Work is giving me 200 bucks for a board

Learning and discussion Custom keyboards
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I do design/cad/video/audio, I use shortcuts 95% of my time and the rest is typing emails.

Work on macs past 10 years, the placement of cmd button right under X is engrained in my muscle memory. I want a MX board that has a layout with one modifier right under X or 0.25u shifted to the left. All boards I’ve seen have it at least 0.5u shifted. Tried that, strains my wrist.

Work is funding my home office. I can spend more than 200 but would get back just 200.

Found one board that I like the layout of but it’s hideous - dustsilver d84. I generally like minimalism, not the colorful rgb galore.

Anyhow, would appreciate if you can go windowshopping with me.

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Can you solder?

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Yes!

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Most modern custom keyboards should fall under your .25-shift range, I think. (At least all of mine do, and they’re pretty common layouts).

Aside from minimal aesthetics, I think a couple things will help people recommend something:

  • What size keyboard are you looking for?
  • Do you want to tune this or use it stock?
  • Do you want to spend $200 including keycaps (i.e., fully built)?
  • Can you wait for the board to arrive or do you need it in hand right away?
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Thanks, I am looking for 75%, but FRL TKL works too.

I need it to be in stock for sure.

Looking at gmmk pro (in stock locally for 150usd) - switch for modifier left of space is in the middle on z and x, so 0.5u overlay. There’s no way to change that, so unfortunately not all modern boards have the 0.25u shift option.

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Is this the kind of offset you want?

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Yeah, this is the 0.25u offset that I was talking about.

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Then, HHKB is perfect for you :smile:

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If it were me and I hadn’t fallen into the ergo pit I’d just get a Realforce or HHKB. Modding isn’t necessary and you’ll never think about your keyboard again for probably the rest of your (read: you and your children’s) lifetime.

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I think the options are more plentiful than what has been discussed here - Tsangan layout 60%+ will have a mod at 0.25u left-shifted from X. So pretty easy to find something that’s a custom MX keyboard. No shade at HHKB (I really like mine) but, if you want to experiment, MX is a better platform to do that and you have tons of options
image

edit: most modern 60% non-hotswap keyboards will have Tsangan as an option, so keep an eye out for that

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Too bad this just sold out https://kbdfans.com/collections/diy-kit/products/kbdfans-tiger-lite-keyboard-kit?_pos=1&_fid=8092ce1ee&_ss=c

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+1 hhkb
Looking at what’s available I think you could also consider:
-Keychron in general but Q8 seems to satisfy the cmd requirement key best.

I don’t own one personally but I was very impressed with them at meetups.
-If you can wait november Monokei Standard seems like a good fit too.

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Only Realforce R1 has modifier shifted 0.25u. On R2 model, the shift is 0.5u. Too bad R1 is not available anymore.
But there is a mac version of R2 here with 0 shift.

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Thank you all. I want something with mx style switches, tiger80 is indeed the closest to what I want so far. In EU there are some alu versions with free shipping that just about fits the budget.
I will explore a bit more though as I have a few days to make a decision.

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Any ole’ TKL will do? Honestly screw kbdfans. If you want a super regular standard custom get a brutal series board from cannonkeys. Otherwise the best keybaord for work is a standard one. Realforce or HHKB get my vote.

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If you’re also considering pre-builts, just throwing this into the fray: MONOKEI Standard

Full disclosure, it’s our product but it should have the offset you mentioned.

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I have a Keychron Q1 v2 knob and love it. Familiar Mac layout. Boba u4 silent with mt3 extended keycaps to give it an AEK Ii vibe.

/mechanicalkeyboards has it in stock for $179 free ship with abs keycaps.

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I love the minimalist look, but it’s not in stock. I’d have hard time explaining to my reimbursement manager what a keyboard preorder is :slight_smile:

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Are you using any CAD control device? 3D CAD controller?

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No, I’m not.