Today we have a mechanical keyboard build that’s a bit different to the other ones
that I’ve done so far.
However, we’re back with the familiar 60% form factor build.
Thanks to Banggood.com for providing most of these parts for the build, and I’ll put
links in the description.
Alright so pretty much all the parts are from Banggood, besides the keyswitches, because
all they really have are Gateron Blacks which I’ve already used, so yeh.
This is gonna be another 60% build, so I don’t really want to spend too much time on the
building process, but do more of a review of mainly the Kailh Box Brown keyswitches,
the wooden case, and keycaps.
As always we start with the PCB.
This is the good old Satan GH60 that you can find everywhere.
And this supports a couple of different layouts.
Since I use the ANSI layout, that’s what I’m gonna build.
But I know there’s a heap of Europeans out there that use the ISO layout, so yes, this
is ISO compatible.
We already have the diodes and resistors soldered in, so all we need to put in are the keyswitches
and LEDs if you want some lighting.
First step as always is to put in the stabilisers.
These are the cheap Chinese stabs that are always pretty bad and rattly.
Always try to get genuine stabilisers, or at least have some lube at hand, such as Super
Lube or dielectric grease.
We have a black aluminium mounting plate.
And as we can see, it allows for a few different positions of various keys to accommodate some
different layouts.
As usual, building a keyboard requires soldering, unless you have a hotswappable PCB or holtites
or something.
So you’ll need a soldering iron, and I’ll link a great video specifically on soldering
mechanical keyboards by my friend JUJU.
I actually did this build like a few months ago, so I got these Kailh Box Brown keyswitches
when they were relatively new and unknown.
But now there’s a heap of Box switch variants and are quite a refreshing wave of keyswitches
in the market, especially with their clickies.
And these are MX style keyswitches, with the classic cross stem, so all keycaps will fit.
All Box switches have a said box looking protrusion around the cross stem, and are closed off
at the top.
So there’s no holes for through hole LEDs, so you will either need SMD LEDs, in which
this PCB and many others don’t support.
Or you put in the LEDs first, as I have done in the past.
And this is part of making them IP56 waterproof and dustproof keyswitches.
Opening it up, and again it’s different.
First of all, the spring is slimmer.
The bump on the slider that creates that tactile bump pushes onto this little bit here.
And here’s the other box, which gives it it’s IP56 rating, and inside we have the
contacts.
Now to the case.
This comes in 2 versions on Banggood’s website, and this is the yellow rosewood colour.
And the other one is walnut which is a bit more darker, while the one I have is quite
a bit more bright and warm.
Being wood, every case will look slightly different, with different grain structure
and such, as well as tones of colour.
But this one looks quite nice to me.
It’s quite a simple rectangular design, with 8mm side bezels, and 10mm top and bottom
bezels.
This is CNC routed, and the finish for the most part is very good and very smooth.
Although on mine, one corner has been pushed in, so it looks like it was dropped or something.
And on the left hand inside edge which is the end grain, it’s pretty rough which isn’t
great, but it can’t be seen in the end.
Being a nice solid piece of wood, there is no flex, and it comes in at 340g, which goes
in between plastic and aluminium cases.
The USB cutout is quite large, and I believe it should be able to accomodate for a USB
C port, although I don’t have a PCB on me to test.
And we also have a small cutout at the bottom, that lines up with our reset button.
And there’s some nice brass standoffs which are solidly supported by the surrounding wood.
And to finish it off, the keycaps.
These actually come pretty nicely packaged in a box, labelled as OG Keys I think.
And these are an imitation of the famous Carbon keyset, although there’s quite a few differences.
First of all quality.
This isn’t a GMK set or anything, so we have PBT plastic, which is good, however the
legends are lasered, rather than dye sublimated.
And consequently, we have a quite light grey for the alphas, and we do not get the orange
text on the modifiers, and have white instead.
They’re about 1.5mm thick, so that’s actually decently thick.
Since it’s a 119 keycap set, you would think that it may perhaps allow for some compatibility
for different layouts, such as a 1.75u right shift, or some different R1 keys.
But unfortunately that’s not the case, as basically all the extras are novelty keys,
although they’re quite funny ones as well.
We have like the main keyboard forums, some games, and even the Pimp My Keyboard logo.
But all together, I still think the keyset looks pretty good, as the keycap colours are
still approximately the same, and I feel that it matches up nicely with the yellow rosewood
case, creating a very warm feeling aesthetic.
The shape of the keyboard is very simple, but the colours of the case and keycaps really
do make it standout.
The wooden case has a slight inclination to it, but other than that, it’s just a rounded
rectangular prism.
And the case has held up fine for the few months I’ve had it, although I haven’t
really moved it around so much.
But it is a hardwood, and pressing my fingernail into it does nothing.
So I’m quite pleased with the quality and build of the case.
Again this is a 60% keyboard, so we’re missing a lot of primary keys, but they are on the
secondary layer, which is accessed via the function key.
And you can flash a different layout on it if you want.
But 60% boards aren’t for everyone, such as myself, and it does take some time getting
used to.
Coincidently, the Kailh Box Brown keyswitches do match the theme of the keyboard.
And these are a weird keyswitch.
As said, these are tactile, meaning they have a bump but no click, and have an operating
force of 50g.
However the bump is right near the top, so right off the bat, it feels different to say
MX Brown’s and other tactiles.
It has a more pronounced bump compared to MX Brown’s, especially when actually typing,
you feel that tactile feedback a touch more.
Although there are a heap of new Kailh Box variations, and I think these haven’t been
the most popular, and I can see why.
Again, wood is kinda in between plastic or acrylic, and aluminium, in how it sounds and
feels.
Although the plate is still aluminium.
But I feel that it’s slighting softer and fuller than some 60% aluminium cases, but
not as much as acrylic.
And I guess it’s a nice piece to have just for the variety in material in a collection.
Overall it was a pretty fun build.
Nothing really out there, but it was great to work with the surprisingly nice wooden
case.
The keycaps aren’t the best, but they still look the part.
And the keyswitches are an interesting one to keep around, purely because they’re different
to the other tactiles I have, but I’m not the biggest fan.
Thanks again to Banggood.com for providing most of the parts for this build, and for
their continued support.
I’ll put the links in the description if you want to check them out.