Anatomy of a mechanical keyboard: case, PCB, plate, mounting and hot-swap

The stack, from bottom to top

1. The case, in one or two parts, often with foam at the bottom.
2. The PCB, the circuit board that reads keystrokes and sends them over the cable or wirelessly.
3. A thin foam layer between PCB and plate, on many recent boards.
4. The plate, a cut-out sheet the switches snap into.
5. The switches, one per key, and stabilizers under the long keys.
6. The keycaps, what your fingers touch.

Add the cable, USB-C almost everywhere, and sometimes a battery and a wireless module.

The case: material, weight, angle

The case sets three things: weight, which keeps the board from sliding and calms resonance; the typing angle, most often 5 to 8°; and much of the board’s sound signature.

• Aluminium: rigid, heavy, a full and clean sound. The premium standard.
• Polycarbonate: translucent, lighter, a softer sound.
• Plastic (ABS): light and affordable — but a hollow case sounds hollow.
• Wood: warm, a muted sound, rarer.

The PCB: soldered or hot-swap

A hot-swap PCB has sockets that switches plug into and pull out of by hand: you can change everything in ten minutes. A solder PCB needs an iron and a little practice, but often supports more layout variations.

What to look for on a spec sheet:

• the supported layout (ANSI, ISO) and size;
• the switches it takes: 3 or 5 pins;
• the firmware: QMK or VIA let you remap every key;
• connectivity: wired, or wireless over 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth;
• flex cuts: slots that soften the typing feel.

The plate: the part that sets firmness

The plate keeps the switches aligned and passes each keystroke to the rest of the board. The stiffer it is, the firmer the typing and the brighter the sound; the more it flexes, the softer the typing and the more muted the sound.

Some boards skip the plate entirely: switches are then held by the PCB alone, for a very soft typing feel.

Mounting: how everything is held

The mounting style describes how the plate and PCB are attached to the case. It decides whether typing feels hard or cushioned, and whether it feels the same in the middle and at the edges.

Stabilizers, keycaps, foam: the finishing touches

Stabilizers keep long keys from tilting; poorly tuned, they rattle and spoil everything else — see the stabilizers guide. Keycaps change the feel and the tone — see the keycaps guide. Finally, foam fills the empty space in the case and removes echo.

In what order to choose

1. The size, which sets everything else — see keyboard sizes.
2. The case, for weight, angle and mounting.
3. The PCB, compatible with the case and your layout.
4. The switches, compatible with the PCB.
5. The plate, for the firmness you want.
6. The stabilizers, plate- or PCB-mounted depending on what the board takes.
7. The keycaps, then the cable.

It is the order the Keyforge configurator follows, step by step.