As we publish more articles in the "Mech Keys How-To" series currently ongoing, navigating the various topics and finding previous articles will only become more difficult. This thread will serve as a table of contents to help add some structure to the whole project.
Feel free to also suggest future topics in this thread, as it will surely be easier to identify gaps and opportunities for further exploration when viewing everything as a whole.
Mechanical Keyboards
Introductory Topics
Mechanical vs Membrane
Sizes and Layouts of Mechanical Keyboards
Short Intro Into Split Keyboards (dovenyi)
Staggered and Ortholinear Layouts
Support for Alternate Layouts (dvorcol)
Low-Profile vs High-Profile Keyboard Designs
Build Materials and Other Case Design Considerations
Selecting Your First Mechanical Keyboard (The_Manic_Geek)
Keycaps
Keycap Materials
Keycap Profiles
DCX vs DCD vs DCL
In Defense of MT3 (StoryBoardTech)
How To Design a GMK Keycap Set (GMK_Andy)
The GMK Color...
Keyboards at work: A rationale for returning mechanical keyboards to the office environment.
As I walk down the hall to my office each morning, I hear the discordant clattering of keys coming from my coworker’s office. In the hall… several doors down… I hear them. Like the loose teeth in my grandma’s poodle, barely hanging on, they rattle and heave. If anyone’s ever told you that mechanical keyboards are too loud, it’s simply because that person has become completely desensitized to the garbage-bomb that is the standard office computer keyboard.
In the 1980’s and 90’s, it was common to hear the sound of unmitigated excellence when you walked into an office building. The rapid gunfire-like precision of a room full of high-quality computer keyboards firing in unison. Even in the early 2000’s when I worked in a south-side Chicago newspaper newsroom, it was still filled with such keyboards. Ten to fifteen years into their professional daily use, they were still magnificent in sound and feel. Punctual, clean, decisive. In those days, professional keyboards didn’t come...
DCX vs DCD vs DCL - Drop’s Keycap Profiles Explained
We’ve covered the basics of keycap profiles before—spherical/cylindrical, sculpted/uniform, etc. One thing that has come up more and more over the years as we’ve expanded our portfolio of offerings here at Drop is the distinction between some of our similar profiles. Specifically, what is the actual difference between DCX, DCD, and DCL?
Cylindrical Profiles
To recap the previous article on the topic, one of the most basic ways to separate various keycap profiles is by shape (cylindrical, spherical, or flat). DCX, DCD, and DCL are all cylindrical profiles.
The most famous cylindrical profile is Cherry profile, as defined by the original manufacturer of the keycaps—Cherry. GMK now owns those tools, and as such, only they can technically claim to produce “Cherry” profile keycaps. Similar keycap profiles are often called Cherry profile colloquially, but are in actuality slightly different. For the sake of not splitting hairs, all of the cylindrical profiles discussed here are...
Figure 1: Sometime around here is a good time to ask that question...
If you’re new to the mechanical keyboard hobby, I have no doubt that planning your first keyboard build is a bit of a daunting task. To be entirely honest with you, it’s only a tiny bit less daunting for your second or even third keyboard builds should you stay around a little while longer. You’ve got the keyboard itself to worry about, stabilizers, keycaps, and even switches on top of all of the intangible marks you want your dream keyboard to hit. Switches are especially daunting right out of the gate as there’s just so many options out there to pick from – each with their own unique specifications, manufacturers, and more. Yet, in spite of all of these differences between switches, time and time again I find people always asking about lubing switches as one of their chief concerns when it comes to picking some up. With countless numbers of content creators talking about lubing switches, its no...
Figure 1: I couldn't think of a more literal way to represent this article if I tried...
Looking back just a few years ago, there’s no doubt that the huge influx of people that joined the hobby at the peak of the COVID pandemic were drawn to keyboards by way of YouTube, TikTok, and other audio-visual content platforms. Even as the output from these content creators has waned in recent months, their collective impact and legacy on the keyboard hobby is rather firmly etched in the history books. As a result of all of their sound tests, build logs, and opinion videos, the message is clear to any new person joining the hobby: mechanical keyboards are all about the sound. Thock this, clack that. Whether it’s keyboards, keycaps, or even singular switches, seemingly everyone new to the hobby meticulously pores over each component of their keyboard not in an attempt to figure out how it will feel in hand, but how it will sound as they’re furiously grinding their way out from...
