Mad respect for the leg work to 1. post everything to someplace where we can all see the models 2. Getting permission from all the creators first This is a wonderful practice.
Sorry, it's me again. I wanted to thank you for your entertaining presentation and how it feels like you're talking TO me and not AT me about stuff. I like how it feels like you're not being condescending to the viewer but still can make fun jokes with them.
thank you for this comment, I was trying to put my finger on just what it was about this channel that really drew me in. And I think that's it. It feels like he's talking to me, it reminds me of how I get when I'm talking to someone about something I'm excited about making and how it will work and everything
@@ZackFreedman Bravo Zach, this was one heck of a key presentation, real masterclass in all keyboard issues. Love the care the humor and obsessive detail you went in this, 5 stars with a cherry on top. If you are taking requests, I'd love for a video just like this one on macro keyboards, maybe something very open source and all purpose that you can make bigger as needed from a basic unit all the way to industry machinery control boards. 2parter?? Also anything on virtual touchscreen keyboards and those dashboard types that simulators and CNC industrial controls use. Thats all its the little things, Cheers and thank you, truly learned stuff I have. :)
"this is just a tribute" 🤣 Your seamless integration of references that continue to be both unexpected and exactly in my wheel house astounds sir. And then there the actual information being shared!
Because of this video (well mostly) I've gone from using standard qwerty horizontaly staggered boards to a diy 3d printed and hand-wired split vertical stagger 36 key setup and changed to the Colmak-DH layout. I must thank you for inspiring me to give this all a shot as its so much more comfortable to type now, I can touch type properly, and way less finger gymnastics are involved!
small note to Zack: nice touch adding the quick recap at the end of the key types explanation. The high level categories are what I'll remember, but the details beforehand are great for reference if I'm looking to build my own later 👍
Your writing for these videos is superb, massive youtube channels with teams of writers dont do it as good. Just watching your videos I can picture the painstaking hours going over these scripts trying to get it just that little bit more streamlined or funny etc. Bravo sir.
so cool seeing you talk about this hobby! A small (sort of) correction that might help some people: Stagger, as it's done on mainstream keyboards, is a thing, and then there's stagger on an ortholinear keyboard. Meaning that they aren't mutually exclusive. There's the old-school typewriter inspired stagger that we're all familiar with and that should make everyone mad, and then there's ortholinear stagger, where the columns are all lined up top to bottom, but across the rows, the keys are staggered to line up with your fingers' natural position.
I laughed at the "This might guarantee my chastity, but it is comfy" comment, yet I feel like such comment should've really be saved for the Anime Grills keyboardcaps :P
ive been known to be a geardo but 2 is 1 & 1 is none... I'm so glad I found this channel already. Logical, curated, and fairly neutral in content delivery. Thank you.
i personally would love to see you build an adjustable standing desk i feel like there is a lot of room for improvements over store bought ones also - gotta say I do love the videos! please keep making cool stuff
A coworker recently showed me his 3d mouse controlling Solidworks and I desperately want one now, but I don't use CAD nearly enough to justify it unfortunately.
ZACH! I legit just built a Dactyl, really excited to see this pop up! I hope you're adapting to the funky layout better than I am! Keep the videos coming my dude, love it!
Year later..but.. like.. how do you like the Dactyl. As a coder/mech keyboard enthusiast.. I am tempted to build one.. but unsure of how it will work as a daily driver. Currently using IRIS keyboards which I love.. and recently bought the LULU lily58 keyboard.. going to give that a try. Dactyl looks a bit too big/bulky though to take with you in a laptop bag which is where my IRIS fits well.. small/flat to fit in bag.
@@b3owu1f I love it, I'm at the office typing on it right now! I'd totally recommend the build, but maybe location one of the slimmer variants. I've been looking at building a BastardKB Scylla which is a solid Dactyl variant that may be easier to take with me everyday unlike my Dactyl which is chunky and stuffed with tire weights 🤣
@@b3owu1f Not in my personal build, but those nerds over on r/ergomechanicalkeyboards have added per key RGB to identical builds. They would be a great resource for planning a build with specifics like that.
"Archaic crap like Print Screen and Home" I actually use the Print Screen key quite often (as recently as today): It activates Lightshot to take a screenshot, handy and fast. And the Home key is somewhat useful when modeling in Blender (as well as typing or programming), the numpad is as well (but now I have that functionality programmed on a macro pad, to use with my left hand). I've been thinking of making my own keyboard for a while, and this video made me wanting to do it even more. I'll probably make a "macro pad" first, and then try my hands on a bigger kb.
9.9/10 for this video. The only thing missing, which some keyboard enthusiasts would consider a sin, is the sound test for the build! Either way, an exceptional video!
Best overall explanation I have seen on UA-cam. I like the fact that it doesn’t follow the generic, bland aesthetic as the numerous other keyboard videos.
I saw this video about a month ago, got mildly addicted to the dactyl manuform, and then decided I would just build it this past weekend. I am loving it so far.
Hey, thanks for this video! After drowning myself in information before tackling a keyboard build, it was amazing to have such a clear and concise, no bull description! Found your channel a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying all the content so far! As for suggestions for what to do in the future, I'd love to see a home made synthesizer. Similar to the keyboards, theres so much info out there but not a lot that just cuts to the chase and gets you started. I know a popular project is the TSynth, built around the Teensy board that youve mentioned on this channel before, so that could be a good starting place, but theres plenty of ways to improve such a thing, like offloading the effects processing to more specialized chips (i was looking at one earlier, but dont remember its name. if youre interested, i could dig thru my history and find it). But thats my vote on some more getting started content! Anyways, keep up the great work!
