Oooh. That’s why my desoldering iron was having troubles getting a good seal around the solder joint
(Left Well used, center and right only lightrly used)
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Switches all done. TTC Gold Brown V3’s, rails and tops lubed with 205g0, springs with 106.
Stronk, slightly clicky variants for the lock keys.
OEM Rakk Lam-Ang Pro dual mode TKL; lead weights and PE foam below the PCB, modular foam between it and the plate. Only the stab tuning remains, but I’ve had enough for today. 
I set the default light to blue because that’s my dad’s favorite color and this board is for him. I like the way the blue light looks coming through the orange plastic - reminds me a little of those retro taillights with the tiny blue dot in the middle.
I wish I’d recorded this completely stock… rattly-bones and very pingy. Now it has a nice, mild, muted clack to the switches - I’ll upload a typing test once those stabs are done. Suffice to say for now, I really enjoy these switches after tuning even though they underwhelmed me stock.
Browns really can be pleasant - even after being spoiled by all manner of enthusiast examples.
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Now that I have the switches I want I’m finally putting together my MayPad.
Plateless soldering is more difficult than I thought but I’ve got the technique down pretty well.
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What are those keycaps ???
Oh, yes I remember now 
Looks pretty comfy. Something to look forward to.
Spray-painting Brass
In the process of painting a brass plate I had laying around. Edit: Of course, first time painting something like this. I’ll keep this post updated with my mistrials and learnings and the final product.
Process
✅ 1. Wet sand plate with 400 grit sandpaper
✅ 2. Primer (2 coats)
✅ 3. Wet sand primer coat
✅ 4. Paint (2 coats)
✅ 5. Wet sand paint coat with 600 grit
✅ 6. Clear coat
✅ 7. Sand clear coat with 1500 grit
**I’m waiting 24 hours (ideal) between coats, because I’m not in a hurry. But the paint can says 1 hour is adequate.
Products
1. Brass plate (Mekanisk Solderable v1.0—I believe, but not sure)
2. Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Primer
3. Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Paint
4. Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Clear
5. Wet/dry sandpaper: 400 Grit, 600 Grit, 1500 Grit
Painting Log
I setup a painting “workbench” by covering a spare plywood board in a garbage bag.
And I used a piece of product packaging wrapped in painter’s tape as a stand to keep the plate elevated above the board.
Spraying on the primer was straightforward. It produced a smooth finish and good coverage:
But when I sanded it down with soapy water and 400 Grit sandpaper (the recommended grit on the can), it did expose some of the plate underneath:
This only happened on one side of the of plate (the underside), so I just left it as is and I’ll paint over it.
Ah, even though I tested the paint on some metal scraps and on the side, it still ended up depositing chunks of paint when I painted the plate. You can see the rough texture here:
Fortunately, after wet sanding a small section with 600 grit sandpaper, it seems to smoothen just fine.
Here’s how it looks after sanding and clear coat. I sanded the top of the plate more and the bottom less to see if the texture is discernible through the clear coat…and it absolutely is. The colored picture is of the top of the plate (more sanded) and the grayscale picture is of the bottom (more textured).
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Lube day for my Porcelain Blues. Just the standard 205g0 on the housing and stems, 105 on the springs. There’s still some inconsistency in level of scratch from switch to switch but the ones that are right are chef’s kiss.
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I’ve been looking for a lube station where the stems are oriented this way, instead of upside down. Do you recall where you purchased this station?
This gave me a moment of “Wait, am I an idiot?” (I already know the answer but still) and I went downstairs to double-check. The holes are almost all too small to fit stem first but will sit (albeit loosely) when placed pole first. They’re 3D printed so I suspect that’s why. They’re not perfect - the blue one holds bases a little too loosely sometimes while the black one is a bit tight. That said, they do exactly what I need and you can edit the files as needed if you want to adjust sizing.
You can grab the file from Thingiverse - it was made by Holtenc from PrimeKB. I used r/3dprintmything to get them printed quite cheaply.
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Well, not only today as it has been a few weekends I worked on that.
Worked on preparing the raw bottom pieces of the Manta75.
The first one in copper and the second one in aluminium.
For both, the sides have been mirror polished up to 5000 grit sandpaper.
Started from 280 grit, then 500, 800, 1000, 2000 and finally 5000 grit.
Still can see minor scratches that could have gone away with a 3000 grit sand paper between the 2000 and the 5000 grit ones but alas I didn’t find any …
Still, it ok for a first try.
The flat surface have been brushed finished with 500 grit sand paper.
Not see in the photos but I also played a bit with patina on the copper piece.
All interior have been buffed with a microfiber cloth inpregnated with vinegar, this gave a nice matte brown/greenish color (matte because the piece has been beadblasted before).
As a final touch all have received anti-tarnish protection using Renaissance Wax.
I’ll see how long it will last on the copper piece.
Here are some (very crappy as usual) photos below.
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hahah I appreciate the details and thanks for the link and printer recommendation!
Southpaw fullsized built with creams. Just on the bench for a quick clean up
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Any mods to the creams?