Issue 209 / Week 12 / 2026
This is a hand-picked selection of last week's content from a keyboard enthusiast's perspective. Posts that may teach you something, make you think and contribute to the common knowledge of the DIY builder community.
There are 11+28 entries in this issue:
Editorial
Behind the scenes #209
Behind the scenes with March's top switches, KiiBOOM Phantom 98 and Dareu Cool68 reviews, open-source and commercial projects, keyboard art, meetups, new shops and discounts, etc.
Switch trends
Best-selling keyboard switches of March 2026
Here are March’s top mechanical switches, the community’s favorites based on vendor sales data.
Review
KiiBOOM Phantom 98 & Pixelpop Arcade keycap set review
Testing KiiBOOM's wireless Phantom 98 keyboard. An acrylic beauty, nicely matching the cool Pixelpop Arcade keycap set.
Dareu Cool68 review
The Dareu Cool68 is a 65% magnetic gamer keyboard with very nice housing design, featuring unique ambient light diffusers.
Projects
Cirrus40
A 36-key split keyboard with rotary encoders and hardware debouncing: Cirrus40 by schuay.
20/20
Vostok Labs' 20/20 is an ortho split keyboard with nice handwiring.
Untitled keyboard
This yet-to-be-named unibody split is a handwired board by flixo.
Pando58
An open-source 58-key split with RJ45 sockets: Pando58 by Julian Yap.
Hollow Wood
A 36-key unibody ergonomic keyboard: Hollow Wood designed by Mefred.
Hector36
The Hector36 is a compact wireless split keyboard by ezxzeng – with splay.
Tom's 3x6 board
A Piantor-derivative by Tom Strowger. 36-key low-pro alu split keyboard driven by wireless XIAOs.
Quick news
Closed-source, WIP, commercial, etc.
A custom 60% by sohke3. Related blog post (in Korean).
A minimalist 42-key split by sshenron: PG1316S switches, single STM32F072 MCU, MCP expander via I2C connected by a USB-C cable, ESD protection.
A WIP low-pro split with too many columns. Teased by rocketstrong1.
Bluetooth macropad with ZMK. By E_kkk.
The Roo is a minimal low-pro split by Turkish-Films.
Steno keyboard by Lander03xD_.
Hyperboard is an already working split with a half-baked repo at this point. With custom Rust firmware.
A Voyager-clone by '''gbrITT'
The Apple Magic TouchStremLP by disarmyouwitha is now officially released for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Nampek "numpad" by adachinkovsky.
US8EK. A handwired Red Herring-like unibody split by Jaromír Malenko aka 'mr_jaro'''.
The handwired split Album by Carl Blumenthal. With custom firmware for the Atmega32u4 MCU.
SlurpBurgers' handwired ergo board incorporates a numpad.
Vortex's M50 is their first true split board.
Tips, Typing, Keymap, 3D
3dkeycap custom kescap set builder. An online tool that lets you preview a keycap set on different layouts or build a fully custom one with your own colors, profile, and legends. Related blog post.
Joystick keycap by dingohot. Also for WASD. Via r/mk.
Fixing plate rattle of low-profile stabilizers. A quick visual guide by IQUNIXstore.
Parametric MX keycap model by CCW_92.
Modular Choc V1 keycap model for 3D printing. By Master_Alfalfa1130. Some good ideas in the thread, plus files on makerworld.
It's not annoying SA variance, it's a different profile marketed shadily as SA. Photos shared by FatRollingPotato.
Annoying MTNU MoDo legend misalignment. Shared by Bastietm.
History
Svalboard Story Time – by claussen.
Keyboard art
Pixel/keycap art in a Detroit hotel. Shared by brotherbrine.
Metal emoji keycaps by Terra Keycaps.
Overflow keycaps by dingohot aka FunOrNothing. With files.
I just liked this photo by waverit.
Hulk Wood Bakeneko65. Maple case with purple heart plate. Handpainted illustration with resin coat. Shared by LightningXI.
Another wooden keyboard – by IT_Guy_KC07.
MoErgo Glove80, splitkb.com, Upgrade Keyboards, Cyboard, @keebio, BeaverKeys, Jacob Mikesell, Timo, KEEBD, littlemer-the-second, TALPKEYBOARD, @kaleid1990, Brendan P., ghsear.ch, u/motfalcon, Ben M, Bob Cotton, FFKeebs, @therick0996, Christian Mladenov, Schnoor Typography, Daniel Nikolov, u/eighty58five, Caleb Rand, Micah Alpern, Hana Lee, James McCleese, zzeneg, Spencer Dabell, Anatolii Smolianinov, Stefan S., Penk Chen, Clacky, Trey Causey, Mario S., Cloyce, Dylan Ingham, Gordon Diggs, RGBKeys, Matthias Goffette, Duncan B., HubertTheMad, Jesse L., Andres Sakk, Hating TheFruit, Shnobble, barraGOUDA, Ikasaya, TurtleKeebs, Technofrikus, Dickiedyce, drudru, Davidjohn Gerena, Filip Salo, TurkeyBoards, 0xcircuitbreaker, Chase M., sungo, Derek Tam, s_p_l_o_d_e, Raphael S.
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