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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • Based on descriptions on their website it looks like they aren’t… Maybe it’d be possible to desolder one and put on new switches yourself, but that’s a lot of work and if you don’t have the gear/experience for it it can be frustrating or destructive.

    There is a custom service listed with a whole lot of choice. I’ve found over time I value hotswap less, both as I get to know what switches I like and also because hotswap can cause decision fatigue. If my switches are soldered in I feel more secure in not thinking about changing them.

    Of course now I just get more boards instead oh no help


  • Unfortunately, it seems to me that the r&d costs a ton and the tooling and process for MX is pretty well established at this point comparatively. Designing a whole new kind of switch would take a lot of testing and isn’t as easy to 3d print at home for prototyping as a keycap. I’m not a 3d printing or prototyping expert or even amateur, but from what I’ve seen from Matt3o (MT3 profile), pseudoku (various artisans), and rutomoda (RIFL, a fully 3dp keycap set), it seems like you need some serious work to print a keycap. Imagine the tolerances you’d need for a whole new switch system…

    That being said, I’d love to see it. Whole new switch types, even innovation within MX for things like different types of clickies (like novelkeys just did), all would be great.




  • There’s a spectrum of DIY to it. Boards with an integrated MCU may only require that you solder switches. Switch soldering is quite forgiving and I’d say pretty fun. There are some people who hate soldering but still like custom boards, so they will use a soldering service (unfortunately, usually found via word of mouth or places like mechmarket). If you wanted a cheap kit with lots of soldering and you’re in the EU, I’d look at https://42keebs.eu/products/kits/

    They have a couple of splits available. A lot depends also on how many keys you’re looking to have. The wonderful world of layers and combos has a learning curve but there’s plenty of programmers who use very small boards on a daily basis. ZMK might be fun for you if you do coding on the side as well as for work.

    Feel free to send a DM if you have specific questions, I’m getting a bit long here.