For me it’s my Singa V3. I jumped into this hobby with a full custom and was so stoked. I did a ton of research and settled on a Singa V3, 62g Zilent V2 Aqua switches lubed with 3203, Zeal stabs, and some fun Keycreative Spock keycaps. I followed build guides, tested the PCB, lubed and installed the stabs, tested them, removed the caps and completed the build. Turns out, when I removed the caps from the stabs after testing them, I pulled the wire out on one side of the back space and one side of the space bar. So they feel like shit and sound meh but still return and work ok. I have yet been able to pop the wire back in and fear I’m gonna have to desolder the entire board to resolve the issue. That said, I still love using this board and have a ton of sentimental attachment to it.
So glad you asked. This is the ugly duckling of flawed boards but I like it.
Lovable Because
It’s all mine including concept, design, custom parts, hand wired and QMK configured.
It’s a poor mans split (single board with separated keys)…my shoulders appreciate it.
When I built it I hoped I would like it. Turns out I like much more than I thought I would.
It’s got a little Red, White & Blue!
Flawed Because:
Crappy keycaps but nice keycaps to me seem to be a waste of money
It’s ugly
Still has a cheesy USB cable with the barrel on the end
It’s not finished…sitll need finish bolts on top and bottom
Less than artistic wiring job
The corrugate at bottom of board is to keep from scratching desk
Invest in new caps, a nice cable and some rubber bumpers on the bottom and it will come alive
I have a Solarized M65-A that is not one of my favorite boards. I built it with an LFK PCB so that I could use SMK switches, but I had to dremel the PCB a bit for it to fit… Not the neatest job. All of the screws on it are very rusty. And it uses micro USB, which is firmly last place among the three usual connectors IMO.
And yet, every time I take stock of the collection I decide that many more expensive boards need work, but I can’t think of a thing to change about the M65, other than the screws. The switches aren’t the very best, but they’re pretty damn good and unique as well (white clickies).
I really like this board. When I show off the collection, people who have never tried an expensive keyboard will often single it out as remarkable in feeling/sound among a dozen boards with different and often more expensive switches and a switch collection of ~150.
I have SA Pulse on it right now, but I have a set of SA Yuri on order that I hope I will prefer. With some new screws and caps, maybe I will stop thinking of it as a flawed keyboard.
I know those feels with Zeal stabs. I’ve had luck with pressing them back in with the curved tweezers, but it takes A LOT of fiddling. I now always give the top plastic “lip” that the wire clips into a little extra press to secure it.
The enter key on my southpaw where the stab wire came out (on both sides) is also a Zeal stab. I guess it’s a recurring issue with them 
Unfortunately, I already tried fiddling it back into place but couldn’t get it after a few hours. At least having it come out on both sides makes it feel even. But I’ll eventually get to desoldering all 108 switches in there… someday.
Mine has got to be my ALF X2. Buckle up and grab a beer, the story of how this became one of my favorite boards is going to involve some rambling.
The year was 2017. I had a fraction of the keyboards I have now; I had only built a few. Box switches were relatively new. Micro-arc oxidization (MAO) white was all the rage (a finish that was common before the E-white we see a lot today). I had recently bought an HHKB, which was also my first 60% (although I had a clueboard), and I was in love with 60%. The ALF X2 showed up on my radar, and I had to have it. I was drooling over that white finish, with the black buttons, and a BoW keycap set, it was going to be amazing! I ordered they keyboard. It was like $40 extra for MAO White, no matter if you got the top or the bottom or both in with it. I couldn’t wait. I ordered both in white. At this point you might notice in the pic above, it’s not white. Be patient, we’ll get there.
