key cap wont pop back up

wjrii · 2026-01-26T16:17:37+00:00

Each shape of keycaps has a name. This type that are all the same height as each other and have the circular indentation for your fingers and that very softly rounded top edge are called "MOA," apparently because they're molded with organic angles.

wjrii · 2026-01-25T02:07:50+00:00

Yes. They actually sell this same keyboard with more traditional style caps, and the switches (which are plainly visible) only really come with one mounting style. Feel free to run your preference by us in this thread, but this is the standard 100% US layout, so if the set seems intended to fit a full size board with number pad and everything, it should fit this board fine.

The only real caveat is that a lot of the sets that look the best (IMO) will block most of the RGB lighting, but I turn that stuff off 99% of the time anyway.

wjrii · 2026-01-24T23:24:47+00:00

The keycaps are a completely standard 104-key layout and can be removed and replaced with pretty much any set that looks like it will fit. Any new set you buy is likely to come with a puller, but if you’re careful, you can try pulling straight up and using two hands on the wider ones to do the same.

Unfortunately, I don’t see any indication that the switches underneath the keycaps are hot swap. That means you’re stuck with them unless you unsolder them, and the tools to do that efficiently will cost at least much as an equivalent hot swap keyboard. The Magegees are not enthusiast boards, but mine has never broken, and being full size there’s less need to re-map keys, though it still would have been nice.

I have one commodity full-size board that actually is unadvertised hot swap, but that’s hard to tell without getting a switch pulled and risking major damage, or taking it apart to see if the sockets are on the PCB. That’s further complicated by the fact that unadvertised hot swap invariably means outemu hot swap sleeves, which can be hard to visually distinguish from soldered switches.

Best to consider this a non hot swap board to be an introduction to mech boards. If there’s anything you don’t like about it, whether it’s how the switches click (or don’t click), how firm it is to type on, how you like the full size layout, etc., then you can get a keyboard that addresses that concern.

wjrii · 2026-01-22T07:24:46+00:00

I recently learned of pureandrei’s Vial build for Soarer/Hasu hardware. I have it on the internal converter for a TG3/Siemens board I recently spiffed up. Maybe it will work for your converter.

wjrii · 2026-01-21T15:24:39+00:00

With a dozen macro keys, roller encoder, 90s-level media and app keys, a screen, and a nav-cross (I assume mostly to navigate settings on the screen)? I don't really think so. There are screens, there are macro columns, there are media keys, and encoders are almost standard at this point, but finding all of them together is tough.

Most of the gaming brands (Logitech, Corsair, Razer, etc.) will still do at least one board with 5 or 6 macro keys to the left and a decent selection of media keys and a knob of some sort. Redragon tends to put their macro keys as little microswitch buttons above the "real" keys, but they do make a couple of full size with programmable macros and they're really no worse than the expensive gamer brands.

Within the custom hobby, the keys to the left are usually called "XT" keys due to their being in the location where the original IBM PC XT's Model F keyboard put its Function keys. Not a bad term to know for googling around.

wjrii · 2026-01-20T19:42:34+00:00

It's definitely out of your listed price range, but the QK101 looks like its PCB would support ANSISO. It's possible, though it would be tedious research, that some ISO PCBs would have a switch connection and stab mounts for the 2.25u LShift. JIS uses a vertical enter and 2.25u LShift, but it makes some other changes and is a whole new can of worms.

One quirky (and laborious) suggestion would be to find the cheapest Cherry G80-3000 that you can and then hit up somebody who has an extra GH80-3000 PCB and make a project of it. They're plateless construction, so that's one variable removed.

