Hello from Seoul, everybody. We went through Yongsai a little bit today, and made a stop at both Funkeys and Leaderskey. It was at Leaderskey where I decided not to be quixotic trying to find a great deal on an FC980c, but instead to get something that could be a good memory of this trip. To that end, I grabbed an R3 TKL 45g as my first Topre board. Nothing special price-wise, though in line with US vendors, and I got the version with gray and blue caps with Hangul sublegends. In my heart of hearts, I wish they made a 50g, but the 45 felt just a bit closer to my ideal than the super-aggressive 55g, and I”m not entirely sure they had anything other than the tester in 55g anyway. Very easy experience, even with a language barrier and my slightly bored 12-year-old, and they threw in probably $20-$25 worth of accessories gratis, including one of their Made-in-Korea neoprene pouches.
I’ve had DSA light cycle on my TKC-1800 since it was built in 2018. So today I decided to change things up. I bought sport walker a long time ago and never mounted it
forgot to buy the numpad kit 
Halp. Need. numpad.
Mod-m tactile switches, btw 
I think I spring swapped and lubed them. But the tactility is perfect. Stem wobble is off the charts. Things were quite different back in my day 
I finally got the Frog Leggera assembled and decided to give it a spin for the week. To get ISO enter, I had to use an older Frog plate I happened to have (which required a little bit of filing to get it to fit), as the aluminum plate the Leggera comes with is ANSI-only.
- Geon Frog TKL Leggera (L9 coated)
- Mill-maxed Galatea PCB
- Outemu Unity Silent Tactile Switches
- DSS Honeywell (base, fix kit for ISO enter, and a
|\key from DSS Tecla’s UK kit)
oh no - you’ve unlocked one of my nightmares and why I have a million keycap kits I don’t use - sport walker looks great on the board though! I’ll keep an eye out for the numpad.
I had to look up the MOD-M tactile, and I think I I have one of each of the switches of that series - I’ll have to go searching for them now…!
The domes will get a bit stiffer over time. I have two RF 87u from 2018, one in 45g and the other in 55g. When I got them the 45g felt too light, but now it’s perfect. The 55g feels way too heavy now.
A damn mess like usual because I have too many boards I’m swapping and playing with all the time, on top of building new ones.
Taking advantage of you having posted this to ask a question (sorry for the opportunistic nature):
Does your TKC1800 creak on you? I was pressed-for-time and building a xmas present gift for someone and intended to use the TKC but when I built it up for the first time (prior to soldering) it made an annoying creaking sound every time I picked it up. I didn’t really hear it while typing but it was annoying enough on its own that I decided to use a different board. I did some light googling and couldn’t find anything that matched what I was seeing.
As I said I was a little pressed for time so I didn’t try much really, I was thinking of maybe trying painters tape over some of the edges or something like that but since it was going to be a gift I didn’t want to make it look too janky even on the inside.
It doesn’t creak when I simply pick it up, no. It does creak a lot if I twist the case. I can’t remember but I believe I have craft foam under the PCB. Maybe that keeps it from creaking when I pick it up. Either way it’s actually kinda cool because that’s what these older cases do! My model M’s and SSKs creak when I pick them up too 
EDIT
I just checked my gray one as well and it does creak a bit if I grab it on the right hand side by the numpad to lift. I think it’s from the case halves squeezing together. CREEAK!
True, it does add a bit of creaky nostalgia. I built one for my friend about 5 years ago (hot pink with SA Laser) and I don’t remember noticing the creaking. I do wonder if there’s some sort of lubrication I could use on the edges (something that wouldn’t break down the plastic). I just want to do something with it before it goes to the bottom of my bin again.
I call it my “taxes” board. This is what I get out when it’s time to enter some numbers! Besides that, I hardly ever use it. But it’s a looker.
I’ll hafta post the “creaky boi” later after work. Black with HSA WoB/BoW mixed. Looks great
There’s something so satisfying about pulling out an older keyboard and it still feeling amazing to type on.
Budget96 from 2018 still going strong. This one has the original run of Gateron FEI switches. It’s pretty much one of the best typing experiences I own.
And it’s equally amazing to be able to fire up GMK configurator and change the keybindings in just a few minutes. Many of my older boards run bootmapper client still. Thank god this one doesn’t.
Bonus when using older boards is that I get to use cables I made myself. Made several USB mini cables back in the day.
I made this one to go with R1 coniferous. It’s a perfect match 
The hobby has moved a lot since then, and this level of refinement is probably doable for one-offs at a non-insane price-point, but one of the things that gets lost in the world of CNC’d bricks is that a keyboard doesn’t stop looking good (which this one clearly does), feeling good, or sounding good just because you can see how it was put together.
Also, while I was using a modern mech by then – a 70% “Drevo Calibur v1” with clone blues, laser-printed aftermarket caps, and a little hole drilled into the capslock to let the indicator through – I wasn’t really in the hobby in any meaningful way. I just pulled up a couple of threads about the Budget96 and jeez, the forums back then got a little spicy. Maybe it was because there was no Discord to soak up all the hot takes and immediate emotions.
Oh yes, for sure they did. I think it’s one reason why group buy runners prefer the shift to discord for things like this. Yes, you can scroll back through the conversations in Discord, but you generally won’t. And if it’s really bad, you just delete shit, or shut down the server and it’s gone forever. We’ve seen it multiple times recently. On geekhack, it’s all on display for the present and future to see 
I never had any beef with Donutcat. I purchased several things from him with the understanding that he was a dude who had to fulfill orders and drive them to his local P.O. Just need to understand where people are coming from sometimes to help set the expectation.
