Built the QK Alice Duo keyboard.

Why Ergonomic?

After using a standard keyboard for my entire life, I wanted to try something different, and that’s when the QK Alice Duo came in. It’s a new keyboard made by Qwertykeys and what caught my attention is that the keyboard is split in two.

I think the split design is much more ergonomic for my hands and arms. With the keyboard split, my arms can be at a 90 degree angle while typing, although the mouse placement is a bit weird.
An awesome feature would have been to include a trackpad on the QK Alice Duo. Instead, the two dots at the end of the keyboard is a mode to change the RGB on the keyboard (although you can adjust it with Via app).

Having the keyboard split into two made me realize how horrible type touching with my right hand is. I realize that my right hand is mainly typing with the index finger and now that I’m using this keyboard, I’m training it to use my middle and ring finger more.

My WPM on a standard keyboard layout is about 140wpm, and it dropped to as low as 90wpm with the Alice layout. I think I’ll use the QK Alice Duo to practice typing, and switch to a regular keyboard for work/main use.

What The Box

The keyboard came inside this huge carrying case. For a split keyboard, why does it need such a large case??

Both boards are about 2 pounds each. After building the W70 and using the spring mount, I wanted something a bit firmer, so I opted for the 1.6mm PCB board and the FR4 plate.

The keyboard came with its own stabilizers. I wanted to buy another set of stabilizers, but most sets only come with 4 x 2U sized stabilizers. Because I want a larger backspace, I needed an extra 2U stabilizer, so I opted to just use what Qwertykeys provided.

I had a set of Baby Kangaroos tactile switches, lubed and ready to go so I threw them on the keyboard just to try. After using the keyboard for the past few days though, I’m most likely going to swap the switches out to a linear switch. I have the Akko Rosewood switches coming in, so I’m excited to try them.

I really like the color scheme of the bottom of the keyboard. The dark pink area is the adjustable tent to make the keyboard higher or lower to fit the curve of the hand.

After swapping the Yeeti keycaps to the W70, the Metropolis was free to be put on the Alice. I was panicking a little because none of my GMK sets had the Alice spacebars. Luckily, the KAM superuser spacebar set had something for me to use.

I will probably swap the Metropolis keycaps out in the future for another GMK set.

The Alice keyboard is very fun to use. I don’t think I’ll buy another Alice keyboard style unless there’s a special design or interesting feature with it. This keyboard is already interesting enough with it being split into two boards.

Update

2025-11-16

Swapped the Baby Kangaroo switches for Akko Rosewoods linear switches. Realized that I used the Tribosys 3203 instead of the Krytox 205g0 for lubing the switch housing. The Akko Rosewood still feels fine though.

The keyboard feels a lot better with linear switches and it requires a less actuation force. It feels a lot less strenuous to type with the keyboard.

-LW

Built an Initial D inspired keyboard.

Getting the Keyboard

I bought the keyboard back in July 2024 during the R2 drop. I didn’t get it until December 2024 and finished building on April 2025. This is the most expensive keyboard that I’ve purchased so far. I am an Initial D fan and the keyboard is truly stunning.

The keyboard weighs about 6-7 pounds and that’s because the
casings are made out of aluminum. It has RGB lights that resembles the Trueno 86 rear tail lights.

The Build

There are 3 mounting styles for the W70. I went with the Spring mount to make it feel like a car suspension.

I used AEBoard Staebies for the keyboard stabilizers and went with Gateron Oil Kings for the switches. I decided to use GMK Metropolis R2 keycaps with some novelties for this build. I think the bright contrast keycaps of the novelties fits the keyboard’s aesthetics.

And that’s the full build! The keyboard is mostly a showcase. It feels really good to type with though especially with the Oil King switches. I swap back and forth between using this keyboard and the MKC75 at home.

It’s such a beautiful (and expensive) keyboard that I love looking at it instead of using it.

Hopefully this teaches me a lesson to make me stop buying keyboards.

-LW

Fixed up the 2016 Ducky One.

Background

The Ducky One was my second mechanical keyboard and gateway into the mechanical keyboard world. I bought the Ducky One with Cherry MX Brown switches back in 2016. I was too scared to build my own keyboard at the time, and I heard so many great things about the Ducky brand. So I ended up buying a prebuilt keyboard.

After using the keyboard for about for about eight years, it was time to open it up and do some deep cleaning and adjustments.

