Mechanical Keyboards

Not my video. From the description:

Case: Raw Aluminum Keycaps: Unicomp Red Cyrillic on Brilliant White + Gray Modifiers Layout: HHKB-style split right shift and regular 2-unit wide backspace Configuration: Floss Modded, lubed spacebar wire, lubed keycap stems

My first (or second) experience with non-MX style switches in a keyboard. The IBM Model F is coveted as one of the greats when it comes to "mechanical" switches. This reproduction unit by Ellipse of Model F Labs serves to bring back the magic of the Model F keyboard with a lot of modern enhancements. Suffice it to say, I am very happy with the experience of typing on this board minus one small caveat. My biggest gripe with this board, and consequently any other buckling spring keyboard is the fact that there is simply no way to flip the spacebar. The asymmetrical design of the keycap stem paired with the fact that the spacebar wire attaches directly to only one side of the spacebar keycap makes it so that you are required to use this in its standard spacebar configuration. I find this to be really uncomfortable because my thumb is essentially pressing right against the hard edge of the keycap rather than the smooth edge afforded by a flipped spacebar. This was such an issue that I attempted to model my own keycap and have it resin 3D printed by JLCPCB, but to no avail. The tolerances on buckling-spring stems are really specific which makes the mechanism really difficult to replicate. I dont have the time or money to fine tune this problem. Despite that glaring issue, I still have a great time typing on this board and I find the typing experience to be very pleasant otherwise. The deep clicks are much preferable to the high pitch clicks youd often hear in MX-Style switches. The mechanism is also reasonably smooth if you take the time to lube the keycap stems with Krytox 205g0. You might also notice that there is no coating on this keyboard. When I had originally bought this board from a seller off Mechmarket, the original coating on it was a powder-coated black. I wasn't thrilled with the look and feel of it so I took it upon myself to strip the coating by submerging the pieces in a vat of Klear-Strip for roughly 2 days. Overall, I think the result turned out great and gives a raw look to the design. So far the aluminum hasn't shown any clear sings of tarnishing but I do anticipate it to eventually show some wear. There's still a marginal amount of residue left over from the stripping so the finish isn't perfect, but I think it gives the board a lot of character. Despite there being no "integrated" weight in this board like you see in a lot of premium customs, this still out-weighs my Sharkeneko 1600g to 1470g. The steel inner assembly paired with the thick aluminum chassis makes this a weapon of a keyboard.