Bastardkb - Charybdis build guide

[@jacobhanks8420]

Just a day after I finished building mine. Keep up the great work!

[@joeldunnington1515]

Wow I’m over halfway done with mine right now. Perfect timing! The guide online is lacking in the pictures department so this is great.

[@TheePrins]

Your prints are so clean Quintin. Nice vid!

[@bastardkb]

Thank you ! Those prints are nylon ordered through JLCPCB

[@TheMedvidekPu]

Just in the middle of building mine. Now impatiently waiting for switches to arrive.

[@bastardkb]

Have fun building !

[@MySkilletfan]

This is exactly what i want. One day i can justify that price

[@zacharyquinn3676]

I like the idea of having a trackball on my keyboard, but I am curious how you handle mouse clicks? Do you have right and left mouse buttons mapped to key presses on a different layer?

[@bastardkb]

You're correct ! We have all the mouse keys on a layer. You can trigger the layer using the Z key, and then the right/middle/left click are on the left hand thumb cluster. We also shave shortcuts for dragscrolling, sniping (dynamic slowdown of the mouse), DPI changes

[@RyanTC86]

I want one. Take my money

[@bastardkb]

Thank you ! We offer kits and prebuilts on our shop bastardkb.com. We don't officially offer charybdis premium builds like the one in the video because our test prints had a few artifacts. If you're still interested shoot us an email :)

[@potatopirate_]

does the controller shield work with a nice!nano? This is clean work!

[@bastardkb]

Thank you ! Technically it does, but ZNK does not support trackballs at the moment. The sensor also uses too much power

[@supersnail5000]

oooo, does the metal base plate mean a premium kit for the standard Charybdis is in the works?

[@bastardkb]

Hey ! Nylon prints, metal plates, BTUs... We do special requests like this on demand, but not storing premium kits on the shop just yet. If there's enough interest...

[@teodorraykov4709]

I see you got a martenitsa.

[@bastardkb]

:) Glad somebody noticed. I grew up in Sofia and still go there once a year

[@penleychan3903]

Where can we purchase different color trackball? The kit seems to only have red.

[@bastardkb]

We only offer red trackballs in kits. They are standard 34mm Perixx ones, so you can get any colour from them or eg. amazon

[@Invictus_Mithra]

Is it possible to make one of these with support for hot swapping switches?

[@bastardkb]

When installing the PCBs, you bend them to fit it to the curvature so the whole thing is continuously under tension, pulling away from the switch plate, only held in place by the switch pins and solder joints. Generally mill-max has different holding strength depending on the switch pins and usage but it won't be enough to keep the PCB from pulling out reliably. Some people have done millmax builds by gluing the PCBs, others have done it by using amoeba single switch PCBs and no glue (although this is basically like hand wiring with extra steps). The global experience with gluing the flexible PCBs with Millmax is: you have to be very precise and careful, and installing and removing the switches is a pain. It is not recommended and overall terrible.

[@Invictus_Mithra]

@@bastardkb Thank you for the insight. I'm still pretty new to the custom keyboard space, so I was hoping I'd be able to make it hot swappable because I still haven't tried that many switches or nailed down an absolute favourite switch yet. Even though I'm a noob, your build guide has really inspired me to learn more about custom keyboards and electronics, so I can try making one for myself!

[@UnboxTheSocks]

what temperature on the iron for installing the heat inserts?

[@bastardkb]

You should start with 250, and go higher if it does not work. Don't push, let gravity do the work You can check the full instructions here: docs.bastardkb.com/bg_charybdis/04screw_inserts.html

[@Fedd.]

What is the hull material? Is this after additional treatment?

[@bastardkb]

This is nylon printed at JLCPCB

[@Eggo1966]

Is it possible for me to just get the parts. I have a 3d printer and could print my own case

[@bastardkb]

Hey! We sell electronic kits on our website bastardkb.com

[@krikun]

seems like update firmware button on the left part is shifted relatively base plate hole. is it ok?

[@bastardkb]

Yes, the 3d design accounts for some level of inacurracy when placing the components

[@OmarLivesUnderSpace]

Is it even slightly portable? How can you transport them?

[@bastardkb]

this 4x6 version is not portable no. The 3x5 is doable... but if you're going to travel lightweight I recommend looking at the Dilemma instead

[@OmarLivesUnderSpace]

@@bastardkb But it's less ergonomic...

[@jackbuenaobra2580]

is it possible to buy those tenting legs from you?

[@bastardkb]

Hey! If you previously got a kit or prebuilt from us that's for sure possible. You can email us with our previous order number at [e-mail]

[@jackbuenaobra2580]

@@bastardkb you can't sell it to me if I didn't get the keyboard from you guys? I bought it as my 2nd keyboard from an ig page i saw and didn't really know about bastardkb then :(

[@jackbuenaobra2580]

@@bastardkb I bought a charybdis from an account I saw in IG, its my 2nd keyboard, i didnt know about bastardkb then cuz i was a noob and didnt research that much, saw the keyboard had a trackball and that was it for me, there's no way you'll sell it to me if I didn't get the kb from you?

[@gonthyalavishalchandan1193]

Can you make a video on how to build lalboard

[@bastardkb]

Hey! The lalboard is not our own design unfortunately, so we don't have plans to make a video about it

[@ernestoluis7153]

Do you guys ship to US?

[@bastardkb]

yes

[@AlexisGitarre]

WAIT´?! a keyboard for over 500€ if you calculate the labor and no warranty? Boi... tech went NUTS.

[@user-bp2is9pn6x]

Hey there ! Yes, that's the average price for one of our prebuilt keyboards (incl. VAT). We also offer a 1 year warranty on them. Then, there's a lot of things that go into a keyboard that you don't necessarily see: - we hand craft all keyboards in the Netherlands, with dutch wages - the bulk of our work is focused on innovation - the trackball, trackpad, flex PCBs, splinktegrated, sensor PCB, etc were things that did not exist before, and we had to design them - on top of the time it takes to innovate, prototypes are also very costly - particularly when you have almost nothing to work from - we offer extensive, fast customer support, for issues with prebuilts but also kit building - we spend a lot of time on designing user-friendly build guides, videos - we spend time managing a discord community As you can see, we actually spend not that long on building and packaging - but instead mostly on creating innovative, quality products. If you ask around on discord or reddit you will see that you get exactly what you pay for. Finally, we understand this is a premium product, and not necessarily affordable by everyone. Because of this, we also open-source 100% of our designs. This means if you have access to a 3d printer and are willing to handwire, you can build for example a scylla/skeletyl for pretty cheap. However, it also means that you will not benefit from the extensive QA we do on kits, the detailed build guides, and community / after sales support. I hope this makes a bit of sense, and - have a great day !

[@bastardkb]

A few more things on top - Niche products don't benefits from economies of scale. Because we manufacture those in such small quantities, it's difficult to cut back on costs. Ergonomic keyboards are few and far between, and the few brands offering them are at similar prices. This is however a tool that you will end up using up to 8 hours a day, for years and years. Investing a bit in it is not more shocking than investing in a good chair, or a good mattress, or desk. All in all everybody and everyone's body is different - what works for others may not work for you. The important is that you find a keyboard with which you are comfortable. If that's a regular rectangle 10EUR keyboard, then it's also perfect.