Also I gotta say, it’s incredible you can tell that just by looking at it!
No-stabs FRL1800-ish with the half-height clicky switches is done. This one came together fairly quickly, and in general I’m pleased with it. The biggest oopsie was in being too ambitious with the thinness I could achieve, which in the end actually cost me a millimeter or two of thickness because instead of an inset bottom plate, I had to gin up a slim but non-zero bottom case. ZMK is again proving very easy to work with, though I forgot to update the keycodes to include an unlock key for Studio, so I’ll eventually have to flash it again.
The typing feel on these mid-height switches is very interesting. They’ve come up a couple of times on Keebtalk. To refresh memories, they’re normal MX switches on the bottom, but the tops are vertically shrunk down. For these blues, there is no room for a click jacket, so they use a mechanism that looks like nothing so much as a ball catch mechanism for cabinet doors (or keyboard cases, LOL). There is a horseshoe shaped spring in the bottom housing, and a ovoid protrusion in the slider. As the slider goes down it expands the horseshoe, which eventually snaps back and taps the plastic to make the sound. It feels out of time in the sense that it’s so obviously not a clickjacket or clickbar. It just seems like you’ve stumbled on some sort of lesser-known vintage clicky, although I can imagine it might be somewhat reminiscent of Space Invaders.
I’m pretty happy to have a board with them around, and with the main challenge for this type of switch being stabilizers, my no-stabs tendencies are a good fit. I really don’t enjoy the SMD pads on the little USB port I used, and the part that goes to the MCU just didn’t seem to like me, but I was able to solder that end to some test pads on the Pi Pico, and I do like the cleaner USB port you end up with, versus mounting the MCU itself somewhere. The pen groove was sized to handle even a fairly chunky fountain pen, and it does its job while evoking the Silitek IBM membrane boards. I always thought the designs of those boards and the Apple M0487 deserved better than the mush they got.
EDIT: I just fixed the the two transposed caps in the pics. Happy hunting!
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One of the main things I miss from my small ergo keyboard is: no stabs!
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No stabs has been one of my favorite things about maining ergo boards for sure.
Haven’t had to research, buy, or tune stabilizers for years.
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I really like the USB port location - looks great on that little angled part of the board
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Built my 910 PC edition today. I know it’s crazy but I put some JWK Tropical switches in it. I’ve had these for years in a bag with springs to swap out, but just threw them in stock. I
actually like them. Weird how things change.
I tried to get a lot of photos of this one to capture details and colors
Here’s the full gallery on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYkEAxTDTJC/?igsh=MWdmcjRiaTlpbTRoeQ==
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I’ve had some of the parts sitting around for a while, but finally got my Classic TKL EC conversion built! Lots of fun and honestly pretty easy thanks to the DynaCap build guide and Hector VS’s blog posts.
- Proto Yellow Classic TKL
- DynaCap dry-lubed housings with medium domes
- Cipulot EC TKL X SE PCB
- Custom brass plate cut by Hype
- DCS Panels
- Matching silicon gaskets
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Wooww you have such a fun looking build and nice pics as well. Also pretty cool that someone made a Classic TKL EC Conversion guide.
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Saved! Thank you for sharing your build and the blog post. 
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The matching gaskets are a really nice touch, nice build
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My latest custom keyboard!
Neo98
Cherry MX2A Petal switch with tx long 16mm 62g spring
Stabies v2.2 Chocolatier stab
Keykobo Cinque Terre
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Which one is your favorite?
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Probably the Apple AEK M0115 (I’m typing on it right now). The switches are in worse condition compared to the others, but it just sounds so good!
What’s the model of your Pomodoro Cube?
Hey @Saul, I got the pompodoro cube from Amazon. Link below. It’s the Canadian site so not sure if it’s available elsewhere (probably US at least I’d think). It’s pretty good. The top face is the actual timer setting. There’s a volume setting on the side, but I find the high volume to be too loud for me, so I keep it at low setting. I was using my phone before and found I’d get distracted after I reached for my phone, so I got this. Overall, I’d say it probably improved my productivity by like maybe 10%ish?
Behold, I finally got around to rebuilding my Duck Raven!
I put a few more shots on my instagram. Lovely old keyboard. Definitely will be using it a lot.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ-ceQYkaRn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
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Those Duck boards have a unique identity and design language, too bad that they are not produced anymore….
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I also miss the classic Ducks and they hardly ever turn up on Mechmarket anymore.
I also have an irrational love for my old QXP.
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