Extremely well researched video, without a doubt the most useful and hardcore condensation of custom keyboard knowledge I've ever come across on YT. Much, much better source of information for a newbie than the dozens of videos out there focused on talking up boutique switches and 800 dollar keyboards with an eye for A E S T H E T I C S (although I have to admit I'm a sucker for those). If you can allow me to be an r/mk snob for one minute, PBT is not always better than ABS. Thick, doubleshot ABS keycaps will always be superior in quality and feel to flimsy, 20 dollar pad printed PBT keycaps. ABS keycaps also generally hold bright colors better, though this depends on quality (GMK and ePBT, which, ironically also makes excellent ABS keycaps, are kings in the community). Some folks also prefer the smoother texture of ABS over the grainy, soft and somewhat mushy PBT. ABS is more prone to shine, true, but PBT isn't invulnerable - it just takes longer. Also, the sick 68-key purple board that you printed is actually a 65%, not 60%. 65% is becoming more and more popular over 60% due to its inclusion of arrow keys. OK I'm done being pedantic. As a filthy casual with 0 electrical engineering experience, I'm struggling to understand how you went from hand wiring the switches on the plate to a fully functioning keyboard. I understand that QMK is involved somehow, but I'm not quite sure what that process looks like. What tells the computer to register specific keys as such? How do you build that connection, physically? What code do you need to be familiar with? Are there some resources you could point me towards to help me better understand this side of things?
As I'm sure someone else has already pointed out...the Pause / Break is a holdover from DOS operating system. It was used to pause scrolling text, or if CTRL was held, Break would stop the scrolling text immediately. Highly useful when doing a /dir /s command in DOS. Moving on, The function keys are frequently used in MMOs. F1 is self, F2 next party member, F3 is next, and so on. Can't really give those up. As far as the 10 key keypad, it's still useful enough when you're doing spreadsheets full of numeric data, or various other activities. Print Screen and Home aren't quite archaic either. Print Screen copies whatever is currently on your screen (right now, you facing the camera) and lets you paste that into your paint program of choice. Incidentally this is useful if you're planning on zooming in to examine something in someone's background, like that clear container of white zip ties behind you with the green label. Home, if you are typing, will bring you back to the start of the current line you're on, which is useful if you intend to insert something, or if you want to start over, or etc. It's kind of like using CTRL plus the left and right arrow keys to jump forward and backward in a sentence, if you make a typo or want to insert or delete something. With all of this said, this is mostly very good info, and I thank you for that. I am extremely particular about my keyboard because I tend to use one a incredible amount. I finally settled on a Corsair K95 Platinum RGB, which is actually pretty good. That doesn't change the fact that I've always wanted to custom build a keyboard that is modified and adapted just the way -I- like. The information you've provided here gives me a good foundation to start looking at parts without being utterly lost at what I'm looking at.
Even better, translate them from Vietnamese back to English for some mind bending captions that look like the youtube caption guy wired his keyboard wrong after watching this and then used the auto-spellcheck function in that program I just thought of that doesn't exist.
I found this channel shortly after the release of the gridfinity video, and came across this video shortly after. As a result of this video, I am now typing this on my very own dactyl manuform that I just finished the other day. I am not quite used to it just yet, but I am getting there and I especially like the thumb clusters. I think this keeb has a lot of potential to improve my productivity once I settle on a layout that I like and get more familiar with how this darn thing works. Very cool video, turned me into a maker for a couple of weeks.
Zack Freedman story time?! My best $30 wasted was a mettler hk160 I got at my schools surplus store. It’s a scale that can measure down to .0001 of a gram... when it wants to.
I've been a mechanical keyboard fan for a few years and had a rough idea on this stuff but boy, did you just give me an info dump! Thanks for setting the foundation of what is sure to be hours and hours of frustrated joy.
Yeah the talk about keycap materials should be a bit more detailed, but I think the audience Zack's targeting here means it doesn't really matter as much. And if they really persue this kinda stuff they'll figure it out. The video's definitely as informative as it really needs to be without going too far into the customs. The budget was $50-250 and like... yeah, that's not wrong, but it's also incredibly inexpensive compared to the kind of stuff out there, so I think it fits the audience.
Yea i mean GMK is nice, and I personally have 3 sets off them. But I'd say PBT is better. They don't yellow overtime when exposed to UV, and it takes longer for them to shine, giving you consistent feeling keycaps for years and years.
DUDE!!!! This is the coolest f****** video on UA-cam!!! I stumbled across it just in my UA-cam suggestions, and... it's like you were speaking to my soul brother!!!
Oh, off-the-shelf ergonomic boards are ridiculous. I once refurbished a DataHand and sold it for over $2,000. I know Matias boards are bananas costly, too.
I just recently got into the realm of 3d printing and recently discovered your channel; I just wanted to say I love your content man, you rock. Also the wordplay and puns in your videos are top notch.
I bought a smaller version of a key tester a year or so back, which is how I found my love for cherry mx clear. The tactile feel I like without the audible thock that my mic picks up while streaming
The single best bit of information you gave about switches was that they are all good for whatever you want to use them for. It's ALL preference. Yes that also means you CAN buy a $2000 keyboard and put cherry blues in it if that's what you LIKE.
It depends, those are actually hard to brick. The Arduino Mega 2560 bootloader is the only one i know of with a spectacular brick bug, you only need to mess up the watchdog registers hard enough, and then it will reset every time during the bootloader run, making for a boot loop that you cannot naively recover from! Because reset doesn't reset the watchdog fully. Except take an external programmer and install Optiboot. It's better anyway. Well you can recover even without. You basically unpower the board and let it completely drain for a bit. Then you hold down reset, power it up, still hold down reset, start the flashing process, and the moment it's about to start flashing, you take it out of reset.
