Behind the Scenes of Issue 82

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

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:

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.

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.

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

Cast aluminum keyboard case

earth_hair made a moon-themed cast aluminum keyboard case for a design and manufacturing class.

This gorgeous aluminum case, cast by earth_hair and posted on r/mk, features real crater patterns of the Moon.

It all started out as a pandemic project. The keyboard and the CAD model were already done. (The base keyboard PCB is mjpauly's Phase btw.)

After rapid cardboard prototyping the crater pattern was printed (FDM + SLA), then came the casting process.

Some milling, smoothing, tapping, sanding and bead blasting later this unique keyboard was born.

The casting wasn't the tedious part. I got lucky not needing to re-cast either half. If anything, sanding all the sides over and over again after milling them flat was what was really tedious!

Check out this elaborated photolog on imgur with lots of WIP shots.

When asked about his inspiration, earth_hair told me:

The inspiration for the moon texture came when I was thinking about what I could do to the pattern to complement and accentuate a sand-cast finish. The sand-cast finish adds small-scale details which add texture to the craters which isn't in the original 3D model. And the craters in turn help hide imperfections in the sand-cast finish, such as when sand sticks to the pattern when pulling.

Casting was the manufacturing method used since it was one of the core processes taught in his class (along with milling, turning, and welding).

According to the designer, of these processes, casting lets you manufacture relatively complex geometries since you can 3D print the pattern. However, adherence to sand-casting design rules is necessary to ensure the part comes out OK.

One such important design rule is adding "draft" to the design, sweeping vertical faces backwards so that the pattern pulls out of the sand cleanly.

I didn't get a super clean pull on either the left or the right hand patterns and that influenced my decision to face those sides vertical on the mill instead of leaving them with a sand cast finish (the texture you get from the sand casting process without sanding/polishing).

The top crater faces turned out well, so those were kept as-is.

With regards to his experiences, earth_hair adds:

It's certainly not the most efficient or functional way to design a keyboard case but it was very fun to make. The objective of making just one copy let me invest a lot of time and energy into designing and making it with methods that are less common in scaled manufacturing.

Phase keyboard

Kyria stagger, Corne thumb cluster, Ferris-inspired electronics: Phase by mjpauly.

The cast aluminum case made by earth_hair drew my attention to the Phase, an open-source split keyboard with a reversible PCB and an on-board controller – designed by mjpauly.

Features

• 42 keys.
• Kyria stagger, Corne thumb cluster, Ferris-inspired electronics.
• USB-C
• Reversible PCB for use with both hands.
• MX-style key switch support with optional Kailh hot swap sockets.

GitHub repo: https://github.com/mjpauly/phase

(The author fixed the issue with version 1.0.0 so it's hopefully safe to use these files.)

Poly Keyboard

The Poly Keyboard by thpoll has tiny OLED displays in each keycap to showcase the actual function of the keys.

Thomas aka thpoll has been developing his Poly Keyboard for some time. The project is still work in progress, however, he posted a promising video this week:

Yes!! Left side of the split keyboard works! #MechanicalKeyboard #OLED pic.twitter.com/2shKk43PQw

— thpoll (@thpoll2) June 9, 2022

So what is this project about? In Thomas's words, the Poly Keyboard is a keyboard "that speaks any language with OLED displays in its keycaps".

I was actually just experimenting with displays/Arduino and coincidentally found out that one of these displays had the size of a keycap (it was a 0.49" 64x32 OLED display on a PCB with an I2C interface) – thpoll.

Wait a second before you head to Aliexpress! :D The size was less then 1U (19.05mm) but still too big to fit into an ordinary keycap, so Thomas printed some custom caps with transparent PETG – then found an even smaller display:

I came across this 0.42" OLED display which is sold in bigger quantities on Alibaba for about 1$ each!

(Now you can head to Alibaba… :D This way.)

So, while you could argue that any programmable keyboard can handle the characters of any language, those characters are actually displayed here: the PolyKB, a "polylingual keyboard", has these tiny little OLED screens in each keycap.

