A Geek Goes Flying

Saw an ad for a black Tokyo60 on r/MechMarket . Price was right (especially with the bundled Boba switches), so I picked it up: Black Tokyo60 with acrylic diffuser, case and plate foam from MKUltra (I removed the case foam, as it was blocking the underglow LED), Poron switch pads, lubed/bandaid and holee modded Durock V2 stabilizers, and Boba U4T switches. This is a different “season” (season 3) than the boards Drop is selling now; the corners of the acrylic diffuser, for instance, aren’t as flush as my other Tokyo60 boards. Followed my own instructions for flashing it to be programmable with VIA . I picked up a set of Drop + MiTo SA Laser keycaps that were on sale last week (and to that I added the Mac modifiers). I’m not wild about the keycaps, to be honest. They’re flatter than the MT3 profile, and what I ordered (or at least what was displayed) had “ASCII” alphanumerics, what I got were keys with the Japanese markings (the Gaijin set), which make the board a lot busier than I like...

Finished Tokyo60 build Another HHKB build, because the  Drop Tokyo60 keyboard kit in the  Slate colorway was on sale. (I would have loved to have gotten Black, but it was out of stock.) Now I have a HHKB at home and at the office. I added on the acrylic diffuser panel (and picked another one up for my prior Tokyo60 build ), which Drop sells as an add-on for this kit. Drop states it “can be positioned on the bottom or between the aluminum pieces.” Screenshot: the diffuser add-on for Tokyo60 Screenshot: the diffuser can be sandwiched However, the screws that come with the kit aren’t long enough to go through both the aluminum bottom plate and the acrylic diffuser, which Joseph from Drop Community Support confirmed when I emailed them: “If you wish to use the difuser between the plates then you will need to provide the screws that are a tad longer than what comes with the kit.” Wow. Okay. These M3x10mm screws should work, but really, Drop should bundle the longer screws either...

Swapped the Boba U4 RGB 62g switches into a Keychron K8 . Holy isht, these things really are silent! Like, this is probably quieter than the rubber dome OEM Dell board our receptionist uses. Nicely tactile, though lighter than what I'm used to (daily drivers are an RK71 with Box Pinks, another K8 with Box Jades, a K6 with Box Royals, and I have a couple of Box Navy / White / Pale Blue boards I tried out while I was transitioning from buckling spring). So far, this is my GOAT. There is zero keycap wobble with this setup (stock Keychron keycaps), the “bump” is right at the top of the travel, and my typing accuracy is where I expect it to be. I’m sold. Why did it take me this long to discover and finally try these switches? One thing to note: Ali Express ships them loose in a bag, just like the switches I’ve ordered from NovelKeys etc., but for some reason it seemed like an inordinate number of these arrived with askew pins I had to gently bend back into place. I also had a tough tim...