I tried to change the MX Red switches of my MX board 6.0 to MX White few years back. I fried the board. I was faced with the choice of either giving it up and take a new keyboard or doubling down. I doubled down. So I designed my first PCB, got it printed, adjusted a little the alignment on some holes and edges with the case, soldered everything and flashed the MCU (I went for using directly a MCU no Arduino crutch) with a config of QMK I had to make and bingo, it works. That was a nice summer project. The price of the whole thing including is well north of 500 euros but I have 4 spare PCB and a spare set of every components.
I've bought some mechanical keys a micro and some wiring, but had little to no idea what to do with them. You may be my starter to invest some time into it. THX man. I owe you a subscribe, you earn it!!
As somebody who has just taken up the intrest in 3d printing and am trying to learn and do more research on everything before buying a setup. Your videos and channel are fantastic! Your content is very well done and you're funny as hell man. 🤣 Keep up the great content!
For the call to action: I'd like to see you make a custom peripheral for an fps. Like, for example, using a 3dof microcontroller that allows you to use angle to control things.
I have had all the parts I need for 2 months now. Apart from case. I am going to print it (Redox) on a printer I bought after watching many of your and GreatScott videos. I will start construction next weekend. P.S Great video. I knew everything that was in the film, but I watched it with pleasure.
the arduino ide has to upload a bootloader before your program or it is bricked. If you replace this bootloader with nothing/a borked bootloaderom, you can reincarnate it by using another arduino. Alternatively just smash it with a hammer
You should check out some switches for electrical work for some really fun customization. Everyone knows about the typical light switches, toggles, and momentary buttons but how about 2 position momentary sliders? Two seperate inputs on a single "key" activated by moving it up or down. Ive been theory crafting an ergo keyboard that has a "button" under each finger that can be clicked, slid up, or slid down for three inputs directly under each finger.
I'm working on a wireless ergodox. I'm also giving it wireless charging and putting through-desk charging pads below my desk. Really excited to finish it.
Great, now you're on the wagon.. All the deckers have been talking about how amazing their customs keebs are. Getting progressively jealous-enough to make my own soon.
Depends what you want from a MIDI controller, if you just want digital buttons and knobs you basically just build a keyboard with a number of rotary encoders instead of keys - the QMK firmware used for all these custom keebs supports MIDI! Not sure how you'd do sliders though.
I did all of this last year, Was sad to see that the mechanical keyboard community hates extra keys. I made a handmade monster with 148 keys. You covered everything I had to learn on my own very well in this video. QMK is amazing.
of course my fav are silvers, which are reliably a notch up in expense but there swift like the wind! :) Strangely, browns are my second fav (still fastish but you can feel it).
A slight correction ... there are 3 types of keycaps: double-shot, die-sub ( on pbt keycaps these are pretty tough and will hold you a long time ) and laser etched ( these are typically what you find on retail keyboards, they are abs and can be backlit compatible, but suffer the shiny degradation, hehe, the cool fact is: they can have really thin fonts )
Also, there are 3 keycap materials. Abs and pbt as he said, but also pom keycaps. I'm using pom keycaps right now. They're really hard to find nowadays. Also, there are some keycaps made of metal(s), but they're really expensive..
0:14 Was that a tf2 refrence? I am heavy keystroke guy, and this is my keyboard. She weighs 350g and lets me type at 10,000 words per minute. It cost me 400 shiny pennies because the 3d printer finished the job in 12 hrs.
Dude! This video rocked. Immediate subscribe. Looking forward to digging through the rest of your content. All the info needed without the seemingly intentional hyperbole to drag duration to the UA-cam magic numbers, and BONUS entertaining without screaming (why do they scream?). Great stuff, keep it coming.
"You can't 3D print circuit boards" Hol' up... Just leave the traces as indents in the actual structure, metal leaf and sandpaper to fill, or squeegee fill them with something like a resin graphite.
If your 3D printer has a quickchange extruder you can really easily make one to extrude conductive paste or ink onto a board and then cure it in a toaster oven or something and tin it with solder. It would be tough to calibrate and get right, and for that reason I'm surprised I couldn't find plans or a conversion kit anywhere. You could also convert a sturdy printer into a light duty mill. Any way you slice it it's just a cartesian robot and you can bend it to your will.
@@thumbwarriordx Heck. How about "3D" printing a mask onto bare copper clad board, then etching it off? One should be able to find something that sticks to copper, is HCl resistant, and can be removed by some other chemical after. I will be trying that. Masking with magic marker didn't work for me. But I have a LOVELY bottle of highly poisonous brightly colored acid that I can't pour down the drain. (Need to use it to copper plate something some day.) Just as soon as I get a 3D printer, and have run a few other projects through it. Looks like PVC might do it. Or maybe vinyl.
Fun fact, I did have a bit about lubing switches, but the first cut was 55 minutes long, so I left it out. I wanted to stay away from super-nichey enthusiast parts because they're often out of stock. ...and honestly, I prefer Tealios anyways ;)
I would like to know a good and most of all cheap way to use motors with encoders... The brushless motors with odrive are awesome but waaaay to expensive still. You can buy DC motors with a encoder from banggood but they are all geared down a lot etc... So to be more specific: a cheap (diy) way to encode a dc motor.