We've seen similar projects before (e.g. Butterfly Company's Touchboard), but this one is more sympathetic probably because of the complete lack of unnecessary marketing buzzwords.

The aluminum plate and the PCB both have a silk screen added. The scribble was very familiar and it turns out it fits a keyboard supporting multiple languages perfectly: the Rosetta Stone.

However, the displays sitting inside the caps are more interesting.

The "relegendable" two-part keycap has a 3D-printed stem to get the FFC through.

While designing the PCB in KiCad, Thomas used switch footprints with a small extra slot for the OLED's FCC/FFC cable:

As you can see, the board is driven by a Raspberry Pi Pico (RP2040) controller:

As a proof of concept, a 4x2 macropad and a larger numpad was built. Here you can see the flexible cables under the hood of one of these early prototypes:

Thomas hopes to get a dev kit ready at some point. In addition, the project will be open source/hardware.

For more info, check out this Twitter thread, and the author has some excellent write-ups on the design and development process on ko-fi as well, diligently documenting the project. Once on ko-fi, support his work if you can.

Finally, while still work in progress, the project has its GitHub repo here.

Careful though:

In my posts you can find references to my project on github, just be aware that these are not always up-to-date. Once reaching a more 'production ready' state I'll tidy up a bit – thpoll.

Swept Corne

A wireless-only cross between the Sweep and the Corne: Swept Corne by Additional-Stock3711.

Mariano Uvalle aka AYM1607 published his Swept Corne, a mix between the Sweep (which is itself a version of the Ferris) and the Corne: Choc spacing, wireless-only with power switch, more aggressive staggering.

I made the jump from a 60% qwerty keyboard to colemak mod-dh on a sweep. After getting up to speed both with the new layout and form factor I realized that to reach peak productivity I'd need a few more keys and the corne was the obvious choice but the non-choc spacing, lack support for a power switch and the less aggressive staggering made me miss the sweep.

(Mariano is aware that the Corne-ish Zen has similar goals but up to this point it has only been available through group buys and is closed source.)

Specs

• Choc spacing like the Sweep.
• Hotswap support with Mill-Max sockets.
• Wireless only (no TRRS connector).
• Compatibility with the splitkb tenting puck.

Resources

GitHub repo: https://github.com/AYM1607/swept-crkbd

IBM Model Pi

The "IBM Model Pi" by rengarett is simply a Model M converted via a Pi Pico and KMK.

There are several ways to convert an IBM Model M. Gracjan Górecki aka rengare wanted to be able to use layers with his board and chose the Pi Pico and KMK way.

I bought an IBM Model M […] In the meantime I was building my own keyboard so a thought comes to my mind, maybe I can add a Pi Pico to the model M.

Github repo: https://github.com/rengare/pi_model_m

Custom unibody split

A custom 3D-printed unibody split keyboard by justsunone – with video tour.

The 3D-printed parts of justsunon's unnamed monoblock keyboard are put together by using sliding dovetails.

Separating the halves via the middle block helps to move them closer to shoulder-width (à la Kinesis Advantage).

The hollowed center part (with lid) accommodates the controller.

I chose the "Adafruit Feather 32u4 Bluefruit LE" for my microcontroller board for its Bluetooth compatibility with QMK.

Btw, the keyboard is handwired and hotswappable by using Kailh hotswap sockets.

Ortho Bakeneko65

StickersDrgn designed and shared a custom ortholinear-ish PCB to fit a Bakeneko65 case.

I designed both the plate and the PCB to fit a Bakeneko 65. This was my first time making a PCB. It took a couple tries to get it right, but the end result was worth it! – StickersDrgn.

So Lexi Stubbs aka StickersDrgn wanted an ortho layout that would be compatible with both existing cases and keysets, that's the reason for the "odd cluster of staggered mods on the right".

In hindsight, she would make the right shift 2 x 1u keys instead of a single 2u key.

Files on Github: https://github.com/stubbs28/bakeneko65ortho

Lev's trackpad keywell board

A little bit of Dactyl, a little bit of Corne, and a *lot* of trackpad space: a unibody split prototype by levpopov.

