Keyboard

I was huge sucker for HHKB keyboards, because their layout is minimal, yet functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. For me, the 60% form-factor was the perfect middle-ground for a compact and more-or-less portable keyboard that’s still comfortable to use for a wide variety of tasks. Also, the fewer amount of keys usually translates to cheaper key sets, although it tends to be harder to find sets that come with the 1.75u control key and a 7u space bar.

However, this changed in 2024 when I built my first Corne v3 split column staggered keyboard. While getting used to the form factor and layout took quite a while, once I became comfortable with it I never looked back to a traditional row staggered layout. In fact, only after I permanently switched to the Kunai I came to realize how the row staggering hindered my typing and forced me to perform weird gestures with my fingers all the time.

While I still hold on to my RAMA HHKB keyboards out of adoration for their aesthetics, I rarely use either of them anymore these days.

“Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. When America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces.”

Eiiti Wada

Corne V3 (MX) “Kunai”

The Corne V3 “Kunai” is my primary keyboard. It is a more lightweight, portable and cheaper interpretation of the Angry Miao HATSU keyboard. While I love the design language of the HATSU, it is a brain-dead keyboard for a multitude of reasons:

• The Icy Silver Linear switches are not hot-swappable and nowhere near the end-game type they should be for something this expensive
• The two halves are charged either via AM’s official Qi charging deskmat (Cybermat), which is not included with the keyboard, or through charging ports on the bottom of the boards (Hi flipped Apple MagicMouse!)
• The firmware is proprietary, and it apparently struggles with even the most basic things like remapping keys
• The electronics appear to be fragile, with even streamers encountering issues with the board on-stream
• It’s the price of a decade old used car

I get that the 3D curved metal uni-body requires sophisticated 5-axis CNC machining. However, given that the resell value of the device will never even come close to the retail price, I don’t think many people are willing to burn that amount of money. Especially not on a proprietary design without any chance to find replacement parts further down the road. If I’d be willing to burn anything even remotely close to a whopping grand on a single board, I’d probably try my luck at CNC’ing a Dactyl or Charybdis instead.

Anyhow, after years of going strong on the HHKB layout, I moved on to the Kunai in 2024 and haven’t looked back ever since. I still find the HHKB layout to be the ideal traditional, staggered row keyboard layout, and I incorporated some ideas of the Happy Hacking Keyboard onto the columnar staggered split keyboard, though. However, the efficiency and comfort that I’m getting out of the Corne, even with its fewer keys, is beyond any other traditional keyboard that I tried before. The downside of using a keyboard like the Corne full time is that I have to bring it with me wherever I go, because I literally unlearned typing on a regular laptop keyboard.

The switches on the Kunai are the Gazzew Boba U4 bottoms with Outemu Sky stems, *nixdork tops, 72g Gazzew multi-stage springs, lubed with Krytox 205g0. As the Kunai doesn’t offer a particularly impressive basis for sound, the silent Bobas make it a rather stealthy option suitable for coffee shops and offices.

I’m using the Kunai as my daily-driver on Linux, either on my desk or Sonshi-style when traveling.

The album shows photos of the Corne V3 “Kunai” with the following key cap sets:

• KAM Blanks R2 (black)
• ePBT x GOK Kuro/Shiro R3

RAMA M60-A

The RAMA M60-A LNY20 Kuro was my primary HHKB keyboard. I built it with the internal silicone dampener, using Durock V2 screw-in stabilizers that I lubed with Super Lube 21030.

The switches on the M60 right now are The Holy Hypezillas, made of ZealPC Zilent V2 bottoms, Cherry MX Hyperglide tops, Drop Halo Clear stems, and 80g Flashquark long two-stage springs. The switches were filmed with Durock films and lubed with Tribosys 3204.
I’m very pleased by the feel and sound.

As for the keycaps, I’m using the GMK Noire keycap set. The space bar contains the Kbdfans 2.5mm 7U space bar foam. I have the black Kolkrabba M89 artisan that I use for the escape key, as well as the brass Salvun GMK Noire artisan that I use for the ~ key.

While I don’t like the Cherry profile too much, I got the GMK Noire set as a present and it (unfortunately) fits the M60 look a lot better than MT3. The M60-A was clearly designed to be used with Cherry keycaps. Unlike it’s successor, the M60-B, and the KARA, its plate is not “sunken in”, meaning that higher-profile keycaps look and feel incredibly tall on the M60-A. The MT3 aesthetics work a lot better on the KARA and the M60-B.