As I mentioned above, box switches were new (do you see the train heading for the wall?). I ordered the keyboard in the late fall. I was still in love with clicky switches, and started hearing rumors of “thicc clicks” from Kailh/Novelkeys. As soon as I heard about them I had to have them. That January I got to go to CES for work (first week of Jan if I remember correctly). I made time to visit the Kailh booth, and asked the nice lady there about the Jades/Navies. She had no idea what I was talking about. However, they had a box of little baggies of 5 or so of random samples of switches. She told me I could have a few if I could find what I was after. I scored two jades and two navies! I took them home and put them in a switch tester, they were awesome. I ordered them as soon as I could.
The keyboard came! I opened the box and… It was grey. The top was grey and the bottom was MAO white. Not gonna lie, I started swearing. I started to write an angry email. I realized I needed to chill and went back and checked my order. I messed up and ordered a grey top and MAO bottom. I paid an extra $40 for an MAO bottom that you couldn’t even see! My disappointment was immeasurable, and my day was ruined.
There’s another piece to this story. GMK Yuri. Around when I was graduating university this set showed up on (mass)drop. I ended up buying it, even though I wasn’t sure on the colors. I didn’t like the renders, but had a feeling that I might like it better in person. I got it and didn’t have a keyboard to put it on. That was the first time that ever happened to me. By the time I got it I was settled in an apartment. I wasn’t super impressed with it, but I also didn’t not like it. Underwhelmed is about right. I put it in the closet and sort of forgot about it. Also first time that happened.
So back to the X2. After a few days I got around to putting it together. I didn’t know anything about stabs and didn’t lube or clip them or bandaid them or anything at all, they were like some knock off clip in stabs. They sounded and felt like shit, but I didn’t really care because I finally had a box jades board! It sounded great (to me back then lol). I needed a keyset to put on it. I went to take 1976 off the norbatouch I had recently got. But does anything really match retro refrigerator better than 1976? probably not. I couldn’t do it. I remembered Yuri was in the closet. The match seemed right, a keyboard I was underwhelmed with and a keyset I was underwhelmed with. I used it at home for a while, and it started to grow on me. I couldn’t take it to work because I worked in an open office and it was way too loud. The guy on the other side of my bedroom wall probably hated it. He complained I was too loud when I was talking on the phone with my mom.
I was starting to like the board. And then another bomb dropped. The Jade switches I had were the defective GMK stem breaking ones (I measured to be sure). I took the keycaps off and just let the board sit for a while. First the keyboard failed me. Then the switches failed me. I almost wish I had just left the switches and never changed the keyset. After a few months I decided to rebuild it. We had an awesome desoldering gun at work so I could get all the switches out real fast. I broke one or two traces taking them out, but nothing major, it was fine. I had some zealiostotles from a failed dactyl build (I did a bad job wiring it and some of the switch bottoms got melted soldering wire to them (early zeal problems 
) I could never adjust to the layout anyway) so I decided to use those. They don’t have the same oomph that the jades did. They’re zealiostotles, so by definition they’re inconsistent. I didn’t do much about that and used almost every one I made. The pitch was different than the jades. It made me sad. I didn’t do anything about the stabilizers and they still sound like shit to this day. I dunno if it was the aristotle stems I got or what, but the keycaps are super loose on them. It’s not just because they were on the bad jades either, I’ve tried a few sets to see. I didn’t do the best job re-soldering it, the enter and ‘j’ keys aren’t straight. I seriously considered selling the board.
I decided to keep it. It had been out of rotation for a while so after a few months I started using it a bunch. There was a while there where it was in the back of every picture of everything on my desk, including other keyboard builds. Over time it grew on me. Over time Yuri grew on me. I don’t know how I didn’t see it initially, but it’s easily become one of my favorite keysets ever. The fiery orange just goes so well with both the light blue on the alphas and the dark blue on the mods. That orange spacebar is a statement of intent. It’s something special. I’m now ride or die for Yuri, in my opinion it is one of the greatest keysets of all time. I have a rule that I will only get one variant of any keyset. I broke that rule with mitolet, but now that I have the GMK version I’m ready to sell the SA version. When I saw the DCS ALPS version there was no question that I was getting it. Doubt didn’t cross my mind. I won’t sell GMK Yuri.
