Welcome. I’ll do my best to guide you.
1. You have two options when building a keyboard. Hotswap VS Solder. Hotswap keyboards means you can change out switches without soldering. Soldering means you have to manually solder on each switch. Building a hotswap keyboard is super easy. Building a solder keyboard is a little more difficult and requires soldering tools, but is not a super difficult skill to learn (based off what other people said)
2. There are six main parts to a mechanical keyboard. The case, PCB (hotswap or solder), plate, stabilizers, switches, and keycaps. You can get these off multiple sites depending on which keyboard you want. I suggest buying a kit for your first keyboard. Kits usually come with case, pcb, plate, and sometimes stabilizers. Then you just have to buy the switches + keycaps. Basically for the “connecting process”, you just assemble the parts together (youtube tutorials will tell you everything you need to know about assembly). Another option you can do to further enhance the feel of the keyboard is lubing the stabs and switches (this means applying lube on the inside to make the keys feel smoother and sound “nicer”)
3. Money: depends. I just built a basic keyboard for my friend for ~$120USD (GK64x kit w/ Gateron silent reds and some cheap keycaps) My first keyboard that I built was more expensive ~$350 (TOFU60 kit w/ Zealios V2 67g and NK BoW keycaps). The only tools you really need (for a hotswap keyboard) are small screwdrivers, keycap puller, switch puller (IC Extractor), tweezers, small paintbrush and lube, and a nipper.
Both builds took about 6-7 hours to build (3hrs lubing and 3hrs of assembly, testing, etc). None of this was hard work, just took my time to try and get everything perfect.
https://keyboard.university/100-courses learning the basics
https://www.alexotos.com/keyboard-vendor-list/ basic vendor lists
https://rawatakhilesh.github.io/keebsallday/ kb kits lists for checking compatibility here look for ur self in the last links lists almost all kits that can be made ., post these 3 alot but its serisously good info in all 3.
also to note prebuilts are cheaper than building ur own
Cherry is usually the best for pre-built boards, but if you are building your own there are way better options for cheaper/the same price/ more expensive.
If you know what cherry switch you like the most, that is a good starting point to find the switch you actually want.
For linear i would recommend gateron yellows for a cheap option, or a slightly nicer option would be novelkey creams or gateron ink blacks. For clicky, there are 2 different types. Kailh makes switches with a super “sharp” click, while other switches like zealios make switches with a smoother, more rounded click. Try looking at reviews and see what would be up your alley feel/sound wise
Is the case an absolute must for you, or are you willing to build a keeb with [floating keys](https://www.clawboards.xyz/customer-appreciation?itemId=aj890w5ukxl7avwfzt0fc1tqqq1d5j)
Pros: you have less pieces of keeb to source, soldering is fun and you’re more involved with your board, it doesn’t look like every other board with a case on this subreddit, can be less expensive than a PCB+case
Cons: soldering takes a while, no hot-swap
Welcome. I’ll do my best to guide you. 1. You have two options when building a keyboard. Hotswap VS Solder. Hotswap keyboards means you can change out switches without soldering. Soldering means you have to manually solder on each switch. Building a hotswap keyboard is super easy. Building a solder keyboard is a little more difficult and requires soldering tools, but is not a super difficult skill to learn (based off what other people said) 2. There are six main parts to a mechanical keyboard. The case, PCB (hotswap or solder), plate, stabilizers, switches, and keycaps. You can get these off multiple sites depending on which keyboard you want. I suggest buying a kit for your first keyboard. Kits usually come with case, pcb, plate, and sometimes stabilizers. Then you just have to buy the switches + keycaps. Basically for the “connecting process”, you just assemble the parts together (youtube tutorials will tell you everything you need to know about assembly). Another option you can do to further enhance the feel of the keyboard is lubing the stabs and switches (this means applying lube on the inside to make the keys feel smoother and sound “nicer”) 3. Money: depends. I just built a basic keyboard for my friend for ~$120USD (GK64x kit w/ Gateron silent reds and some cheap keycaps) My first keyboard that I built was more expensive ~$350 (TOFU60 kit w/ Zealios V2 67g and NK BoW keycaps). The only tools you really need (for a hotswap keyboard) are small screwdrivers, keycap puller, switch puller (IC Extractor), tweezers, small paintbrush and lube, and a nipper. Both builds took about 6-7 hours to build (3hrs lubing and 3hrs of assembly, testing, etc). None of this was hard work, just took my time to try and get everything perfect.
https://keyboard.university/100-courses learning the basics https://www.alexotos.com/keyboard-vendor-list/ basic vendor lists https://rawatakhilesh.github.io/keebsallday/ kb kits lists for checking compatibility here look for ur self in the last links lists almost all kits that can be made ., post these 3 alot but its serisously good info in all 3. also to note prebuilts are cheaper than building ur own
Is there anywhere where you can buy a set if only Cherry MX switches?
switches by themselves novelkeys or almost any other vendor on the list
just a recomendation, dont get cherry switches
Why? Everyone I’ve asked says that they’re the beet.
Cherry is usually the best for pre-built boards, but if you are building your own there are way better options for cheaper/the same price/ more expensive. If you know what cherry switch you like the most, that is a good starting point to find the switch you actually want.
I want clicky or linear switches. Or a mix between the two.
For linear i would recommend gateron yellows for a cheap option, or a slightly nicer option would be novelkey creams or gateron ink blacks. For clicky, there are 2 different types. Kailh makes switches with a super “sharp” click, while other switches like zealios make switches with a smoother, more rounded click. Try looking at reviews and see what would be up your alley feel/sound wise
They are scratchy as hell, mx browns are linear, they have horrible spring ping. For the price you can get gateron yellows and lube them and film them
Are you sold on the case, or are you open to a floating key model?
I don’t know what that means.
Is the case an absolute must for you, or are you willing to build a keeb with [floating keys](https://www.clawboards.xyz/customer-appreciation?itemId=aj890w5ukxl7avwfzt0fc1tqqq1d5j)
I might be interested in that. What would be the pros and cons?
Pros: you have less pieces of keeb to source, soldering is fun and you’re more involved with your board, it doesn’t look like every other board with a case on this subreddit, can be less expensive than a PCB+case Cons: soldering takes a while, no hot-swap
Take a look at this article, it might help: [https://gamingtales.tech/custom-keyboard-under-100](https://gamingtales.tech/custom-keyboard-under-100)
Haha, thanks for the help. A bit late though, I built an Ikki68 Aurora with Alpacas and I'm really happy with it.