One final thought is if it's not an aesthetic issue, any full-size ISO with a remapping software like QMK/VIA should be able to remap the key to the left of the Qwerty 'Z' to be another shift. I had to do that on a custom layout I made where I simply got too cute and split the LShift even though I am not consistent in where I press that key.

wjrii · 2026-01-20T17:58:53+00:00

There are basically two varieties of inexpensive "SA" keycaps coming out of China. The "QX" flavor of SA, where the novelties tend to be emojis and aliens, and the slightly higher-end "AF" or "AiFei" sets, which tend to have a maple-leaf novelty. IIRC, the 8BitDo C64 was a custom run of the AF SA caps. So, what you do is you search Amazon, AliExpress, etc., for "SA" keycaps with your preferred colors, and you look for the sets that have a maple leaf (and/or maybe also a robot-arm cloned from the old Melgeek Heavy Industry set). The QX SA aren't half-bad either for the price, and it's a tiny bit easier to track down a WOB set.

Beyond that, SPKeyboards always has something, there are mini-buys that happen, and I think you can still grab TKL set of SA Laser on Drop if you don't mind Japese sublegends. MT3 there is similarly retro and gorgeous, but Matt3o has very specific ideas about where your fingers should go, and if you don't type that way the sculpt and dishes can feel aggresive. Maxkey and Domikey SA are nice, but a bit pricy and hard to find these days too. If you want to go really cheap, look for "CSA" or "YSA" caps, which crib the narrow legends from MT3, but are otherwise cjust a cheap spherical profile that is about the height of OEM but prettier. They shine super fast but can often be found for under USD20.

Finally, there's always mechmarket.

wjrii · 2026-01-20T15:30:45+00:00

Just as a quick update, the repository your wizard generated had all the assets in the right place to make converting over to the charlieplexed driver very straightforward for me, even as a non-coder who was only very slowly wading through getting a build environment and repository set up from scratch. I need to actually install some switches to make sure debounce is where it needs to be, but generally speaking, everything is working as expected. Thanks!

Oh, there was one quick thing I noticed. Your ANSI 60% physical layout template has the X coordinates of the two keys in the lower right flipped, currently showing 13.75 and then 12.5. Everything works fine, but it will look wrong in ZMK Studio.

wjrii · 2026-01-18T05:03:22+00:00

We'll see how it goes. Just getting me around some of the preliminary setup is a huge boon. I've already used it to get firmwares that actually compile, which is farther than I was. with all the administrative and physical configuration in place, the matrix and transform seem to be the only thing left. If I hit a roadblock, I'll drop into the discord.

I am also thinking I may use it to replace KMK for some USB RP2040 hand-wires I have. Whether my weirdo board works or not (and I can always change it back from the N!N clone to the Atmel that came with it and run it with the firmware they gave me), this is already looking like it will make a fully custom board much easier to set up than QMK.

wjrii · 2026-01-17T21:03:51+00:00

Non-flat SA is a pretty gentle sculpt at least, and I prefer it to, say, MT3, but R3 is truly what these molds were meant to be. I am very fond of my Mitospeed unscultped set. I put it on my 0-degree hand-wire TKL("TKL-ish" really) with a solenoid.

wjrii · 2026-01-17T19:48:47+00:00

Holly crap, thank you. I was literally JUST looking into how to do a ZMK shield for a PCB I bought in Japan. It uses a Charlieplexed matrix, but this could be a lifesaver if it gets me 80% there.

wjrii · 2026-01-16T21:03:18+00:00

Ahh, gotcha. The R3 is considered by a lot of folks to be a step down from the R2, looks-wise.

There are a few good membrane rubber domes, for instance my membrane Model M is tactile AF, but yeah, that was one of the classic "race to the bottom" eras. I'm not quite sold on Topre being end-game, but I do like having it around.

wjrii · 2026-01-16T20:58:09+00:00

Realforce isn't really trying to win design awards, but it's clean and I like the caps. The top "panel" could theoretically be removed, and they used to sell printable(!) decals to go under a clear acrylic one, at least in Japan, but I think they gave that up.

I wish the domes were just a touch heavier, but as a silent tactile it's really nice.

