Blue Alps 60%

[pyrelink]

After a long time of staring at this collection of parts, I finally got the time to put everything together. I couldn't be happier with the results, and I took a few pictures to share with everyone here. My Blue Alps 60%:

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I got parts from all around.

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Specifically the PCB is Hasu's 60% Alps PCB

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The plate is an AEKII plate, cut by Nubbinator

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The Keycaps are from an AEKII bought from XMIT

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The case is a TEX Acrylic I bought from *cough*Massdrop*cough*

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And finally the switches are Blue SKCM also bought from XMIT

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I am incredibly happy with the board. The Blue Alps are fantastic to type on. They have no comparison to a lowly Blue MX switch. The click is perfectly aligned with the actuation, they are smooth, and the sound is incredible. I am currently just running the stock flashed TMK firmware on the keyboard, so I still need to adjust the board for FN layers and my preferred layout. I have yet to tinker with TMK firmware, so I imagine it will be a little while before I can take the time to get to it.

As always a couple extra, and full res photos available on Flickr.

[seebart]

Wow really nice board! Congrats.

[photekq]

What a beauty!

[HzFaq]

Super nice, looks really good in that case. I have like 2/3rds of the bits to make mine, just waiting on the final few pieces...

[Redmaus]

Boy do I want some yellow or orange alps...

But that is nice. I personally don't like the font on apple keys but the way you did it makes me consider.

Blue alps are the best clicky switches but are actually too loud considering I can still hear them when I have my headphones on and listening to music.

[guk]

Blue alps are the best clicky switches

You wot mate?

Spoiler:

[hypkx]

Boy do I want some yellow or orange alps...

But that is nice. I personally don't like the font on apple keys but the way you did it makes me consider.

Blue alps are the best clicky switches but are actually too loud considering I can still hear them when I have my headphones on and listening to music.

I can understand you, the font isn't that nice, but the thing that drives me crazy on Apple (AEK) keycaps are the homing bumps at the D and K key. Very irritating current writing and gaming with WASD is just annoying with the homing bump on D.

[HzFaq]

hasu, as always, has a pretty cool solution for the homing bump problem.

http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/p ... ml#p234402

[Redmaus]

Blue alps are the best clicky switches

You wot mate?

Spoiler:

That is on a whole different level.

IBM soars to the clouds with its mighty ping. I was more so comparing blue alps to MX.

[yobinad]

Very nice build

[Mattr567]

This is some Alps awesomeness.

[pyrelink]

Thanks guys. I am not the biggest fan of the Apple font, but when it comes to the most readily available, PBT (non yellowed), mostly normal layout, Alps keys, the AEK2 wins. I have already gone and switched the nibbled keys around, as that throws me off like crazy, when used to them the other way.

Sound wise, blue alps are certainly loud, and significantly louder and better sounding then clicky Mx switches. Cap. Buckling spring however still takes the cake for being the loudest switch.

Very happy with how this turned out the more I type on it!

[Redmaus]

Hey pyrelink, you do know about the doubleshot keys on massdrop right?

I think it ended a few weeks ago however.

[hypkx]

But there are some commercial resellers like mkb:
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/in ... ail&p=1362

[scottc]

Looks incredible, pyrelink. I'm partway through doing a similar build, just in ISO using a Dell AT102W plate as that's all I had to hand. Unfortunately my plate's gotten a bit too bent from my rabid hacksawing so I'm back to square one!

[Muirium]

Ah, love those Apple caps! Glad I've got a set or two spare of them, for something like this someday.

In defence of the D and K homing bumps: ever noticed which of your fingers are longest? I think the idea is that those touch the keyboard first. Naturally, when IBM finally introduced homing bumps, they put them on F and J instead and everyone else immediately copied them. Apart from Apple, until, ironically, right around when Steve came back? Certainly none of my Macs have D and K.

Sawing plates: eew. I might need to do that for a space invader TKL sometime. If so, powertools! But I'd rather laser cut something new so I don't destroy original kit.

[scottc]

Yeah, I'd strongly recommend NOT attempting to saw a stainless steel plate! It was an ordeal. Took me several hours too. Hopefully I'll just have someone make me one from scratch instead.

[pyrelink]

I did infact pick up a set of those Tai Hao Alps keysets. I got the ones in Olivetti colors to match my set of these: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70817.0

We will see if I decide to use those caps on this board. I still quite like these Apple ones and I have a whole bunch of Green alps that need to be used as well...

