Stephen what are you doing in my office nothing what is that keyboard perfect we're gonna have
a problem here this is my friend Steven just like you he wants to get into building custom
keyboards why because they look cool sound cool and feel cool and also because he has the dirtiest
keyboard I've ever seen in my life now I'm going you how to build your first custom keyboard and
the best part is its budget friendly but what Steven doesn't know is I'm gonna be making him
build this keyboard entirely by himself what and along the way I'm gonna be going through some of
the mistakes he makes that way you can build the best keyboard possible also I'm gonna show you how
to make your keyboard way better in under an hour so stick around for that this is my first and only
ever gaming keyboard your first my first from nine years ago this keyboard is older than most of you
watching this video okay probably not now in order to get Steven his new custom keyboard I'm gonna
have to also walk you through building your first custom keyboard before we get to the chaos of the
video let's set some expectations of how you're going to build this keyboard now the first thing
you need when building a keyboard is obviously a keyboard and then we're gonna get to the keycaps
the switches and most importantly the lube there's some Loop now if you're a beginner at home you
probably know literally know where to start now I always recommend we first start with the keyboard
so Steven I'm gonna have you try out a lot of different keyboards you at home probably can't try
out a lot of different keyboards so I recommend walking your local Best Buy Say howdy hey and
then just try out a bunch of those keyboards don't you don't have to buy any of them just
try them out see what type of keyboard you like now before we get Steven a fully custom keyboard
let's just give them a new Razer keyboard to try out maybe he'll just be happy with Razer now and
really won't want a custom keyboard and I can send them home but that's probably not going to work
I've got this Razer Black Widow tournament Edition the new version of your current keyboard tell me
do you feel a difference no it's the same thing has Razer gotten better it's like
the exact same it looks better it sounds almost the exact same though so what's
the verdict here we're gonna need a different keyboard we're gonna need a different keyboard
oh we have a lot of keyboards on the floor here and I'm going to have Steven try every single
one we've got tactile switches linear switches no clicky switches and we're gonna figure out which
one that he likes the best let's start with the original and see you know let's get a bass line
it's beautiful impeccable right oh that spacebar I need you to try every one of these keyboards real
fast oh that sounds nice this one's a little bit more like Holloway than this one now that you've
tried a couple different tactile switches a couple different linear switches what are you leaning
towards this guy right here it's absolutely smooth linears these are good but they're
missing a numpad what do you mean a numpad like to do your bank work on what are what are numpads I
don't know what numpads are it's like the whole rest of the keyboard that this is missing I've
like I've I've built hundreds of keyboards I don't even know what you're talking about it's
not even a real keyboard a numpad so it appears that Stephen really likes this weird thing on the
right side of his keyboard which thoroughly limits our options on what keyboards we can pick out now
you at home you can pick the keyboard layout that you like the most most people gravitate towards a
75 that looks like this oh that's Steven's face project the keyboard editor thank you that looks
like this because they're wrong which is just in my opinion like one of the best keyboard layouts
but if you need a numpad then that limits your options quite a lot especially as far as Customs
go so first Steven's keyboard I had to get back to the drawing board and buy back to the drawing
board I mean my closet of Doom oh look a keyboard on the floor right over here that was sent to me
by keycron there you go thanks uh your keyboard's done uh end of the video roll credits cut
now because there really aren't that many options for a full-size keyboard we decided to go with
the keygron q6 now the kikron q6 is one of the best customizable full-size budgetish keyboards
and I'll have it linked down below but I'll get into more of the specs as to why I chose it later
this keyboard starts at 176 dollars what do you think about it it's just a little bit nicer than
my keyboard just a tiny little bit just a little bit nicer maybe just like a tiny bit maybe like
some metal I mean just yeah maybe just a little bit as you might have noticed it's fully Bare
Bones meaning there's no switches no keycaps and kind of stabilizers in here kind of we'll get into
that in a second well first let's see if there's any other accessories in the Box there's a cable
