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Mech Keys How-To - Table of Contents

Jan 24, 202318064 VIEWS

As we publish more articles in the "Mech Keys How-To" series currently ongoing, navigating the various topics and finding previous articles will only become more difficult. This thread will serve as a table of contents to help add some structure to the whole project. Feel free to also suggest future topics in this thread, as it will surely be easier to identify gaps and opportunities for further exploration when viewing everything as a whole.

Mechanical Keyboards

Introductory Topics

Mechanical vs Membrane

Sizes and Layouts of Mechanical Keyboards

Short Intro Into Split Keyboards (dovenyi)

Staggered and Ortholinear Layouts

Low-Profile vs High-Profile Keyboard Designs

Build Materials and Other Case Design Considerations

Selecting Your First Mechanical Keyboard (The_Manic_Geek)

Keyboard Layouts

Support for Alternate Layouts (dvorcol)

What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try (dovenyi)

Keymap Layout Analysis (Keymap wizardry: Typing out the Harry Potter saga) (dovenyi)

How Good/Bad is QWERTY? Seriously. (dovenyi)

Layout Optimization Best Practices: The Corpus (Part 1) (dovenyi)

Layout Optimization Best Practices: Sources of Your Personal Corpus (Part 2) (dovenyi)

Leveraging Layers (Cobertt)

Keymap Optimization: Language Statistics and Important Indicators (dovenyi)

Keycaps

Keycap Materials

Keycap Profiles

DCX vs DCD vs DCL

In Defense of MT3 (StoryBoardTech)

How To Design a GMK Keycap Set (GMK_Andy)

The GMK Color Matching Process (GMK_Andy)

SA Keycap Profile in 2024 (StoryBoardTech)

Switches

Introduction to Mechanical Keyboard Switches (ThereminGoatMK)

The Three Main Types of Switches (ThereminGoatMK)

Clicky Switch Mechanisms: A Starter (ThereminGoatMK)

Switch Marketing Terms (ThereminGoatMK)

Spring Weights (ThereminGoatMK)

3-Pin vs 5-Pin Switches (Cobertt)

The Who's Who of Switch Manufacturers (ThereminGoatMK)

The Three Categories of Prebuilt Keyboard Switches (ThereminGoatMK)

The Secret Beginner's Guide to Switch Lube (ThereminGoatMK)

Do I Need to Lube My Keyboard Switches? (ThereminGoatMK)

If I Had to Start Frankenswitching (ThereminGoatMK)

Switch Myths That Aren't Actually True (ThereminGoatMK)

We Know Nothing About Switch Materials (ThereminGoatMK)

About That List of Every Switch Ever... (ThereminGoatMK)

What are "OEM" Switches? (ThereminGoatMK)

An Introduction to Force Curves (ThereminGoatMK)

The Vintage Switch Conundrum (ThereminGoatMK)

Not All Linears Are The Same! (ThereminGoatMK)

Hall Effect: The Biggest Old Update to Mechanical Switches (Cobertt)

Long Pole Switches (ThereminGoatMK)

There Will Never Be Another Project Zealio (ThereminGoatMK)

A Few Obscure Keyboard Switch Modifications (ThereminGoatMK)

Where Force Curves Don't Quite Measure Up (ThereminGoatMK)

Keyboard Building

Best Practices When Building A Keyboard (The_Manic_Geek)

Stabilizer Shake Down - Modern MX Stabilizers (Cobertt)

Identifying Stabilizer Tuning Issues (The_Manic_Geek)

How to Ask for Help When Buying a Keyboard (ThereminGoatMK)

Build-A-Board Workshop (Cobertt)

Using Your Keyboard

Using VIAL to Program Your Macro Pad

Using a Mechanical Keyboard on Mac

Miscellaneous

Keyboard Meetups: It's More than the Boards! (ThereminGoatMK)

Balancing Act: Crafting Authentic Deskscapes (StoryBoardTech)

Keyboards at Work: A Rationale for Returning Mechanical Keyboards to the Office Environment (StoryBoardTech)

State of the Hobby 2024 (cobertt)

Mechanical Keyboard Sound Isn't That Simple (ThereminGoatMK)

Building Tribute Boards: The Art of Imitation (StoryBoardTech)

Legends, Part One: A Journey to the Past (Classic Keyboards) (StoryBoardTech)

Fink Different: Keyboards as Counter-Culture (StoryBoardTech)

Guest writers: @ThereminGoatMK, @The_Manic_Geek, @GMK_Andy, @dovenyi, @storyboardtech, @cobertt, @dvorcol Edit: Updated with new articles

(Edited)

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Dec 10, 2024

some of the links don't work

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virtualtom

Oct 21, 2024

I am trying to flash my Sense75 keyboard, but I get the following error...

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M0les

Jul 10, 2024

Thanks @HoffmanMyster - This is a really useful resource!

horrorwriter

Apr 24, 2024

Incredible post. You are an encyclopedia.....

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Albert.Alonso

Apr 7, 2024

kishaver + F107 in that pic. whats your DT username?

HoffmanMyster

3275

Community

Apr 8, 2024

Albert.AlonsoI'm not super active on DT (spend most of my forum time on GH), but same username as here—HoffmanMyster. And on reddit, discord, etc with the same username.

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somedude0608

Jul 10, 2023

Thank you so much for this. Veterans see this stuff and it ask just clicks, heh. As a newcomer to custom keyboards I’m completely overwhelmed and lost. Let’s not pretend that a $300 investment in a keyboard is cheap, it’s good to have this info so that we don’t mess up and misplace our money.

dvorcol

5403

Keyboard Club Member

Feb 13, 2023

This table of contents is such a great idea! Bookmarking now so I don't miss anything...

involuntarysoul

Jan 29, 2023

what accents are used with the Hyperfuse set in the photo?

HoffmanMyster

3275

Community

Jan 31, 2023

involuntarysoulThose are GMK CMYK for the Ctrl/Alt/Shift keys and GMK Purple Mods for the Backspace (both really old GB versions - I'm sure they've been run again since).