Today we have a mechanical keyboard build
that’s a bit different to the other ones that I’ve done so far. However, we’re back with the familiar 60%
form factor build. Thanks to Banggood.com for providing most
of these parts for the build, and I’ll put links in the description. Alright so pretty much all the parts are from
Banggood, besides the keyswitches, because all they really have are Gateron Blacks which
I’ve already used, so yeh. This is gonna be another 60% build, so I don’t
really want to spend too much time on the building process, but do more of a review
of mainly the Kailh Box Brown keyswitches, the wooden case, and keycaps. As always we start with the PCB. This is the good old Satan GH60 that you can
find everywhere. And this supports a couple of different layouts. Since I use the ANSI layout, that’s what
I’m gonna build. But I know there’s a heap of Europeans out
there that use the ISO layout, so yes, this is ISO compatible. We already have the diodes and resistors soldered
in, so all we need to put in are the keyswitches and LEDs if you want some lighting. First step as always is to put in the stabilisers. These are the cheap Chinese stabs that are
always pretty bad and rattly. Always try to get genuine stabilisers, or
at least have some lube at hand, such as Super Lube or dielectric grease. We have a black aluminium mounting plate. And as we can see, it allows for a few different
positions of various keys to accommodate some different layouts. As usual, building a keyboard requires soldering,
unless you have a hotswappable PCB or holtites or something. So you’ll need a soldering iron, and I’ll
link a great video specifically on soldering mechanical keyboards by my friend JUJU. I actually did this build like a few months
ago, so I got these Kailh Box Brown keyswitches when they were relatively new and unknown. But now there’s a heap of Box switch variants
and are quite a refreshing wave of keyswitches in the market, especially with their clickies. And these are MX style keyswitches, with the
classic cross stem, so all keycaps will fit. All Box switches have a said box looking protrusion
around the cross stem, and are closed off at the top. So there’s no holes for through hole LEDs,
so you will either need SMD LEDs, in which this PCB and many others don’t support. Or you put in the LEDs first, as I have done
in the past. And this is part of making them IP56 waterproof
and dustproof keyswitches. Opening it up, and again it’s different. First of all, the spring is slimmer. The bump on the slider that creates that tactile
bump pushes onto this little bit here. And here’s the other box, which gives it
it’s IP56 rating, and inside we have the contacts. Now to the case. This comes in 2 versions on Banggood’s website,
and this is the yellow rosewood colour. And the other one is walnut which is a bit
more darker, while the one I have is quite a bit more bright and warm. Being wood, every case will look slightly
different, with different grain structure and such, as well as tones of colour. But this one looks quite nice to me. It’s quite a simple rectangular design,
with 8mm side bezels, and 10mm top and bottom bezels. This is CNC routed, and the finish for the
most part is very good and very smooth. Although on mine, one corner has been pushed
in, so it looks like it was dropped or something. And on the left hand inside edge which is
the end grain, it’s pretty rough which isn’t great, but it can’t be seen in the end. Being a nice solid piece of wood, there is
no flex, and it comes in at 340g, which goes in between plastic and aluminium cases. The USB cutout is quite large, and I believe
it should be able to accomodate for a USB C port, although I don’t have a PCB on me
to test. And we also have a small cutout at the bottom,
that lines up with our reset button. And there’s some nice brass standoffs which
are solidly supported by the surrounding wood. And to finish it off, the keycaps. These actually come pretty nicely packaged
in a box, labelled as OG Keys I think. And these are an imitation of the famous Carbon
keyset, although there’s quite a few differences. First of all quality. This isn’t a GMK set or anything, so we
have PBT plastic, which is good, however the legends are lasered, rather than dye sublimated. And consequently, we have a quite light grey
for the alphas, and we do not get the orange text on the modifiers, and have white instead. They’re about 1.5mm thick, so that’s actually
decently thick. Since it’s a 119 keycap set, you would think
that it may perhaps allow for some compatibility for different layouts, such as a 1.75u right
shift, or some different R1 keys. But unfortunately that’s not the case, as
basically all the extras are novelty keys, although they’re quite funny ones as well. We have like the main keyboard forums, some
games, and even the Pimp My Keyboard logo. But all together, I still think the keyset
looks pretty good, as the keycap colours are still approximately the same, and I feel that
it matches up nicely with the yellow rosewood case, creating a very warm feeling aesthetic. The shape of the keyboard is very simple,
but the colours of the case and keycaps really do make it standout. The wooden case has a slight inclination to
it, but other than that, it’s just a rounded rectangular prism. And the case has held up fine for the few
months I’ve had it, although I haven’t really moved it around so much. But it is a hardwood, and pressing my fingernail
into it does nothing. So I’m quite pleased with the quality and
build of the case. Again this is a 60% keyboard, so we’re missing
a lot of primary keys, but they are on the secondary layer, which is accessed via the
function key. And you can flash a different layout on it
if you want. But 60% boards aren’t for everyone, such
as myself, and it does take some time getting used to. Coincidently, the Kailh Box Brown keyswitches
do match the theme of the keyboard. And these are a weird keyswitch. As said, these are tactile, meaning they have
a bump but no click, and have an operating force of 50g. However the bump is right near the top, so
right off the bat, it feels different to say MX Brown’s and other tactiles. It has a more pronounced bump compared to
MX Brown’s, especially when actually typing, you feel that tactile feedback a touch more. Although there are a heap of new Kailh Box
variations, and I think these haven’t been the most popular, and I can see why. Again, wood is kinda in between plastic or
acrylic, and aluminium, in how it sounds and feels. Although the plate is still aluminium. But I feel that it’s slighting softer and
fuller than some 60% aluminium cases, but not as much as acrylic. And I guess it’s a nice piece to have just
for the variety in material in a collection. Overall it was a pretty fun build. Nothing really out there, but it was great
to work with the surprisingly nice wooden case. The keycaps aren’t the best, but they still
look the part. And the keyswitches are an interesting one
to keep around, purely because they’re different to the other tactiles I have, but I’m not
the biggest fan. Thanks again to Banggood.com for providing
most of the parts for this build, and for their continued support. I’ll put the links in the description if
you want to check them out.