The "little bit of Dactyl, little bit of Corne" description comes from designer Lev Popov, but this spacious monoblock split, capable of accommodating a trackpad, resembles the Kinesis Advantage as well.

Design goals

Lev set out three goals for this keyboard:

• ergo split with a trackpad
• easy to use on your lap when on the go
• compact/folding to easily fit in a laptop bag

Built-in trackpad

I love exploring ergo designs, and one thing that felt consistently missing to me is this: “what about the mouse?”. I’m a big fan of boards that try to answer this – mouse keys, built-in trackballs, joysticks, and tiny cirque trackpads are super cool – Lev.

He wanted to build a board around Apple’s trackpad for a couple reasons:

• Clicking, two-finger scroll, and multi-finger gestures are all effortless since you don’t need to reposition your hand. This is a big win over trackballs and mini-trackpads where you need to reach a separate button for clicking or a modifier for scrolling.
• The giant touch area lets you comfortably switch hands for mousing, while minimizing hand travel. When centered, you use the left side of the trackpad with your left hand and right side with your right. Alternating hands lets you rest and prevent strain/injury.
• Design software is optimized for trackpad use. Since every laptop has one, pointing-heavy software like Fusion (CAD), Figma (design), etc. all have first-class trackpad support. "I’m happy using a trackball/trackpoint or mousekeys for casual web browsing, but prefer a trackpad for design work."

Use on the go

In Lev's opinion, being able to use your keyboard on your lap is huge while on the go (coffee shops, traveling, etc). You can keep your hands low, neutral and relaxed, and you can keep your laptop screen elevated so that you are not slouching and stressing your neck.

By making the keyboard and the trackpad a rigid monoblock (when assembled) it is super easy to use without a supporting surface.

Easy to pack

The trackpad, Apple's Magic Trackpad 2, just slides into the grooves of the left/right halves and is easy to take apart. When disassembled, it all fits in a regular laptop bag.

It just slides into the printed keyboard case. The trackpad is much larger than what I'd ideally want, but the tracking, latency and gesture support are way better than anything else out there – Lev.

Iterations

I’ve been working on various versions of this board for a few months now, learning CAD, 3D printing, and electronics along the way. It’s fun to look back at the early attempts :) – Lev.

First, Lev tried using a 3D pen to hand-print his very first keywell prototype.

Then he tried 3D scanning his hand to check fit for the keywell design.

I'm amazed at how good of a scan you can get with just an iPhone lidar. Definitely makes dimension tuning easier in CAD – Lev.

Btw, he used Scaniverse for this scan above, but says "I think they all perform about the same since they are hitting the same iOS lidar APIs".

An here is an older attempt with a 5-column layout featuring LPX keycaps.

What’s next?

While Lev is happy with the current version, the project is still very much a work in progress.

Up next is making it customizable and adjustable (tenting, split width, tilt). He is also exploring different key layouts, especially for the thumb cluster, and maybe bringing back the num row.

In addition, he would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions:

I’d love to get feedback from folks interested in this design – what would you like to see? More rows? MX-switches? Rotary encoders? DM me on reddit (u/levpopov) if you have thoughts or if you’d like to try building one!

Technoblogy RP2040

A minimal controller sporting a RP2040 chip with all the 30 GPIO pins broken out – designed by Technoblogy.

Another RP2040-based controller, this time in a different form factor and with open source. (Attention! This one has no USB connector!)

So @techmech_'s tweet lead me to a new controller designed by David Johnson-Davies aka technoblogy.

This breakout board is referred to as both Minimal RP2040 and Technoblogy RP2040 Board – according to the silkscreen.

David has a detailed post on the design and construction process, and he published the Eagle files here.

The first thing you may notice is that it doesn't have an on-board USB connector. This may or may not be a problem depending on your keyboard design.

Many boards, especially those with one-piece classic layouts, have USB daughterboards and extension cables making it possible to position the connector further from the controller.

