Yeah, excuse the drawing skills—I used to be decent at it, I swear. Anyway, let’s not get distracted by my propaganda artwork.
”Keyboard Under 3K INR”
Before this rabbit hole even started, I didn’t think much about keyboards. For me, a keyboard was just a tool—an input device to pass bytecode so my computer could do its magic and spit out human-readable code. Nothing more.
That was until I tried my friend’s mechanical keyboard. Typing on it felt elegant—like my fingers were finally meant to be there. For the first time, I thought: Maybe it’s time I upgraded my keyboard.
And so, the search began.
I set my budget at 3K INR—not much by enthusiast standards, but it was my starting line. I wanted something customizable, but in this budget, that’s basically a unicorn. I almost settled for the Cosmic Byte Phantom or the EvoFox Ronin… but curiosity kept pushing me further.
One random YouTube scroll later, I stumbled upon something that completely changed the game. Honestly, I wish I had found it sooner.
Layout Quest
Most people think QWERTY is the layout. Some might know about Dvorak. But that’s just scratching the surface. There are countless layouts, and even custom ones that you can design yourself.
At that time, I only knew about full-sized, TKL, 70%, and 60% keyboards. Then I discovered something wilder—you can shrink it down even further. Sub-40%, sub-30%… layouts that look insane at first, but make perfect sense once you dive in.
That’s when I found Prajwal Nadig’s blog.
- That blog convinced me to build my own split keyboard.
- That blog also convinced me to double my budget—from 3K to 6K INR.
Preparation
I decided on the Ferris Sweep Bling MX—wired version, because I like keeping things simple.
Components I needed:
- 2× Pro Micro-compatible microcontrollers
- 2× Pin headers
- 34× MX switches
- 34× Kailh hotswap sockets
- 34× Keycaps
- 2× TRRS jacks
- 1× TRRS cable
- 1× USB-C cable
(Optional: reset switches for flashing, but you can just short the pins with a screwdriver if you’re brave enough).
The switch and bottom plate files are in the repo. I skipped the bottom plate since I couldn’t source M2 screws locally.
My Layout
I mostly stuck to the original layout from the blog, with a few tweaks. Being a brofessional full-time Vim user™, I had to prioritize arrows. I mapped them on the right hand—so for example, holding Backspace and pressing N gives me the Down Arrow.
I’ll upload my full layout later, but honestly—you should research and design one that fits your workflow. That’s half the fun.
Here’s where I’m at after just 20 days on this keyboard. 🚀