Check local craigslist, I actually got one off there for $10.

Plus I found a Havit 89 key for $7 at a local liquidation sale. There's tons of stores that buy pallets of amazon returns and sell them for dirt cheap! Hope to see you become one of us!

Sounds like pretty awful engineering.

The ven diagram of red switch gamers and fiscally irresponsible is just 1 circle.

I’m just sitting here with my Tecware Phantom, happy as can be, while being too nervous to invest in a custom build.

That is some really nice work.

Personally I like the Fern layout and the Shrub gives me full "me wantie/I needz" vibes.

I feel like that is true of a lot of hobbies for me. Go deep enough into them I have an existential crisis and ultimately decide the whole hobby was a waste of time. Hasn't happened with keyboards for me but it has happened in the past with many things like headphones(and audio in general), car mods, to some extent watches, kitchen knives.

Me typing on my membrane keyboard while listening to T H O C C ASMR typing tests on my headphones imagining I have an awesome custom build.

10 key as in numpad? I don't use that either, my job doesn't require rapid number inputs. That's why I prefer 75/TKL, but not above or below.

Some people here use a macropad for numpad while keeping a smaller profile main board.

I went as far as to buy a 200 euro QK65. And people tell me that's "entry". Now, it's a nice board, but it's all relative. It doesn't blow my mind as my first board did (Keychron K8 gateron browns).

Enjoy what you have!

I was happier with my $3 dell board from goodwill I don’t even recognize myself anymore

I've had ESD trigged by my dog rubbing against my leg. Happens more often in a dry environment. Some people say to use humidifiers to stop it.

Back in the day, KBD75 from kbdfans had an issue with ESD. Luckily mine would just shut off and would work if I plugged it back in. What I did eventually was take all the mouting screws off and isolate the PCB from the case with electrical tape. When its closed and sandwiched in, it doesn't really need the mounting screws at all.

Now they coat their PCBs in some sort of blackness to prevent this.

so what I'm saying is, maybe if you get a new pcb from them, maybe try isolating the pcb from all metal contact. Hopefully they fix their design. They obviously knew it was a thing if they included the ESD protection as stock.

Meanwhile me just lurking here without even owning a mechanical keyboard 💀

One day I'll buy one, one day...

Hey, at least your keys work, I fucked up the soldering on my first build so half the keys output two (different) letters every time you press them 😅.
Haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

I don't even know what floats my boat anymore

The filco SA sets look so good. Wish I could get my hands on a WOB ANSI set.

I saw some talk on the discord that a major ESD will probably kill the LEDs but the rest of the board should come back by flashing firmware again.

What you can do is download qmk toolbox, and grab the binaries/hex files from the graystudio space65 r3 discord channel. They have instructions there for flashing. If you've never done this before look it up on youtube or feel free to DM me and I'll give you a hand.

https://discord.com/channels/503768726332506133/925889387236065330/1039349180621140070

thanks, will have to save this mentally for the next project. might take you up on that.

I use the navigation cluster often, and never use the 10-key! That’s why there are so many cool layouts; everyone can find which layout best suits them.

It's amazing over the history of the hobby, how many high-end boards have poor ESD survivability and you have vendors like KBDFANs which IMO have really robust anti-ESD designs. I remember the Rama M65-A, holy smokes, that board was just instant fried and it was a $500 board with no after-market PCBs.

Nice! Ye, I'm happy to share all the necessary files for that

I got one for $30s off eBay. It was used but I'm still using it and hasn't broken down on me yet.

Of course, you don't really need one and that money could be better spent elsewhere.

ohhh i see now. yeah that’s cool. starting to get into custom acrylic cases cause a family member has a 3d later cuter and pcbs like this are sweet for projects like that!

For real, I paid 220 for my blackwidow 4 years ago, don't get me wrong I still love. But that 220 is still hurting just a little

Me with my $30 blue switch keyboard I got off eBay:

When I have my earphones in, all you hear is the thock instead of CLACKETY CLACK CLACK