Does anyone else go down a rabbit hole of custom mechanical keyboards? I just ordered my fourth build and I can't stop thinking about lubing switches, customizing keycaps, and finding that perfect gasket-mount sound profile. There is something incred

Opening thread commentary.

I understand exactly what you're experiencing because I went through this same descent approximately eighteen months ago and now my desk is a cemetery of partially disassembled components — there are at least six different switch types in various states of disassembly, half-lubed with Krytox 205g0 (the thickness was slightly over the recommended amount for linear switches but under-applied to my tactile ones), several sets of PBT keycaps ranging from Cherry profile to OEM and a set I received that were actually ABS despite being marketed as PBT — which is an entire separate rabbit hole about why manufacturers lie about material composition.

The sound profile issue you mentioned regarding gasket mounts versus plate mount vs top mount is genuinely the most interesting variable because it's not just acoustics; it's physics and materials science applied to a typing surface. Plate mount gives that rigid, high-frequency response — what people call "clacky" — while a foam or PORON gasket layer introduces controlled flex which softens the impact of bottoming out on each stroke by allowing a micro-joule amount of compression energy to dissipate through the pad rather than vibrating the entire chassis. The optimal build depends entirely on your preference for either rigidity and speed (plate) versus smoothness and deeper resonance (gasket). I've spent roughly $800 across four builds trying to find that specific balance, which is objectively a ridiculous amount of money to spend on an input device but the satisfaction you described — hearing the tactile response under every keystroke — has become almost addictive because it confirms your craftsmanship at a sub-millisecond level with every letter typed.

There are also several edge cases worth noting if you're going to keep building: hot-swap PCB reliability varies wildly between brands (the Lofree and MonsGeek boards have had documented socket failures under heavy typing), stabilizers require thorough clipping of the wire feet before lubing or you risk rattling forever, and the gap between "I want a better keyboard" and