In this post, I hope to share with you everything I know about picking out the parts for your first custom keyboard. I won’t be telling you how to build it (I’ll link a couple of videos) but I’m more so trying to help you make the right choices up until the moment you build it as it can be daunting and there’s a lot of different components to it.
At the end of the article, I’ll post a bunch of links and useful information/tips as well.
Size
The first step is picking out the size of the keyboard you want. I know it’s tempting to just say “MAX SIZE” or go with what you already have, but I think this is one of the most important parts. Picking out the right keyboard size can help with the comfort of your desk, the style (the real reason we want custom keyboards), and can help save money. The bigger it is, the more extra functionality you have, but also the more it will cost and the more room it can take up. It’s also less space-efficient and can be a hassle to take on the go.
Take a glance above in the pictures, the most common layouts are 60%, 80%, and 100%. There are also common layouts for 75% and 65% (aka 68/67%).
Personally, I aim for the 60 to 75% range because I never use the Numpad. 75% is also usually much more compact than 80% and doesn’t really lose much functionality. If you don’t use the function row, I’d recommend a 65% as it becomes basically as compact as a 60% but with one extra row on the right side to accommodate the very useful arrow keys and extra buttons like page up/down and even delete.
Don’t forget that certain keyboards have slightly different keys on the right-hand side so keep an eye on that. Additionally, keyboards with QMK compatibility mean you will be able to set up your keys individually, so for those, there’s nothing to worry about.
One very big issue I always run across, however, is that with stock being so limited, it can be very tough to pick out the exact size you want with the exact board/case you want. So either way, you’ll need to balance and consider the price, availability, and your willingness to wait.
Recommended: 65% or 75%
Switches
Next up, we want to pick out our switches. Switches are the things under your keycaps and this affects how the key “feels” when you press down. This is probably the biggest part of the whole thing. It will also be the biggest change you’ll notice in your typing experience.
There are basically two distinct categories. Linear and tactile. There’s ALOT of discussion around these, and I’m sure by now you’ve looked at a few choices. This is very much up to preference. If you plan on having more than a single custom keyboard (and you will), then I’d suggest getting a switch tester so you can test different kinds of switches and see how you like them.
The gist of it is this: Linears means the keys go straight down with no resistance, creating a “smooth” feeling. Tactile means there’s a little “bump” or a “hump to go over” before hitting the bottom of the switch.
Please note that although linears don’t have a bump, there are some more resistant linear keys that take more pressure to activate. So don’t go feeling you must go tactile if you don’t want “sensitive” keys.
Every switch will say they are a certain “gram” like Tealios V2 67g. This means it’s the force needed to bottom out on the switch. This can be helpful in determining how sensitive a switch is. Also, bottom out is NOT the same as “activation force” which is how much force is needed to activate the actual key press. Although not every switch tells you exactly what that number is, while “bottom-out force” they almost always say.
After picking your type of switch, you’re probably wondering which exact switch to get. Cherry MX switches are by far the most common switches, and they’re fine. However, if you’re building a custom keyboard, I find it would be too boring to just go with a generic Cherry switch, so we should step up our game. So I’ll just give a few common recommendations from cheapest to most expensive.
Recommended:
Linears: Gateron Yellow, Alpacas, NK Creams, C³ Tangerines, Gateron Black Inks V2, Tealios V2
Tactile: NK/Kailh BOX Royal, T1 Tactile, Holy Pandas, Zealios V2
I don’t want to get into the specifics of each switch here, but I may in the future so keep an eye out! At this step, you should be doing a little research on the switches you want, keeping in mind the price, sound, and feel.
You may have also heard about “lubing switches” and that’s definitely worth doing yourself. However, I don’t wanna go too deep into it today, I’ll go over that another time. I’ll leave a link at the bottom if you wanna buy pre-lubed switches.
Side Note: I didn’t really talk about a couple of sub-categories: Click Tactiles / Silent switches. Personally, I feel they just belong under the broader category and it’s more about the sound which just depends if you’re at home, by yourself, or at work and can serve different purposes.
PCB / Case / Plate
After this step, you’ll want to look at what kind of PCB/board functionality you want. For example, you might want QMK on your board as we mentioned above. Other things to consider about the board are RGB per-key, QMK, VIA (similar to QMK and can manage your RGB), Hot-swap OR Solder, and case compatibility.
- For the RGB, it will usually have RGB, but just make sure it actually says it does.
- For QMK/VIA usually only some PCBs (usually nicer ones) will support it, so if you’re on a budget, please make sure it has all the keys you want on it before buying it. I usually like to think of QMK/VIA as a “nice to have” than a necessity.
- For the case, usually, a google search will let you know if the PCB fits in a specific case in mind, but usually what will happen is the case/PCB will be bundled together. So there’s nothing to worry about as you’re scanning websites for (probably) a case you like the look of, rather than staring at PCBs.
