Good mail day today! Wanted some more Knight stabs but almost everywhere was sold out, thankfully Swagkeys still had some of the clear ones in stock. So I grabbed 2 packs of those & a set of JTK Griseann since they have that & the Royal Alpha triple shot sets on sale for $45! Then I also got in 2 more Fugus + matching Moonblanks from ETF’s Shot & a Beer thursday raffles!
The set is super nice IMO. There was some kerning issues with the 2.25u Shift, 2.75u Shift & 1.5u Control but the set came with fixed replacements for all of those. The tripleshot legends came out really good too. Also they sound a little bit deeper than GMK or even doubleshot JTK, so I’m thinking the extra plastic with three shots makes them a bit thicker on the top. Thinking about grabbing Royal Alpha now too…
Gateron Smoothie arrived today. Happy that Milktooth is nearby and ships fast.
Sound is mid-pitch, clean and solid. Feels smooth and tight. A clear winner at easy to digest price. Better than NK Cream and Morandi in sound. And, unlike Morandi, no squeaks.
MMD Vivian is similar but lower-pitch with a slight bend to the sound that’s distinct and pleasant.
Despite shorter travel, both are great switches with affordable prices.
Initial Impression: Roselle is thocky, deep and loud where Gateron Smoothie is clacky, clean and solid. No noticeable scratches nor wobble. Doesn’t feel cheap.
Roselle’s spring is very good, better than Smoothie at least. MMD Vivian’s spring is best however, a perfect joy to type on.
For someone who has complained over the years about the unpredictability of wood and its propensity for warping you sure post quite a few pictures of wooden cases The fact you keep buying shows real optimism, which I appreciate.
Also I had to order one after seeing it. Thanks a lot…
Yeah I remain optimistic that I’ll find one to stand the test of time. I thought my old KBDfans wooden case from 10 years ago was the one, but last year it hit the point where I could no longer get a PCB in it
I will say that so far, my Retro60 from Evan still works, and I’ve had that one for quite some time.
These are affordable enough that I’d be okay with them only lasting a handful of years
Not really. For wood that has been carefully dried, sealed, kept in a climate controlled room (both temperature and humidity), and then resealed on a regular basis, it should stay relatively stable.
However, very, very few wooden objects are kept in this manner and temperature and humidity can vary wildly by the season. The fibers in the wood actually grow and shrink when they absorb humidity, and even tiny changes can cause wooden objects to warp due to this process over time. Generally, not a big deal if a say your couch frame is off by a millimeter, but that can cause issues for devices with tighter tolerances, like a keyboard case. Engineered woods like high quality plywood can generally remain stable for decades so long as they’re not exposed to liquids or temperature/humidity extremes.
I didn’t have a build in it for a few months. It wasn’t until I tried to put a build it in that I realize it had shrunk. I thought maybe it was just that the plate was too big, so I tried just a bare PCB… I got it stuck because the fit was so tight. I thought I was going to break the PCB trying to get it back out. Since then, it’s been sitting empty in the closet. I keep hoping my brother-in-law will get some sort of CNC machine and I can fix it
If you’re open to some manual labor, you may be able to take some 60 or 80-grit sandpaper and sand away a bit of the wood to make room for the PCB. You’d have to use some higher grits like 120 and 220 to get the case smooth again, but you would have to reseal/stain/finish it. Feel free to message me if you have woodworking questions.
Custom colored XMI keycaps arrived. I think I ordered it about a month ago. I threw in some legendables into the order as well.
My intent was to use Space Cadet colors on legend only. I really liked the gray sublegend in the set above so just changed the primary legend color to blue. I think alphas at least came out tastefully. The rest, without gray sublegend to offset the blue, looks tacky against dark beige colored keycaps.
TLDR; Barebone wired 65% kit with nice alu case, hotswap PCB, USB hub, card reader, even a carry bag (no cable or tools though) - with the hallmark tray structure. The only annoyance was the proper folding of the ribbon cables beneath the PCB. It’s quite tricky. The drawer style structure makes sense, but being unusual I had to follow a video. The second build went much easier, so buying two made sense eventually. Definitely worth the $111 (with the KBDNEWS coupon) if you like the layout and design, and don’t mind tinkering with an unusual mounting style.
I enjoyed the Glitter65 review! I love how whenever the hobby seems to get settled on a particular case mounting style, someone comes along and mixes it up a bit. Whether it’s an improvement or just different remains to be seen, but the innovation is always fascinating.
In terms of the mounting style, my main concern would be supporting the hotswap sockets when inserting switches. I watched the build video posted on the Glitter65 store page and it seems to have a decent amount of flex when inserting switches (6:35 in the video), so it’s not like the sockets are sitting on a firm surface in the case. Generally, best practices say to support the sockets from the back so inserting the switch doesn’t pop them off the PCB, but that seems impossible on this board. Any thoughts on this?
Other than that, the look of this board really appeals to me and the price—especially with the KBDNEWS coupon!—is definitely tempting.
I too am completely turned on by this, despite my most recent expounding on the virtues of full size boards. That Blue Ink color with copper-ish endcap absolutely does it for me and I have a set of SA Copper caps that would fit it soooooo nicely. My wallet is suffering.
The fact you keep buying shows real optimism, which I appreciate.
Good question. This designer chose to use wood from the US and carefully dry it well before machining. We shall see how it holds up.
Definitely worth the $111 (with the KBDNEWS coupon) if you like the layout and design, and don’t mind tinkering with an unusual mounting style.
