Still got the F1 on my desk. Haven’t had a chance to make any changes to my initial build yet, but I did decide to see how some PBT caps sounded with the Keygeek Oats + alum. plate & man do they sound good! Definitely deepens the sound up considerably compared the ABS DCS set I had on it originally, but the Oats being a pole bottom out still gives it a nice & bright sound overall. The mix of creamy, deeper sounding mods with brighter alphas hits in a really cool way IMO. The more I use it the more I see why everyone has been raving about the F1-8X since it first came out! I’d like to get my hands on a OG F1-8X or 722 to see how the V2 differs from them, but nonetheless this one of the few boards I’ve ever gotten that actually lives up to the hype!
9 Likes
Divinikey × Modokeys Tess65
- MTNU Rascals
- Gateron Type-R tactiles*
- Designer Studio Adaptive stabilizers
- Polypropylene plate
- Tadpole-style gaskets & all foams
@ThereminGoat since you asked a while back what I planned on mounting Rascals to; not the most premium chassis out there, but punches way above its weight in terms of price, and I think the creamy beige looks gorgeous with these keys.
A few more photos
I love this. Really vibing with the color combination.
I also really appreciate a nice, intentional-looking seam - but you want to know something funny? It’s purely decorative! The actual seam is hidden on the bottom.
The badge, with matching weight on the underside (not shown).
The PP plate, Type-Rs, and Designer Studio Adaptive stabilizers in all their glory.
Build notes
Generally speaking the build was quite easy, though it was a little challenging getting the final screws in-place, if only because they kept falling off of the tool, down into the case. It’s a pretty smart and straightforward construction with two mounting options; gasket (tadpole style) and top (with optional pads). There are plenty of layout options with the PCB and nothing was too complicated. It was a little fiddly getting the case foam in place with the ribbon cable, but not bad.
*So far my only real complaint about this build is that the Gateron Type-Rs seem to be chattering fairly often. 
I’m otherwise loving typing on them (and love the sound they make in this build), but I don’t think I’ll keep using them because of all the double inputs. (I had to edit lots of them out of this post, and there still might be some.) 
I’ll report back if it ends up being this keyboard, but in my experience it’s pretty much always the switches when this happens.
Since the Type-Rs aren’t full 4mm travel switches, I used some of UPKB’s spacers (as usual) to prevent any potential teetering on the stabilizers:
I’m currently using the tadpole-style gaskets, but decided to go ahead and apply the top-mount pads just in case:
A few minor complaints;
A.) The plate foam sticks out at the bottom where the stabs screw-in, so I just tucked it in there. It makes a slight bow in the super-soft polypropylene plate, but that’s only visible from the side like this:
B.) I’m not a big fan of sideways switches, usually done to accommodate both ISO and ANSI enter keys on the same PCB, but it actually seems to work fine here:
Edit: the pipe key does sit a little tilted; I might try swapping-in a Roller switch and see if that helps.
C.) Also not the biggest fan of flipped switches vs the rest of the row, usually done to accommodate both Tsangan and standard bottom rows on the same PCB - but again, it seems to work fine here:
D.) I had an issue when installing the Designer Studio Adaptive stabilizers, in that the left side of both the Backspace and Left Shift didn’t want to seat-in. It turns out that these slots are close enough to some hot-swap sockets to interfere (bottom-left corner of photo below). This might not happen with every model of stab, and it was also easy enough to fix in this case; I simply took a utility knife and sliced a bit off of the hooked stud that interfered with the socket, shown below - modded version closer to the camera:
Modded stab in-place; I probably could have gotten away with shaving-off less than I did, but it works great:
Un-modded stab in-place; here you can see the rounded side sitting flush with the circular slot:
Crusty utility knife with the two + test shaving bits still on it:
Overall a fun build that I’m really satisfied with, especially considering the price of the kit; $75 as-configured. Just gonna need to find some more suitable switches…
7 Likes
Silver/Orange Luminkey LX60
Lumberjack PCB /w Gateron Pro Yellow
GMK Yuri
After a little fun and games, I’ve managed to fit the Lumberjack into the LX60. I’m using a custom plate to enable the gasket mount, and a FFC connector daughterboard to bridge between the LX60s daugherboard and the Lumberjack’s JST connector.
