Or I could use the PCMR one which is $99 and does come with switches and caps.
Or get one of the shitty Amazon keyboards and desolder and resolder as mentioned above.
Just giving options...
Thanks anyway, I was just hopeful that there was some cheap option out there. Seems what I am looking for doesn't exactly exist as of now.
CM Storm QuickFire XT w/ Cherry MX Brown switches, no backlight. This is my first, and only current mechanical keyboard. I love it tho.
I haven't cleaned it in like year now though, so, cringe warning. If you don't want to cringe, crawl back into your safe space:
Older photo w/o keycaps when I was actually cleaning it:
Dammit, I need to clean my keyboard.
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Some alibaba manufacturers do samples. Ask for a pcb sample of a keyboard pcb. I do believe that once you ask for a sample they may want to know if you want to purchase a bunch of pcbs....
I don't know if they would even give you a sample, but it's worth a shot....
I've been looking for pretty much the exact same thing you want for a few months now, and that MKB kit is the cheapest thing I could find from a reputable source.
There's the GONs parts, but they're much more expensive. Chips are already flashed though, which is nice.
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And I thought the PCMR one was expensive. Honestly, if they ditched the switches and caps on the PCMR unit and sold it for $50, I would be all over it.
Maybe it's time for a L1T group buy...
To be honest, if I was a little more versed in EAGLE I'd just make a layout and send it off to a PCB manufacturer, or even OSH Park or something.
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If you did do that and sell them for like 15 usd. You would be so many peoples hero.
There is no way I could reasonably compete with Chinese suppliers at this point in time. I could probably get them beat in PCB quality, but the price would be well above $15/board for even a 60% keyboard. I'd love to do it, but I just can't compete.
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Woot. Just got both my tiny keyboard with Cherry ML switches and the model F adapter.
Cherry ML switches are pretty nice actually. Ill probably be using em at work or something, better than scissor switches by a lot.
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I'm probably going to buy this keyboard and replace the switches with browns or blue's and the LED's with blue and white ones. Oh and wire an female micro usb port and get a nice braided cable. Also get some new keycaps.
I do like cherry products, especially older models like that. Pretty neat, do wonder what the switch type is.
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There is an open source pcb design that I came across a while back. They said you could just send the plans off and have it built by whoever if yo uwanted. You could do that if you wanted.
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I think I need one of these to keep with my laptop. The keys on it are decent but I just hate the ergonomic of working on a laptop (or lack thereof rather) especially with the neck/back/shoulder issues I have.
can't post pictures at the moment but I have a Quickfire TK, two Model Ms (one from 1993, one from 1988), and an odd chinese tkl keyboard that uses Zorro switches, which are kinda like chinese knock-offs of chinese knock-offs of Cherry MX Blues.
Zorro blue switches kinda have a nice "pop" sound to them.
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