Deconstruction & Reconstruction

Dissecting

How far keyboards have come!! Back in 2016, I was so scared to make my own keyboard because I had to solder the switches on.
I ended up teaching myself how to solder since I needed to use it for one of my classes, and it’s actually really easy.

The Ducky One had the switches soldered into the PCB, so I had to figure out how to desolder it. And man, desoldering is very, very time consuming. At first, I tried using a solder wick with flux and I couldn’t get it to work at all. Luckily my kit came with a desoldering pump and that worked a lot better. The most annoying part of using the desoldering pump was that it’s messy and had to be cleaned very frequently.

After desoldering, it was time to lube the switches and stabilizers…another time consuming task! Cherry MX Brown are tactile switches so I lubed the housing with Tribosys 3203. The stabilizers were very dirty, so I’m glad that I cleaned them.

I ended up changing the Esc key switch to a Kailh Box Winter for fun…The Kailh Box Winter has a lower actuation force than the Cherry MX Brown, and I use the Esc key frequently.

Mending

Now to solder the switches to the PCB. EZPZ.

The board still sounded a little hollow to me, so I ended up putting tape on the back of the PCB. The hardest part of the tape mod was cutting out the holes for the connectors and screws. I ended up just eyeing it and it turned out great.

I wanted to add foam to the bottom of the case as well, but the cover wouldn’t close with with the foam on.

Good as New

Well, as good as it can be. The shine on the alpha keys are from almost 8 years of use and I can’t get rid of it. But man, does typing feel as good as new! Lubing the switches and modding the board really helped with the feel and sound.

I honestly could have just left the board desoldered and sell the Cherry MX Brown switches for like $30. I don’t have any plans of using this keyboard in the future. This keyboard was more like a test run of my soldering and desoldering skills. I guess my skills were fine because the keyboard is still fully functional!

November 2025 Update

As of November 2025, I gave the Ducky One away. I have no use for it anymore and I probably wouldn’t get any resell value out of it. Like come on, this is a keyboard made in 2016! Mechanical keyboards have come a long way since then. You don’t have to solder anymore!

I’m glad I found someone who will actively use it. Goodbye, Ducky!

-LW

Moved my current build to a Fractal Terra. Reused the NR200 case to build another PC with modern parts.

To Terra

Felt like downsizing from the NR200 (18L) to a Fractal Terra (10.4L). I ended up using my NR200 to build my cousin a PC.

After using the Fractal Terra for a few months, the temperature runs about 3-5 degrees higher than the NR200.

Construction Underway

The first thing that was noticable is the size! NR200 is already a small size, but the Fractal Terra is definitely a lot smaller in comparison.

With a new-ish build comes some new-ish upgrades!

Upgraded the CPU from the 3600 to a used 5800. Just needed that extra CPU power. It draws in a lot more heat though.

I really like the slim profile of the Noctua fan, and it fits perfectly in the Fractal Terra.

And the last upgrade is storage. Storage gets cheaper and cheaper each year with all the advancements!

The Fractal Terra was the perfect size that fit all the components. Sure the temperatures run a bit higher, but that’s the trade-off with smaller form factors.

New Build

I was tasked with building my cousin a computer. I didn’t want to go overkill with the budget especially when PC parts don’t come with any peripherals.

I gave my cousin some good discounts since I changed out some of my stuff and gave it to him.

Most of the items were bought from Redditers and they were relatively new or brand new in box. Still got great discounts on there.

And it’s alive!! I’m a bit sad that the amount that I spent 3 years ago is now a bit outdated and slower compared to the amount and parts that I can get today.

It’s impractical to buy the latest and greatest PC parts… unless you have a lot of disposable income. At least PC parts don’t “expire”. You can always resell your parts for some cash back.

-LW

Built a 75% mechanical keyboard.

How It Started

I’ve always wanted to build my own keyboard. My gateway to mechanical keyboards was the Corsair Vengeance K65 Compact with Cherry MX Red switches. I bought the Corsair keyboard the beginning of 2016. Back then I used to play osu! a lot
and the keyboard would help me press keys faster since it was a linear switch. A couple of months later in 2016, I bought a Ducky One TKL which I’m still using to this day, even at this moment…

The Corsair keyboard might retire very soon as the right Ctrl and Shift key are beginning to stick. I tried taking the Corsair apart because it might just need lubricant but the switches are soldered to the PCB.