If you're about to build something like that, an on-board connector would be in the way, and you needed as much GPIO pins as possible, this controller board may come in handy. (It's also narrower than a Pi Pico: only 15.24mm.)

For other form factors check out the Pro Micro compatible KB2040, Key Micro RP or Blok; the Stamp; or the even smaller RP2040-Zero, Tiny2040 or Seeduino's Xiao RP2040 (you can get one free!). These are all capable of running CircuitPython and KMK.

Try-A-Dactyl

Try-A-Dactyl is an OpenSCAD-based tool by wolfwood to programmatically design splits with keywell (aka dactyls).

Try-A-Dactyl, an OpenSCAD-based tool to programmatically design splits with keywell, has been around for some time now. As far as I can see, creator James Larkby-Lahet aka wolfwood started working on the repo last September and published the project early May this year.

But what does the tool do? From the project description:

Methodology for custom tuning a concave ortholinear split keyboard with thumb cluster (AKA Dactyl). Centered on OpenSCAD library for designing all sorts of ortholinear keyboards supporting a variety of keycaps including Cherry profile.

According to the author, the goal of this project is to be a flexible API for generating "ortholinear-ish (column-staggered) keyboards, and particularly split, concave keyboards often called dactyls".

So this is a tool to generate keyboards similar to the one made by the author and shown in the photo above.

GitHub repo: https://github.com/wolfwood/tryadactyl

Keytok two-part "OEM"

On the two-part OEM keycap profile manufactured by Keytok – with some insider info.

I'm not really into keycaps (except new profiles) so I could have missed this one if there wasn't KeebMonkey who generously offered you one 121-key set of these cool semi-transparent Keytok Morse caps for a giveaway.

I don't feature keycap sets on this blog so this post is not about the actual product, nor the raffle (rules to apply & caveats here btw). The post is about this pretty unique profile and some insider info I received and would like to share with you.

To begin with, the Morse set is marketed as OEM profile, sometimes referred to as double-shot, and said to be "the very first semi-transparent keycap in the world". Well, sort of.

Apparently, caps with transparent parts have been around for some time but not in this sense. And also, this is apparently not a classic OEM profile either (often considered meh) but something much more exciting.

So when I realized this is something new, I reached out to KeebMonkey with a hefty list of questions and to my greatest surprise, they answered in detail almost instantly. Accordingly, the sources of the info presented below are KM and Keytok's manager Maggie.

First and foremost, what about the uniqueness of this profile? They are pretty sure that this is the very first set of this kind, simply because the set was done by Keytok, a manufacturer located in China, and all the molds are owned by the company – and this fact should make anyone confident enough. :D

The boss of the manufacturer is a close friend of mine and I have seen the project running from a proposal to the end product. So in conclusion, yes, this is unique and is the very first set made with this process – KM.

Materials

With a slight resemblance to Filco's patch caps, these keycaps have two parts as well. The base is made of PC (clear transparent or tinted), and there's a PBT top/front part with dye-sublimated legends and icons.

So the semi-transparent characteristics is realized by putting these two parts together which results in interesting effects if you are into RGB and per-key lighting.

However, I'm still not sure about how these two plastic parts are held together. Even though I received some closeup shots, I can't really tell it based on the photos. I doubt it's the classic doubleshot method you are familiar with. Here's what I got:

The PC base was molded first, and the PBT part is molded onto the PC base. The PC materials are customized to endure intense heat. (To make sure that they can survive the high heat during dye-sub.)

Third party designs

Unexpectedly running into a manufacturer with an own profile and molds, I considered it my duty to ask them how a keyset designer interested in producing a custom set can approach them.

KeebMonkey told me they are the only authorized agent of Keytok, and because of the language barrier and other reasons you should contact them instead of approaching Keytok directly:

I have asked them if they have interests in receiving OEM orders from abroad. However, lacking the ability to contact customers in English, and an inability to process payments from another currency, they asked us to help them with OEM orders – KM.

So if you're toying with the idea to design a set with this profile, here comes some more info: I was even allowed to share with you what a custom design would cost.

