Damn, what a way to find out that (mass)drop.com is dead. As I own a CTRL, I would have picked up a spare case for sure. That's cool to hear about your project though. And yes, the CTRL case was not manufactured particularly tightly, there were a ton of complaints about it once it initially shipped.

Interesting to read a review that is very much not written by someone in the hobby. Cherry as “low profile” simply because it’s slightly shorter than OEM, and mistakenly thinking that has anything to do with key travel are interesting takes. Also complaining that VIA is meaningfully missing the (more blatantly obvious) way to do per game customization that some proprietary software has.

I am definitely on board with 45g linears being too light, though.

Ooo! 24 function keys!

I've got a cold solder joint to fix in THIS handwire, but maybe it will do...

Waiting for you to show a proper 100% full size on 60% day.

60% is the one true way!

Oh yeahhhh...I updated the screenshots, now I have a button in layer 1 to make the change to layer 1 permanent. the options are endless!

Ooh, interesting, I guess the layer modifiers are kind of the same thing indeed. I have too many layers for that so I don't think I'll fit that in, but I like the idea.

Oh yeah my gaming layer is indeed one I "permanently" enable, by going to the layer switching layer, then choosing the one for the gaming layer. I don't use that layer for anything else but it's good to have

Wayyyy better :-D

And I see! Yeah I've definitely already jammed keys realizing I'm on the wrong layer, but I need a permanent switch to the gaming one. But I'll try the switch on hold til release with an extra a hold to switch for just the gaming layer, I like that idea more. Good one!

Ah yes, that's what I meant, but putting heavily used modifiers like shift, Ctrl, alt under those fingers and mirroring the setup between left and right hand, trying to make the most out of those 8 keys where you don't need to move your fingers for.

Hello fellow Engram/Engrammer user! There are dozens of us!

I think you pasted the wrong screenshot for the numpad by the way

I've also moved backspace, delete, and enter to my thumbs, way better :D

I don't know about having the same button do multiple layers, especially tapping is not my thing (because then I don't really have control over going back, unless that's again a tap of another key, which feels like overhead), I just hold a finger for a layer on my other hand, and release when done.

That said, you do you and it could definitely work, experiment with the most wonky setups and keep what works!

What do you mean by home row mods? Layer switching happens on my home row, when holding those keys, if that's what you mean.

I use a Lily58 to which I added extra thumb keys, so it's really a Lily60. The layout is intended to minimise using the top row so I could probably move to a board with no num row without changing much. The delay on home-row mods doesn't sit right with me but I use mod-tap to get a few extra keys on the outer column. RAlt is my compose key so that's on a thumb key and all the other alt modifiers are LAlt. There's quite a few mouse controls since I have the first-gen Ploopy nano trackball which has no buttons - e.g MMODE switches the trackball to scrolling instead of mousing and I often use MB3 to paste the "primary" clipboard. There's a load of stuff I don't use (like the mouse movement keys) but I always try to keep the ASCII layout up-to date in my QMK config:
Edit: If code blocks look wonky on your client, here's an image of it

/* QWERTY
 *        ,-----------------------------------------.                     ,-----------------------------------------.
 *        |  ESC |   1  |   2  |   3  |   4  |   5  |                     |   6  |   7  |   8  |   9  |   0  |  =   |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |TABAlt|   Q  |   W  |   E  |   R  |   T  |                     |   Y  |   U  |   I  |   O  |   P  | -/Alt|
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |"/Ctrl|   A  |   S  |   D  |   F  |   G  |-------.     ,-------|   H  |   J  |   K  |   L  |   ;  |'/Ctrl|
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|  MB3  |     |  MB1  |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |LShift|   Z  |   X  |   C  |   V  |   B  |-------|     |-------|   N  |   M  |   ,  |   .  |   /  |RShift|
 *        `-----------------------------------------/       /      \      \-----------------------------------------'
 *                          | MMODE| LGUI | LOWER| / Space /Tab  Esc\ Enter\  |RAISE |BackSP| RAlt |
 *                          |      |      |      |/       /LAlt  LAlt\      \ |      |      |      |
 *                          `----------------------------'            `------`'--------------------'

