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60% would recommend to a friend 
BM Workshop BM43A 40% Programmable Keyboard Kit
01 / 17
BM Workshop BM43A 40% Programmable Keyboard Kit
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3.3K requests
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290 Sold
Product Description
Small enough to take to a friend’s house or the café, the BM Workshop BM43A has just 43 keys. All 43 can be programmed to your liking, too, whether you prefer a more standard key layout or something a little more unconventional Read More
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Customer Reviews
3.2
(22 reviews)
5star(5)
4star(7)
3star(3)
2star(1)
1star(6)
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1.0
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keyboard_arrow_downUppiiish
0
Nov 12, 2020
krazyken04Hey how do u make the underglow led work? they said on the aliexpress websitre that u have to use libusb
bren-square
75
Jul 8, 2019
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Quite A Fun Little Side Project
I'm not normally a 40% board user but I picked this up because it was nicely priced and looked fun. I didn't know at the time that it was a KP republic item but w/e. Soldered it together while watching Stranger Things S3 and I've been quite happy.
The Results: Kailh Speed Copper with Matt3o Nerd Keycaps and a Dwarf Factory Novelty.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Sam_00
4
Nov 11, 2020
Both sides will use the 2u stabs and the keycaps will be 2.75 on the left and 2.25 on the right. I have a twitch where I build this so if you want to check it out, it is keystream_
MetalSlime
0
Feb 21, 2022
pjmarsh
23
Feb 24, 2021
checkVerified Buyer
Great for what it is
If you take this board at face value it's an excellent product. It seems that it is a small board meant for gaming, occasional typing, and tinkering with this. For that purpose this is an excellent product. I've hooked mine up with Tealios v2, got some keycaps, and I've been extremely happy with it. It's been one of the best experiences I've had gaming in a while, as the small size leaves so much room for mouse use and lets me play games in a very compact space. I get that some people might want numbers for their games, but honestly it's not that difficult to either use a layer or just change the command in game. It's also small enough to practically use with a laptop and not look like an idiot. This means that I have started carrying it around to on the go gaming sessions and placing it on top of the palm rest on my laptop.
Don't get me wrong, as soon as you try to use it for productivity, you'll get extremely frustrated. The lack of a question mark, parenthesis, quotation mark, and numbers make doing anything work related almost impossible without a second keyboard or a second layer, which I am far too lazy to set up. But for what the keyboard is intended for, this keyboard is excellent.
wuster07
10
Nov 29, 2022
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Heavy and solid
love how small and compact it is, can be hard trying to match the right keycaps with it though
Recommends this product? Yes
Applecheeks
58
Jul 8, 2019
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Got everything, all packaged nicely and arrived quickly. However, just be aware that the colour of rose gold that I got isn't anywhere close to rose gold. It's a hot pink. I got a discount and kept it, as I do rather like the colour as a novelty, but I would've rather had rose gold. Will include a photo.
Would still recommend, good board with customization, just be careful with colours. I presume white black Greys etc would all be fine.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Applecheeks
58
Jan 17, 2020
That's so bizarre. I know Drop told me they would let the vendor know when I ordered it (idk what round I bought it in, the first maybe, no clue), so maybe they took it to heart and started making the colours more consistent to what the photographs actually portrayed. That's the hope, anyway. Glad it mostly worked out for you anyway haha.
Scapala
0
Jul 24, 2020
they gave u a bad pcb and the wrong case. The case looks more like the gold but shinier.
masterc28
5
Oct 6, 2020
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Rose Gold Ano issue
I pre-ordered this product thru Drop because they offered a color that no other in-stock vendor does (rose gold). I excitedly opened the package to find that the interior had not been fully CNC’ed, leaving a substantial raised area in the middle. The anodization on the back was also very uneven, appearing yellow-orange in both direct and indirect lighting. It also said “DEMO” on the bottom...? I am in the process of returning the kit for a refund as Drop has no replacements to send out. Nice.
Recommends this product? No
BurbleAndPop
38
May 14, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Nice quality board with only one small issue
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Gjamen
7
Jul 22, 2020
BurbleAndPopis there a link to the layout & layers anywhere? I'm not seeing the comma and period keys, and I'm assuming they are just in a layer
T0L0Y
41
Jan 15, 2020
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CTRL socket doesn't work.
That's my experience. Didn't even have to solder. Tested my PCB and it arrived without the bottom left CRTL socket working when I applied tweezers to both pin nodes. Whatever.
Recommends this product? No
crispernaki
19
Sep 18, 2021
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Yes, it's tricky to find the right size keycaps (the 1.25U tab, gosh!) and it's not hot-swap (one could always add sockets) and there isn't a reset button, (but the contact points are there on the bottom of the PCB and MO+ESC works too) and all that stuff.
The bummer was needing to replace two of the surface mount diodes (one looked cracked and the second was just never there in the first place, so I guess technically it couldn't be replaced).
There doesn't seem to be any other issues now that the diodes are squared away. I'll probably come back and add backlight LEDs to hopefully help navigate the regular layer usage, but maybe it will all just make sense.
I'm kinda scared.
(Edited)
TheFr0g
0
Jan 26, 2022
crispernakiAh wait where is the reset on the pcb? I flashed the wrong thing onto my bm43a and I have no idea how to reset it.
Sam_00
4
Nov 11, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Good
So when I first opened the box I found that the Aluminum plate was bent, I flattened that out but it was an inconvenience. Other than that I really liked the board and am using it now. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a budget board and likes how it looks. My one critique of this board would be that the USB C hole on the board is very big.
Recommends this product? Yes
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SUMMARY:
Pros: Heavy aluminum case, easy to solder, good quality PCB, after digging some you the instructions followed make it simple to do the normal flashing of QMK. Cons: Under-lighting will never be visible, instructions are difficult to track down, not hot-swappable (but read below to see how I made mine hot-swappable). EDIT: Almost forgot, I really wish they also sold some stabilizers with it. Having a really tough time tracking down these weird space bar sized stabs. The angle of the photo exaggerates the spacebar problems but you can definitely see the issue there. --------- 8 Pictures below all the rambling ---------- The board is really great and everything arrived on time and intact. The case is quite heavy. Nothing like the super premium stuff, but much heavier than I thought it would be. It is fully programmable via QMK. I've got an interesting layout that I have been able to fumble through while learning to program with. I used SIP sockets to make the board hot-swappable. You can find those over on Digikey.com with part #8134-HC-8P2-SI-ND Switches are a mix of several different ones while I wait on new switches to ship, though I quite like this setup currently:
- Majority of keys are Kailh BOX Thick Clicks (Navies)
- Bigger side keys like shift, tab, and enter are Kailh BOX Thick Clicks (Jades)
- Anything my weak pinky hits are Kailh Speed Golds
Keycaps: @MiTo's GMK Laser Set- Cyberdeck kit
- Mitowaves
- Blocknet
On to the photos! PCB (Top side) - Note: SIP Sockets installedPCB (Bottom side) - Note: SIP Sockets installed You can actually see where I missed the "O" key here in this photo!
Third from the left side of the photo.
PCB Side View with SIP Sockets
Case Top
Case Bottom
Case with PCB
Weird key combos for my wimpy pinkies