Once I came to terms with the keyboard I came to love it as well. The design was and still is unique, in a time when there are so many 60% boards out there. The buttons at the top are not something I’ve seen since. It was so faithful to the original HHKB that it has a USB hub and three ports at the top which I don’t think I’ve ever actually used (the prototype said HHKB in the bottom right, thank god mine doesn’t). The dip at the bottom is a defining feature. The back is interesting as well. The brass weight is held in by a clear piece of plastic over it, which always seemed kinda janky to me. I’ve heard the MAO is prone to scratching, but I baby it and haven’t found out. It’s sad that ALF’s story in the keyboard community ended the way it did, because I think this ended up being a truly special board, and will always hold a place in my heart. I got the ALF X3 on the strength of this board (it isn’t as cool) (but it still is cool).
Other keyboards have come and gone over that last few years, but this one will stay with me always. I hadn’t used it in a while, but pulled it off the rack when I started thinking of writing about it. I just wrote this entire thing on it. It’s not a layout I like as much these days, but I still really enjoyed it. I hope my roommate was able to fall asleep 
I think this is the only board I have with clicky switches anymore, and you know what? It’s awesome. I even love the color of the board now. Who else out there payed $40 to get a white bottom you can’t even see? I bet it’s unique. That’s a flex.
Could I fix it? Sure. I could rebuild it with plate foam and tealios and C3 stabs and it would be amazing. I bet I could even get it cerakoted white or something. But it’s amazing how it is now. Some days you just need a clicky board and all that matters is that glorious audible feedback.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Sorry for the full book about this keyboard, I hadn’t used it in a while, and pulling it out got me nostalgic. I should write more, this was cathartic. Maybe it was more for me than you. It’s been a long week.
Flaws:
- Some misaligned keys, especially enter
- I really prefer split backspace and full size right shift
- the stabs sound and feel terrible
- Keycaps are super loose, you can pull them off by hand very easily, no puller needed
Anyway TLDR: I built it with bad switches and the stabs are bad and some of the keys are misaligned but I still love it.
Same thing for me with the stabs on my first jades build. I’ve been wondering if I could squirt some dielectric grease in there without taking it apart but I would need some kind of nozzle.
My Yuri SA just shipped. I’m stoked 
Nice dude, that’s gonna be awesome! I was going to go for SA but it wasn’t R3 and I think these days I’m just not gonna get another fully sculpted SA set.
How about a keyset that is flawed, but you still love. Just got my replacement spacebars for Sanctuary Rebirth, while the 6.25 is much better, & even the 7u is better than ones I received originally. Alas the new 7u still binds some. Nothing terrible, it does return even with 62g springs, but it is definitely forcing the stab sliders either in or out slightly cause a slower rebound than a perfectly straight bar. Not gonna bother TKC for another as they were nice enough to get me replacements & quickly considering how many people have this same issue. Also I highly doubt there is many perfectly straight 7u bars that made it out of this run anyways so most likely I’d get yet another bar slightly warped enough to cause at least a tiny bit of binding & sluggish return.
Although even after all that I still really love the set as Diablo has been one of my favorite game series since the OG released & having Exocet legends is just so unique. So despite the spacebar problems I’d say getting the set was well worth it to me & I don’t see myself ever selling it!
Have you thought about taking a hair dryer to it? I’ve heard of people having some luck with that to straighten epbt spacebars. Maybe if you still have the ones that were real bad you got replacements for it would be worth a try?
I did take a heat gun to the original one & got it returning very slowly instead of straight binding, so improvements can definitely be made that way. This new one actually returns fairly quickly for a binding bar, so the binding is minimal. I’m gonna have to really take a good hard look at it & figure what ways I’d need to bend it back to get it straight. I know it has a small lateral twist on the left & a slight hump in the middle causing the ends to slope down slightly. So I might be able to pull it off! I’ll give it shot sometime this weekend, cause I’m off & let you know how it goes bud. What kills me though is this is on durock stabs & ABS spacebars return perfectly with them on both builds I had binding with SR’s 7u bars, LOL!