Hacksawing is a bit too messy and requires too much patience for me. I am with Muirium - much rather have something purpose cut. That isn't to say I would never try it though. Also Scott- I have to leave so I can't look up the link but I believe there are talks of doing new rounds of Hasu's PCB and getting special plates cut over on GH. Some of the options being another AEK 2 plate or a Dell AT101 plate. Not sure of the status of that, but that might be a good idea.

[Redmaus]

Hey pyrelink, klikkyklick is looking for green alps. You should see if he wants them.

[hasu]

Nicely done! Looks great.

I'd ask your feedback so that I can revise PCB design in next batch.
Don't soldered diodes interfere with cross bars and standoffs of the case?
Or did you have any other problem on the PCB with the TEX Acrylic case and plate?

thanks,

[pyrelink]

Nicely done! Looks great.

I'd ask your feedback so that I can revise PCB design in next batch.
Don't soldered diodes interfere with cross bars and standoffs of the case?
Or did you have any other problem on the PCB with the TEX Acrylic case and plate?

thanks,

It was this reason that I waited as long as I did for the case to arrive before starting to put everything together. I test fit it in a couple times and everything looked like it would fit just fine, so I tried a couple on each row, and nothing touched. PCB still sat flush in the case. The USB connector is also in the right spot, and all the standings align correctly. So I would say it is perfectly compatible with the Tex Acrylic Case. The only things I would like to see changed on the PCB would be possibly using Micro USB over Mini (just personal preference), and Bluetooth compatibility, otherwise it's a fantastic PCB and I am super happy with it!

[Hypersphere]

Splendid! An excellent piece of work.

[Muirium]

Good to hear Hasu's thinking of another run. I'd like to try making an Alps 60% with Apple caps as well, also with a pre-cut plate. Only I'm thinking of putting it inside a metal case. Matias linears could go well with that — they are adequately damped, right? — because going linear helps avoid the obvious crapness of the tactile bump of the "quiet clicks".

Um, any chance of a Hasu designed Bluetooth PCB next round?

[Hypersphere]

@Mu: Have you tried Matias linears? I tried them and didn't like them at all. My favorite Matias is the Click, but I like the "Quiet Click" much more than the Matias Linear. The tactility of the Click and Quiet Click switches is far better than any Cherry mx (IMO), although certainly not as good as IBM Model F or Topre.

[Muirium]

The only Matias I've tried (the right way: in a keyboard) is the tactile "quiet click" ones in the Ergo Pro. I didn't like them. Not nearly as pleasing as cream complicated Alps in the AEK II, or the later (surely simplified?) whites in my second AEK II. Both those boards were mint when I got them, which is Alps at its best. Matias wasn't quite there for tactility. Too bumpy, like MX clear.

But I did like the damping. They were deliciously quiet, top and bottom. Linears like that ought to do the trick. So long as they're good and smooth. I'm not too fussy about weight.

[Hypersphere]

I've dragged out my 3 KBP V60MTS boards: Click, Quiet Click, and Linear Quiet for a quick comparison. The Click and Quiet Click have identical caps (IBM 5140 dye-sub PBT with Matias ABS mods), whereas the Linear Quiet has the stock KBP ABS caps. Therefore, the comparisons are complicated by an extra variable in the case of the Linear board.

With the foregoing differences in mind, I like the feel of the Click switches best. Three is something about the damping in the Quiet Click that seems to make the tactility feel more bumpy, and in general I don't like the lack of tactile feedback in linear switches.

Among linears that I have tried, the Matias Quiet Linear switches might be the best. They are smooth, and the travel seems noticeably less than other linears that I recall testing. The Matias Quiet Linear switches are obviously damped on both the down-stroke and return stroke. Nevertheless, they seem noisier than the Quiet Click, but this might be due, at least in part, to the thin ABS caps and the fact that Matias switches have more wobble than many other types of switches. This wobble gives rise to rattling noises from the keycaps. If I take care to keep my fingers firmly on the keys and press down and release without allowing the keycaps to wobble, my perception is that the noise level from the Quiet Click and Quiet Linear boards is about the same.

Of course, ultimately it is necessary to assess the feel and sound of a switch in the holistic context of a complete keyboard, including a specific set of caps and a particular case. For example, I have found that a Poker II with mx browns in a stock plastic case sounds and feels quite different from a Pok3r (Poker 3) with mx browns in its cast aluminum case.

[cookie]

Awesome work!

[klikkyklik]

Nice build - that looks fantastic. Nice choice of switches too. Would be cool to hear that one in action if you're ever up to doing a video!

[pyrelink]

Here is a quick typing video I put together. I will say it sounds different in the video then it does in person. In person the switches click in a little lower frequency, but overall its a pretty decent representation.

[klikkyklik]

That's real cool! Thanks!