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different feels. The different profiles are identified by
colour (the same colour does not mean the same thing
across manufacturers).
The classic Cherry Red switches compress linearly
until they bottom out, while others such as the Cherry
black have a defined clack; there they compress up
to a point you push through, and they pop to the
limit. There’s a wide range between these and it’s
entirely a matter of preference which you prefer (you
can get small keyboards with a range of different
key types on to test them out such as this one:
hsmag.cc/kyKWqR).
A second option that affects the press of a switch is
the addition of a rubber ‘O’ ring. This adds a very subtle
cushioning to the bottom of the key press. You can add
these to any type of Cherry or Gateron switch.
There are a few keyboard sizes available. The most
common is the 60% size, which is about comparable
with most laptops. The keys are the same size as a full
keyboard, but there aren’t as many of them, and this
size lacks function and arrow keys. These PCBs are
available from a wide variety of sellers of direct-from-
China websites, and the biggest difference is usually
the bits you get with the PCB. Some places just sell
the PCB; some bundle it with all the bits you need
to make a working keyboard. We got a complete kit
with PCB, steel backing plate, and switches (but no
key caps).
All the parts arrived, but no instructions. We
probably should have spent a little more time than

we did looking into how to assemble a keyboard, but

with hubris we set about soldering the switches into

the PCB. About half way through, we discovered that

you have to put the switches into the stainless steel

backing plate before soldering them into the PCB.

A bit of impromptu desoldering practice later, we

started again. The correct order for assembling the

keyboard is:

• Push keys into steel backing plate


• Make sure they’re in the right place for the
  key caps you want to use


• Add joiners for the longer keys (e.g. space
  bar) if you’re using them


• Solder the keys into the board

These kits are set up so that you can use a variety

of different key layouts by soldering into different

places, so be sure that you’ve pushed your keys in to

the correct place in the backing plate.

Provided you do everything in the correct order,

keyboards are fairly straightforward to assemble.

There’s quite a lot of soldering, but it’s all through-

hole and the backing plate holds the components in

place so there’s no fiddling about once you’re going.

Once we’d assembled our keyboard, we found that

one key wasn’t working. On inspection, it turned out

that there was a diode missing (there’s one surface-

mount diode per key). It’s entirely possible that we

knocked this off during our marathon desoldering

session. We moved a diode from an unused key and

it worked.

Our one complaint with the bundle is that it came

with an old-fashioned mini USB connector, rather

than the more modern micro. It wouldn’t be too

hard a job to replace this, but it does need to be

done before the keys are soldered on otherwise it’s

difficult to access the solder pads.

There are a few advantages of building your own

keyboard – it can be hard to find keyboards with

some of the less common switch types, and there’s

the enjoyment from building your own stuff. You can

also design your own case and have a complete,

custom keyboard. Mechanical keyboards are

particularly popular with gamers as they allow highly

precise key presses, and your custom-built keyboard

could be incorporated into some larger gaming setup.

Alternatively, you could partner this up with a single-

board computer and a screen to build your own

mechanical-keyboard laptop.

FIELD TEST

DIRECT FROM

(^) SHENZHEN