Ok I have to put this in here as well. These white alps don’t feel as good as my blue alps (duh), orange or clikified black alps. They’re pretty clunky actually.
So they need a restore job but also, I think they will sound and feel better once I lube the springs and stabs. If lubing works out well, I may do the same to my other alps boards. Except for my blue alps. It is perfect beyond compare… ok except for the botched retrobright job, 
but other then that, yeah, pretty great.
Also, I wish I could find some black Alt and Ctrl keys that were the right size. I gueeeees I could paint them but don’t want to.
WASD Saga Part II
Ok, I’ve got another one. Just built this today. (you guys sick of me yet?)
This was not so much a planned build as just putting together parts that I had lying around + some sick caps I got in the mail today.
Extremely disgusting WASD donor I got off eBay for $39. The before shot isn’t very good as I took it off an old eBay purchase.
After
Bought one of the new silver CNCd aluminum cases off WASD. Put some phoenix stems in durok housings. Caps are GMK Denim with Honeywell Mild Pink accents.
What I like:
It looks kick ass! Very pleased. The case is great.
What I dislike:
Well… the switches. Honestly, I’m disappointed.
I am someone who likes clicky switches. My first board was a WASD with MX Blues. When I
discovered zealiostottes I couldn’t wait to put them in my board. However, they wouldn’t bounce back unless I put 67g springs in them, too heavy for clickies IMO. So I was REALLY looking forward to trying phoenix switches with 62g springs. If this was a successful build, I was planning on transplanting these into my original WASD.
Not gonna happen. In comparison, the zealiostotles feel much tighter, a good solid click. These phoenix stems are rattly, somewhere between MX Blues and the stotles.
On top of this, even with some drawer liner installed, the click is ear piercing, yuck. It could be the combination of the switches inside the alu case but I’ve got jades and box pinks in metal cases and they sound great, nice and thocky (yes clickies can be thocky in the right build). The box switches also feel nice and smooth. These phoenix switches? Poo. Ok, that’s harsh. They actually have pretty nice tactility but I’m after perfection here. These are not ‘Oooh yeah’ satisfying.
I really wanted to love these but I think box pinks are my favorite MX style clickies. I was planning on getting a black case from WASD but now I’m hesitating (because of the sound, not the quality. I would def recommend the alu case). I don’t want to get it only for it to ruin the sound of my zealiostotles. Right now they sound pretty nice in the plastic case.
What I hate:
Costar stabs. Damn them to hell.
What’s next:
This board looks great. I think the build has potential and the case is great. I don’t think clickies suit this build but with the right switches, it could be excellent. I’ve got tangerines, Hako trues and clears on deck. Any of those could be a good option. We’ll see. Oo, I’ve got some blueberries too, that might be a winner.
Amen.
Lube + bandaid mod makes them nearly perfect pretty good though !
I lubed them pretty good, the switch springs as well. The problem was the plastic inserts didn’t fit the caps tightly so not only was it a constant pain to mount the caps but they barely did anything to stabilize the keys 
How do you bandaid mod costars? Stick the bandaid in the hole?
I appreciate the perspective on phoenix stems. I’m also a box clicky fan that was interested in them.
my man. costar stabs can be modded a lot beyond that. First off, it’s not ideal but if you can glue your spacebar stab inserts into the keycap, that’d be ideal. You should also put lubed all around where the stab wire is inserted into the stab insert, I found that that really helps. Obviously, make sure to lube every place where the stab wire comes in contact with plastic. Then, put bandaids everywhere that the stab wire hits the plate. Hope that helps.
Zero chance of me gluing anything. More likely I will put some sort of film in there to tighten it up.
As I mentioned earlier, I did lube it all. I may add some bandaids here or there.