For 3rd party designs the price is about 40 USD per set. MOQ is 100, and you pay a 800 USD fee for sampling. So that would be 48 USD per set for a minimum order of 100. However, if you can order more than 500 sets, the sampling fee will be returned.

This 40 USD OEM price only includes our labor costs and transaction cost (which is around 3 USD). Keebmonkey does not make profit from OEM orders since the manufacturer is a friend of ours and we are just helping them to get more orders – KM.

Update

After posting this, Keebmonkey was kind enough to send me a set. Here is my photodump.

HuB keycap profile

HuB is a lesser-known sculpted and spherical keycap profile – designed by trashman back in 2016.

The HuB, a sculpted DSA-like keycap profile, was designed in 2016 but I wasn't aware of it until recently. It was brought to my attention by this post.

HuB is a short, sculpted, spherical-top keycap profile designed by TheVanKeyboards (source).

At first glance I thought these were DSA caps, but on closer inspection it turns out the profile is sculpted.

Indeed, designed by Evan aka trashman, the HuB keycaps are sculpted sphericals, somewhere between Cherry and DSA. With regards to height, they are slightly lower than these two:

In comparison to other profiles, HuB has been referred to as "spherical Cherry", "sculpted DSA", and "shorter DSS" by community members. I could add the "high-pro sculpted LDSA" attribution as well.

HuB is designed to resemble the height and sculpt of the popular Cherry profile combined with the spherical tops and high-gloss finish found on SA profile keycaps.

Asking for explanation with regards to the origin of the name, trashman resolved it as High utility bonnet. In hindsight, knowing his other projects and his naming conventions (TheVan Keyboards, TheVan44/Minivan, CaraVan, Garbage Truck, V4N4G0N, etc.), I'm not sure why I was surprised.

It’s half joke. :) Hub was named hub because then it would be hub caps for your minivan. But then I later came up with what each letter stood for – trashman.

Originally, six row profiles were created for HuB. Rows 1-4 roughly follow the sculpt of Cherry keycaps while row 5 is not angled and is similar to DSA profile.

The spacebars for HuB are convex and "pre-flipped" with the front edge of the keycap lower than the rear, angling the spacebar toward the typist and providing a larger surface for the user's thumbs to strike the face of the keycap.

History

This Trashman.wiki page has a great overview of the history of HuB with all the ups and downs:

• Originally developed under the name XYZ, prototyping of the profile started in April 2016.
• The first full prototype set was produced in August 2016.
• The HuB profile was announced on March 8, 2018 in this tweet.
• In April 2018 a Kickstarter campaign was started to fund production of the tooling for injection molding of a planned double-shot version.
• After 3 weeks, the campaign was cancelled.
• In early 2020, 250-250 sets of single-color (black and white) ABS keycaps were produced.
• The first batch of HuB keycaps reached users in June 2020.

Available here: https://thevankeyboards.com/page/hub

Colorful hotswap sockets

Durock came out with some new hotswap sockets in vivid colors.

Sorry if this is common knowledge, I still can't get my mind around the significance of colorful switches, not to mention hotswap sockets…

Nevertheless, after Kailh came out with the funky "2nd gen" MX hotswap sockets last years, it seems Durock didn't want to miss anything either.

Their sockets are available in 8 different colors, more vivid than the classy pale Kailh ones. According to the product page, they are rated for only 100 hotswap cycles (compared to Kailh's 6,000) – similar to the original Kailh ones.

Available here.

And this tweet by @daraku_neko gave me the tip:

Durock Switch Socket#自作キーボード#mechancialkeyboard #mechancialkeyboards pic.twitter.com/IFa82lxSLm

— 堕落猫 (@daraku__neko) June 10, 2022

Transparent hotswap sockets

After colorful ones, Chosfox announced transparent hotswap sockets.

Just wrote about Durock's vivid hotswap sockets and Chosfox announces transparent ones the same day:

Heard you guys like transparent keyboards… – chosfoxmk.

