Hey! I saw posts from here on my feed, and have been sucked in. Beautiful keyboards!

But, I’m a bit overwhelmed with options. If I want to get started with an EMK, what would you suggest?

I am comfortable with general soldering (though haven’t done surface-mount), so putting a kit together should be doable. I use a Dvorak keyboard layout, so would prefer a way to customize keycaps. But … I would prefer a kit that comes with everything (or at least a checklist), and doesn’t require me to figure out what components to order, to help ensure I have compatible parts.

Thanks for your suggestions!

  • @Kimcha87
    3•2 years ago

    I recommend you watch this stream of nicel (nice nano creator) assembling a keyboard:

    https://youtu.be/kRrzfWv39G4

    He also has a keyboard store that sells keyboards that are optimized for wireless and have many components pre-soldered.

    https://typeractive.xyz

    You will need to make a lot of decisions:

    • Do you want a number row or do you want to use layers for numbers so that you don’t have to stretch?
    • Do you want a second pinky column (esc, shift, …) or use homerow mods or thumb keys for those.
    • How many thumb keys do you want? (Only three are realistically usable unless you have huge hands)
    • Do you want regular MX switches or low profile Choc switches?
    • How much row stagger do you want?

    It can be overwhelming and unfortunately the Reddit community is blacked out. That’s where all the answers lie until we can get a searchable archive.

    Some keyboard designs you would want to look into are:

    • corne
    • lily58
    • Sofle
    • Chocofi

    And of course, if you get stuck, make sure to ask here. Other people will have the same questions and we need to build up the knowledge base on this platform.