I got the silver/orange specifically to go with GMK Yuri and I’m pretty pleased with the combination.
10 Likes
Unicomp? And some of those keycaps have seen some stuff, man. 
Love it.
3 Likes
H’yes. I stole them from my grandma’s house after she died–for free. It’s almost as though I’m typing on her dead skin cells! :DDD
4 Likes
You’re gonna catch a whopping in the here after… 
2 Likes
Everyone’s grieving process is different. This is different.
4 Likes
I can hardly wait to no longer exist anymore alongside her!
2 Likes
Another quick shot of my Tess65; I managed to all-but perfectly level-out the pipe key by sanding the little feet off one side of a Roller switch underneath. I’m really enjoying this little keyboard.
10 Likes
I got the new 3d printed sides in the mail from Jawstec yesterday where I dropped the cutout for the reset switch down 1mm, and it is perfect. This is vapor smoothed PA12, and they did a fantastic job on the vapor smoothing. It feels and looks great!
Also, I swapped out the MX2A silent reds for MX2A silent blacks. The MX2A silent reds took my spot for favorite switch from non-silent MX blacks. These MX2A silent blacks stole that top spot as my favorite switch.
6 Likes
Seneca still on my desk but I’m trying out some more keycap profiles.
I used HSA for a few days. This is white on black, but my cream on brown would probably look better
HSA sounds the best so far. But I believe that Topre (and these new switches from Ryan) suffer from sculpted keycaps because there is a slight bit of binding on extreme off-center presses. Of course, this is true of most every switch on the market; however, I’m looking for the most beneficial setup for my personal typing style. The aim was near perfection with the Seneca, so why not try to personalize it even more? It’s not rigid binding, or any sort of friction that you feel, but it makes the switch seem slightly heavier than with dead center key presses from above.
So next up is DSA. (DSA Eve here) My hunch was that it could help avoid steeply angled off-center presses with its slightly shallow dish and non, sculpted profile.
As I suspected, this is the best the switches have felt so far. It could be the uniform profile, or it could be the thinner plastic, or a combination of the two.
I plan to try out PBS and DCS over the next week. I’ll report back.
12 Likes
Ouuu yea I wonder how many different profiles Ryan/Taeha tested on the Seneca.
1 Like
knowing Ryan, he probably tested out everything he could get his hands on. 
MTNU is certainly a popular option at the moment and the aesthetic fits in perfectly with his retro futuristic vibe. It does look stunning. And, as we all know, profile preferences are quite subjective. I suppose it’s very possible that someone else typing on MTNU would never notice this.
But with my setup and typing style (mostly hovering above the keyboard, but occasionally using a wrist rest for support), the switches feel best with DSA so far. I would rank, in terms of switch feel so far (from best to worst) DSA>GMK>MTNU>HSA
I also have to remember that most people don’t have hundreds of keyboards Most people probably type on a keyboard for months or years and get accustomed to it. I usually only keep with one keyboard or keyboard/switch/keycap setup for a week at most. Then I change it up. So I’m not exactly accustomed to any particular feel. So, I likely have a different perspective than many keyboard users.
5 Likes
That second photo is quite nice. Looks like a render! 
IIRC most of Ryan’s released keysets are DSA or DSS, so I am not surprised they work well on Seneca.
2 Likes
I found myself drawn back to using my Jris65 with N2Os, built plateless. Hadn’t pulled it out in awhile, and I forgot how much I enjoyed the sound and feel of this thing (even if I’m not overly fond of the poor QA that as involved in the first round of N2Os when they first came out).
1 Like
Trying out DSS on the Seneca. This is Honeywell. DSA is still better on this board to me, but DSS and DCS are both quite nice. I’m fairly certain it’s the thinness and lightweight nature of the caps that makes them feel better to me. It makes the domes feel lighter and snappier. Very happy with thinner ABS on this board.
12 Likes