Anyway… I finally took the initiative and gathered everything to build my first keyboard.

Gathering Parts

Size

The first step of building a keyboard is to decide what size did I want my keyboard. I prefer what I already have which is a ten keys less (TKL, 80%) keyboard. For my first build I went for a 75% keyboard. It had the function keys and it removed some unnecessary keys like PrtSc, ScrLk, and Pause.

I bought a Keychron V1 barebones kit with a knob. It had all the parts that I needed to build a keyboard and it is hot swappable (no soldering required).

The Keychron V1 came with:

• PCB
• Plate
• Foam (probably for noise)
• Silicone pad
• Case
• Preinstalled and lubed stabilizers
• USB C cables
• Misc stuff like keycap and switch pullers

Switches

The second and most important step of building a keyboard is deciding the type of switch you want. I wanted to use a tactile switch as I’m used to the bump. This keyboard was going to be used mainly for office work (coding) anyways.

I ordered a switch tester from Keychron. It took me a while to decide the best switch for typing. I ended up going for the Kailh Box Winter switches. The Kailh Box Winter switches had the lowest actuation force at 38±10 gf. This means that when you hit a key, it only requires around 38 grams-force.

Keycaps

And the final step is to buy keycaps. Keycaps come in many forms. Most keycaps are Cherry styled keycaps. I decided to buy the Kabuki-cho R2 base keycaps set from PBTFans. I was looking around for keycaps to buy and the Kabuki-cho R2 was in its final phase of getting released. I was playing the Yakuza series at the time and this set was an instant buy.

Putting the Pieces Together

Time to get building! Or dismantling! I bought Durock V2 stabilizers to replace the preinstalled ones. I didn’t have to change the stabilizers, but since I was buying switches from AliExpress, why not.

On the left, it shows a fully dismantled Keychron V1. On the right image is when I installed the Durock stabilizers to the PCB. I self lubed the Durock stabilizers with Krytox GPL-205 for the stem and Permatex dielectric grease for the wires.

The next step is the endless step of lubing all the Kailh Box Winter switches. The Kailh Winter switches already came prelubed, but it wasn’t distributed well. I also wanted to lube the switches because that’s just part of the hobby! I lubed the switches with Tribosys 3203. The only was the stem’s sides and barely the spring.

Snapped those switches onto the PCB. And screw the plate back on. Testing that all the wiring is correct. Was blinded by the RGB.

And now to pop those keycaps on! I also ended up doing the tape mod to make the keyboard sound better. I like the keyboard so far, but the keycaps interior of resin is cracking. Not sure why it’s cracking but it looks like it’s from the stem pushing up. I assigned the Fn key plus Home key to make it the Insert key. I rely on the insert button a lot especially for Excel. Other than that, I’m already use to the 75% layout.

First keyboard down, more to come?

Update

2024-06-12

After a month of using the keyboard, I still enjoy the way it sounds. The aesthetics actually made me a bit sad though.

The Kabuki-Cho R2 keycaps began to develop visible cracks on the top of a few alpha keys. At the time of writing this, I’ve counted at least 17 keys that had visible or slightly visible cracks. I do not know if it’s due to the Kailh Box Winter switches and the ABS keycap material. There were issues years ago that Box switches were stretching the keycap stems, but this should be now fixed.

I checked the stems and I did not see any signs of any wear. I reached out to KBDFans’ (where I purchased the set) chat and they handled it very well! They asked for photos of the cracks and are working on sending me replacement keys.

2024-06-24

After reaching out to KBDFans about the issue, they were able to replace a lot of the keycaps with very visible cracks on them. I received the new keycaps on either on June 17 at the end of day. June 18, I replaced the keycaps and it looked good as new!

It’s now June 24 and I started noticing cracks on top of some keys that I already replaced. Definitely going to reach out to KBDFans for additional replacement keys and retire this keycap set…

2024-08-27

Reached out to KBDFans support again around July 2024 to get replacement keycaps again. This time, I requested for more keys to replace. I had to reach out twice because I didn’t get any updates for a while. I received my key replacements on 2024-08-27. All but one key was replace. The last key that is still cracked is the right-arrow key.

I’m putting this key set to the side. I don’t think I’m going to resell it since I know the next user probably won’t be able to request replacement keys.