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works.
My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up.
On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special?
In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly.
I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
A brief reflection and look at how far our community has come since joining.
I’ve been in the mechanical keyboard hobby for a very long time. It started as a high school student’s search for a keyboard for writing novels back in the 2008-2009 school year. I thought I wanted to be an author and I felt I needed a keyboard that I could sit down to at my desk and just write. After researching, joining forums, and saving money, I made my first purchase in the hobby, a blank black Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2. I still own this keyboard and while it is heavily modded now, it remains one of my all-time favorites.
My HHKB Pro2 with MitchCapped Accents
Many people would have stopped there, but keyboards became a hobby. I enjoyed learning about them, and early on, I enjoyed hunting for them in thrift shops. I would dig through bins at Goodwill and Salvation Army while popping keycaps off with paperclips looking for mechanical switches. I searched for a birthday Model M...
3 or 5? How many pins does your switch really need?
One of the oldest questions, albeit one you don’t see very often anymore, is about 3-pin and 5-pin MX switches. Early in the custom switch scene, budding enthusiasts would need to determine whether their keyboard needs 3-pin or 5-pin switches. Today, the question doesn’t appear as often as it used to, but it is still important to know the difference and when one is a better choice.
The difference between these two types of switches is in the name, the number of pins. As seen in the pictures below, 3-pin switches have two metal legs for the contact leaves and registering of switch presses as well as the stem pole. These switches were traditionally called plate mount switches, as they relied on the plate to align the switches on the PCB. 5-pin switches have the same contact pins and stem pole but are also accompanied by two additional alignment pins on the left and right of the stem pole. These were called PCB mount switches, as they could be used without plates as the PCBs would...
This is a summary of how alternative layouts have been supported by kits such as Colevrak and Homing. It is not a discussion of alt layout performance and development, but if that interests you I highly recommend starting with Pascal Getreuer’s A guide to alt keyboard layouts (why, how, which one?). It’s a concise and comprehensive overview with links to some great sites that go deeper. He also has a separate Links about keyboards page. The Keyboard layouts doc he recommends explains layout goals and metrics in detail, summarizing the alt layouts discussed here as well as more than one hundred others.
Sculpted-profile
The majority of custom keycap sets are sculpted-profile (Cherry, SA, MT3, KAT, etc. - more on profiles generally here) so let’s start there. Because each row has a unique keycap shape, alt layouts require a unique keycap for each legend that moves off its QWERTY row.
At first there were two
The Dvorak layout was patented in 1936 by August Dvorak & William L....
“Anne Marie? Do the interns get Glocks?” asks Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) in Wes Anderson’s classic The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. “No” she replies without pausing from looking up from sunbathing… “they all share one.”
If you’re new to director Wes Anderson and his collection of artsy, charming, and sometimes problematic but otherwise entertaining films, The Life Aquatic is a good place to start. Not because it’s his best work (The Royal Tenenbaums) or even his most approachable (The Fantastic Mr. Fox) … but because it is all of the things I described above and is a perfect example of what a Wes Anderson movie is. The actors, who make up his all-star casts are reduced (if that term can be used this way) into extensions of Anderson’s creative mind and play their parts to perfection. The plot is funny and also tragic, the music in the movie is completely unique and also instantly recognizable (Portuguese covers of David Bowie songs) and the movie blends dialogue and...
We received a couple of the pre-production samples of the SHIFT last week. This is one of the key milestones for getting the keyboard ready for mass production.
Here is a side-by-side photo showing our original SHIFT design and the new updated one.
Our next steps are to update the firmware on the new SHIFT along with ensuring the various mechanical / electrical parts are to spec.
I’m pretty excited about checking off this step and we will be updating as we hit more milestones.
Let me know what you think in discussion!
Pre-production samples were sent to @Zambumon this week and he has approved them for production!
To quote Zambumon:
Just got the MT3 Serika's final samples. The results are beyond fantastic. Hope you guys enjoy every detail of this set as much as I do.
Here are a few photos of the set - let us know what you think!
The Mitolet violet color is a result of a sampling mistake during one of MiTo’s projects, but the color turned out to be so beautiful in real life that he decided to include it with the Pulse SA R3 project. The design became a hit and Pulse GMK kit wouldn’t be complete without an extra versatile and compact kit - the Mitolet, which includes MiTo’s mysterious XX) face design and universal keycaps to suit almost all ortholinear, 60%, 65%, 75%, TKL and custom keyboards.
