mechanical keyboards

welcome to the lovely, fascinating and completely customisable world of mechanical keyboards where the sky (and your bank account) is the limit! I think this hobby has been the longest-running and most expensive of mine and I love it and hate it at the same time. While I am a lover of mechs I only own one itself (and building it made my bank account want to cry...) so please don't take this (or anything I say) as gospel. I am simply trying to explain what I've personally picked up on during my time in this community!! and again, it's all just for fun :)
Here is my own mechanical keyboard, the d60 lite (cool kids ver) from KBDfans. I have my stabs and switches (gateron milky yellows) lubed, tape mod, and foam installed. It took a bit of time and I had some issues, but I love it!!!!

layouts

there are many different sizes of keyboards one can use from more ‘standard’ size to ones even without visible number keys!! this is all thanks to keyboard softwares like VIA allowing users to customise different key functions on their keyboard. below are some examples of popular layouts!

40%/45%

the 40%/45% are tiny keyboards, the aforementioned ones without any visible number keys. In this case you’d need to go into VIA settings and edit the layer commands in order to access numbers and other missing keys. it may not be the most convenient for day-to-day use (i say that though, not owning either of them, i may be wrong) but it’s super cute i think, and i would love to own one if i had the money.

60%

a 60%!!!!! i own one (the d60lite cool kids kit from KBDfans)!!!!!! a 60 is almost your standard keyboard, BUT it doesn’t have arrow keys (you’d need to use VIA to use layers, just as I did) which makes it still a compact but manageable (for some, not all) keyboard!

source 1, 2,

65%

the 65% is pretty much your standard/average keyboard featuring arrow keys and those 3 extra keys on the side which I don’t know the names of for some reason. they’re like the page up/down and fn keys? do people even use those??

source 1, 2,

switches

when it comes to switches, there are two main types, and four main colours (although the amount of switches on the market are ENDLESS) you can get. these are:
types
- tactile (has a sort of bump in the middle of pressing down on a key and tends to be more clacky sounding)
- linear (a smoother switch where the process is, as by the name, linear. better for gamers, typically.)
switch colours
- linear: reds, blacks
- tactile: blues, browns.
If you're looking to build your first keyboard and have no experience with soldering, make sure you get a HOT-SWAPPABLE one - this means you can actually remove its original switches with your own, suepr easily. Otherwise, non-hotswappable keebs will require you to solder stuff on and off, which if that's fine with you, go for it!
Switches obviously have a major impact on the sound your keeb will produce, so modding them, if that's what you'd like to do, is a good idea! What I do is I lube the bottom housing and springs with 205g0. Because you're probably going to be lubing at least 40 switches, this is a time consuming process, and opening up each switch can be finnicky if you don't have a proper switch opener (...like me). but it's so worth it!!

...other keyboard mods

tape mod
this involves putting a layer (or multiple) of masking/washi tape on the bottom of your pcb in order to just... make it sound, I dunno, better. It's a super easy mod to do.
stabiliser clipping
this is cutting a little bit of your stabilisers off!!! it helps prevent any rattling that can be caused by the excess plastic.
stab bandaiding
in which you wrap the end bits of your stabs with medical tape/bandaid tape, you know the type of material I'm referring to...
foam mod
this is when you put a nice layer of foam at the bottom of your keyboard in the plastic housing thing!!! again a super easy mod to do and this greatly impacts the sound of your keyboard depending on what material you use. I've even seem some people pour concrete into there. Be careful if your keyboard has a battery though because if you use foam this could be a potential fire hazard if anything were to happen.