A GAMING HOBBY: CUSTOMIZING KEYBOARDS

For the past few years, I have been trying to find the perfect hobby to match with my gaming needs. Initially, I found that prepping to build a PC relaxing, yet expensive. Fortunately, I found another less expensive hobby that was still exciting and relaxing at the same time—DIY mechanical keyboard building.

- Gabriel Pe

Mechanical keyboard building has been around for quite a while now building a niche community of keyboard builders and enthusiasts. Keyboard modding and building has gained popularity in recent years, with content creators promoting the craft and gamers and streamers highlighting their custom-built keyboards either on stream or on social media.

Additionally, keyboard parts have become more accessible—mechanical key switches have flooded the market thanks to the expiration of Cherry’s patent. Shipping from China where these parts come from has become cheaper, and the desire to have another peripheral tailor-fitted to your own preferences are just some of the reasons why keyboard building has piqued my interest for the last couple of months.

I have just started my journey in customizing keyboards. Starting with basic modifications such as replacing keycaps and adding sound dampeners inside the keyboard case, there are a lot more things to do, from finding the right mechanical key, the right keycap, to achieving the ear tingling “thonk” sound that most enthusiasts craves.

Start your keyboard journey

To start your keyboard customizing journey, you need one crucial tool – a keyboard. While you can buy components for building a keyboard from scratch, it is still better to buy a cheap pre-made one for you to experiment on.