Peripherals Mechanical Keyboards

Is it normal for there to be metallic springy sound? I've never owned a mechanical board before, I wouldn't know.

 

Well, yes! A bit of springy sound is entirely normal. Good, innit?

Clears give a lovely 'ping' sound when you return the key. It's great.

 

Good to know. I knew they'd be louder, but I wasn't sure about the springy sound.

It's like learning to use a keyboard again sort of. It's strange how the shift keys are smaller.

Congratulations on the moderator position too jinq-sea.

 

I think typing on a mech board is ace - I wouldn't go back to rubber domes again I don't think, to be honest. There's a short 'adjustment period' for mech boards, but once you get settled, you'll love it.

Oh and cheers - it'll certainly keep me busy for a bit...

 

Stock Clears are definitely better that Ergo-clears in my opinion unless you've lubed the ergo clears in which case they're definitely better than stock clears.

I think a lot depends on the spring itself as they must have some amount of manufacturing tolerance - I have two ergo clear switches on my tipro that will stick down and stay down if pressed at a slight angle...

Congrats dude - you're right about the mechanical boards being > > > > > > > > > > domes all day long

 

...is it bad that i'm already thinking about keycaps?

 

The downside of the 6Gv2 layout is that's pretty damn difficult to get full replacement sets of caps for it. The is a black translucent set available that covers all bases, including the enter key; but getting hold of some nice thick caps can be a pain.

I settled for a few novelty keys and let the rest as stock.


Ho Lee Sheet! Jinq-sea is a mod?!

Nice one, Sam. Gratz.

 

Link

 

That looks sick man

 

Looking at this image of a naked 6gv2, the plate is cut for standard ANSI enter and \ keys.



I wonder if this means it's pretty simple to convert it back to a more normal layout? You'd still need to pick up a 1.75x right shift and an ISO \ key for perfect coverage, but other than that you'd have a standard ANSI board. If you weren't fussed about having the \ legend correct you could use any 1x key with the right profile, like those usually in Tsangan kits for function keys etc.

 

ANSI enter keys fit, but you need to find a blanking key to sit above it. ISO enter won't fit.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

I would end up being a sort of ANSI-ISO hybrid, wouldn't it. I would imagine that it would be alright though - a mock "\|" key would do nicely?

 

The white plastic piece used to stabilise the enter key looks like it's mounted in the same sized hole as a switch. I'm betting it could be replaced by a switch to take a 1.75 key. It could also be wire modded to substitute the key that a full sized right shift would displace.

 

I hate keyboards, what a weird revelation.

they are worse than busses! Haven't had anywork for about a month, then suddenly every day this week someone has asked me to do something, and boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff has been turning up haha. Going to be a busy old week!

 

I like your thinking there... Does anyone have a close-up of the magical white plastic stabiliser, to quench my undying curiosity?

EDIT: Looking at that pic above again, I reckon with some clever wire-modding, you could magically make it an ANSI board. There's an idea!

 

I'll pull some caps and take a pic

[edit]

 

That's what I was thinking, although I do wonder if there's a space on the PCB for a switch there. Might just be a case of connecting one up and it'll work right away?

EDIT: The issue with wire-modding the blanked out switch is that you can't fit a full size right shift in anyway, can you? The mount would have to be off-centre, which as far as I know doesn't exist.

 

I feel like if there was space on the PCB they would have released the keyboard in ISO as well. Otherwise why waste R&D or fab time creating traces and pads where there would never be used?

 

My thought was that the PCB and plate might be made by an OEM who does standard layouts with the same kit. Steelseries is a relatively small name, after all.

Anyone got a picture of the PCB?

 

I reckon the MEGA-ENTER on the Steelseries board has been done as it's an ANSI plate and perhaps a hybrid PCB underneath...

Looks like it might be a real contender for a conversion. Fancy trying it, Dave?

EDIT: Shirtos - I do wonder if, as Yslen says, it's an OEM PCB. Even if it isn't true ANSI, it's probably ripe for a wire mod. The thing is, it will depend what's sent by the board when the \ key is pressed...