deskthority

I have this keyboard and I love it.

It is my first mechanical keyboard and I am loving the feel of the MX Blues. I was just wondering what other people thought of this board and if I had wasted my money (It was only £40).

I only have one small issue with it... and that is that the build quality is not as robust as it looks. That being said, Unless I were to pick the board up and flex it intentionally it has no movement at all during normal use.

It's an inexpensive mechanical keyboard that (like you said) has a rather poor build quality (compared to Filco, Ducky, etc).
There is nothing wrong with it and if you like it you don't have anything to worry about

They last for years if not decades if treated right but they just don't feel as valuable as more expensive plate mounted keyboards.

That's pretty much what I've been saying for the past few years...

A G80-3000 might be flimsy and not so pretty, but you get exactly what you pay for: a durable keyboard which can be modded if necessary.

Well I use this keyboard at work. And a Steelseries G6V2 at home. And I can not stand the black switches. I feel literally no gain over a stiff membrane keyboard at more than triple to cost.

There is an amazing amount of space in the top of the keyboard to fill it with a packing material such as polymorph if I really wanted to add rigidity. The plastic is actually amazingly strong too, it has been pushed off of my desk a few times and it just takes it like a man.

I was just wondering if other people had, had issues with it at all. I mean so far I am loving it but I was wondering if there was some mysterious hidden problem. I am glad that others quite like it too

They didn't change the design of the case in 25 years so I don't think there arey any hidden problems

I love the look of it!

One of my friends (he is a fabricator) offered to take the case of the keyboard and remake it completely out of aluminium for me, for around £30. Very tempting!

Going to have to buy another for home because I love using this one, Unless anyone knows of another I should get instead?

If you don't want to spend at least twice as much and want a full layout with numpad the G80-3000 is your only option.

Technically there is no problems with a g80. This thing is a workhorse but as you said, it is a flimsy one. I started with a black cherry g80, made in Czech Republic and It felt like a downgrade to my old rubberdome, but the switches were super nice. I shot some Vintage g80 over ebay and the made in germany keyboards are a whole different storry. Verry sturdy and heavy. One of the best switches I ever tryed was an Old vintage MX Black. They are different to the new ones.

If you are happy with a fullsize keyboard, I'd aim for some old g80 on ebay. Or just keep yours
If the keyboard is to big for your purpose and you never use the Numblock, I'd go for a Tenkeyless keyboard, it is amazing how much space you will gain on your desktop. I highly recommend the CM Storm quickfire rapid, they are cheaper as a filco and from my point of view, the extra cash for the filco isn't worth it.

I did hear that the old models were nice and heavy. But then again, who picks up their keyboard? Or actually flexes the 'chassis' during normal use?

I use the numpad all the time, and to be honest I am pretty sure I WILL be sticking with another of these. I honestly see no reason to pay for a more expensive board. I was considering buying a buckling spring keyboard just to test out because I love the 'crunchy' feel to the blues and I heard that the buckling springs were even more 'crunchy'

BillyK wrote: One of my friends (he is a fabricator) offered to take the case of the keyboard and remake it completely out of aluminium for me, for around £30. Very tempting!

Your friend needs to join this community! Custom cases are like cat nip to us.

The 3000 case has unused screwmounts which can be used after punching through the sealed holes on the bottom half. That should add a good bit of rigidity. I used a 3.5mm drill to open the mounts and 3x25 wood screws to fasten.
Just have a look at the bottom it's pretty obvious.

If your friend did just copy the case in metal that would be a waste of a chance to create somthing beautiful.. but for 30 it's basically a gift.

Jeah that is true but you can feel a sturdy build qualiry while typing!
Normally noone flexes the KB or carry that thing around but a cheapo flimsy board feels cheap while typing on it.
the switches on the g80 are great and they are a good and cost effective source to try out different switch types.

If you like switches with a noticable sound feedback you should try white alps as well if you get the chance to.

I am verry new to 60% keyboards and I must say that I coul'd never go back to a fullsize keyboard anymore.
But it's all a matter of taste and how much you are willing to spend on your input device

Jmneuv wrote:The 3000 case has unused screwmounts which can be used after punching through the sealed holes on the bottom half. That should add a good bit of rigidity. I used a 3.5mm drill to open the mounts and 3x25 wood screws to fasten.
Just have a look at the bottom it's pretty obvious.

If your friend did just copy the case in metal that would be a waste of a chance to create somthing beautiful.. but for 30 it's basically a gift.

I just took my keyboard to my fabricator friend. He said it is entirely possible, and shouldn't really be that hard.

I mentioned that others may want to buy them and he said "to be honest if they want to get it done themselves, save on the shipping and just go down to any metal working shop and ask if they will do it". So that might be worth a try if you are interested!

I am not going to get it made just yet, but I will get it done if I decide to get another for home

Also. He told me to tell you guys to check for places that do die-casting.

He reckons its a fairly cheap way to get plastic parts "cloned" into more solid metals. It may be around the £100 mark for a single keyboard, but the quality should be fantastic

Sorry to keep updating. I have sent a message to a local metal worker just to see if they would supply the same service, So I will let you know if others would!

Man those are some verry great advices!
And believe me, a g80 metal case would look so kick ass!
If you're going to do this, plz send us some pictures

A metal HHKB casing for 100 bugs?
Sounds appealing to me

I do prefer PCB-mounted switches as in the G80-3000 to plate-mounted. I like the feel better, and there is less noise. You also don't need to desolder switches to modify them.

BillyK wrote:There is an amazing amount of space in the top of the keyboard to fill it [...]

We concluded in another thread that there is room to fit at least one Raspberry Pi in there.

ne0phyte wrote:They didn't change the design of the case in 25 years so I don't think there arey any hidden problems

Actually there are two major versions of the case: With and without windows keys. The only visible change is that keyboards without windows keys have space between Ctrl and Alt keys on the bottom row.
The winkeyless case has also thicker plastic so it is sturdier.
Unfortunately, the cases are quite different on the inside. You can't fit the PCB from a winkeyless keyboard into a case for windows keys and vice versa and you can't combine top and bottom from two different cases.

As soon as i have another board. I will be looking into some mods. I was thinking of "installing" a little LCD Screen across the top section that displays... well... whatever I want and use arduino to drive it all.

Then again, the raspberry Pi would be a very nice thing to have. Do you have a link to that thread at all?

Findecanor wrote:I do prefer PCB-mounted switches as in the G80-3000 to plate-mounted. I like the feel better, and there is less noise. You also don't need to desolder switches to modify them.
...

This.
You should try a desko sometime.