Issue 211 / Week 18 / 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 9+29 entries in this issue:
Editorial
Behind the scenes #211
Behind the scenes with the April switch top list, Epomaker HE68 Lite and KiiBOOM Phantom 98 Lite reviews, open-source and commercial projects, keyboard art, meetups, new shops and discounts, etc.
Switch trends
Best-selling keyboard switches of April 2026
Here are April’s top mechanical switches, the community’s favorites based on vendor sales data.
Review
Epomaker HE68 Lite review
A very affordable magnetic board punching above its weight: Epomaker HE68 Lite review.
KiiBOOM Phantom 98 Lite review
I reviewed KiiBOOM's Phantom 98 Lite, a cute wireless keyboard with 1800-ish layout and the silly froggy keycap design.
Projects
Levels54
The Levels54, a dual-trackball wireless split keyboard sold by ergokeyboards.com, is now fully open source.
Vanguard Keyboard Outsider
DreaM117er's Vanguard Keyboard Outsider is a modular ortholinear board, supporting various trackpads and encoders.
Willis
A wireless version of Bruce the Keyboard: Willis by Alexander Krikun.
Tucky Two Times
Tucky Two Times is a low-pro split keyboard with funny placement of the thumb keys – by Stephan Møller.
Hawk / Verzweiflungstat
The handwired split Hawk by VBNC8 features latching pushbuttons and molded weights.
Quick news
Closed-source, WIP, commercial, etc.
Pineapple60-Convertible by Saoto Tsuchiya (saoto8). Closed source, patented hinge mechanism, but interesting approach: ergo layout with adjustable raised center height.
A Badwings Pocket build by dashkeebs. Hazel's design form 2023 that I missed at the time (github).
The wireless split MoooseFree by ataruno_key, featuring a 55 mm trackball. Repo with docs and firmware but no PCB or case files.
And the WoooL from the same author – inspired by sheep, including a pice of yarn as well.
A nice writerdeck from SlurpBurgers, featuring a fanned split keyboard. With STLs.
An awesome-looking one-off 65% board: Node-65 by ShiftRegister8 (teardown video).
ORBIT – a wireless ergo split by SoDark0002.
Something strange from wjrii.
And something even stranger by Obabo, shared by dashkeebs.
A WIP split by Professional_End9823.
Commercial
NocFree's terribly named "&" is a wireless aluminum split keyboard with an (optional) magnetic tenting/charger thing. Pre-order, but if you fell in love, use the KBDNEWS coupon code for a 5% discount.
The Navigator Trackpad is ZSA's new trackpad extending the lineage of modules to add mouse control to your Voyager. This trackpad is not an off-the-shelf product – ZSA worked closely with Cirque to fine tune a bunch of aspects.
Similar modularity: Phenom may be the most recent flagship model of Ergohaven – with hot-swappable modules as well.
MID.1 by oneillseanm. A small-batch 40% board made from folded stainless steel, leaning into an industrial / architectural vibe.
Handwired
A one-handed keyboard for gaming with some knobs. By BohriumDev.
A handwired split by Little_Elephant.
Keyboarddweebs's handwired hummingbird layout unibody design to test Japanese duplex matrix.
keytogo by unitdhda – a Rust-based macOS keyboard-only "mouse" navigation utility. Control your cursor entirely from the keyboard.
3D models
Corne LP case by Reverend Rocknroll.
History/Discovery
VeloType at HomeComputerMuseum in Holland. Posted by TaajManzoor1.
Alcatel-Lucent MMK – posted by 5X_Rhadamanthus.
Debate over RSI from typewriter use in 1888.
Keyboard art
Bruce the Evangelion. Posted by Meatslinger – with tips to design similar keycaps sets for manufacturing at YUZU keycaps.
Daertwing – a custom case by calumwri, inspired by the "My First Sony" line. The blue part is acrylic, the red is powder coated aluminium, and the yellow is powder coated steel.
SPMini x Obabo. PCB by BlindAssassin111, case by Obabo, posted by anpotsky.
Diderot effect (aka accessories)
Artisan keycap carrier? This hobby is getting weirder and weirder.
Floor stand idea by Whalebone.
MoErgo Glove80, splitkb.com, Upgrade Keyboards, Cyboard, @keebio, BeaverKeys, Jacob Mikesell, Timo, KEEBD, TALPKEYBOARD, @kaleid1990, ghsear.ch, u/motfalcon, Ben M, FFKeebs, Bob Cotton, @therick0996, Christian Mladenov, Schnoor Typography, Daniel Nikolov, Caleb Rand, u/eighty58five, Hana Lee, Micah Alpern, James McCleese, zzeneg, RGBKeys, Spencer Dabell, Anatolii Smolianinov, Stefan S., Penk Chen, Clacky, Trey Causey, Mario S., Cloyce, Dylan Ingham, Gordon Diggs, TurtleKeebs, Duncan B., Matthias Goffette, HubertTheMad, Andres Sakk, Shnobble, Hating TheFruit, barraGOUDA, Ikasaya, drudru, Technofrikus, Dickiedyce, Filip Salo, TurkeyBoards, Davidjohn Gerena, Felix K., Chase M., sungo, Derek Tam, Tibo L., s_p_l_o_d_e, Raphael S.
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