The M60 is my HHKB end-game keyboard, as it combines purism, simplicity and beautiful aesthetics with a very deep/heavy sound and feel. Even though it’s typical RAMA, meaning it is not the most sophisticated engineering, it completely suits my needs for a solid yet minimal HHKB keyboard that’s not too flimsy but neither a heavy tank.

The album shows photos of the RAMA M60-A LNY20 Kuro with the following key cap sets:

• GMK Noire
• Drop MT3 White on Black (WoB)
• Divinikey WoB Doubleshot PBT
• Salvun Brass GMK Noire
• Archetype M89 Kolkrabba
• RAMA Bushido Artisan
• Archetype KAT Iron Kolkrabba Artisan

RAMA KARA

My secondary HHKB keyboard is the RAMA KARA Iced. Just like the M60-A, the KARA is a HHKB layout keyboard and I also built it with the internal dampener and Durock screw-in stabilizers, that I lubed with Super Lube 21030.

On the KARA I often change the switches that I use. Right now I’m using the JWK Harimau 67g. They sound pretty good on the dampened keyboard and give it a premium feel, even though it’s only an ABS case.

I also change the keycaps that I use on the KARA every now and then. At the moment I’m using Matt3o’s MT3 3277, because they fit the look nicely.

I have a silver 藤原とうふ店 (Fujiwara Tofu Store) decal on the back of the keyboard, simply because I like how it fits the back plate perfectly. Obviously it only makes sense on a KBDfans TOFU case, though, and I have it purely for the aesthetics.

The album shows photos of the RAMA KARA Iced with the following key cap sets:

• KPrepublic PBT Gentleman
• Kbdfans NP PBT
• Kbdfans KAT BoW 226 PBT Blank
• biip MT3 Extended 2048
• Drop MT3 White on Black (WoB)

Corne V3 (Choc)

The Corne V3 (Choc) is the Choc low profile variant of the Corne V3, which frankly I only have because it was sent to me by mistake. I am not a big fan of low profile switches and I’m definitely not a big fan of flat, smooth keycaps, hence I don’t use it at all. I might eventually give it away, but for now I’m going to stick to it for a bit just to see if I might eventually get interested in using it. (I don’t think so)

The album shows photos of the Corne V3 “Kunai” with the following key cap sets:

• Work Louder wrk.daily
• Chocfox CFX Low Profile

Kbdfans DZ60 rev3

I have a frankensteined Kbdfans DZ60 rev3 in a 60% plastic case with a soldered WK layout, programmed with an HHKB layout. It has a 2mm case foam, GMK screw-ins and a poly-carbonate plate.

The switches are kailh BOX Jades and the keycaps are the Kbdfans NP PBT Blanks.

I never use this board. As a matter of fact, I don’t even know where I put it. I might as well give it away, yet I assume there aren’t many people willing to put up with Jades.

The album shows photos of the Kbdfans DZ60 with the following key cap sets:

• KPrepublic PBT Gentleman
• Kbdfans NP PBT
• Kbdfans NP PBT Blank

Vinpok Taptek

The Vinpok Taptek is another backup keyboard. I got it a few years ago when I was used to the Apple keyboard layout, since it has a nearly identical layout like the MacBook.

However, the switches it comes with are awful. They are mushy and feel like they were lubed with glue, even though they weren’t lubed at all. It’s a better typing experience than on the integrated butterfly keyboard though.

RAMA M6-C DUALSHOT™

With the collapse of RAMA I figured that I probably wouldn’t have the chance to find any of their products anymore in the future. It just so happened that during the same time Omnitype ran a sale on the M6-C DUALSHOT-edition macropad, which made it a no-brainer. Especially with the Kunai becoming my primary keyboard it made sense to have a macropad for some of the most used shortcuts, that would otherwise require some serious finger acrobatics.

The M6-C is a decent looking macropad running VIA. Instead of the included DUALSHOT keycaps, I use the KAM Blanks in black, that I also have on the Kunai. As for the switches, I also use the same that I use on the Kunai.

HIBI MIA Botanical

In a weird twist of events, when ordering the RAMA M6-C, Omnitype made a mistake and sent me the HIBI MIA Botanical. How painfully ironic, to order a RAMA macropad and receive the exact same type of product from HIBI, isn’t it?

Anyway, as I would have had to send it all the way back to the US, I basically had to keep it and re-order the M6-C that I initially wanted. Omnitype didn’t reimburse me the money for it, yet at least I only paid little over $80 for the HIBI, which is nearly half the retail price. As I have no real use for it, I keep it around until I happen to find someone who’s interested in purchasing it at the significantly lower price.