-LW

Moved everything from a Fractal Design Meshify C case (36.5L) to a Cooler Master NR200 (18.25L).

Background

When I first built my PC in summer 2020, I wasn’t sure about the size or how big I wanted it. After a year, I finally decided it was time to switch to a smaller form factor. I’ve been looking at /r/battlestations/ way too much on my free time.

Out With the Old

The list for my old build can be found here. On the right is what my build looks like with the Meshify C case. It was tough hauling it everywhere (to Irvine and back…) I had to drag it to the garage to clean out the dust multiple times a year. The Meshify C is a great case, but a PC just doesn’t need to take that much space.

In With the New

Here’s the list of the small form factor build:

New Parts List

I was really hoping that the B550i mobo would go back to its old price ($189), but it didn’t budge for the past 2 months. I got the NR200 case on Amazon and got the $10 rebate a few days ago. I’m hoping to get another rebate ($20) from the PSU. I added the speakers to the list because they were also on sale (from Costco) and they’ve been working really well so far.

And here’s the build:

What’s not pictured are the extra case fans. I put two arctic fans on the top as an exhaust. I have 3 more arctic fans and I’ll probably add it below the GPU. The cable management isn’t that great right now. I’ll add/get custom cables for that, but it doesn’t look too bad the way it is right now.

The new build doesn’t generate that much heat compared to my old build. I’ve been playing FFXIV and it plays the same. The only thing that I need to upgrade is my desk space…

-LW

Finished a Demon Slayer (鬼滅の刃) puzzle.

It’s been a few years since I did my last jigsaw puzzle. The last one I did was a Kingdom Hearts 3 puzzle in Summer 2019.

This time, I completed a Demon Slayer puzzle.

Mugen Train Movie

If you’re a fan of Kimetsu no Yaiba and kept up with the anime, it’s a must-watch movie since it’s part of the major storyline.

I won’t go into any details of the movie, but it did make me cry. The movie was on par with the anime series, and Ufotable did an amazing job being faithful to the manga.

Puzzle Building

I was bored one day and was looking through Amazon JP to see if they had any puzzles available. I always use HLJ to buy all my Japanese jigsaw puzzles, but their best puzzles are always sold out or backordered.

I always wanted to do a Kimetsu no Yaiba puzzle, but the puzzles that were available were either 500 pieces or 1000 pieces and didn’t look good. So when I found this puzzle on Amazon JP, I wanted to buy it asap. I showed my boyfriend and he bought it for me. :) It took less than two weeks for the puzzle to arrive, which is about the same as HLJ.

My boyfriend and I did not start the puzzle until July 5. It took about 5 days to finish it (only 2-3 hours each day because we both have work).

I forgot to take progression photos until we were almost done… The first image to the left is day one. The middle image is day four. And the right image is the completed puzzle.

The puzzle was very annoying because of the dark background. We had to use our phones’ flashlights to differentiate the colors of the dark pieces. It got to the point where we started to try to fit all the pieces to wherever it may work. Ensky puzzles are great since every piece/connection is unique.

I just bought a frame for the puzzle, so all we need to do is glue it
and find a spot for it in my room… along with the other puzzles.

-LW

Built my first computer.

I realized that my current laptop, an ASUS Q55LF, is about 7 years old. I’ve used it for almost everything, like playing games, my projects, etc. I couldn’t even play any games like Fortnite, League of Legends, GTA5, etc without any lag.

I’ve changed my Surface twice (Surface Pro 3 in 2015, Surface Pro 6 in 2018) and was my go-to device for taking notes and programming, but I wanted something that was more powerful – something that could handle games, PhotoShop, many virtual machines. So it was either purchase a gaming laptop or build my own PC…

I based my build off Logical Increment’s Superb build. Since COVID was happening, lots of PC parts were out of stock and prices were up. Thankfully I found most of my items on sale through /r/buildapcsales.

PC Build and Specs

Below is my PC build. The parts were bought from Amazon, Newegg, and BestBuy.

I was able to get some things for free because they were gifted to me by my friends for my birthday! The total MSRP of all items would be about $1600, so I was able to save about $400. I kept a spreadsheet to markdown the timeline of when I bought all of the items and built the PC. I started looking at PC parts on May 19 and purchased all of the parts on June 14. The day I powered on the PC was July 11, 2020.

-LW