When we decided to create a new Drop-exclusive keyboard, we didn’t know we would land on a 75% layout. Back in early 2020, we kicked off concepting and preliminary specs around the idea of a gasket-mount keyboard. It was set to be an expansion of our existing lineup—and at the time, popular interest in gasket-mount builds seemed to align with interest in compact layouts.
As a result, work on an “Alt Gasket Version” started in earnest with drawings and specifications.
It wasn’t long until we noticed a tidal wave of community interest for 75% layouts. In fact, it looked quite clear that 75% was “the new meta”—so ultimately, we decided to follow the community with our take on the 75% layout. That meant starting fresh with new drawings, new designs, and new engineering.
Features for Enthusiasts
After finalizing the layout, we thought deeply about how to make a typing and customization experience that the community would love. Carefully incorporating user...
The final prototypes have been approved—and they look downright dapper, if we may say so ourselves.
Made with a sleek aluminum case, the Drop SHIFT mechanical keyboard allows you to customize the backlighting, layout, and feel. With dye-subbed PBT keycaps and your choice of switches, it’s ready for anything, whether you use it for gaming, programming, or cranking out emails. We hope you’re as delighted with it as we are!
We're Redesigning the SHIFT Based on Your Feedback
Thank you to everyone who chimed in on the discussion of our SHIFT mechanical keyboard. We've received lots of responses around the design and layout—and we value each and every comment. With your feedback, we’ve decided to make some important changes to the keyboard.
The new, more compact SHIFT will have the following changes made to it:
1. We’re removing the second row of keys from the numpad cluster. This allows the function row and the top row of the numpad cluster to be pulled down closer to the alpha cluster. It will also match the distance found on the CTRL and other, similar TKL keyboards. As a side benefit, people with smaller hands can more easily reach the F row.
2. We’re adding an additional 1u (delete) key to the function cluster. As a result of this addition, the F1–F12 keys will be shifted. This change results in a more easily accessible delete key and a more uniform, aesthetically pleasing look.
3. We’re adding three RGB indicator lights for the Caps...
Diffusing the Diffuser
We love RGB, but we also understand that it’s not for everyone. The problem with integrated RGB designs is that even when you turn them off, the plastic diffusers are still visible—a byproduct of RGB that some users find visually unappealing. Solving this issue, the SENSE75 has its LED diffusers hidden on its underside of the keyboard, making them entirely invisible from standard viewing angles.
When turned on, the subtle LED underglow casts on the desk surface providing a natural and pleasant looking halo. Turned off, the keyboard’s minimalist design takes over and keeps the focus on its soft lines and curved transitions.
Applying the App
We know how important it is to have full, customizable control over your keymappings and lighting options. That's why we’ve built a Windows- and Mac-compatible configurator application for the SENSE75—complete with an easy-to-use interface that lets you quickly customize your keys and lighting. Future versions...
The Hangul & Arabic Kits
MiTo believes the calligraphic style of Arabic glyphs pair very well with the black color and complementary cyan. Same goes for the Hangul alphabet, which gives a futuristic and unique look to the keycap set. Both kits are available on their own, which means that they are affordably retro-compatible with any GMK keycap set previously designed, including Laser GMK.
The Micons Kit
The Micons are MiTo’s futuristic take on a new icon based convention for computer keyboards, inspired by the legendary IBM, Macintosh and Windows words and symbols that nowadays are recognized globally by billions of users, during their everyday computer tasks. So far, the Micons have been present in project such as Canvas, Godspeed, Laser and many others.
The idea behind the Micons is that the symbols should:
1 - Resemble the classic designs by Apple and Microsoft;
2 - Be simple and intuitive;
3 - Feature geometrical shapes;
4 - Use no more than 3 graphic elements;
5 - Be suited for both dye sublimation and doubleshot manufacturing techniques.
CTRL, ALT, SHIFT V2
We think it’s fair to say Drop’s original CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT keyboards have earned a place as classics within the hobby. But, since their debut, it’s also fair to say there has been a lot of evolution among mechanical keyboards. So, what do you do to modernize a classic without sacrificing what made it so in the first place? And, beyond that, what might something totally new look like?
