Behind the Scenes of Issue 82

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial

Behind the Scenes of Issue 82

Lots of new discounts, ceramic caps first impressions, giveaway results, and win a KBD.NEWS metal artisan! :D

dovenyi
Published June 13, 2022

Creators! Feel free to tip me off about your keyboard related projects to bring them to 100K readers.

Hey y'all,

Make sure you scan this post all over because there are quite a few new discount codes available and you can also win a cool KBD.NEWS artisan this time. :D

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Welcome back for another edition of Keyboard Builders' Digest (this time Issue #82), a weekly roundup of this DIY keyboard focused newsletter and blog from Tamas Dovenyi – that's me. If you are new to this, you can read how this started out and what this is all about nowadays. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to the newsletter (free) and donate some bucks to keep this otherwise free and ad-free project alive.

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New discount codes & shops

OK, this is starting to get out of hand. :D New achievements: 400 shops and 50 discount codes surpassed!!!

Metal Keybooards offered you a 10% discount (on base kits and add-on kits) – (KBDNEWS).
Aces Cable added to the database, and Jeremy offered you a 5% discount (coupon code: KBDNEWS).
Mechfashion, added to the database last week, is the next shop offering a 10% discount (KBDNEWS).
Controller Works - 5% off (KBDNEWS).
Montsinger - 5% off (KBDNEWS).
Chosfox - $5 off orders over $49 (KBDNEWS).

None of these are affiliate links so feel free to use the codes even if you hate me. :D

Mechkeys.com, ANVIL, osume, ESC.HIT, wind studio added.

In an effort to standardize the codes, MechboardsUK's one is now KBDNEWS too (instead of the previous KBDNEWS5).

Small developments

Posting the Keytok write-up (Keytok two-part "OEM") on Twitter made me realize that my framework breaks titles with quotation marks. This should be fixed now.

Community

I reached out to my Czech subscribers for help and would like to thank Vita for his kind offer to be my proxy.

Although it seems I missed all the opportunities and/or was outbid, it's good to know that if I see another dirty vintage monstrosity on sale in Prague, there's a way to get it. :D

In the mailbox

Cerakey's ceramic cap sample, metal "kbd.news" artisans from metalkeyboards.no :D (still on the way but allegedly in my home town already), and an interesting electric typewriter with sonic "switches" – this one is crazy, more on it later.

The Cerakey kickstarter is over: 3,266 backers pledged HK$ 4,404,954 (the goal was HK$ 50,000). Holy moly!

Previously, Cerakey offered me a sample of these ceramic caps, and I received them just after my previous newsletter last week:

Pic: Ceramic caps by Cerakey

Ceramic caps by Cerakey

I'd like to stress that I received these for free but my opinion is honest, I don't have any agreement with the company.

So these are the pink ceramic caps, sitting on my pale green Keebio Jawn Founder's Edition (which I won last year I guess, in Don's raffle. Check out his podcast: TheBoard). Beneath the caps are Momoka Flamingos (received from Momoka as free samples as well :D). In a world without VAT and custom fees this project would have cost me almost nothing... (I paid the shipping fee for the switches though.)

Back to the caps: First impression: very carefully packed in nice sealed containers.

Pic: Ceramic caps in sealed containers

Ceramic caps in sealed containers

The caps are glossy but only in certain angles, so it isn't distracting. The surface feels like porcelain. Pleasantly smooth and slightly cold feeling on the touch. And the familiar rough ceramic feeling on the back (without the glossy layer). This doesn't feel good at all but you don't touch the back side of caps very often anyway.

The stem is "unibody", so not the glued-on/in 3D-printed one you might see elsewhere. The fit is VERY tight. I tried them on various switches and I kept pulling out the switches from the plate when trying to take off the caps. Regardless of the stem type (box, "dust-proof", classic +), the tightness made me concerned.

However, it doesn't seem to cause any issues. I changed the caps a few times, abused them even with some dreaded Box Jades (the old cap-breaking ones). But these ceramic keycap stems are much stronger than that of e.g. my very first SA set which was totally ruined by the same Jades...

This was just a small sample to populate my macropad, not a full keyset, so I couldn't test real typing. However, I keep touching and stroking these caps, and resting my fingertips on them. Which is telling.

Although the kickstarter campaign to fund the full ceramic set is over, if you are interested in individual caps, Cerakey offered a $5 discount for those using the "KBDNEWS" coupon code (this is NOT an affiliate thing, I don't get any commissions).

Giveaway

Last week's winner

Aaand the winner iiis: hanna and clare (just to clarify, this is a single username). Congrats!

You won the Keytok Morse keycap set offered by KeebMonkey.

New giveaway!!!

This week's prize comes from metalkeyboards.no: a custom KBD.NEWS metal artisan. :D

The winner can choose one of these, the only caps of this kind in existence, at least for now.

Pic: KBD.NEWS artisans by metalkeyboards.no

KBD.NEWS artisans by metalkeyboards.no

How to enter the raffle

Feel free to like, upvote, share, whatever. However, that's not how you join this raffle. :D Instead:

1.) Comment (top level) below this issue's post on Reddit or/and Twitter (here and/or here) with one or more of these:

What did you like the most in this week's issue?
What did you learn from this week's posts?
Did you spot any typos/factual errors? (If you don't want to publicly embarrass me, you can send this to my email: info at golem.hu :D.

2.) And close your comment with your country.

Pro tip: you can comment both on Reddit and Twitter to double your chances.

Raffle method: Again, I'll randomize a number to decide between Reddit and Twitter, and then another one to select the winner from the top level commenters on that platform (ordered by old->new).

I will contact the winner and publish his/her nick in the next issue (next Monday).

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That's all for today folks.

Feel free to comment in this issue's r/mk thread, and as always: keep learning and building.

Cheers, Tamás

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Published on Mon 13th Jun 2022. Featured in KBD #82.

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial