Budget Low Profile Mechanical Keyboard with Cardboard Case and DSA Keycaps

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I was looking for low profile keyboards to use at work but I didn't want to use low profile switches because of the lack of switch options at great prices.

So I had a few ideas of what I wanted:

  • Reasonably low height to remain comfortable while typing at work
  • Silent Switches, preferably tactile
  • No soldering/handwiring with hot swappable Switches and a large variety if I wish to upgrade in the end or for repair
  • DIY/hacky ideas while using as much stuff at home are most fun and ideal (cardboard seemed interesting)
  • Most importantly, reasonably CHEAP

I first looked at 3D printed ones but I realised most of the PCBs are not readily available or required some kind of handwiring (like the Sick68).

I notice many keyboards especially on the budget end had a lot of empty spaces which makes me wonder if I could reduce the space. Some part of it is due to wireless antenna and the battery. 

After much searching, I stumbled on the Machenike K500-B84 on AliExpress. It is a wired hotswap keyboard. The number of reviews are sparse but it seems good enough for my needs. 


As the keyboard only supports 3 pin switches, I got the Outemu Silent Lemon/Lime V1 as they were cheap.

For keycaps, I went with the cheapest DSA keycaps I could find on AliExpress.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BudgetKeebs/comments/1d1p4ej/comment/l98hxdj/?context=3

I decided to make the case as stiff as possible to offset the mushy feeling from bottoming out on silent Switches (I tried the Akko Silent Penguin but it felt mushy on my Keychron).

First, I had to remove all the keycaps and switches. The Hauno switches are so tightly mounted that I damaged quite a few Switches doing it and my fingers hurt for a few days after.


More pictures of the keyboard interior. I decided to recycle the plate, PCB foam and stabilizers for budget purposes (I considered 3D printing but $).

Cut out a piece of cardboard from an old laptop box around the PCB and added plastic screws, spacers and nuts. I checked that there was a 4-6mm clearance below the PCB, including one capacitor, one USB-C port and the various solder joints where the switches stick out.


I marked out the spacers and poke holes in the cardboard using a screwdriver and here is how it looks on the back.


I decided to go simple just by making sit like this but being in an office, there's a risk of water spillage so I figured I needed to build a border around the keyboard.

From there, instead of just using white PVA glue, I decided to make tab and slot joints as well.

With glue, I managed to get everything together. I realised I missed out on doing a slot joint for the edges.

Now that the case is completed, time to make the cardboard water resistant by applying leftover Timberlac Polyurethane finish to the cardboard. I added some wood coffee stirrers to the bottom as feet to keep it above the laptop keyboard too.

So 3 coats, with 600 sandpaper light sanding between coats.

Time to assemble everything, you can see the DSA keycaps, plastic screws/spacers/nuts and Outemu Silent Lemon V1 switches.



And it fits the Thinkpad well too! Feels loads better than the Thinkpad keyboard (which is one of my favourite laptop keyboards). The mushy feeling that comes from the switches are offset from by the stiffness of the mounting.


Surprisingly, the flat profile was fine to type on too. 

The case height was at 11mm and the height from the base to the was about 26mm.

Total cost (64.19SGD, ~47USD):

  • Machenike K500-B84 - 28.48SGD
  • Nylon M2.5x10 screws, M2.5 nuts, 6mm ID3.2x OD5 spacers - 1.97SGD
  • Outemu Silent Lemons V1 90pcs - 17.96SGD
  • Cheapest DSA keycaps I could find - 15.78SGD

That's all I got for this build project.

For the future, I am considering to modify it a bit to let the Caps Lock LED shine out from the side, though that's probably not important.

I considered to 3D print my keycaps with multi-filaments using a kinda spherical GEM profile. Might do that for the function keys though, but doesn't seem worth it.

Cheers.

UPDATE (02Sep2024): 

I realised after modding my own Keychron at home that Nylon studs/standoffs are used similar to what I have done. Great to know.

I also gave up on 3D printing as the keycaps I printed then used nail polished to make had some minor tolerance issues which didn't feel like they were worth the effort.
So I just used a permanent fine tip marker and wrote the shortcuts on the side of the keycap facing me.

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