When we’ve done customer surveys and asked buyers why they picked one of the three the answer is usually the same - the design. Machined from a solid block of aluminum, then sandblasted and anodized, with pleasant rounded corners and simple-yet-elegant industrial design, CTRL, ALT and SHIFT look as great as they feel.
However, the common complaints we’ve heard are related to stabilizers, switch compatibility, and typing sound. So, we’d like to introduce you to the V2 family of these icons.
The refreshed V2 versions of CTRL, ALT and SHIFT will all have several...
One of the most exciting aspects of the mechanical keyboard hobby is how anyone can become more than just a consumer – anyone can give designing a keycap set a shot and become a contributor as well!
I’ve been involved with designing keycap sets long before I worked for GMK – in fact my set Jukebox SA was the very first SA set to run on Massdrop years ago. Since then I’ve designed a few other kits (GMK Honeywell, GMK Mint Dolch) but have concentrated my efforts on helping other designers find good homes for their sets, and I’ve had the absolute pleasure of working directly with many of the designers in the community.
If you want to learn how to design a GMK keycap set (or any other profile – much of what I will go over will be universally helpful for any profile) I’ll be providing multiple articles here to walk you through every step of the process and best practices to use when designing a set. The steps I will go over in detail are as follows:
▪️ Basic overview /...
Switch Marketing Terms: What to Know and What to Ignore
If you’re just now stepping into the world of custom mechanical keyboards, or trying to expand your switch catalogue for upcoming builds, all of the phrases you may see on a switch sales page can be confusing. Where more seasoned keyboard veterans might scoff at me for making a claim like this, I can assure you that even after having purchased thousands of switches myself I still come across new, strange ways of vendors trying to sell me switches. While I don’t have the space here to go through every single one of the quirky selling gimmicks I’ve seen over the years, I figure it might be worthwhile to give a loose guide to help people out. So, in this article I’m going to cover the things that you need to both look for and ignore when buying your next set of switches!
Type and Manufacturer
Image Credit: @BMa1
While this may seem an incredibly obvious suggestion to be made as something to look out for it, it isn’t entirely without merit. To new people coming into the...
By now, we’ve all seen those technology column articles from various news outlets discussing all of the best new mechanical keyboards out there for you to “upgrade your productivity” and “customize your workplace setup.” While some of these articles look at different pre-built options and every so often a truly customizable one, all of these articles fall short on one specific thing: the switch options.
Championed as productivity improvers, strain reducers, and the ultimate personalized touch for your desk at work or at home, these websites unfortunately limit their discussion of mechanical keyboard switches simply to ‘Red’, ‘Blue’, and ‘Brown’ ones. Knowing that there are thousands of more interesting, uniquely designed, and fancifully colored options out there, I can’t help but feel a little sad that first-time buyers think that that is all there is out there for them. Keeping in mind how many new keyboard enthusiasts are sold short on the switch options out there, the team at...
I don’t like the phrase “it should go without saying”; if that were the case, there would be so many things that never got mentioned, and a lot of things we’d get wrong because of it. This is also true when building your custom mechanical keyboard: there’s a multitude of best practices out there that can, and will, help guide you towards a cleanly built, good-sounding board and an overall positive experience, provided someone *tells* you what those are. Here are some that “should go without saying”, but will be said anyway for those who are new to the hobby, or just getting back in after some time away!
We’ll be focusing on hotswap mechanical keyboards, as those are by and large the most popular kind of PCB for newcomers and veterans alike, though many of our practices will still apply to soldered builds as well. As always, if there’s anything you feel we missed and would like to add, or need further clarification on, feel free to leave a comment below!
Check All Parts Before...
In 2017, we embarked on an ambitious new project: to make a brand new set of high precision doubleshot keycap molds with Matt3o's popular MT3 profile. A project that was supposed to be completed in 10 months ended up taking over 2 years. More than a thousand groupbuy participants shifted from eager anticipation, to massive frustration, and finally elation when they received their keycaps. Since then, we’ve made and shipped over 50,000 keycap sets using our doubleshot MT3 toolset and it remains our highest average-rated keycap profile that we’ve ever sold.
We learned a crucial lesson from this experience: making high quality doubleshot keycap tools (molds) is extremely difficult and time-consuming. So, when we began a new project to make a whole new set of tools for a new profile, we decided to do it behind closed doors to spare community members from the roller coaster of unexpected delays.