/* RAISE
 *        ,-----------------------------------------.                     ,-----------------------------------------.
 *        |      |      |      |      |      |      |                     |VolDn |VolUp | PSCR | SCRL | PAUSE|      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |      |   <  |   >  |   {  |   }  |      |                     |      |   (  |   )  |   -  |   _  |      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |`/Ctrl|   (  |   )  |   [  |   ]  |  %   |-------.     ,-------| Left | Down |  Up  |Right |   ;  |#/Ctrl|
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|  GAME |     |  MB2  |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |      |   |  |   #  |   (  |   )  |      |-------|     |-------| Home | PgDn | PgUp |  End |Insert|      |
 *        `-----------------------------------------/       /      \      \-----------------------------------------'
 *                          | MMODE| LGUI | LOWER| / Space /     MB1\ MB3  \  |RAISE |Delete| MMODE|
 *                          |      |      |      |/       /          \      \ |      |      |      |
 *                          `----------------------------'            `------`'--------------------'
/* LOWER
 *        ,-----------------------------------------.                     ,-----------------------------------------.
 *        |  F12 |  F1  |  F2  |  F3  |  F4  |  F5  |                     |  F6  |  F7  |  F8  |  F9  | F10  | F11  |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |F12Alt|  F1  |  F2  |  F3  |  F4  |  F5  |                     |  F6  |  F7  |  F8  |  F9  | F10  |F11Alt|
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |`/Ctrl|   1  |   2  |   3  |   4  |   5  |-------.     ,-------|   6  |   7  |   8  |   9  |   0  |=/Ctrl|
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|  FIX  |     |  MB2  |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |      |   \  |   [  |   ]  |   #  |   b  |-------|     |-------|   +  |   -  |   *  |   .  |   /  |      |
 *        `-----------------------------------------/       /      \      \-----------------------------------------'
 *                          | MTogg|  MB2 | LOWER| / Enter /GAME SPC\ Enter\  |RAISE |BackWD|   ,  |
 *                          |      |      |      |/       /          \      \ |      |      |      |
 *                          `----------------------------'            `------`'--------------------'
/* ADJUST
 *        ,-----------------------------------------.                     ,-----------------------------------------.
 *        | NKRO | MRST | MDPI |      |      |      |                     |      | MAC0 | MAC1 | MAC2 |      | DBG  |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |Console MWUp |MWLeft|  MUp |MWRght|  OCR |                     | FFwd |  MB1 |  MB2 |  Rwd |  MB3 |      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |      | MWDn | MLeft| Mdown|MRight|      |-------.     ,-------| Prev | Play | Stop | Next |  MB4 |      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------| OLED- |     | OLED+ |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |      |   |  |      | Calc |      |      |-------|     |-------| Mute |VolDn |VolUp |      |  MB5 |      |
 *        `-----------------------------------------/       /      \      \-----------------------------------------'
 *                          | MMODE| LGUI | LOWER| / Space /        \ Enter\  |RAISE |Delete| RAlt |
 *                          |      |      |      |/       /          \      \ |      |      |      |
 *                          `----------------------------'            `------`'--------------------'
/* GAME
 *        ,-----------------------------------------.                     ,-----------------------------------------.
 *        | ESC  |      |      |      |      |      |                     |      |      |      |      |      |      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |  T   |  Tab |  Q   |  W   |  E   |  R   |                     |      |      |      |      |      |      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|                     |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        |  H   | Shift|  A   |  S   |  D   |  F   |-------.     ,-------|      |      |      |      |      |      |
 *        |------+------+------+------+------+------|  GAME |     |       |------+------+------+------+------+------|
 *        | Shift| Ctrl |  Z   |  X   |  C   |  V   |-------|     |-------|      |      |      |      |      |      |
 *        `-----------------------------------------/       /      \      \-----------------------------------------'
 *                          |BackSP| Enter|INVENT| / Space /GAME    \ Enter\  |RAISE |BackSP| RAlt |
 *                          |      |      |      |/       /          \      \ |      |      |      |
 *                          `----------------------------'            `------`'--------------------'
 */

Ok, you inspired me :)

I moved the layer switcher to the left hand, and moved backspace to my thumb, so I don't strain my pinky so much.

I moved the arrows to right under my right hand...

And I added a num pad, also right under my right hand, where I'd expect it.

EDIT: updated the screenshots

Pretty vanilla, but no stabilizers!

Oh, that's a nifty way to think about it, modify with one hand and map it to a situation as if the other hand was where you'd have it, e.g. with the arrow keys!

Have you tried home row mods? In theory, it sounds good...

Precisely, the Y, should have been more clear. Your layout isn't 100% what I would want, but it's the closest and best I've seen.

Nice! Initially I was definitely slower, but my choice (for the moonlander) was primarily for the ergonomics (the split keyboard really helps with my posture and back), and then I just started experimenting. My layers were intended to just get all of the features just somewhere, and then step by step evolved into the current setup. There's some logic to each layer though, and I mostly use the arrow keys (left hand pushes some button (no clue which, I'm typing this on my phone from the couch now and it's solely muscle memory) and my right hand is now as if I was on the arrow keys, with the pageup & pagedown keys nearby), in combination with the modifier keys that's 90% of my navigation while coding.

Apart from that there's the symbol layer, where the keys I use often are fine, but others I just spam keys until the special character I'm looking for appears and then delete the rest lol.

The mousenav layer is mostly a joke, but has saved me once when my mouse broke so worth it!

If you have any other questions, shoot!

My layout is... perhaps a bit strange!

It's the bastard child of Engram and Programmer Dvorak, laid out on a Keyboardio Model 100.

Apart from Engram being perhaps a less known layout, the symbols & number arrangement is likely going to raise questions, so I'll go ahead and answer them: I hate the number row on the top. To enter many numbers, I'd need two hands, and plenty of finger movement. So instead, I put them on a layer in a numpad-like arrangement, so I can type them with one hand (and another to activate the layer), with far less hand movement. That also lets me input most of the symbols without having to reach for a modifier: they're on the top row!

I also have a dedicated Compose key, and all my modifiers are one-shot (and so are the layer keys).

It does! For using so many different layers, don't you feel it's slower to change layers and back than to move your hand if you had a bigger keyboard? Or am I missing the point. I'm quite new to this.

Your layout is dazzling. How do you remember all of this... !

Does this link work? https://configure.zsa.io/moonlander/layouts/bnnrA/latest/0

oh wow, instant delivery - I'm totally copying that escape instead of caps, though I'd need to get myself mentally prepared for slamming ` 100x when I want to use escape.