@@ahmidiyasser376 yeah but the people working on odrive are waaaaay smarter and more experienced than I am... And developing such a thing would not be cheap unless I make huge amounts.
wow this is great, just received my soldering iron and supplies for the sick-68! I've just found this channel recently and its nice to see all the research ive done over the last few days matches with what was said in the video. Totally didn't almost buy a different teensy for that USB-C support... lol
11:47 Nice reference. Got me a good double take chuckle from that one. 16:17 "Warped LSD Style", nice quote. 18:06 Fun fact... the asteroids in Empire Strikes back were originally potatoes.
"If you wanted to forget which key has the & on it." - Look, I only forgot which one had the % key on it. Also, I use Ins/Del/Home/End keys pretty frequently. I just like quick shortcuts.
These videos are sooo informal and I love it. Please keep them coming. Maybe a video about intro to Electronics and stuff. I’m sure I’ll like what ever u make tho
Great overview, and great video in general as always :D Shameless plug: I made a 3 Part series on designing and hand wiring a keyboard if some need more details ;) Thanks for being so damn entertaining :)
Mad respect for the leg work to
1. post everything to someplace where we can all see the models
2. Getting permission from all the creators first
This is a wonderful practice.
“Arduino’s are almost impossible to brick.” You underestimate my stupidity
*throws a brick at the Arduino*
I once sent 12v through my Arduino when I used the wrong leads on my multimeter while testing a connection
As expected, I bricked it
He said "almost"
i'll connect + and - without a resistance if i want to
you're too powerful to be left alive
Sorry, it's me again. I wanted to thank you for your entertaining presentation and how it feels like you're talking TO me and not AT me about stuff.
I like how it feels like you're not being condescending to the viewer but still can make fun jokes with them.
Thank you! Making stuff should be fun.
Cheer's it is
thank you for this comment, I was trying to put my finger on just what it was about this channel that really drew me in. And I think that's it. It feels like he's talking to me, it reminds me of how I get when I'm talking to someone about something I'm excited about making and how it will work and everything
@@ZackFreedman Bravo Zach, this was one heck of a key presentation, real masterclass in all keyboard issues. Love the care the humor and obsessive detail you went in this, 5 stars with a cherry on top.
If you are taking requests, I'd love for a video just like this one on macro keyboards, maybe something very open source and all purpose that you can make bigger as needed from a basic unit all the way to industry machinery control boards. 2parter??
Also anything on virtual touchscreen keyboards and those dashboard types that simulators and CNC industrial controls use. Thats all its the little things, Cheers and thank you, truly learned stuff I have. :)
"this is just a tribute"
🤣 Your seamless integration of references that continue to be both unexpected and exactly in my wheel house astounds sir.
And then there the actual information being shared!
I literally read your comment as he said the line and it cracked me up. Good stuff.
It's such a good reference
You look homeless and rich at the same time
just like post malone
Definitely closer to homeless. 😂
Squad goals
Got some Chester J. Lampwick vibes did ya?
Priorities
Because of this video (well mostly) I've gone from using standard qwerty horizontaly staggered boards to a diy 3d printed and hand-wired split vertical stagger 36 key setup and changed to the Colmak-DH layout. I must thank you for inspiring me to give this all a shot as its so much more comfortable to type now, I can touch type properly, and way less finger gymnastics are involved!
small note to Zack: nice touch adding the quick recap at the end of the key types explanation. The high level categories are what I'll remember, but the details beforehand are great for reference if I'm looking to build my own later 👍
@Brandon Beavis no
Lots of new switches... :-*
Your writing for these videos is superb, massive youtube channels with teams of writers dont do it as good. Just watching your videos I can picture the painstaking hours going over these scripts trying to get it just that little bit more streamlined or funny etc. Bravo sir.
this Tenacious D reference, love it ! 11:47
you are only cool if you got that
AWSOME😂
I died, is it also a reference to the Neon genesis mash-up?
I was about to write this exact comment, glad I found yours first! I love how off the cuff his reference was, I almost missed it.
@@thimayapanda8634 a person of True Culture... Nice.
so cool seeing you talk about this hobby! A small (sort of) correction that might help some people: Stagger, as it's done on mainstream keyboards, is a thing, and then there's stagger on an ortholinear keyboard. Meaning that they aren't mutually exclusive. There's the old-school typewriter inspired stagger that we're all familiar with and that should make everyone mad, and then there's ortholinear stagger, where the columns are all lined up top to bottom, but across the rows, the keys are staggered to line up with your fingers' natural position.
I laughed at the "This might guarantee my chastity, but it is comfy" comment, yet I feel like such comment should've really be saved for the Anime Grills keyboardcaps :P
I have a QWERTY layout, I know about DVORAK, I've even heard whispers of AZERTY, but this is the first time I've ever seen an AHEGAO layout.
"This tenacious resin, no its not the toughest resin in the world, it is just a tribute" 🤣😂 got me rolling
Bro that’s only thing unlocking the belt
ive been known to be a geardo but 2 is 1 & 1 is none... I'm so glad I found this channel already. Logical, curated, and fairly neutral in content delivery. Thank you.
I appreciate you doing your nails so nicely just to show off a keyswitch Zack!
i personally would love to see you build an adjustable standing desk
i feel like there is a lot of room for improvements over store bought ones
also - gotta say I do love the videos! please keep making cool stuff
PERFECT. JUST ordered the 3d mouse last night and wanted to design a shortcuts keyboard to work with it.
A coworker recently showed me his 3d mouse controlling Solidworks and I desperately want one now, but I don't use CAD nearly enough to justify it unfortunately.