We kicked the project off in early 2020 with some ambitious goals:
Create a cylindrical...
If you’re in this hobby long enough, you’ll eventually encounter a set of stabilizers (stabs) that, for reasons you can’t quite explain, will not stop rattling or ticking! Even if you followed all of the best practices we previously outlined, and memorized our stabilizer tuning guide, you may still run into a set of stabilizers that doesn’t seem to want to behave. Today, we’re going to clarify the specific functionality of a stabilizer, and demystify what can cause stabilizer issues, split into the three main things that can cause them: the keycap, the switch, or the stabilizer, itself. Bear in mind that while many of these things CAN cause an issue, not all of them are curable through traditional means, so stay with us as we walk you through what can cause stabilizer tuning issues! If some of these don’t seem to be happening with your keyboard, or you’ve encountered SEVERAL ISSUES AT ONCE, we’ll cover that at the end as well.
As always, if you have anything...
Okay, so you’ve decided you want to get some aftermarket keycap sets. What should you look for? Broadly speaking, keycap sets will be split up into three different groups, according to the material they’re made of. In order of abundance, they are:
▪️ ABS
▪️ PBT
▪️ POM
Image Credit: @callmeL
Despite this clean delineation of materials, keep in mind that nothing in the real world of manufacturing is this simple. Different manufacturers will use different material blends (the bulk material may be ABS, but there are all sorts of functional additives that will differ), tooling is different and manufactured/maintained to different standards, and quality standards are different.
In addition to the materials used to manufacture a keycap set, we must also explore a few different “legending techniques” (how the letters that you see on each keycap get there). We’ll focus primarily on the more premium legending options here, but keep in mind that you might come across others in your...
Before launching any product, there are many designs, concepts, and ideas that pass between teams before arriving at a final design which makes its way to your computer screen and, eventually, desk. This is no more true than when considering possibly the most "art"-forward aspect of the mechanical keyboard hobby—artisan keycaps. It should be obvious that a lot of planning and artistry goes into crafting these literal pieces of art. We don't often get a chance to see behind the curtain, though. So, let's take a closer look at the upcoming Drop + Dwarf Factory Lord of the Rings Rohan Artisan Keycaps.
Before any resin is spilled, Middle Earth (the entity that licenses the Lord of the Rings IP) needs to approve the concepts based on concept art provided by Dwarf Factory. We connect with DF to coordinate on the topic and subject matter—in this particular case, additional Rohan-themed designs—to be sure that the concepts match with overall direction, whether that be pairing up with a...
Let’s face it – everything in the world today revolves around brand names. The clothes have to be Supreme or Gucci, the cars have to be Lamborghinis or Porsches, and the cereal better have Toucan Sam on it, or I will go hungry all day. While a lot of these brands have become ingrained into every facet of our lives thanks to social media, television, etc., many people don’t realize just how foreign the appeal of some of these brands would be if we weren’t overly invested in fashion, cars, or breakfast cereals. In much the same way, when people begin stepping into the mechanical keyboard scene they lose complete bearing on what brands represent what. The matter is only further compounded with switches, which have nearly exploded in popularity and number of releases in recent years. So, while I may not be able to give you all of the ins and outs of every single manufacturer out there, here’s an arbitrary amount of the most common brand names in switches that you should be aware of...
When considering which aftermarket keycap set to get, there can be many different factors to consider. We’ve already discussed the different materials that keycaps can be made from, and of course there is the obvious colorway consideration, but what about the shape of the individual keycaps themselves?
In the early days of the enthusiast keyboard hobby, there were extremely limited options available for aftermarket keycap sets. Unicomp was making replacement keycap sets for buckling spring keyboards and Signature Plastics was making keycap sets compatible with MX switches (GMK had not yet become an option to the enthusiast market - that would come a couple years later).
Now, though? You’d be easily forgiven for being overwhelmed by the number of options available on the market at this point.
Let’s walk through the characteristics that define the various profiles, and cover some of the major profiles you’ll come across.
▪️ Keycap Shape (Spherical, Cylindrical, Flat)
▪️ Sculpted...
About
How much of your day is spent typing on a keyboard? Discover the endless ways you can make this desk centerpiece a true expression of yourself.