How to read this book
A short orientation before the tour starts.
The shape of each chapter
Most chapters teach a handful of ideas in the same rhythm: what the thing is, why it matters for your build, how it works in plain terms, and takeaways you carry forward. The build chapters are hands-on labs: numbered steps you actually do, each with a clear "you are done when..." so you never wonder whether it worked.
When two words are easy to mix up (a switch and a keycap, soldering and brazing, QMK and VIA), you will see a box like this:
Don't be confused. A switch is the mechanical part under each key that closes an electrical contact when pressed. A keycap is the plastic hat that sits on top of it with a letter printed on it. You buy them separately, and the keycap does nothing electrical at all.
Each chapter ends with a 👉 arrow pointing to the next one, so you always know where the road goes.
About the prices in this book
This book quotes prices constantly, because "budget for it honestly" is half its job. Every price is in Canadian dollars unless marked otherwise, and every price is approximate, as of mid-2026. Keyboard parts come from small shops and overseas warehouses; prices drift, sales happen, and listings vanish. Treat every number here as "expect something in this neighbourhood," and treat the relative comparisons (this vendor is roughly double that one; shipping will be a third of your order) as the durable lesson. Where a price crosses a threshold that changes your customs or shipping situation, we say so explicitly.
The same honesty applies to product links. We name specific products and stores because vague advice ("get a decent iron") is useless to a beginner, but stores rotate stock. If a named product is gone, the surrounding text always tells you what it was so you can find its current equivalent: the specs matter, the brand name does not.
Three ways to read this book
- The full journey (recommended): read in order. You learn what you are building, buy everything with no surprises, become a competent solderer on cheap practice boards, and then build the Lily58 in one satisfying weekend.
- "I already know how to solder." Read the welcome part (Chapters 1 to 3) for the keyboard-specific anatomy, do your shopping with Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, skim Chapter 8 for the keyboard-specific rescue notes, then jump to the build at Chapter 9.
- "I want the keyboard but not the soldering." You have real options: a pre-soldered Lily58, a hotswap-everything kit, or a different board entirely. Chapter 2 maps those exits honestly, including what each costs and what you give up. If you take one, the firmware and living-with-it chapters (12 and 14) still apply to you word for word.
You do not need to buy anything to start reading
You can read the whole book with an empty desk. The shopping chapters exist so that when you do spend money, you spend it once, correctly. Nothing before Chapter 6 requires owning anything, and even soldering school starts with a chapter you should read before the iron arrives.
Safety, in one place
Stated once here, repeated where each matters:
- The iron is 350 degrees Celsius. It looks the same hot and cold. It gets a stand, it gets unplugged when you leave the desk, and it never gets caught when it falls. Chapter 6 covers setup so this stays theoretical.
- Solder fumes are flux smoke, not lead vapor, but you still ventilate: open window, small fan, done. We cover lead versus lead-free solder honestly in Chapter 5, including the wash-your-hands rule.
- Eye protection when clipping leads. Trimmed wire ends fly, fast, in random directions. Safety glasses cost five dollars and are on the tool list.
- Lithium batteries only enter the picture if you choose the wireless variant; the battery handling rules live with that option in Chapter 2 and Chapter 4.
A little bit of code, and why
Building a keyboard ends with flashing firmware, the small program that turns key presses into letters. You will not write firmware from scratch; you will edit a configuration that is mostly a big list of key names, using free web tools where possible. Chapter 12 holds your hand through it. If you can rename files in a folder, you have all the computer skill this book needs.
👉 With that, let us open the case and see what a mechanical keyboard actually is.