Keycaps

The following list is an inventory of all the keycaps I have:

• Kbdfans NP PBT Latin/Katakana
• Kbdfans NP PBT Blank
• Kbdfans KAT BoW 226 Blank
• Kbdfans KAT BoW 226 Katakana Alphas
• Kbdfans Cherry PBT Doubleshot White-on-Black
• KPrepublic PBT Gentleman
• biip MT3 Extended 2048
• Matt3o MT3 3277
• Drop MT3 White on Black (WoB)
• Drop MT3 Black on White (BoW)
• ePBT x GOK Kuro/Shiro R3
• Drop + MiTo GMK Hennessey
• GMK Noire
• KAM Blanks R2 (black)
• LeleLab Supsup Venetian Red
• Elacgap XDA Transparent Black

I got GMK Noire as present and use it on my HHKB end-game keyboard, the RAMA M60. It fits the piraty look well and while I do not fancy GMK keycaps in general, the text-only modifier design fits the M60 a lot better than e.g. Kbdfans’ WoB kit – which I find a much better value for the money.

I purchased GMK Hennessey solely for having a neutral GMK set to compare other sets to – hoping that unlike GMK WoB, the WS1 caps won’t look that bad when they start shining and they hopefully won’t bleach out the way WS2 seems to do. (Update: They do.)

I’m not a big fan of neither ABS (material) nor the Cherry profile in particular. Instead, I prefer a good PBT key cap with a noticeable texture and a nice KAM, KAT or MT3 profile. While colors and lettering on PBT can be hit-and-miss, when you do find a good quality set, it usually lasts a lot longer with little to none aesthetic degradation. Since I mostly go for black and white sets, I don’t care too much about color options on ABS vs PBT. Besides, I prefer text modifiers over icons and would rather use blank caps than have the badly designed (there, I said it!) standard Cherry modifiers on my board.

In addition to complete sets I also have the following artisan key caps:

• Clear Gen.s Monitor Screen V2
• Archetype KAT Iron Kolkrabba Rust
• Archetype M89 Kolkrabba
• Archetype Mitosis Chroma
• Archetype Freja Njörðr
• RAMA Master (from the GMK Masterpiece set)
• RAMA Bushido (from the GMK Bushido set)
• RAMA LNY20 (from the RAMA M60 LNY20)
• Salvun GMK Noire Brass
• Salvun GMK Noire Aluminum
• RAMA RW WAVE SEQ2 RNBW (Collectors Edition 2022, 052/135, custom engraved with Mobilis in Mobili)
• GMK Stealth RAMA Hawk (polished) (2x)

I’m not particularly keen in getting or collecting artisan key caps. I happened to get most of them through vouchers or as presents, with the only exceptions being the RW WAVE SEQ2 and the Kolkrabba caps, which I was intentionally looking for, to complement the pirate-ish look of the M60.

I’m positively surprised by the quality of the RAMA as well as the Archetype artisan keys. The Salvun artisans are decent. The only artisan that is literal trash is the Clear Gen.s Monitor Screen V2 keycap, which aged like milk. Initially, the Clear was bright white translucent, but after only one year it turned into a yellow piece of plastic, even though it wasn’t exposed to direct UV light for most of the time. Since I got it for free I’m don’t care too much, though.

Switches

I have the following switches around and swap them on my secondary keyboard from time to time. On my primary keyboard I usually stick to the switch I like most for a long period of time.

• kailh BOX Jades 50g, factory lubed
• kailh BOX Pale Blue 60g, factory lubed
• kailh BOX Burnt Orange 60g, factory lubed
• kailh BOX Dark Yellow 70g, factory lubed
• Durock T1 bottoms, ZealPC Zilent V2 tops and stems, 68g (Gazzew), lubed with Tribosys 3204 Frankenswitches
• Gazzew Boba U4T (RGB tops), 78g (SPRiT MX Complex), lubed with Tribosys 3204 Frankenswitches
• Gazzew Boba U4T, *nixdork tops, 65g Gazzew springs, lubed with Krytox 205g0 Frankenswitches
• Gazzew Boba U4 bottoms, Outemu Sky stems, *nixdork tops, 72g (Gazzew multi-stage), lubed with Krytox 205g0 Frankenswitches
• Mechs on Deck Anubis 67g (Flashquark long two-stage), lubed with Tribosys 3204 Spring-swapped
• JWK Harimau 67g, lubed with Tribosys 3204
• ZealPC Zilent V2 bottoms, Cherry MX Hyperglide tops, Drop Halo Clear stems, 80g (Flashquark long two-stage), filmed with Durock films, lubed with Tribosys 3204 Frankenswitches
• Cherry MX Hyperglide bottoms, Durock T1 tops, Gazzew U4T stems, 67g (Durock gold), lubed with Tribosys 3204 Frankenswitches
• Drop Halo Clear tops and bottoms, Durock T1 stems, 52g, factory lubed bottoms/tops and factory lubed stems Frankenswitches
• Lumia, 67g (Zilent V2 gold), completely cleaned and lubed with Tribosys 3204 Sprint-swapped
• AJAZZ x Huano Kiwis, 50g

Some of the switches are modded, filmed and/or lubed, usually in order to achieve a better smoothness and weight.