a cable is actually a great touch because if you don't have a cable and this is your first keyboard
that's really important not gonna work there's a little piece of foam these are just replacement
parts basically okay and then that's it and that's it for all of the accessories I think
there's something wait there's something Andrew what that hold on what there's like has this been
in every key Crown board that I've ever built has had these and I've got a little baby screwdriver
oh no now for the first step generally I lube the stabilizers however on this board these
stabilizers are already pre-installed and already kind of factory lubed so we're just gonna fine
tune them later provided they aren't bad hopefully so that leaves us with the first step of building
the keyboard actually and if you picked out your keyboard at home the next step is the switches
now we already tested out a bunch of switches so we're just gonna have to refine that and pick one
specifically so we've narrowed it down to two different linear switches the first being these
really kind of sus switches that I found on Amazon that are actually remarkably good and the second
being the ever so popular jaywick speeds now if you're super new to keyboards at home let me very
quickly go over the different types of switches there's linear which are smooth when you press
them down there's tactile which have a little bit of a bump and then there's clicky which make an
audible click every time you press them for all of these switches there's different types of spring
weights and heaviness so they could feel more heavy to press down or super light to press down
and this ultimately means that there's a lot of confusion for buying your first switch generally
I think that most people will be okay with a linear switch and some people will really like
the bump of a tactile switch this is where I kind of recommend going into a Best Buy or something
like that or maybe ordering one of those switch testers from Amazon or something like that just
find a switch that you think you'll like but the question in keyboard land is preference so which
do you prefer they're both really really nice but you have to pick one any mini miny mo flip a coin
I guess let's try this one let's try the jaywick speeds all right we're gonna try them out and if
we don't like them because this board is hot swap we can actually switch those switches out at any
time without needing to desolder this makes it incredibly beginner friendly because you can try
out a bunch of switches maybe buy them and then return them to Amazon who cares about Jeff Bezos
and figure out which one one you like the most let's go ahead and get these switches started
but first we actually have to build it so let's get started by putting in the switches do you
know how to do that I don't know how to do that okay so as I mentioned before this keyboard is
hot swappable so literally all you have to do is take your switches over here take one and you're
just gonna put it in your keyboard wait I'm not supposed to help you sorry I'm gonna put
it in my keyboard oh is that it you did it that was it I did it you're very smart do you watch
hippie attack videos I do watch hypo Tech videos every single one you watch a video tech video all
I know is that you're supposed to only use spray lube he does not watching videos so you know how
earlier Steven I mentioned something called Lube I do do you like Lube I love Lube in keyboards
oh sure do you even know what we're doing here building a keyboard yes exactly we're building
we're building a keyboard it was not an innuendo to make switches sound better keyboard switches
the things that make click clack thalky thought those guys we put lube in them sometimes we get
switches that have been lubed from the factory but sometimes we have to do it ourselves in the
honor of being a good spirit I'm Gonna Make You Luba switch by yourself but it's easy it's easy
and you two at home can also follow along just use spray lube no so if you're a total beginner
here's how you Lube your first switch step one take your switch you also need a switch opener
a brush and some lube personally I use crytok's 205 grade zero I'll have everything linked down
below then you take your switch and you make sure that the little four guys on the sides if you have
a cherry style switch the four guys on the sides need to line up with these four guys if you have
a different clamshell looking switch you just need to make sure that the clam shell openings line up
with this guy then Steven what do you do you link them up why won't it Go bam beautiful press down
now pry it open a bit hey yay open the switch I broke it in a good way though in a good way
in a good way you've got your stem you've got your spring and your bottom housing and top housing all
you want to do when you're lubing a switch is get an even amount of Lube on the parts that make the
most contact that being the stem and the spring anyways we're going to experimentally lube this
guy step two to actually Lube your switch you take your brush and you get a light layer of cry talks