ZACH! I legit just built a Dactyl, really excited to see this pop up! I hope you're adapting to the funky layout better than I am! Keep the videos coming my dude, love it!
Year later..but.. like.. how do you like the Dactyl. As a coder/mech keyboard enthusiast.. I am tempted to build one.. but unsure of how it will work as a daily driver. Currently using IRIS keyboards which I love.. and recently bought the LULU lily58 keyboard.. going to give that a try. Dactyl looks a bit too big/bulky though to take with you in a laptop bag which is where my IRIS fits well.. small/flat to fit in bag.
@@b3owu1f I love it, I'm at the office typing on it right now!
I'd totally recommend the build, but maybe location one of the slimmer variants. I've been looking at building a BastardKB Scylla which is a solid Dactyl variant that may be easier to take with me everyday unlike my Dactyl which is chunky and stuffed with tire weights 🤣
@@Odwalla_YT good to hear. Is there an rgb per key option? I don't know why but I love per key rgb.
@@b3owu1f Not in my personal build, but those nerds over on r/ergomechanicalkeyboards have added per key RGB to identical builds. They would be a great resource for planning a build with specifics like that.
"look how happy all these anime ladies look!" mhmm. happy. sure
I mean, technically...
That Spacebar is intense lol
@@tenchuu007 you_got_me_there.jpg
They look excited for sure
Ahegao is a form of happy
“Happy animated women”
Weebs: *lets just call it that*
Yes
19:46 Finally a keyboard to match my hoodie
Him cutting off his rant at 14:14 was hilarious. It's like he finished his scripted lines and just went off about extra keys lol
"It's not the strongest resin in the world, it's a tribute." This line was Gold! Love the video as always.
I understood that reference!!
"Archaic crap like Print Screen and Home"
I actually use the Print Screen key quite often (as recently as today): It activates Lightshot to take a screenshot, handy and fast.
And the Home key is somewhat useful when modeling in Blender (as well as typing or programming), the numpad is as well (but now I have that functionality programmed on a macro pad, to use with my left hand).
I've been thinking of making my own keyboard for a while, and this video made me wanting to do it even more. I'll probably make a "macro pad" first, and then try my hands on a bigger kb.
My favourite UA-camr doing my favourite thing in the world! Building keebs! How could my day get any better
9.9/10 for this video. The only thing missing, which some keyboard enthusiasts would consider a sin, is the sound test for the build! Either way, an exceptional video!
"this isn't the toughest resin, it's just a tribute" my fucking sides are in orbit.
What is this reference?
@@aidenpearce9745 tenacious d and the pick of destiny
@@KagrithKriege thanks
Actually it's from their self named album "Tenacious D" that I rocked in high school. But yes, it had a revival with the movie and soundtrack.
@@KagrithKriege @Aiden Pearce see above
Best overall explanation I have seen on UA-cam. I like the fact that it doesn’t follow the generic, bland aesthetic as the numerous other keyboard videos.
This is one of the most well-structured and clear videos I've seen in a while! I subbed less than a minute in!
I saw this video about a month ago, got mildly addicted to the dactyl manuform, and then decided I would just build it this past weekend. I am loving it so far.
Building Keebs got me into making, and for that, I am eternally grateful!
Hi Zack! I've just discovered your channel and its one of the best maker channel out here. Thank you and keep up the good work man!
Hey, thanks for this video! After drowning myself in information before tackling a keyboard build, it was amazing to have such a clear and concise, no bull description! Found your channel a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying all the content so far! As for suggestions for what to do in the future, I'd love to see a home made synthesizer. Similar to the keyboards, theres so much info out there but not a lot that just cuts to the chase and gets you started. I know a popular project is the TSynth, built around the Teensy board that youve mentioned on this channel before, so that could be a good starting place, but theres plenty of ways to improve such a thing, like offloading the effects processing to more specialized chips (i was looking at one earlier, but dont remember its name. if youre interested, i could dig thru my history and find it). But thats my vote on some more getting started content! Anyways, keep up the great work!
Extremely well researched video, without a doubt the most useful and hardcore condensation of custom keyboard knowledge I've ever come across on YT. Much, much better source of information for a newbie than the dozens of videos out there focused on talking up boutique switches and 800 dollar keyboards with an eye for A E S T H E T I C S (although I have to admit I'm a sucker for those).
If you can allow me to be an r/mk snob for one minute, PBT is not always better than ABS. Thick, doubleshot ABS keycaps will always be superior in quality and feel to flimsy, 20 dollar pad printed PBT keycaps. ABS keycaps also generally hold bright colors better, though this depends on quality (GMK and ePBT, which, ironically also makes excellent ABS keycaps, are kings in the community). Some folks also prefer the smoother texture of ABS over the grainy, soft and somewhat mushy PBT. ABS is more prone to shine, true, but PBT isn't invulnerable - it just takes longer. Also, the sick 68-key purple board that you printed is actually a 65%, not 60%. 65% is becoming more and more popular over 60% due to its inclusion of arrow keys. OK I'm done being pedantic.
As a filthy casual with 0 electrical engineering experience, I'm struggling to understand how you went from hand wiring the switches on the plate to a fully functioning keyboard. I understand that QMK is involved somehow, but I'm not quite sure what that process looks like. What tells the computer to register specific keys as such? How do you build that connection, physically? What code do you need to be familiar with? Are there some resources you could point me towards to help me better understand this side of things?