I’m looking forward to try further (Franken)switches:

• 43 Studio OpGrey Tactile 65g
• Shogoki Tactile 65g
• Sp-Star Meteor Orange 67g
• Lilac 65g
• JWK Taro Ball 65g
• Amethyst Tactile, 68g symmetric long
• Tecsee Sapphire, 68g symmetric long
• Tecsee Purple Panda
• SP-Star Dark Magic Girl

Because I’m getting this question every time I post a photo of the switch containers somewhere: The containers I use are from a brand called Gondol and they cost me $3.50 per container, which is significantly cheaper than e.g. the containers by Kinetic Labs ($6.49). They are of very good quality and they are watertight. Never buy containers from keyboard shops, they’re usually a rip-off.

Deskmats

I have the following deskmats:

• RAMA MATS Cash Edition (01)
• Chenyi Keyboard Switch Teal
• Chenyi Keyboard Switch Gradient
• Archetype Kolkrabba Kolorbeast
• Archetype Kolkrabba Abyss
• Custom-designed deskmat by Ultimate Custom Mousepads

The Chenyi deskmats are good in regard of their print quality and materials. They do not have any distinct odor to them and are comfortable to use. However, the actual design is not well executed. The black outlines are skewed, have different thicknesses and all in all the whole motif looks badly drawn.

As for the Kolkrabba deskmats, I was surprised by how bad they turned out. The mats were marketed as being distinctively different from one another in their colors and tones. However, they’re not. Unlike shown on the groupbuy posts and all the vendor images, the Abyss variant does in fact not have a grey-ish color tone, but is as blue-ish tinted as the Kolorbeast. The tint is so far from grey that when I put it on my dark grey desk it in fact appears navy blue in color.

It’s a similar story with the Kolorbeast mat. The colors look oversaturated, so much so that it lowers the overall impression of the deskmat’s quality significantly.

In addition to that, both deskmats continue to have an intense smell to them. A manual wash did not help get rid of that, neither did multiple machine washes. It’s in fact so intense, that after having it on the table for a while and removing it, the area on the table has absorbed the heavy odor and continues to smell. To this day I can’t use the deskmats for extended periods of time.

I also have a custom-designed black deskmat from Ultimate Custom Mousepads. Similar to the Kolkrabba deskmats, this one also has a noticeable odor to it, which however is less intense than the Archetype ones.

Upon ordering a double-check by the Ultimate Custom graphics department was requested, who confirmed that the print is visible and looks good. However, the print turned out to be barely visible. At least the black color of the deskmat is a lot closer to an actual black than what Archetype did with their Kolkrabba deskmats.

Short story long, deskmats seem to be the worst product category in this whole keyboard hobby. The only deskmat that truly surprised me with an on-point, high quality print was the RAMA mat. RAMA did an amazing job in regard of color accuracy as well as print clarity.

Accessories

I have the following accessories (not including consumables like lube or switch films):

• Kbdfans Wenge Wood Wrist Rest (black) (started losing paint)
• IDOBAO Resin Wrist Rest (black)
• Paracord/Techflex double sleeved coiled USB cables with GX16 Aviator from Aliexpress
  • Black inner sleeve, dark gray outer sleeve, black GX16 (broken after ~8 months)
  • White inner sleeve, white outer sleeve, white GX16 (broken after roughly two years)
• Space Cables (a.k.a. Space Holdings) Deepwell Cable (Note: Don’t order from Space Cables/Holdings, they treat paying customers badly and don’t even care to send updates on delays)
• 2 x RAMA USB cable
• 2 x RAMA switch puller
• Kbdfans keycap puller
• 2 x switch opener
• 4-prong switch stem holder
• Multiple different brushes for lubing
• Acrylic switch lubing station

Links

• (GH)SEARCH
• KEEB
• ThocStock
• MechGroupBuys
• KeycapLendar
• Switches.mx
• Keycaps Info From Matrix
• KCS
• Designing a custom keyset
• Dactyl Configurator