Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial
Behind the scenes #183
Keyboard projects, reviews, quick news, in the mailbox, vendors, discounts.
Published January 9, 2025

Hey, what's up everyone!
Happy New Year, and welcome back for another weekly recap and behind-the-scenes write-up.
If you are new to kbd.news, you can read how this started out and what this is all about nowadays. If you like what you see, subscribe to the newsletter (free) and donate some bucks to keep this otherwise free and ad-free project alive.
Some posts worth sharing
- In the December overview of community-favorite mechanical switches, I cover last month's top picks, based on real sales data of 1.5-2M switches, provided by 17 vendors and manufacturers.
- Peter is writing a three-part series for last year's thinly populated Advent Calendar – about solutions balancing (layout) compatibility and ergonomics. This first one is an intro and discusses the usage of CapsLock for changing layers.
- Evgenii Vilkov shared his monoblock split Molekula, a modular keyboard and framework.
- The Barnacle is a modular ortho keyboard by floookay – heavily inspired by the Boardrun keyboards.
- A no-frills 36-key split keyboard with reversible PCB: EDC36 by Penk Chen.
- An update to Auryn's Corne clone: the split Avocado V3.
- Duarte Bento released his Puffer, a low-profile split keyboard with MX spacing.
- The Macrolev by Alexandre Moatty is an open-source magnetic analog keyboard.
TIPS
- PaletteFx is a new suite of animated RGB matrix lighting effects for QMK – created by pgetreuer.
While the stock effects are mostly based on a single color hue, PaletteFx is a fresh approach using a color palette (aka color gradient or color map) to render effects. The palette is configurable, creating a new dimension to customize aesthetics. Add some more personality and style to your keyboard – Pascal.
- An OpenSCAD-based keycap builder by Ruchi. And its web GUI.
- Printed keycap comparison by dummyboi_cyc. Some thoughts about Liminal Chimera, DES, and KLP Lamé.
- KKCKC is a unique and particularly stressful typing game. Cool concept, however, the gameplay is tragic if you launch the game using a custom keymap. :) I mean, totally stuck and can't even exit the game level tragic. :D
- Gateron low-pro switch with MX footprint? Dual rail, light diffuser – to good to be true. With too thick of a center pole so it's not a drop-in replacement.
- Zzeneg released his Raw HID module for ZMK – it allows to show time/layout/volume on wireless keyboards.
- Any saxophonists here? An ortho abomination with a pretty unique sax layout and typing technique – committed by Richard Black:
Basically the right hand frets the right half on top while the left hand frets the left side from underneath. It's incredibly comfortable, and I fell asleep before I could properly learn it. … Put a strap on it and it lies right against the body. Comfy. From my 2x4x12 build – richardblack3.
- Vimium-like mouse-free navigation by Alfredo Sequeida aka T0X1K01.
- New Keyfab feature: Save layout to PNG/SVG/JPG. (Look for "Print".)
Closed-source, WIP, etc.
- I cannot not mention this beast, the concept is just too, ehm, original to ignore: AutoKeybo with hardware layers. To put it mildly, I'm a tiny bit skeptical. :)
- MantaRay by hawkwoodwork – a low-profile angled monoblock in progress.
- MEGACORP – by ruby-builds. A 10u wide 30% cuteness.
- runt by Btdubs17.
- Tobesco-48 – a 40% ortho by BoardFair.
- Scraps34 – Humanplayer2 took a TKL and saw a split out of it. Check out all the photos to fully appreciate this project.
- Cornewall – 60 deg fixed tenting for a Corne, by distractable.
Keyboard art
- Fox Lab Time65 – posted by a7kilr.
- I liked these screw trays from Notfromsam.
- Jade QK100 – photos by hauterloo92.
- Icebreaker – shot by Sterlingandcophoto. I can't really interpret it as a functional object, but I can appreciate it as a decorative item.
- CovertAI designed a custom southpaw keyboard for his girlfriend.
In the mailbox
It seems that Kemove offers a HE model now: I received a sample of their KEMOVE T68-C. It's wired, full plastic, and apparently targeted at gamers with RGB and the characteristic translucent legends. However, for $63 it may be an affordable board to try Hall-effect features for anyone else. Review coming soon.
Donations
- Hm. Another long-time supporter canceled his recurring donation.
- Luckily, Ben updated (doubled) his donation, and Richard Dawe donated too. Thank you guys!
- As always, many thanks to my awesome regular supporters and everyone who helped this project thus far.
For all the donation options check out the donation page!
Loobed Switches update
I finally received my money after half a year. While this is definitely good news, I still have no information about the other users who have posted complaints in the past weeks. Before removing Loobed from the wall of shame list, I need to clarify a few things.
Vendors & Discounts
Feel free to use the KBDNEWS discount code at 172 keyboard shops! And do not hesitate to report any issues.
New shops and updates to the database of keyboard vendors this past two weeks:
- Thocc Exchange – discount changed, 5% off for ya' from now on.
- Elec Fox offered you a 5% discount (KBDNEWS). Thanks!
- Notfromsam and Zkeebs added.
- Keychron entry updated – no discount though.
- Akkogear.eu is back now. They had some issues with the English domain and used the .fr site for half of last month. Thanks for reporting the issue, folks.
- WASD Keyboards removed/marked as closed.
Ugh. I'll have to go over the whole vendor list again to check abandoned stores and if coupons are still working. Did it a year ago, but somehow I can't bring myself to go through all 600 shops on the list. I always get lost in details.
UPDATE: Wow, Jonathan checked the 172-shop cohort offering discounts. He found 12 closed shops and 2 more codes that don’t work. Thanks so much! I’ll update the database this weekend.
Developments
Lots of small tweaks in the switch scripts, mainly on the supporting/admin side: monitoring prices/availability/offers, adding new offers, etc. Japanese yen added for Talpkeyboard and its customers. Partly as a result of all these tweaks, compiling the monthly switch report has decreased from 25-30 hours in previous months to "just" 15 hours this time. However, most of the improvement is the result of not having to sniff for switch specs and proper photos – with more and more models already in the database.
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That's all for today. Thanks for checking by. As always: Keep learning and building!
Until next time,
Tamás
Published on Thu 9th Jan 2025. Featured in KBD #183.