It's so damn hard to find a good video that isn't like 5 hours long and introduces to everything important, but you did it really well
As I'm sure someone else has already pointed out...the Pause / Break is a holdover from DOS operating system. It was used to pause scrolling text, or if CTRL was held, Break would stop the scrolling text immediately. Highly useful when doing a /dir /s command in DOS. Moving on, The function keys are frequently used in MMOs. F1 is self, F2 next party member, F3 is next, and so on. Can't really give those up. As far as the 10 key keypad, it's still useful enough when you're doing spreadsheets full of numeric data, or various other activities. Print Screen and Home aren't quite archaic either. Print Screen copies whatever is currently on your screen (right now, you facing the camera) and lets you paste that into your paint program of choice. Incidentally this is useful if you're planning on zooming in to examine something in someone's background, like that clear container of white zip ties behind you with the green label. Home, if you are typing, will bring you back to the start of the current line you're on, which is useful if you intend to insert something, or if you want to start over, or etc. It's kind of like using CTRL plus the left and right arrow keys to jump forward and backward in a sentence, if you make a typo or want to insert or delete something.
With all of this said, this is mostly very good info, and I thank you for that. I am extremely particular about my keyboard because I tend to use one a incredible amount. I finally settled on a Corsair K95 Platinum RGB, which is actually pretty good. That doesn't change the fact that I've always wanted to custom build a keyboard that is modified and adapted just the way -I- like. The information you've provided here gives me a good foundation to start looking at parts without being utterly lost at what I'm looking at.
Nobody:
UA-cam Auto-Generated Captions™: Ah yes, Zack is speaking Vietnamese in this video. He's been really trying to expand his audience lately!
Even better, translate them from Vietnamese back to English for some mind bending captions that look like the youtube caption guy wired his keyboard wrong after watching this and then used the auto-spellcheck function in that program I just thought of that doesn't exist.
i love the way he say "friend to contact service love together supported or west home is displayed if"
I found this channel shortly after the release of the gridfinity video, and came across this video shortly after. As a result of this video, I am now typing this on my very own dactyl manuform that I just finished the other day. I am not quite used to it just yet, but I am getting there and I especially like the thumb clusters. I think this keeb has a lot of potential to improve my productivity once I settle on a layout that I like and get more familiar with how this darn thing works. Very cool video, turned me into a maker for a couple of weeks.
*Makes Mr. Robot look like Mr. Rogers*
I'm writing that down
Three years later and the links still work. I deeply appreciate you.
*sees the tittle* "hmm I don't wanna build a keyboard" *sees the preview* "omg! a gigantic mech switch"
It's the best $30 I've ever wasted
Zack Freedman story time?! My best $30 wasted was a mettler hk160 I got at my schools surplus store. It’s a scale that can measure down to .0001 of a gram... when it wants to.
I want a keyboard made of gigantic switches so I can punch type when I'm frustrated
@@Ra-Hul-K it exists, switch and click did a video on a very oversized mechanical keyboard.
I've been a mechanical keyboard fan for a few years and had a rough idea on this stuff but boy, did you just give me an info dump!
Thanks for setting the foundation of what is sure to be hours and hours of frustrated joy.
"PBT is always superior to abs" *GMK has entered the building*
Yeah the talk about keycap materials should be a bit more detailed, but I think the audience Zack's targeting here means it doesn't really matter as much. And if they really persue this kinda stuff they'll figure it out. The video's definitely as informative as it really needs to be without going too far into the customs. The budget was $50-250 and like... yeah, that's not wrong, but it's also incredibly inexpensive compared to the kind of stuff out there, so I think it fits the audience.
Gmk is overpriced garbage
@@dallagen3423 fax, glory to pbt
Yea i mean GMK is nice, and I personally have 3 sets off them. But I'd say PBT is better. They don't yellow overtime when exposed to UV, and it takes longer for them to shine, giving you consistent feeling keycaps for years and years.
Reject GMK, embrace SA.
DUDE!!!! This is the coolest f****** video on UA-cam!!! I stumbled across it just in my UA-cam suggestions, and... it's like you were speaking to my soul brother!!!
Ergo keyboards are so damn expensive, you literally saved my life!
Oh, off-the-shelf ergonomic boards are ridiculous. I once refurbished a DataHand and sold it for over $2,000. I know Matias boards are bananas costly, too.
Unfortunately for me, 3D printers are even more expensive ...
@@3nertia 3d printer are far for expensive compared to ergo keyboards
@@dryaldibread2327 Lol? Isn't that what I just said?
@@3nertia getting a solid 3D printer is a great investment. My dads runs probably runs anywhere from 20-50 hrs a week
I just recently got into the realm of 3d printing and recently discovered your channel; I just wanted to say I love your content man, you rock. Also the wordplay and puns in your videos are top notch.
"look how happy all these anime ladies look"
I bought a smaller version of a key tester a year or so back, which is how I found my love for cherry mx clear. The tactile feel I like without the audible thock that my mic picks up while streaming
Those keycaps will haunt my dreams. That being said thanks for the video! I'll make to design my own case and make a video about it!
Hopefully in a good way
This video (and the big wheel one) gave me enough confidence to build a macropad. Thanks Zack!
F*ck you Zack, I just finished my 6th fucking keeb...
"Arduinos are pretty much impossible to brick"
I guess I am very talented.
The single best bit of information you gave about switches was that they are all good for whatever you want to use them for.
It's ALL preference.
Yes that also means you CAN buy a $2000 keyboard and put cherry blues in it if that's what you LIKE.
"Andrinos are pretty much impossible to brick?"
Is that a challenge?
It depends, those are actually hard to brick. The Arduino Mega 2560 bootloader is the only one i know of with a spectacular brick bug, you only need to mess up the watchdog registers hard enough, and then it will reset every time during the bootloader run, making for a boot loop that you cannot naively recover from! Because reset doesn't reset the watchdog fully.
