Anyone who has been in the keyboard hobby for a few years has undoubtedly heard of the CannonKeys flagship, the Satisfaction75 (Sat75). I remember when the board first became popular, with its satisfying 75% layout, separated arrow keys, and iconic OLED screen + encoder combo in the top right corner. Lucky enough to nab one in January 2022, it was finally time to build this beauty.
Board — Satisfaction75 R2 (Pirate Black), purchased at CannonKeys (B-stock)
I purchased the keyboard during the sale for the Sat75 R2 extras. In my haste, I went with the Pirate Black / B-stock, and truthfully I haven’t noticed much of anything when inspecting the flaws (probably a good thing!). It did ship and arrive very quickly, with a cool nautical themed box, custom carrying case, and all the extras I nabbed.
The Satisfaction75 is my first 75% layout board — my preferences have overly leaned toward smaller form factors, but I do find myself wishing I had dedicated F keys at times.
Switches — 8008 Inks, purchased at Omnitype (modded with Krytox205g0)
I love the color scheme of these custom, linear Gateron switches, which are a 1:1 match of the iconic 8008 keyset. Omnitype crafted this one using the housing of a Gateron Black Ink + the spring of a Gateron Yellow. They are lightly factory lubed, but I wouldn’t dare solder *any* switches in a board without lubing them first.
I have previous experience with Gateron Silent Inks, which I spring-swapped with 65g TX springs. For the sake of trying something new while also paying homage to the classic switches, I opted to keep the stock springs and omit the use of switch films. In my limited typing that I’ve done post-build, these switches do feel notably lighter than others with heavier springs I’m accustomed to. According to switches.mx, actuation is 50g with a bottom-out of 62g.
Stabilizers — TKCxNK_Olivia++ Stabilizer Kit, purchased at NovelKeys (modded with Krytox205g0)
Not much to share here that I haven’t already said in my previous build logs. I still need to work on my overall stab construction after lubing, but these sound and feel great and I haven’t had any issues with them so far.
Keycaps — GMK Metaverse 2 (purchased from Switchmod)
I have been looking for an excuse to use this beautiful set designed by Dead Encryption. The Base kit is a black and white set inspired by the video game Persona 5 by Atlus. I’m a huge fan of the red accents in the Royal Kit and I had to include some form of those keys in the final build.
Recently having tried the SA profile (which I have been hugely fond of!), it’s been great to come back to the reliable cherry profile.
Time to Build
CannonKeys has a great Build Guide + Flashing Guide + User Guide on their documentation page, which outlines the build process step-by-step and has great pictures to aid any level of keyboard builder. It was infinitely helpful (thank you Upas and team!) and I highly recommend referring to that if you have any questions about build order.
My lubing skills have grown considerably since my first board, and building the Sat75 with my preferred layout meant I would have to disassemble and lubricate 81 switches. It’s always tough to find a good chunk of unbroken time to do this task, so I split it up between 3 sessions over 2 days. Thankfully, I *think* I was pretty consistent in my lubing, as the typing experience has felt great (as I type this blog).
The Sat75 PCB was interesting to work on. Since the board has both a knob + OLED screen, there were additional spots that I was unfamiliar with. The PCB needed to be tested, then flashed, and I’m glad I didn’t have any issues following the CK Build instructions.
I was a bit nervous soldering the OLED on — the pins are so close together and it was a little tricky ensuring it was aligned straight. Stab-wise, I only needed 2x 2u and 1x 6.25u for the build — left shift, enter, and spacebar. Did not drop a lubed wire this time, no spills! Stabilizer lubing and installation gave me no issues this build.
I initially modded 80 switches, but ended up needing one extra as I did not account for the 3x 1u on the right side of the space bar. Gaterons are standard and easy enough to pop into the plate + USB.
Soldering went smoothly — fired the iron up to 330 C, unrolled solder, and over before I knew it. It did feel like a noticeably longer process than usual, but that makes sense as this is the most switches I’ve soldered in one go plus I had to account for the screen and encoder. Speaking of the encoder, it was one of the trickiest parts of the build, but in the end, it gave me no issues.
The Sat75 is pretty hefty, so I took some extra care when disassembling the case. There are 8 screws on the bottom case and then an additional 12 screws for the actual plate mounting.
Sat75 also uses burger-style mounting, which means there are tiny O-rings on both sides of the plate when screwed into the case.
The choice of caps was not easy for me. Ultimately, I went with GMK Metaverse 2, as I am really fond of the simple WoB/BoW style and thought it would be a good fit with the Pirate Black aesthetic.
For knobs, I went with a black RAMA knob to match the color scheme and this choice felt like a no-brainer.
Overall, I’m very pleased with my typing experience on the Sat75! After the Chimera65 build, I switched to my Bauer (with Roselios + Aluminum plate) for a few months before putting this board together. Turns out, I really missed the “satisfaction” of typing with non-silent switches on a brass plate, so I’m glad I went back to that configuration on this board.
The OLED screen adds a nice bit of charm and is actually useful for when I’m full screen gaming, as it shows the time clearly and makes it easy to look at. I am also using the encoder a lot more than I thought I would. The Sat75’s default programming allows me to press the knob to toggle mute on/off and turn the knob to adjust volume up and down — very practical!
Finally, here are a few shots of the completed build:
Another board completed and I envision using this one for a while! I hope to get to the next one sooner, rather than later.
Thank you for taking the time to read this short recap! I’m currently working on finishing up the Platinum trophy on FF16, followed by some order of the Pixel remasters for FF1–6, FFX-2, FFType-0, and FF15. I appreciate you for your time and I’m hopeful I can keep this productive year going!