on both sides if you can see the Lube on your brush like a physical glob that means you've got
too much so just make sure it's a smooth layer then you take your brush and you grab the stem
side of the stem and then you want to just use the brush on every contact Point like the the
slider outside of the slider and the inside of the slider it is that it yep basically but just make
sure you've evenly coated both sides and the legs if it's a linear switch just want a light layer of
Loop and then for the spring a little bit tricky tricky you need to get Lube on the spring right
so you can kind of just hold the spring and then like Lube it with the brush like that oh that's oh
God I thought you said this wasn't supposed to be an innuendo wait but you just want the whole thing
covered in a light layer of lube this is going to be a mess oh yes then you just assemble it back
okay now test her out now test it out compared to a regular one and tell the difference yeah so this
is where we run into some issues if your switch is Factory lubed well enough nowadays you kind of
don't need to hand lube a switch but we could do another 110 right for sure yeah yeah uh well I'll
add it on screen if we did you're basically the exact same there's no difference [Music]
now it's time to put in all of the switches you already put in one switch so on the hippiotech
channel let's just do the thing that we normally do which is Magic please go leave a comment
and say very good magic hippo and Steven great magic so good leave a comment down below thank
you so much and then here we go ready I've seen this I've seen this done yeah do it ready ready
wow magic I like the magic it's a lot easier than putting them in yeah one by one that was
so easy taking a really long time using all the magic put all these switches on
yeah so good now that we've put all of the switches in your keyboard it's time for the
next part the part that makes every keyboard build a little bit unique it's the keycass
uh let's just come coming out of the closet with me in my closet I have like 50 sets of
keycaps it's not a problem I'm gonna have Steven just look at a bunch of them as if he was like
online browsing on the internet like you would be looking at different keycap sets if you're
at home I suggest you just Google cool keycap sets and kind of pick one that looks cool to
you oh you found some so it looks like we've got something from drop and something from kinetic
Labs now one thing to note when picking your keycap sets at home is you just need to make
sure that it fits the layout of your keyboard this can kind of be done by comparing pictures
of your keyboard to the pictures of the keycaps that are included some things to look out for are
maybe the right shift being the same size and also included in the kit with your keycaps as
long as the keycap kit is relatively big though it should cover most keyboards but you can always
join a keyboard Discord like mine link down below for some help so we've got two keycap sets here
we've got polycaps whale and dcx 9 0.009 from drop what a fun fun name right whale and whatever the
other one you said was nine zero zero nine good old nine zero zero nine so between the two we've
got green and gray and blue and gray what do you prefer I think I like the green and gray we're
gonna go with the green and gray with the super cool name dcx9009 check it out link down below
now you already have a keycap on so let's just go ahead and put the rest on with a little bit
of magic do you want to do the magic honors but let's see some let's see some hippo okay this is
certified hippiotech magic ready wow look at that magic you actually just built the keyboard it's
done now but wait Steven plug in the keyboard whoa It's RGB it's RGB two gamer mode gamers
now Stephen has finished the keyboard but there's gonna be a huge problem with it that we'll check
out soon ultimately we're gonna need to mod this and this is where I'm gonna teach you how to make
your keyboard better in just under an hour so stick around what are your thoughts definitely
a small bit better than a definitely a tiny itty bitty tiny itty tiny little bit better
than the razor is it amazing like a bajillion times better than the razor it doesn't sound
like it wants to kill me does it feel smooth it feels real smooth but you know what I think
I think it sucks oh and we could do better oh because there's still just a few mods that we
could do this keyboard to make it so so much better I'm thinking tape Force break something
else that I haven't thought of yet it's gonna be crazy so let's just uh cut to it to open it
wow this keyboard already has this interesting little like film on it I don't know why they put
this weird metallic film on I can't even peel it but it's there there and there's also this
very very thin foam not nowhere near enough so first what we're gonna do is the force brake mod
we're going to be putting some tape along here because here how pingy this is
we want it to not be a blacksmith Anvil let's just fix that now Stephen I have one secret to