The biggest part to decide is Hot-swap or solder for your PCB. I think for anyone who’s not experienced in building custom keyboards or is comfortable soldering something, to go with hot-swapping. Hot-swap lets you just easily plug and play your switches on the go, so there’s never a feeling of being “locked-in” and it can be fun to switch up your switches from time to time. You also save yourself the hassle of soldering and messing things up. I think the only real benefit of soldering is that the process can be satisfying and from what I hear it’s usually more robust.
Lastly, there’s also the plate to consider. Typically they are either Brass, Aluminum, or Polycarbonate. Sometimes you won’t have a choice, but if you do, each plate provides a slightly different sound profile and typing feel. Brass is the stiffest and polycarbonate is softer / has more flex. Metal plates also have a “louder” sound. Typically I’d pair Brass with Tactile and Polycarbonate with Linears. Aluminum is kind of the middle child between these two.
Recommended: Idobao ID80 V2, Tofu65, DZ65RGB, KBD67, NK65, GMMK Pro
Stabilizers
Next, make sure you have stabilizers,. Your PCB should come with stabilizers, however, if they don’t, you may have to buy some yourself. You might be wondering what they are. Stabilizers are keyboard parts that prevent large keys (like the spacebar, enter, and shift keys) from wobbling when you press down on them. They sit right on the switch to stabilize the keycap when you press it.
Typically they come with Cherry/GMK screw-in and, unless they’re genuine, they’re not that great. So if you’re looking to up your stabilizer game or just need to buy some I’d highly recommend getting either Durock Screw-Ins V2 or Everglide Screw-Ins.
Recommended: Durock V2 or Everglide
Keycaps
Lastly, pick out your keycaps! This is probably one the hardest parts of picking your keyboard out as it’s what everyone is going to see other than your case. So pick some out that you like the look of! There are a few things to take note of like the profile of the keycap, and the material of the keycap
As your browse keycaps you’re going to notice they say they are a specific “profile” like Cherry, SA, or DSA. This just means how the keycap is shaped, this will affect how the typing feels, and how the keyboard will look as a whole as some are higher profile.
Next, we need to talk about the actual material of the keyboard. Typically you’ll find it is either ABS or PBT. Refer to the graph above for the comparison. Typically, you’d want PBT as it’s just more durable and I personally don’t like the shine of ABS overtime. However, there are some very high-quality ABS out there (ex. GMK keycaps) that are quite nice. The main attraction for ABS is that it provides a much better colorway variety than PBT. So you may find there’s a set of ABS that’s just the perfect color for you, and that’s okay. Additionally, I’d recommend always making sure they’re doubleshot, which is a way to manufacture the keycap. Technicalities aside, they provide a more durable keycap with better contrast/lines.
You may notice that ALOT of keycaps are out of stock, that’s because they’re typically done in one-time “Group Buys” so you’re out of luck unless they do a second run or you buy them second-hand from like r/mechmarket or something. Good luck with your search, I know you’ll need it. If you don’t mind waiting, you can settle for a normal set of keycaps and join a group-buy later once you spot out a set of keycaps you really like. They are, however, expensive. Typically over a hundred dollars easily. I’d recommend checking geekhack (https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=132.0) for interest checks, this is where group-buys get started. Any major website that you’ve gone through so far also usually has group buys on their site.
Conclusion
As we have gone over above, we should now have our PCB, Case, Switches (and Stabilizers), Keycaps, and Size picked out. There’s really nothing left to do other than to wait for everything to come in, and then put it all together. If you’re soldering (and not having it pre-assembled), that’s out of my expertise, but hot-swap should be very easy to put together like lego.
Useful Links
- Building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deVaUvywGMw
- Fully-Assembled Boards: https://kbdfans.com/collections/fully-assembled-keyboard
- Interest Checks for Keycaps: https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=132.0
- Buying Second-hand: https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/
- Lubing Switches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSgPKPoFo2k
- Pre-lubed Switches:
https://icedkeys.com/ OR https://www.ashkeebs.com/ - Switch Tester: https://kprepublic.com/products/81-switch-switches-tester-with-acrylic-base-blank-keycaps-for-mechanical-keyboard-cherry-kailh-gateron-outemu-ice-greetech-box
- Artisan Keycaps: https://www.jellykey.com/product-category/artisan-keycaps/
- General Keyboard Websites:
https://kprepublic.com/ (everything)
https://kbdfans.com/ (everything)
https://novelkeys.xyz/ (switches / misc.)
https://www.tai-hao.com/ (keycaps)
https://thekey.company/ (mainly for keycaps and switches)
https://keycapsets.com/ (keycaps)
https://www.pcgamingrace.com/ (everything)
https://drop.com/home (everything)
