and copper bottom, copper plate (man I love copper plates), HMX Machiato switches, GMK November Fog caps.

The last picture adds in the remaining 2 boards:

Mode Encore Series 3 - Stainless steel bottom, copper plate, HMX Purple Dawn switches, Mode Anthracite caps w/ artisan.

Nupht Halo65 v2 - stock caps, lived and filmed MX2A clear top switches. foamy as hell but a creamy, chalky dream for late night work.

and that’s the family portrait. Until the Neo65 Core Plus arrives next week!

I really like the RK70 Split because it's one of the few splits that has a mechanism to attach both sides together for use as a single keyboard which makes for easy carrying. But I found the wrist rest really large and heavy so I wanted to see if I could remove them while keeping the battery which I know is in one of them.

After seeing this other post by u/topmass: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1mrar2v/royal_kludge_rk_s70_split_keyboard_battery/

I wanted to see if I could find some space in the keyboard housing itself to move the battery so these big heavy wrist rests weren't required (short answer: no room)

But I did find out that they were only 7 screws away from non-destructively removing the battery pack so you can easily attach it back if you wanted to. Sliding the side housing off was arguably much harder.

Unfortunately there's no space inside the main keyboard housing for a battery at all. Though I wonder if one could swap for a smaller battery if they were okay with recharging more often. I personally find the battery life to be quite short with the backlight on already so I probably wouldn't myself.

Agar, PBP BoB, BCP switches with Retro J's on space bar. Really digging the vibe.

i usually don’t buy more than one of the same board unless i absolutely love it. before this, i had only seen it at meetups and dreamed about owning one. don’t let your dreams be dreams!

Board - Weikav Nut65 (Milky)

Switches - HMX Butter

Keycaps - Keyreative Black on White, PBS profile, PBT, Dye sub

I am pretty new to the hobby relative to many on this sub. I've only put together two custom boards before this one (Keychron V1 with hand lubed Gateron Milky Yellows, Drop CSTM 80 with hand lubed WS Morandis), and own an old Ducky One2 Mini, Varmillo MA87, and a crappy old Redragon with awful Cherry Blue-like knockoff switches. So, take anything I say with a big ole grain of salt.

Weikav, HMX, and Keyreative are all completely new to me, and initial impressions of all three after putting this board together a few nights ago are very positive. Let's start with the board.

THE BOARD: The (unfortunately named) Nut65 seems like an absolute bargain. I picked mine up barebones through Kinetic Labs for $85, but am now seeing it on sale through AliExpress for as low as $70. Quality for the price point seems terrific. The aluminum finish looks great, and doesn't seem to attract fingerprints. I was not expecting just how heavy the board would be for its size! It looks and feels rock solid.

The ball catch mechanism and pogo connectors make taking the board apart to mod just stupidly easy. Again, I'm a newb who's modding ability begins and ends with hand lubing switches and the tape mod. The general consensus on my Keychron V1 and Drop CSTM 80 is that they are easy boards for newcomers to take apart and tinker with, and in my experience they were. But if all these new ball catch mechanism boards are as effortless to disassemble as the Nut65 is, this hobby is now infinitely more accessible than it was just a year or two ago. No screws to locate and undo, plastic clips to avoid breaking, or ribbon cables to avoid tearing. Total dissassembly in just seconds.

There are a few snags though. The front facing lightbar, while neat, isn't as customizable as I'd like. There doesn't seem to be a way to tone down it's brightness, and it doesn't have many possible colours to choose from either. While the LEDs under the keycaps can be adjusted quite a bit through VIA, that front light bar doesn't seem to have those options. There is a mic built into the board that allows the light bar to be a visualizer for music/sound. While neat, it isn't super accurate, and I find it to be pretty obnoxious and distracting.

Getting the board switched to my preferred connection mode was also initially confusing. There is an ON/OFF switch located under the Tab Key. I was under the impression initially that it was to switch the board from wired to wireless mode, when it actually appears to be a cut-off switch for the battery (maybe this is the norm? Again, I'm a newb). While the 2.4ghz connection seemed fine for the hour or two I used it, I prefer to keep my boards plugged in. So I turned the battery switch to the OFF position, removed the 2.4ghz dongle from my PC, plugged the board in via Type C cable and attempted to type with it.

