*Help* Screw in stabilizers not fitting in Dropshift V2 keyboard
I'm trying to build a mechanical keyboard with screw in stabilizers, I've build some mechanical keyboards with click-in stabilizers, never with screw in. Somehow one of the pins of the metal top-part collides with the screw in stabilizer of the numpad "enter key". I already tried grinding of a bit of the pin that collides with the stabilizer, but unfortunately I can't make it fit/close properly. You can see that the pin of the toppart leaves a mark on the bottompart of the stabilizer, see picture 2. What am I missing? Using Durock V2 in a Dropshift fullsize V2. See pictures below, thanks in advance!
Apr 23, 2024
- Form factor - 65/68 key. Like the MagicForce 68, the Leopold FC660M - must have arrow keys, don’t care if it doesn’t have an F1-F12 row.
- Bluetooth 4 / Bluetooth Low Energy BLE multi-device pairing . Modern, multi-device BT pair switching, like the Logitech K480 or K380 and predecessors. Most keyboards with this functionality have the ability to link to at least three devices - in my case I want one keyboard to swap between at least two paired devices - a PC laptop and an iPad Pro; and it’d be nice to also be able to connect to a third item (an iPhone), but not essential.
- Hotswappable switches. Nope, I’m not hardcore and do not give a rat’s about learning to solder. Hey, I’m late to the buy-your-own-switches party, but now with some heavy Halos, Zealios, Hakos, Box Royals and some others on hand to deal with the not-so-keen-on-clicky open plan office, I really like the option to use my own switches. Hell, if the GK-68 can do hotswap for $142 and the Glorious Modular Keyboard for $85 (and it’s a great keyboard for the money), then it can be done!
- QMK Programmable (or similar). Usually this isn’t a factor, although always nice to have - buuuuut now with a locked-down work Windows laptop, on-keyboard QMK-ish editability to swapping the functions of CTRL / WIN / ALT to act pretty much like CTRL / OPT / CMD is now front and centre.
I have or have on order the following related keyboards, which tick some of the boxes, but not one of them ticks ALL the boxes in one package:- MagicForce 68 v2 Bluetooth 4.0 / USBC - this is probably the closest, but no hotswap switches (I got MX Whites) and I’m not sure about how the ‘reprogrammable’ part works. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/78045 (reprogramming isn’t very good, and mine died after a week. Bugger)
- GK68 - sooooo close, hotswap, 68ish key, reprogrammable... no BT though. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/65062
- Whitefox Vanilla - nice, I like it and use it daily, but no BT, no hotswap switches. https://kono.store/products/whitefox-mechanical-keyboard
- Glorious Modular Keyboard - hotswap switches, very nice for the the price (my kid loves it), but no BT, it’s a TKL not 68ish, etc. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/62258
- Logitech K380-ish - My wife has one of these, and the BT pairing / switching is perfect. Shame it’s not mechanical, programmable or enjoyable to type on! https://www.logitech.com/en-roeu/product/multi-device-keyboard-k380?crid=1762
Are these worthwhile options?- https://www.nizkeyboard.com/product/hot-selling-bluetooth-usb-ec-keyboard-75-84-87-108-pro-keys-non-rgb/ - is this a Topre clone with MX-compatibility? I have the Topre switched Leopold F660C, and... Topre are (for me) meh.
- Some other thread suggests a Rama M65-A which looks nice, but I can’t even tell from the lack of text if it has BT. https://rama.works/m65a
- This page suggests Vortex launched a Vorted Race 3 with BT (Vortex Hybrid?) but my Google-fu failing me https://www.techpowerup.com/245114/vortexgear-joins-in-with-more-wireless-mechanical-keyboards
I’ve looked at a few others, but they all seem to have no more than three out of the four things I want:- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/if2-68-key-bluetooth-mechanical-keyboard - not quite.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/gk84-75-bluetooth-wooden-mechanical-keyboard - BT3?
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-alt-mechanical-keyboard - no BT.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/nym-84-aluminum-mechanical-keyboard - no BT, no hot swap.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/keycool-kc-sp68-bluetooth-mechanical-keyboard - I’d give this a red hot go, but missed the drop, and it looks like no reprogramming and no hot swap. Better off with the MagicForce 68 V2, I reckon.
- https://www.massdrop.com/buy/punchy-kb68-bluetooth-4-0-mechanical-keyboard-kit - this could have been a go-er but bleh, soldering, and I think at $300 it never got up?
{EDIT - I have tried the USB-Bluetooth adaptor that Massdrop has up a while ago - I bought this one https://www.massdrop.com/buy/handheld-scientific-bt-500-bluetooth-adapter. It’s a bit hit and miss with connection, and clunky. Hey, the fact it exists is good, however ideally BT built-in with multi-pairing is much, much better.} Lonnnnnng story short - there’s a really obvious one (or seven) keyboards with all four attributes that I’ve missed by being inattentive, right? Help much appreciated! {EDIT2 - looks like the answer to this question is ‘it almost exists but not quite yet’. Thanks to everyone who replied, and I’ll keep an eye on KBDFans.} {EDIT3 - Might have found it on Kickstarter... So, this looks interesting enough on all criteria that I backed it... for those wondering, I went with the version that includes a battery. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/woo-dy/woo-dy-a-67-keys-mechanical-keyboard-that-is-breathing }