Soldering diodes and resistors on the Levinson PCBs was the easy part. I think I've finally understood how to use a soldering iron (and I also think the one I use is crap).

Building a 40% split keyboard, part 3: among various other components, I had to solder that awfully tiny thing called a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and it was a long and painful process. Twice, of course.

That special moment when you've finally soldered everything on your keyboard and suddenly notice you've forgotten the one resistor that would require to de-solder all 24 switches to be installed properly and light up that single missing LED: priceless.

Adventures in mechanical keyboards land update: switches (Hako violet, lovely smooth, light and tactile) have been installed. Entering the hazardous "let's flash the micro controllers and solder them if they work" phase.

Keyboard micro controllers flashed, tested and soldered. It's alive! In fact I had no idea if everything worked or not until I soldered both controllers, especially with this strange mirrored master/slave system, but apparently it does.

More keyboard building adventures: everything is now set up and working. All I need is to add keycaps, then customize the hell out of my layout, because as a French user, I need access to a bunch of annoyingly accented characters.

My 40% split keyboard is now fully working and almost complete (I'm waiting for some RGB LEDs to arrive). It's been a blast to build, and it's a joy to use! That feeling when claiming power over technology I use daily, no matter how simple, is hugely satisfying.

Upgraded my keyboard with some 16.5 and 2 mm silicone bumpers. I wasn't sure about the height but the inclination seems just right for me. And it's indeed way better than blu-tack to keep the keyboard in place.

I'm about to solder a strip of RGB LEDs to my keyboard and I've no idea what I'm doing because the only guide is for another model with a different PCB. Where would be the fun if I had exact instructions, though?

@lectronice
You're supposed to solder the led strip directly on the board? I would have supposed they'd have given you JST connectors in the kit for this, so you can easily swap things around.

@emptyfortress The only kit parts for the LEDs were a couple of resistors and MOSFETs. I'm supposed to connect the strips with a few wires. It doesn't seem very complicated, but I need to try different pins and to do a bit of guesswork. And since it's a split keyboard, it's twice more guesswork :)

@lectronice
MOSFETs like this tiny smd component you posted earlier? You're a braver person than I am xD