Product page at the end of the post but it's worth to read the write-up, I promise. ;)

Rated for 500 hotswap cycles ("Plug and pull life up to 500 times") this one is somewhere between the classic Kailh and colorful Durock sockets (100) and the gen 2 Kailh ones (6,000).

According to the description, these sockets have "aircraft-grade contact heads", and the interior is gold-plated to improve oxidation resistance.

I reached out to Robin and he was kind enough to answer my questions so here is some more info for ya:

Chosfox has sold Kailh's color hotswap sockets for a while but wanted to make a transparent one so they asked a manufacturer to make some.

They prefer not to disclose the name of their partner at the moment because the product is "not in mass production yet" – which doesn't mean this is a limited first batch but they are only getting a few batches of 2,000 sockets at once.

We wanted to make this transparent hotswap as we want to make a transparent keyboard one day, this is our baby step – Robin.

The description on the product page stresses that the melting point of the housing material is 250°C / 480°F and you are asked to keep this in mind when soldering.

That's because the material used for the housing is different than that of other common sockets on the market – which by the way are prone to melting too, at least in my experience.

Anyways, if you are interested, Chosfox offered you a discount ($5 off orders over, coupon code: KBDNEWS). Use it here: https://chosfox.com/products/transparent-hot-swap-pcb-sockets.

And if you really want to build a fully transparent keyboard, here is a transparent PCB. ;)

Transparent PCB

PCBBUY experimented with transparent (glass) PCBs.

So after today's transparent hotswap socket, it came to me that there was a transparent PCB: PCBBUY's Johnny teased some of their transparent PCBs last year – claimed to be made of glass.

Woah!!! He is coming! The transparent glass PCB!!! Yes, our factory is trying to figure it and if anyone is interested in this, you can contact me at any time.
PCBBUY quick quote link: https://t.co/UZh7QSCj0S
I'm waiting！???#PCB #transparentPCB #glassPCB #PCBA pic.twitter.com/DuZj9uxpfA

— PCBBUY-Regina (@pcb_Johnny) October 22, 2021

It seems people at PCBBUY like to toy around with unconventional materials and manufacturing methods since the same team posted the color-printed silk screen just a few weeks ago.

Apparently, the new transparent PCB was not production-ready at the time of posting, it had some serious limitations. E.g. asking about flexibility, the representative replied:

it's rigid, it's kinda glass PCB. haha

Two layers seemed possible, but tests were still going on. They couldn't answer the question if trough-hole plating or via was possible. As some comments indicate, even if they ever go into production, custom shapes won't likely to be supported either, so square shapes only.

Anyways, SugaaH posted a similar PCB on r/mk a while ago and shared his thoughts and concerns:

For anyone wondering clear PCBs can be done a couple of ways. Normal PCBs use FR-4 as the plate material with thin copper sheets attached to each side. FR-4 is basically just resin and fiberglass. To make a clear PCB I could just use clear resin without fiberglass. Which makes the whole thing pretty brittle and I would not count on it surviving a fall from my desk. Clear resin can also then used to make a solder mask. It is also possible the deposit copper onto glass and use that as a base. With glass though holes should become quite the hassle, so that's more feasible for one-sided PCBs.

Regardless, while this method is not yet available trough the PCBBUY site, you may contact @pcb_Johnny with your gerbers. ;)

Miryoku ZMK

Miryoku, Manna Harbour's popular keyboard layout, is now available for ZMK.

Miryoku is an "ergonomic, minimal, orthogonal, and universal keyboard layout".

And Miryoku ZMK is simply the Miryoku implementation for petejohanson's ZMK, the wireless-first keyboard firmware.

Well, of course you could create a keymap identical or similar to the Miryoku concept in any firmware, but this new integration into ZMK means the layout is supported and maintained for "all ergo keyboards in ZMK main and most others".

You can have a personalised build running on your keyboard in a few minutes without installing any software or editing any files, and with no knowledge of ZMK or git – manna_harbour.

More info: https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku_zmk

Quickstart guide: https://github.com/manna-harbour/miryoku_zmk/tree/master/docs/quickstart