The build based on the ten-buck CTRL is done, at least for now. After tape-reinsulating the first few columns that had relied solely on the Cat6 strands’ internal insulation (see photo from before my fix), versus the heat shrink tubing of the rest of them, I only had three shorts and one dead switch left to fix. MOA caps are actually very nice to type on, and thick PBT can never really sound bad, though the wonky legends and warped spacebars on this particular set explain perfectly well why I got it as cheap as I did. This one is actually sporting the bar from an old set of XDA clones because the MOA bananas were using up all the slop and then some in the cheap stabs and making them bind.
The various reds that I spring-swapped and lubed came out pretty nice and I like them as well as I do any other heavy linear I’ve tried though I suppose, like that time I made brownies from scratch that were exactly as good as ones from a mix, one does wonder if the time commitment was worth it even if technically the endeavor was a success. 
The 3D-printed spacer came out pretty well too and did indeed give me enough space for everything to fit into the case, and the USB port is working and seems physically stable, so mission accomplished there, LOL. The ZMK Shield Wizard made that part of it incredibly easy. It worked from the get-go, and this time I remembered to enable ZMK Studio.