Except take an external programmer and install Optiboot. It's better anyway.
Well you can recover even without. You basically unpower the board and let it completely drain for a bit. Then you hold down reset, power it up, still hold down reset, start the flashing process, and the moment it's about to start flashing, you take it out of reset.
Achievement get :(
@@SianaGearz cool, thats some neat knowledge, thanks internet stranger
just short it with your finger 12v to ground and reverse it baam ez bricked
I tried to change the MX Red switches of my MX board 6.0 to MX White few years back.
I fried the board.
I was faced with the choice of either giving it up and take a new keyboard or doubling down.
I doubled down.
So I designed my first PCB, got it printed, adjusted a little the alignment on some holes and edges with the case, soldered everything and flashed the MCU (I went for using directly a MCU no Arduino crutch) with a config of QMK I had to make and bingo, it works.
That was a nice summer project.
The price of the whole thing including is well north of 500 euros but I have 4 spare PCB and a spare set of every components.
Looks at dactyl manuform I started at the beginning of the pandemic. Maybe I'll finish it
Finish it and give yourself time to learn to write on it. I promise you that the result will be rewarding.
I've bought some mechanical keys a micro and some wiring, but had little to no idea what to do with them. You may be my starter to invest some time into it.
THX man. I owe you a subscribe, you earn it!!
I'm also a push-all-the-buttons ADHD dork, with a distinct lack of friends
as another push-all-the-buttons ADHD dork, may i recommend a nice clicky old tv remote?
But thanks to this video now I am a click loving ADHD manic person with no friends *who was just reminded of his favorite song in high school*
As somebody who has just taken up the intrest in 3d printing and am trying to learn and do more research on everything before buying a setup. Your videos and channel are fantastic! Your content is very well done and you're funny as hell man. 🤣
Keep up the great content!
For the call to action: I'd like to see you make a custom peripheral for an fps. Like, for example, using a 3dof microcontroller that allows you to use angle to control things.
I have had all the parts I need for 2 months now. Apart from case. I am going to print it (Redox) on a printer I bought after watching many of your and GreatScott videos. I will start construction next weekend.
P.S Great video. I knew everything that was in the film, but I watched it with pleasure.
Im surprised no singing was involved with a quickly made parody of "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?" from frozen....
I'm totally going to make him write a song about keebs now. Thank you, internet stranger.
@@eponinesg no problem c:
@@eponinesg YAS Brooke, You da bomb!
If you need help with lyrics for him I'm in the discord !^.^!
I never saw any person explaining just the keys switches for 6 whole minutes
RESPECT!
Lmao, there are whole youtube channels dedicated to switches.
@@infiniteoffset true
"Arduinos are pretty much impossible to brick"
Challenge accepted
the arduino ide has to upload a bootloader before your program or it is bricked. If you replace this bootloader with nothing/a borked bootloaderom, you can reincarnate it by using another arduino. Alternatively just smash it with a hammer
Wow, this video could not have come at a better time. The arduino micro I'm planning to use for my keyboard project arrived just a few hours ago.
15:07 That was most definitely a ZeFrank reference, "that's how typewriters dooo"
Imagine seeing the exact same comment right over this comment by the same person
@@Oxylad that would be crazy
This is not the strongest resin in the world, its just a tribute.
My man you just earned a sub!!
Any chance on a how to build episode focused on adding and controlling RGB? I’ve been overcome with the desire to RGB ALL THE THINGS!
Wow complete and consice explanation! I will reference this every time someone question my keyboard addiction.
A loud keyboard is the most effective way to assert dominance in the office
My IBM Model F agrees.
You should check out some switches for electrical work for some really fun customization. Everyone knows about the typical light switches, toggles, and momentary buttons but how about 2 position momentary sliders? Two seperate inputs on a single "key" activated by moving it up or down. Ive been theory crafting an ergo keyboard that has a "button" under each finger that can be clicked, slid up, or slid down for three inputs directly under each finger.
21:18 WHAT ARE THESE VOICES, dude it's like 1 am where I live, hella scary
You live in russia or something
Dry Aldi Bread India, maybe
I'm working on a wireless ergodox. I'm also giving it wireless charging and putting through-desk charging pads below my desk. Really excited to finish it.
Great, now you're on the wagon..
All the deckers have been talking about how amazing their customs keebs are. Getting progressively jealous-enough to make my own soon.
Deckers, huh, omae? That real life slang I'm not aware of, or you a Shadowrun fan like me?
@@morganbarnham5427 discord.gg/AVUMzg7BsP
It can't be both?
@@jeffbrownstain A very good point, true.
Also, this is one of the best things I have seen. Thank you!
i enjoy how you explain the key type its very informative. much appreicated
I'd like you to build a Midi Controller..
I'm trying to build on for a year now..
Depends what you want from a MIDI controller, if you just want digital buttons and knobs you basically just build a keyboard with a number of rotary encoders instead of keys - the QMK firmware used for all these custom keebs supports MIDI! Not sure how you'd do sliders though.
I have a dactyl manuform that has a built in trackball (a pmw3360 sensor specifically). It was fun and tedious to build. Very much worth it.
Charybdis?
I did all of this last year, Was sad to see that the mechanical keyboard community hates extra keys. I made a handmade monster with 148 keys.
You covered everything I had to learn on my own very well in this video. QMK is amazing.
"This is not the toughest resin in the world, this is just a tribute" I was DYING. Beautiful.