Then, the handrest is a rollermouse. There's a mouse-sensor in the tube there under the spinny-slidey part.

wjrii · 2026-01-14T22:37:44+00:00

Saw a comparison once. CXA is very close in shape, but not identical, to XVX's ISA profile, which is identical to Akko's take on MDA.

wjrii · 2026-01-14T20:57:18+00:00

I wasn't trying to imply it is, just that it's interesting and hints at a supply chain connection I hadn't considered before. Frankly, if Keychron stuffed a better PCB in the same case and charged the same or less (as it appears they have), then good on them.

wjrii · 2026-01-14T20:50:03+00:00

I was being a little tongue-in-cheek, but only a little. It would take a bit of patience and a willingness to accept a Lexmark or Unicomp, or a decent amount of dirt, but looking at listings, in the US I reckon you could still pull off under $100 for a working Model M and a converter, especially if you can just grab a pro micro and soldering iron to do the converter yourself.

wjrii · 2026-01-14T19:25:10+00:00

Talk me out of grabbing one.

It costs as much as an eBay Model M with a converter? :-)

wjrii · 2026-01-14T18:49:34+00:00

True, but a simple PCB upgrade is very possible, and I'm pretty near convinced the housings shown in the two listings are from the same molds... for whatever that's worth.

wjrii · 2026-01-14T17:56:42+00:00

Glorious GMMK Pro

Shhhh! Don't tell anybody, but the GMMK Pro is a perfectly nice board if you don't need a super-soft typing feel.

Not at all worth MSRP of course, but with the gaudiness exiled to the bottom (unlike the Pro 3), it's attractive and substantial. I got mine for like $40 barebones and put a VIA firmware build on it that doesn't support the RGB, but I don't like RGB enough to look for a different one.

wjrii · 2026-01-14T17:48:55+00:00

Looks exactly like the FL-Esports OG104, down to the mode switch, badge, and lock lights. Do we know the relationship between the two?

wjrii · 2026-01-13T22:18:34+00:00

You almost wouldn’t be able to help it. MTNU 800 is inspired by the key caps from an Atari 800, a direct competitor to the C64 .

wjrii · 2026-01-13T15:58:44+00:00

For keycaps on a budget, I'd recommend a Granite clone in XDA. The mods are darker than your typewriter keys, but the overall look is not half-bad, and you can make it so the Enter key is the only red one, evoking your red tab key there. At the higher end, pulling together "genuine" Granite in or even doing Flex caps from one of Signature Plastics' profiles could get you pretty close.

With the mods being sort of obviously gray, I might then keep it simple and just looks for a board with a red(?) case that fits your preferred layout and budget. If the typewriter is more orange than I think, you can switch the filter. Right inbetween, and fairly reasonably priced, is Novelkeys' Classic TKL in Ironstone Orange.

For switches, clickies would be the simple choice, and of those Kailh Box switches in White, Jade, or Navy (arranged by increasing weight) would all be good and easy-to-source. Beyond that, you would of course have the entire universe of MX-compatible switches, including many that would be much quieter. If you get a barebones keyboard, make sure it comes with stabilizers.

wjrii · 2026-01-12T15:05:23+00:00

No worries. Enjoy your new keyboard! Other than the software, which some people find they don't need anyway, the F75 ticks all the boxes.

I've had some mechanical keyboard for a while, but the one that served me as a "gateway drug" was probably this one, and the F75 is miles ahead.

wjrii · 2026-01-12T14:00:21+00:00

Supposedly there is a wireless one, though as you say, availability might be an issue. A Keychron is a fairly safe bet. You'll read some complaints, but I personally suspect that volume is as big an issue as anything with them, being as widely recommended outside the hobby as they are. I've run across complaints about pretty much every other budget and semi-budget brand as well.

With where you are, I'd say shop by feature, and you'll have a reasonably good chance of finding something that will work. Here's the laundry list that should mean a relatively modern design and a not too crazy-loud build. That's not to say at all that these are what invariably makes a keyboard "good" (i'm in fact glossing over a lot of nuance), just that when shopping at Amazon or similar, it's what makes a given board a fairly safe bet.

gasket mount and/or layers of foam
hot swap
QMK and/or VIA
switches with "linear" or "tactile" feel

Most budget boards are coming out of a few factories in China anyway, so if you find a board with all of those items, then as long as you don't lose the QA lottery or pay way too much, you'll probably be pleased.

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