Bliss TKL (moesode) and RARA v2

Written By James Wu

Bliss TKL with GMK Peach Blossom. Also you get to see a small snippet of how messy my desk is :#

After a while of trying to find a decent looking compact keyboard, I’ve finally built a custom TKL. I still feel like a lot of the cluster above the arrow keys is wasted space, because I never use them. However I do think it looks nice. The additional space between the arrow cluster and home cluster gives it some character, and shows off the nice anodization color. (mines pink)

In terms of looks, I really like the colors but I’d prefer a little more pop from the case. This probably won’t be possible with anodization, so I’d have to get it cerakoted. Other than that it’s really nice.

The mounting method is Gummy O-ring, and polycarbonate plate. Both of these together make bottom out pretty soft, relative to some of my aluminum plate keyboards. If I used linears with this board, I think it would be slightly less satisfying.

Switches

So for this build, I was inspired by Steve to use raras. I lubed these with generous amounts of krytox 205g0, and the smoothness is really nice. Also I was using linears before, but they started to feel a little unsatisfying. Bottoming out on some of my boards kind of felt like the travel was too low. This was due to the lighter springs, and the perceived lack of travel because of no resistance. Although these raras have light springs, the slight bump gives enough resistance to be more satisfying. One of the reason’s I didn’t really like tactiles previously is because the bump was significantly higher than the actual actuation in a lot of them. (Pandas, Bobas, etc) I noticed when playing games holding modifier keys would deactuate before the switch passed back over the bump. With the raras, I can release some of the pressure to reduce fatigue of my pinkies, and the switches remain actuated.

For sound, I’d say these are slightly less bassy than I’d like. This could probably be resolved with heavier springs, or more resonant key caps. (I haven’t tried SA yet because my sets don’t match the color as well).

TLDR;

  1. Case looks really good

  2. Switches have satisfying feel, would prefer slightly more resistance (bigger bump or slightly heavier spring)

  3. Bottom out sound is okay, I would prefer more bass

  4. Overall… 8/10?

New Keeb rankings:

Sound

  1. Grid650 (Creamsicles) very thocky

  2. Think65v2 (NK Silks) muted thocky

  3. Vega (muted) / Mode65 (? i don’t super remember how this sounded, but I remember liking it)

  4. Bliss

Switch Travel feel

  1. Bliss, smooth bump & satisfying resistance

  2. Vega/Think65v2/Mode65 ( these all feel pretty similar, smooth and linear)

  3. Grid650 (Creamsicles have slightly shorter travel which feels a little weird)

Bottom Out Feel

  1. Think65v2, satisfying slightly cushioned bottom out

  2. Grid650, very crisp

  3. Bliss, very slight bounce

  4. Vega, like Think65v2 but a little too much cushion

James Wu
Next

Grid650