Dude, I'm italian and let me tell you: you gesticulate *a lot.*
of course my fav are silvers, which are reliably a notch up in expense but there swift like the wind! :) Strangely, browns are my second fav (still fastish but you can feel it).
A slight correction ... there are 3 types of keycaps: double-shot, die-sub ( on pbt keycaps these are pretty tough and will hold you a long time ) and laser etched ( these are typically what you find on retail keyboards, they are abs and can be backlit compatible, but suffer the shiny degradation, hehe, the cool fact is: they can have really thin fonts )
Also, there are 3 keycap materials. Abs and pbt as he said, but also pom keycaps. I'm using pom keycaps right now. They're really hard to find nowadays. Also, there are some keycaps made of metal(s), but they're really expensive..
@@piirakkas yep forgot about those because they are rare or expensive there’s also ceramic keycaps out there
love all the information, and love the fact that you can also fit in so much comedy!
0:14 Was that a tf2 refrence?
I am heavy keystroke guy, and this is my keyboard. She weighs 350g and lets me type at 10,000 words per minute. It cost me 400 shiny pennies because the 3d printer finished the job in 12 hrs.
So you're telling me that you're keyboard costed $4 and lets you type 10,000 wpm? I need to get me one of these... haha
Dude! This video rocked. Immediate subscribe. Looking forward to digging through the rest of your content. All the info needed without the seemingly intentional hyperbole to drag duration to the UA-cam magic numbers, and BONUS entertaining without screaming (why do they scream?). Great stuff, keep it coming.
"You can't 3D print circuit boards"
Hol' up... Just leave the traces as indents in the actual structure, metal leaf and sandpaper to fill, or squeegee fill them with something like a resin graphite.
If your 3D printer has a quickchange extruder you can really easily make one to extrude conductive paste or ink onto a board and then cure it in a toaster oven or something and tin it with solder.
It would be tough to calibrate and get right, and for that reason I'm surprised I couldn't find plans or a conversion kit anywhere.
You could also convert a sturdy printer into a light duty mill.
Any way you slice it it's just a cartesian robot and you can bend it to your will.
@@thumbwarriordx
Heck. How about "3D" printing a mask onto bare copper clad board, then etching it off? One should be able to find something that sticks to copper, is HCl resistant, and can be removed by some other chemical after.
I will be trying that. Masking with magic marker didn't work for me. But I have a LOVELY bottle of highly poisonous brightly colored acid that I can't pour down the drain. (Need to use it to copper plate something some day.)
Just as soon as I get a 3D printer, and have run a few other projects through it.
Looks like PVC might do it. Or maybe vinyl.
This guy is awesome, his videos should be viewed in computer science class!
19:25 or maybe not...
Omg a whole keyboard video without anyone saying "Lubed Holy Pandas" or "NovelKeys Cream switches".
Fun fact, I did have a bit about lubing switches, but the first cut was 55 minutes long, so I left it out. I wanted to stay away from super-nichey enthusiast parts because they're often out of stock.
...and honestly, I prefer Tealios anyways ;)
Love the use of music and graphical aids in the video!
Every track has a piano in it, and pianos are keyboards
I would like to know a good and most of all cheap way to use motors with encoders... The brushless motors with odrive are awesome but waaaay to expensive still. You can buy DC motors with a encoder from banggood but they are all geared down a lot etc... So to be more specific: a cheap (diy) way to encode a dc motor.
actually odrive is opensource
u can make it yourself or atleast understand it and change it to an unexpensive alternative that works for u
This. Motor encoders and/or using bldc for making things like camera stabilisers would be awesome.
@@ahmidiyasser376 yeah but the people working on odrive are waaaaay smarter and more experienced than I am... And developing such a thing would not be cheap unless I make huge amounts.
wow this is great, just received my soldering iron and supplies for the sick-68! I've just found this channel recently and its nice to see all the research ive done over the last few days matches with what was said in the video. Totally didn't almost buy a different teensy for that USB-C support... lol
My youtube notifications are reading my mind again
I know the feeling...
Here it feels as if Zach is reeding my search history 🤓
Literally a week ago i told my brother that i wanted to make my on ergonomic keyboard... I feel like i'm being watched
11:47 Nice reference. Got me a good double take chuckle from that one.
16:17 "Warped LSD Style", nice quote.
18:06 Fun fact... the asteroids in Empire Strikes back were originally potatoes.
Zack: Arduinos are pretty much impossible to brick!
me: bricked 2 Arduinos...
Just got done building a SICK-68. Thanks for the inspiration!
"If you wanted to forget which key has the & on it." - Look, I only forgot which one had the % key on it.
Also, I use Ins/Del/Home/End keys pretty frequently. I just like quick shortcuts.
Home and End are the most underrated keys on a keyboard. I am always wanting to go to the start/end of a line, and using the arrow keys is too slow.
These videos are sooo informal and I love it. Please keep them coming. Maybe a video about intro to Electronics and stuff. I’m sure I’ll like what ever u make tho
"...this is just a tribute." LOL I understood that reference.jpg
just finished building my redox with kailh box whites ... feels good and sounds so much quieter than my old razer black widow with razer greens
"Someone who suffers from gearitus"
Me: *turns around to look at $3000 telescope I have for making desktop backgrounds*
I may have this diagnosis
Kailh Box white and Speed bronze are sooooo satisfying!
Great overview, and great video in general as always :D Shameless plug: I made a 3 Part series on designing and hand wiring a keyboard if some need more details ;) Thanks for being so damn entertaining :)
Notification gang wya?
Currently at a wendy's, you?
@@backinyourcommentsectionag3191 school :(
@@techniack I know the feels my mans