KBD67 Lite on sale

Febust has a video featuring the orange case:

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cereal


That’s me not even realizing these were in-stock instead of a group-buy this time.

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excuse me but what

*Ohh yeah it was in stock

Ha, I wasn’t expecting these to ship for like two or three months - it’s totally clear on the site now, but when I bought mine it was slightly less obvious the KBD67L R3 is in stock now as opposed to being a group-buy before production like the last two were.

The counter on there page looked alot like time until groupbuy. I have no knowledge in Keyboard GB’s but I used to do Metal Detecting, boy do those detectors go fast out of stock. (Fastest I saw was 45.6 seconds IIRC. Equinox 800 preorder, basically the Jelly Epoch of Metal Detectors)

curious if it’s better to go kbdfans or divinikeys for shipping to CONUS…when did you order yours?

I ordered mine around 4 days ago. Divinikeys does have a free shipping option, so it kind of evens-out. The last time I ordered something from KBDfans it did arrive quickly, but with Divinikeys you know it’s shipping from the US, so I’d say you’re more likely to get it sooner with them.

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I ordered mine on Black Friday and its set to arrive on Monday which isn’t bad IMO. Never purchased anything from Divinikeys but might give them a look.

Divinikey is a solid vendor for the US. Ordered quite a few times from them now & had nothing but good experiences with them.

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R4 is live!

…and it looks like this might be the last run for the KBD67 Lite:

Personally, I think it deserves to be a continually restocked product like the Tofu, but hey - they likely have something new and interesting up their sleeves for the not too distant future. They’re also sending it off with a nice $10 discount.

This round also has optional colored plates; I’m assuming they’re polycarb but it isn’t specified. You can also opt for a brass plate if that’s your thing.

Most of the images on the page are renders, but these appear to be photographs; to give an idea of the new colors:

Also worth noting; it looks like they’re offering the aluminum cases for this run as add-ons. You can get them in anodized black or grey, e-white, or mirror-polished. I have a grey one and I do like it, but I think the design is at its best in plastic and that there are likely better aluminum keebs if aluminum is what you want.

That said - if you like the idea of a modular platform that can be adapted to all manner of sounds and feels, well, the KBD67 v3 / Lite might be your bag.

In addition to the optional bits KBDfans offers, there are aftermarket plates available from a few different sources with materials including but not limited to FR4 and POM. You can go from the stock lightweight form to a seriously hefty aluminum case with brass weight and plate with a handful of steps in between thanks to the optional silicone weight for the plastic cases - itself also having an effect on the sound and feel of the board.

A selection of sounds from various KBD67 v3 / Lite permutations;


ABS case, aftermarket FR4 plate - TTC Wilds:


ABS case, polycarb plate, silicone weight - TTC Silent Bluish Whites:


Aluminum case, polycarb plate, brass weight - Techo Violets:


Aluminum case, polycarb plate, brass weight - *nixdork Boba U4Ts:


I’m working on an overview of this platform - I’d intended it as a sort of selection guide but I suppose at this point it will be more of a retrospective. :stuck_out_tongue:

For a group buy / limited stock product, the degree of customization and variability of possible configurations still impresses me. A lot has changed since this keeb first pulled dampened mounting down from the ivory tower - it’s downright normal to find a hotspot-free, nice-sounding, good-feeling keyboard for $200 or less - but you won’t likely find one with this degree of modularity.

You can ship-of-Theseus your way from a lightweight, deep-sounding travel keeb to a crisp and clacky desk-edifice - and I think that’s pretty neat.

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I hope those new case colours make it to other keyboard kits.

Right now, the affordable hotswap boards tend to have a limited set of colours, but R4 might encourage other manufacturers to adopt these other colours as well.

What is KBDFans shifting production to? More TKLs? A more expensive 65?

If I had to guess, I’d say the next generation / iteration of the KBD67 itself, or a replacement for it. The current is the third major revision that took it from top to gasket mount - I’d imagine what’s next is something to further develop the aesthetics or a different mounting execution.

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A quick note about one of the available accessories; the bottom silicone weight that goes in the plastic cases. That thing really changes the character of the board. Beyond the obvious of adding weight and removing open space for resonance, it also makes the typing experience significantly more firm.

I read on the R4 sales page that the bottom silicone isn’t ideal to use with the R2 bluetooth PCB; that it needs slight adjustment. I don’t know what adjustment that is or exactly what the issue is - but that happens to be the combination I tried. I will say the fit was tight and it did seem like the bottom of the PCB and the bottom silicone were being squeezed together. This is probably true with the other PCBs as well, if possibly to a lesser extent - I’m not totally sure how the R2 and subsequent bluetooth PCBs differ shape-wise. I will say it seems like I made a lot more errors when typing this way; it’s possible the deck was actually bowed-up slightly, tripping me up.

Anywho - the difference in firmness is real. I had TTC Silent Bluish Whites in a PC plate paired with this bottom silicone - and it was too harsh. The switches felt like the bump was too heavy, or maybe that the bottom-out was too hard. It felt clumsy, heavy, and unpleasant to me compared to the very same switches in my Portico. When I saw the note about PCB compatibility, I removed the weight and left everything else the same, and bam - the switches feel wonderful again. I’m curious to understand this with a bit more depth - but suffice to say for now that the bottom silicone weight has a good chance of significantly firming-up the typing experience if that’s your bag; somewhere in between the stock PC and available brass.

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Seriously right?!?

I do prefer the sound with the silicon weight, but sometimes I can feel a bit of resonance when hitting Delete in the left Shift key if I’m resting my pinky there to capitalize the next letter or something. I usually don’t feel that outside of tray mounts. It’s minimal, but I still sort of notice it from time to time.

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