Introduction:
Today, and hopefully at least a few times more in the future, I have something I suspect might be a little different for most of you. With Overclockers Club being a PC hardware review and enthusiast site, I think I can guess most people who read this will either have experience building a computer, upgrading it, or the interest to do so soon. Personally I have built four computers since I first found and started reading the site, usually building to get the computing experience I wanted. For this article, and the larger project I hope to span multiple articles, I am again going to be building something to get my preferred experience, but instead of a computer, it is a mechanical keyboard.
I can still remember years ago when I was first looking into getting a mechanical keyboard, partly because I was accepting the hype that they provide a better experience, especially for gaming. I am not sure if I can comment on that, but I do remember how I was not really aware of the difference between switches. Sure you can see how some keyboards have linear switches, others tactile, and then others clicky. Having never worked with a mechanical keyboard at that point, I had no idea of the different typing experience I could have between these types, so all I could really act on was other keyboard features and a general preference for a quieter experience.
This is potentially sounding like an introduction to just a keyboard review, and in part it is, but I hope this and the articles that follow are more than that. I am not sure when it was or why it was, but I started looking into the custom mechanical keyboard community, and my hope is to share some of what I have learned and experienced, and fortunately I have had some help.
Obviously if you are going to look into building a keyboard, it helps to have the parts, so I reached out to a few places. This first article mostly features hardware provided by NovelKeys, as the company sent me the NK65 – Entry Edition keyboard kit as well as four switch types: Silk Yellow (linear); NovelKey Cream (linear); NovelKey Blueberry (tactile); and Kailh Box Jade (clicky).
Very quickly, the NK65 – Entry Edition is an entry-level kit that comes with almost everything you need, with everything included already assembled. Case, PCB, and plate are assembled for you and packaged with a carrying case and a USB cable, and then on the software side it uses QMK firmware with out-of-box support for VIA, making it a very nice collection of parts to get someone started without overwhelming them. All that is missing are switches, which as I said NovelKeys also provided me with, and keycaps, which I have purchased myself.
The inclusion of almost everything makes the NK65 – Entry Edition a very nice start into the custom keyboard community, but it also has one feature that is very important, especially for what I hope to do. The PCB uses hot-swappable sockets, which means with the proper tools, you can very easily remove a switch and install a different one, even while the keyboard is plugged in. Maybe a switch has died on you or you just want to try something different, but either way you can take out the switch and put in another at will. I can confirm this works with the keyboard plugged in, as I installed one switch badly, discovered that during a keyboard test (which you should always do when building a keyboard), and replaced it immediately.
I do not want to put everything in the Introduction, and there is more to talk about before even getting to the subjective stuff, but there are some other points to cover before moving on. One is that NovelKeys is not the only company I successfully reached out to, I just got the parts from NovelKeys first. Even if I had not gotten the NK65 – Entry Edition first, I might have still wanted to start with it because its pre-assembled state should serve to make it the easier introduction to building a keyboard. The parts from the other company will require some assembly, but as I have already done this I can still say it was a fairly easy task, so assembly should not intimidate you.
Second, I did try to record my working with the NK65 – Entry Edition, but had some issues with the camera. I do still have a video to share, but it is edited together and a little out of order (I think I recorded the introduction second to last). Also, for one section that was lost, I have decided to use what was recorded for the other keyboard. This was the part where I installed the switches, but as both PCBs feature hot-swap sockets, the process is almost identical. The only difference relates to the case designs.
Third, I want to share here a piece of news I saw from NovelKeys. I want to be clear that this information was not sent to me, I just saw it in the Mechanical Keyboards Reddit and think it is worth sharing for anyone interested in getting into custom mechanical keyboards. As I said above, the NK65 – Entry Edition does not come with switches or keycaps, but the company is working on a special Milkshake Edition, which will feature a different color to the case, matching the colors of the Milkshake keycaps it will include. It will also come with switches, specifically Silk Yellow switches like I was sent. The switches will be a bit special though as the stems will not be yellow but multi-colored to match the keycaps. This means that the NK65 – Milkshake Edition could be a very good introduction to custom mechanical keyboards, as it will come complete and with the hot swappable sockets, you can always change out the switches if you wish.
The fourth point I want to make is that you can expect a custom keyboard to cost more than a prebuilt. This is not too surprising really, as the parts cannot be so easily mass produced with the expectation to sell. This is why group buys are somewhat common, as it allows a company to secure orders first, and then only send the order to the manufacturer once there are enough to cover manufacturing costs.
The NK65 – Entry Edition costs $95 on its own, and my understanding of when it first went on sale, the 500 units sold out almost instantly. Adding in the cost of 70 Silk Yellow switches ($38.50) and the more expensive keycaps I have ($45) we come to a price of $178.50.
The Milkshake Edition will be available for pre-order from September 18 to October 2, and the pre-orders will be unlimited, so if you want in, you can get in during that time. The price of the Milkshake Edition will be $190 with the delivery estimated to be in January or February 2021. At least to me, that difference of $11.50 is not too bad for a special edition that you can be sure you get.
With that covered, time to get into the body of the article, starting with not the NK65 – Entry Edition, but the keycaps I am using because I had them and tried them on a different keyboard first.
