- So I'll be taking these boring keyboards
and upgrading into something amazing.
But there's a twist!
Instead of choosing random keyboards,
I'll be upgrading your favorite keyboards.
The one that you voted for.
And whatever the top comment says,
I'll do that to these pour keyboards.
To get this kicked off
I created a poll with four different options
and let you guys pick your favorite keyboards.
And the results were conclusive.
You all wanted to see the RK84 by a huge margin.
And I'm happy to oblige.
I've got some sick ideas up my sleeve.
At least I think they are.
But it's too early to say.
The second most popular option was the Keychron K2.
So naturally I would upgrade that, right?
Wrong!
No, I'm going to upgrade the C1 instead.
A few months ago I reviewed the C1
and I said, I would mod it, but I never did.
And you guys won't stop hounding me in the comments.
So here it is. Just stop now, please.
Stop commenting that.
Just stop.
Let's get this kicked off with the C1 upgrades
and then I'll do the RK84.
The C1 is dang good out of the box.
And honestly, it's one of the best budget options out there.
But it can still benefit from a few upgrades here and there.
The case itself is pretty hollow
and it's a little bit rattly.
So I'm going to fix that up later on.
Also, this is interesting.
The top case pops right off
and that's when I was hit by a stroke of genius.
Pure creative genius!
I'm going to go with a green and a black colorway
and a design on the back that's never, ever
been done before in the land of keyboards.
But for now, let's focus on the front.
Most people put anime zoom on their thumbnails,
but I'm going to put anime zoom on my keyboard.
And maybe my thumbnail too.
The first thing I did was removed the top case
and prep it for painting.
I had to sketch the design
and tape it over with thin tape strips
that I cut apart with an Xacto knife.
It was actually super satisfying.
Last time you guys complained
that I was using my Xacto knife on a brick.
So I went out and I bought a cutting board
and it was freaking expensive.
So go subscribe or I'm gonna cut on that brick again.
For the paint I decide on a nice matcha green color
that would match these key caps that I picked out
just perfect.
And it took three layers to get it just right.
(techno music)
Honestly, the design turned out super cool.
And I can't wait to see this finished product
'cause it's so perfect.
There were a few imperfections.
So I covered that up with some permanent marker
and no one will ever know a thing.
Nobody will ever know.
If you think the paint is nice,
you ain't seen nothing yet.
The front of the keyboard is a little too exciting.
So I thought it would be funny if you flipped it around
and saw the complete opposite reaction.
So following the green and black theme,
I decided to throw on Mike Meow-ski, Meloski.
The Monster's Inc. dude.
The green guy.
I first outlined the shape of him on the keyboard
with a pencil.
It already looked so funny.
Then I added a layer of Gesso.
Boy, look at this massive tub of Gesso.
I hope you all like this painting stuff
or I'm gonna feel really awkward.
I realized it would take several layers
to cover up the black paint.
Once the Gesso primer was dry
I started painting him in.
And I had already mixed a bunch of the colors beforehand
to get every shade of green on the rainbow.
I ended up going a little crazy
and shaded him in quite a bit.
And I just wanted him to be beautiful.
I like doing something a little bit weird
on the back because nobody will ever see it besides you.
Some of you are gonna say that I'm ruining this keyboard
by doing this.
But you know what?
It's beautiful.
I admit he looks a little bit like a bowling ball
but I'm proud of it.
Don't talk to me or my son ever again.
Now for the rest of the upgrades.
I took apart the C1 and rolled up my sleeves for the mods.
I did the basic stabilizer mods and made them sound perfect.
I also lubed the gateron brown switches with a thin lube.
I know you guys don't like it
when I swap out too many parts of a keyboard.
So for this one, I decided to keep the original switches.
For the keycaps I picked up two sets.
One is a deep black color
and the other is a mint green color.
I'm gonna combine these two sets
to make a nice two tone keycap set.
And they'll accent my paint quite nice.
Once all the keycaps were put on,
I popped the top case back on
and heres the finished product.
I might've gone overboard on the black and green,
but you know what?
It looks good.
(keyboard clicking)
Next up, we're looking at the RK84.
Looking at you.
This thing is a beast out of the box
and is packed with some awesome features.
The only downside is that this case
has a really super boring white design
and it could benefit from some chunky upgrades.
In the poll, the top voted comment said
to use these weird silicone keycaps.
So we had to pick some up.
Yes, please!
They are made of the squishy material
and they feel super weird.
I'm not sure why anyone would use these.
And the color palette is just horrible.
But it's what you want.
It's what you need!
The real difficult part here is that
finding a design to match these keycaps sets
will be quite the challenge.
I honestly can't think of a way to paint this keyboard
that will look good with these keycaps.
That's when I realized the top case pops off
and I was hit a stroke of genius.
Pure creative genius.
As I pondered what to do,
two words swirled around in my head.
And I knew it was the answer.
Hydro-dip.
Or is that one word?
It doesn't matter.
It's two words.
I decided I would hydro-dip the top case
with a mix of colors
that would hopefully match these keycaps.
Hopefully.
I went with blue, white, and matcha green.
I filled up a container with water
and spray painted it in alternating fashion
until there was enough color.
And then I gently dipped the keyboard
until it was submerged.
And then I pulled it out gently.
And boom! It's done!
It actually went surprisingly smooth.
Except the water container ruptured,
but check out the finished product.
It's absolutely beautiful.
To be fair, it doesn't exactly match the key caps.
But come on.
It's gorgeous.
It's like a beautiful Easter Sunday morning.
Next up, I took apart the case and gutted the keyboard.
Honestly, I'm not sure what to do
with all these switches and keycaps laying around.
So I just ended up hoarding them all.
I mean, look at this bag of mismatched gateron switches.
It's horrendous.
Let's just shove that away in the back of the closet.
Now it's time for the stabilizer mods.
Oh yeah.
For the switches, I opted for some good old gateron yellows.
It's a little embarrassing,
but I have nine total boxes of gateron yellows,
all totalling up to over 1,000 switches
that I got Drop to send to me.
And they were like,
what do you need 1,000 switches for?
And I was like, I got sick idea.
But I ended up scrapping that idea.
So yeah, that's awkward.
So now I have 1,000 switches
that have no idea what to do with.
Sorry, Drop.
If you ever buy gateron yellows now
make sure you buy from them
so they don't hate us anymore.
Link is in the description.
The gat yellows I used for this build
we're lubed with 205G0 and they feel just great.
Then I packed the case full of foam
and finished up the build.
I popped on the top case and
it turned out pretty good.
It sounds and feels amazing to use.
But these keycaps are just ugly.
Plus they feel strange.
It's like typing on mushy jello, ugh.
The colors on the case don't exactly
match the hydro dipping.
But you know, it was super fun to do
and it still looks really cool.
(keyboard clicking)
Overall, I thought both keyboards turned out really,
really cool.
The C1 reminds me a lot of the OG Razer keyboards,
but I took it to a whole 'nother level.
It's a little too over the top for my taste,
but I'm glad I tried the anime zoom design.
While the RK84 is a super weird build
and it could benefit from some better keycaps.
This series isn't about being pretty.
It's about what you want to see.
In the future I want to try out some more unique stuff.
So if you really like these,
leave a comment down below about what keyboard
you want to see next.
And maybe some really cool things we can try out too.
And whatever the top comment is,
I'll do it in the next episode.
As long as it's not anything too crazy.
If you're interested in seeing me upgrade more keyboards
check out this video right here.
It's super cool.
(gibberish) Please subscribe.