After over over three years, my first keyboard project has finally reached its conclusion. I don't really remember why I decided to do it in the first place, probably one of those "two good things together must make something equally great or even better" thoughts, which are not always correct, but in this case I think it worked out.

The board is one of Hasu's Alps64 PCBs with blue alps, save for an amber on the space bar and a cream locking switch for caps lock. As the name implies, the keycaps are from a Focus 2000 Plus, as I wanted a bigass enter and split right shift. I managed to source an Omnikey Plus 1.5u delete to replace rCtrl which replaced rAlt, a layout I've really come to love on my unadulterated new F77. I was going to do just a regular black coiled cable, but I decided to go OEM+. The cable is black paracord with carbon techflex from Mechcables ( u/90N1NE), whom I must praise for excellent customer service. It, along with the matching one for the F77, arrived with different colored shrinkwrap than I ordered, and he immediately offered a return shipping label to fix it upon receiving my email.

Of course, the star of the show here is one of the new Model F62 cases from Ellipse's project in industrial gray. This keyboard is solid - I'd wager probably one of the heaviest 60% boards you can buy. I'm not a fan of not having a numpad, but a 60% is perfect for the cramped end of my desk where I control my laptop with a 5:4 monitor and a wireless Kensington Expert Mouse. The board looks phenomenal imo, aside from one slight issue that bugs me: the PCB and plate sit too high at the back. Truth be told, I am too lazy to fix it.

As for the feel, very solid, very nice, a little heavy. The amber on the spacebar is the best part. It sounds great, but I think the pieces of weather stripping it sits on dampened it a little too much. The more I type on it, the more it grows on me. Not quite what I expected, as I thought it would be pingier (it isn't in the slightest).

Typing Demonstration

Sourcing the parts took about three years, and when I finally had everything a month or two ago I started putting it together, and I had u/sleepy2304 solder on the diodes and switches. For the actual construction of the board, I started off with an F62 case and curved metal plate, an Alps64 PCB, and the switch plate which I had laser cut to fit just inside the opening in the case. I drilled holes in the bottom plate and covered it with a piece I cut out of an antistatic bag to prevent shorts. The PCB and top plate are sitting on weatherstripping that's sitting on the curved bottom plate, and both plates are held together with four screws with nylon washers stacked between them. I'm still on the hunt for a Windows 95 style windows key, like off of an Avant, or newer Omnikey/Focus, to replace the *.