I got some stabs today. So now I could make some frankenstabs™ 
This color OCD is going to bankrupt me.
This color OCD is going to bankrupt me.
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This is something I never thought of with the reverse dyesub process! That does look pretty gross with LEDs shining (I don’t use LEDs, like at all so I never noticed this), although that is a unavoidable issue with the process so we can’t blame Infinikey for that. The double F11s & warped ass spacebars on the other hand… 
I do agree though, the Sanctuary Rebirth sets could’ve been tighter, I had to order red GMK spacebars for my set cause the original & replacement 6.25u/7u spacebars were all warped for me. I gave them a second chance with Aether, but that’s was more to support Alexotos than get another Infinikey set TBH.
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Buttered Eggs …er, Silk Yellows
Initial impressions straight from the bag are very positive. I have one in a tester next to these, all in whatever state of lube they do or don’t come with:
- Tangerine
- Tealio
- Ink Black
- Cream
- Creamy Ink
- Geekmaker
- Everglide
- Cream Sherry**
I’m not going to tell you that the Silk is flat-out the best, but it’s easily among the best.
To my senses, the smoothness of the Silk is a hair better than that of the Tealio - which is genuinely impressive considering the latter is right around twice the price. I think I might prefer the Silk’s higher-pitched but slightly more smooth / less noisy sound.
Still, I think the Creamy Ink has it beat in the sound and bottom-out feel departments - the Silk Yellows do have some spring rattle. I believe the Creamy Inks would be more consistently smooth “out of the box” as well, because their smoothness relies more on the materials vs the Silks relying on high quality, if inconsistently applied lube - above average as the factory application may be.
So far, the Silk is looking like a killer value for someone that wants a really smooth switch out of the bag. There are a handful on its level for sure, but a scant few that can compete when considering price and availability. Tangies are killer too and more are in production - but can you time your coffee break just right to get in on them before having to wait again?
So ya. Silks good, at least side-by-side on a tester - thoughts might change once on a proper board.
As far as my inner monologue is concerned, I’m calling these Buttered Eggs and nothing’s going to stop me.
** YOK Red Panda stem-swapped with a Kailh Pro Burgundy - pretty standard save for the shorter travel, which bottoms-out on the middle-post like a Holy Panda does.
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GMK Cafe just showed up today.
I think it came out reaaaal nice. Mods are more brown than black under normal lighting.
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That’s an Rama U80-A, too, right? 
Yes and no. At least for that set it kinda fits, so I’m not too mad about that: Looks like a dark red heart is living in each key cap. 
It also depends on switch orientation. It surely is much worse if the keyboard has front-facing LEDs like this one.
Not sure if that was really avoidable.
I imagined that just putting more dye-sub color on it to get a thicker (or stronger subliminated) layer of black on them.
I often use them in the night, to be able to turn of the ceiling light and open the window without getting too many insects in. 
Ok, so others have similar issues. Now I wonder why there’s no replacement production ongoing and why I only have been offered to receive a spare spacebar (which likely is also warped).
One of the reasons why I was sure that a sole spare spacebar wouldn’t help, is, because I got a chance to test an Infinikey PBT Bred spacebar from the same production run and it had the exactly same issue.
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Yessir.
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For me, brown alps are absolutely amazing.
A cross between a lubed HP and topre is definitely a weird way to put it, but not entirely off. Brown alps are probably one of the best examples of alps tactility that we should still care to preserve.
This will certainly not be my last alps build!
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I’ve been working on a USB-C Pro Micro. Its different than the Elite-C and so on because it is extremely low cost. The USB-C is flush with the board and reinforced.
Hoping to have two flavors of it:
- USB-C Pro Micro
- USB-C Pro Micro with TRRS input for split keyboards
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New JWK tooling = better tolerances it would seem. My Silk yellows should be here in a couple days. They took a strange detour through Detroit. 
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I got one of the 75% Cary cases from KBDFans. I’m happy with the quality. I haven’t used a TX case, but this seems close but not quite as nice as those.
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Good to know! Whew, thanks for sharing that.
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Best of luck, our shipping through Detroit is sort of a shit show atm, depending on the carrier.
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Got my batch of Novelkeys Dry Yellows in today! Under a quick inspection & testing a few loose I really realy like them. Super smooth even without lube, the housing tolerances seem to be fixed, very nice weighting, the springs are good quality, & they have a nice sound. Nothing mind blowing if you’ve used any JWK/Durock linears before, but taking the fixed tolerances on the housings into account & I think we have the best MX linear switch here with the silks & drys! I’ll report back after I get them lubed up & into a board.
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Today I got a soldering iron, solder wire and a solder sucker.
The iron was cheap and came as a kit together with wood burning stuff and knife tips for cutting plastic.
But it’s digital.
The sucker is the one oldcat recommended after the gun.
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Nice! I am about to place an order for a Hakko FX888D. I got the same sucker as well, seems to be the go to one, unless you want to get serious and get a Hakko FR-301 
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Cool, I kind of had my eyes on the TS80/100 ever since Adam Savage did his portable solder station.
But this was a bag of Ink’s less. =)
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- Monstargear acrylic lube station
- Brushie brushie
- Koalas for a commission build
- Another, different rando BOW keyset, because I guess that’s my latest gotta catch 'em all! phase
I think Koalas happen to be a very nice looking switch.
Edit: Too bad they aren’t very good. 
Not one photo I took today was able to capture the subtle color of these little marsupials, but this one comes the closest.
The housing is a warm creamy color - though not nearly as warm as Cream housings. It’s a very subdued off-white, and I quite like it. The stem is a very warm gray - like the color of MT3 Susuwatari’s alphas in the renders. It’s such a warm gray that it flirts with brown without quite crossing the line. I love me some warm grays.
According to the Monstargear site, only difference between these and T1’s are the housing material. Maybe? (T1’s are supposed to be all polycarb, while Koalas are supposed to be all nylon.) While I quite like the sound and feel of these so far (the opposite of harsh, vurry nahce), I’m less sure about the spring. So far it seems just fine for normal use, but heavy fingers or keycaps seem like they might prevent a snappy return like the T1 has. I’ll share some more thoughts after I’ve had a few days of properly typing with them.
Update Edit Edit: after a brief bit of typing on the Koalas… well. They’re really inconsistent out of the bag.
I found some in the bag that feel exactly as advertised - like an all-nylon, slightly lighter T1. Great! Unfortunately, they don’t all feel like that. In fact… quite a few of them don’t feel like that.
- Some have more friction in the travel.
- Some sound like the leaves are loose, or maybe the spring is extra crunchy - definitely some kind of metallic wiggling going on somewhere.
- Some have loosey-goosey top housings.
- Most have this weird feeling near the end of the travel where you hit more resistance, almost like a miniature second bump - but not a consistent one like Blueberries have. Bleh.
I had decent expectations for these and really like the look, but I can’t in good conscience recommend them to anyone, including the client I got them for. I don’t think they would want to spend the time to film 104 of those bad boys - or pay me to do it.
All that said I’d like to think they aren’t a total loss - I can either find something to do with the stems, or who knows - maybe I’ll film them one day when I’m catching up on podcasts…
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That’s the one I use. I threw out so many before landing on this one. It’s the only one that works imo.
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