making a keyboard sound good 100 of the time what is that secret tape now with this tape we
can do a couple different things step one the force please donate the force brake mod we're
going to cut tiny little pieces of tape basically we're we're breaking the metal on metal in between
the two with the force with the force yeah the force of tape this is going to reduce the Ping
in a keychron board tenfold the board should sound infinitely better via this one tiny little trick
it sounds like one of those scams to get you to like buy some weird supplement or something but no
it's actually just buy my electric tape electric tape.com slash hippiotech that's a joke that's not
a real link affiliate Link in the description if you're following along at home you literally just
take like one of these small cuts of tape whatever is going on here I'm not too sure about and then
you just place them around the screw holes like so like that's tape you can't see it but there's tape
there and tape there that's good on the bottom part of the case okay all done pretty much now
that the force brake mod is done it's time to do something else with the tape see the tape you see
that that's a PCB you've watched the hippiotech channel before right by taping the entire thing
you're doing the tape mod to make our board a little bit poppier maybe just a tinge deeper
we're going to put two layers of electric tape along the whole back of the board what do we do
with the that we're just gonna cut the tape around it so we're not going to put some over the wires
so once you've got the two layers of tape on you basically just want to Super press it down that
way you can create almost like a vacuum seal and that's kind of what gives you that like
filtery sound from the mod which you'll look at that it's a tape mod and now the final step for
making your keyboard sound good the kill mat we have to kill Matt no don't kill Matt we love Matt
this is an automotive dampening mat now you're not a car are you no but you're also not a keyboard no
so you're gonna cut this to size to fit your keyboard and then we're going to stick it to
it to make it sound really good just dampen me since I am a car yeah yeah no not me when I'm
a car dampened yeah one one good way to cut it to size would be use the foam as a template and then
you can cut along and try your darndest try your darndest it doesn't have to be perfect I mean if
you're off by a millimeter or two who's gonna know because it's in your keyboard case that's fair
so we're gonna remove this film which is kind of a silly little film but don't crumple it after
you move it because we might want it later and now we're just gonna peel off the back of this
and stick her down in there and then stick her down now with the kill mat installed it's time
to get a little bit crazy we're gonna try to fit in as much stuff as possible this little sheet
get in there the extra foam that was included get in there my theory is that if we stuff this thing
to the brim the gaskets already weren't good yeah scissors we'll get rid of as much ping as possible
which is my favorite way to mod a key crime board shove stuff inboard shove everything in the board
now let's see Moment of Truth will it actually fit together I mean it I think it just closed it
fits it's gonna be a tough screw yeah let's try it flip it over pinch it a bit and then we'll try and
screw it because that's your moment of truth if you can actually get it to screw together
it's gonna be a slight Gap all the way around the keyboard no wait if there's a slight Gap around
the whole keyboard it's actually I think it's pretty pretty plus Wait no that's it's like flush
it's not bad that's uh that's impressive I didn't think there's that much space in this little bad
boy there's gonna be gasket performance what's gasket performance we don't need gaskets where
we're going you didn't want a gasket keyboard did you the Moment of Truth does it feel like
a keyboard oh my gosh wait that sounds so much better it sounds amazing before that sounds so
much that took us what like 30 minutes like 30 minutes and it sounds like three four times better
oh my God the Ping is gone all right class here's why you mod your keyboards
this basic kikron keyboard we took it from sounding like good
well better than the razor for sure without a doubt hard to do to like
hey how's it going Mr keyboard sounds pretty good it sounds really good and that was with
kill Matt tape and tape that's all you need if you're building your keyboard at home please
make sure you mod it but now that Steven's built this keyboard it's time to reflect on things was
it worth it does he recommend it Stephen you just built your first keyboard I did what did you think
it wasn't that bad was it fun it was actually a lot of fun somebody said it was fun somebody
all it took was like five videos with five different friends they finally said it was
fun yes well that just goes to show you that building a keyboard is fun and easy thank you