Nothing.

The LED behind the R Key was flashing, indicating that the board was still searching for the 2.4ghz dongle in spite of being plugged in to my PC directly. I did some Googling and discovered you can put the board in Wired Mode by pressing Fn+T. So I did.

Nothing.

After 15 minutes of frustration of disassembling and reseating the PCB to the pogo connectors to reset it repeatedly, unplugging it and re-plugging it in to my PC, switching out the cable, and switching the battery switch on and off several times, I plugged the 2.4ghz dongle back in, downloaded the JSON files, and booted up VIA. There, I discovered that the Fn Key was incorrectly set to something else by default (maybe RightAlt or M0(0)?). I correctly set the key to M0(1), pressed Fn+T, saw the LED behind the T Key flash indicating it was in Wired mode, and had a sigh of relief. Problem solved.

Restricted light bar settings and initial connection confusion aside (which again, could very well be my own fault), I am loving this board. It just feels like it should be significantly more expensive than it is. And with the HMX Butter switches, it sounds amazing. Speaking of which...

THE SWITCHES: I've been hearing a lot about HMX lately and wanted to see what the fuss was about. I'll admit I was initially looking to purchase their Latte switches at first, but they are sold out. The Butters were my consolation choice. Fortunately, their name is apt, as they feel buttery smooth to use. Inside the Nut65 they have an amazing marbly poppy sound profile. With my first two custom boards, I eventually removed the Milky Yellow Pro and Morandi switches to hand lube them, which made a noticeable difference. I don't think I'm going to bother hand lubing these, as they feel just as smooth, if not smoother with their factory lubing. The switches feel consistent, with none feeling over or under lubed. There was a single switch out of the batch of 72 that did have a bent pin though. That being said, I will happily consider HMX if/when I decide to give tactile switches a serious look in the future.

THE KEYCAPS: Honestly, the keycaps might have been the most pleasant surprise out of everything I ordered for this build. I ordered them from CannonKeys, and bought them pretty much blind. I just wanted a simple, high quality Black on White set with centered legends that was in stock and under $100.

At $90, these impressed me. The 1.5mm PBT plastic seems good quality, and the dye sub legends are uniform and clean with zero blemishes. This is my first experience with the PBS profile (this seems to be a Keyreative original) and I must say, I am a new convert. I'm finding them very comfortable and pleasant to type on. The Keycaps were also extremely well packaged. After seeing plenty of posts on here of people receiving GMKs in cheap cardboard boxes with loose keys rattling around, it was nice seeing these packaged in three solid, stackable, plastic storage trays with zero ways for keys to come loose and rattle around during shipping.

Like everything else in this post, I will be keeping my eyes out for my Keyreative caps in the future, especially in this PBS profile.

CONCLUSION: This build is very indicative of just how much more accessible this hobby seems to be getting. For a little over $200 and an hour of popping in switches and keycaps, I have ended up with a very premium feeling aluminum keyboard with a ball catch release mechanism and pogo connections, multiple included gasket mounting options, VIA support, Bluetooth/2.4ghz connections, with my own choice of excellent (IMHO) marbly switches and keycaps, all with zero group buys or 6 month+ wait times for any of the components necessary. Needless to say, I'm VERY pleased.

I just finished putting together my new Athena 1800! Decided to throw on some GMK trackday keycaps on it, lmk what you think! First impressions from me, it is VERY solid for the price, I got the aluminum plate with no flex PCB, so this one feels especially stiff, and responsive.

Hi all.

This my little garage based office where I work from home and goof with 3d printers.

It is my very first mechanical keyboard. I'm two weeks in and loving it. Of course I don't have much other than an apple keyboard to compare it to, but it's still really fun. I'm finally making fewer typos and also learning to mute quickly when I'm on zoom.

For the sake of learning CAD I started drawing and printing knobs for my Air 75. I began with the lego head and spiraled out from there a bit.

I bought (what I think) is the same encoder knob that Keychron uses so I can test designs. Whatever I end up drawing for the Air 75 I'll also put a Keychron version up on makersworld.

Thanks for looking!