deskthority

So this is a small (or, rather large) question about custom cases. I wanted to ask the feasibility (and, possibly process) of getting custom metal cases fabricated for three specific keyboards.

To start things off, you have thee SSK. This little beauty is rather widespread and frequently used amongst members of the community. And frankly, it’s one of the most eye pleasing boards ever made. Getting a custom metal case fabricated for this would open up doors for a whole new slew of cosmetic options. You could essentially have your board decorated the way you wanted. Some sixth sense tells me that there is a very obvious barrier in this situation that I am missing. After all, why would people pay so much more money for industrial SSKs when the only difference between them and a standard model is a fancy coat of paint. If metal cases were easily feasible, then now one would bother. I’m almost positive that this isn’t feasible, but would love to know specifically why.

The second board that I wanted to ask you about was the Space Unsaver. Now, I wanted to have a metal case on this for similar reasons as above, but that same sixth sense told me it couldn’t happen. But I stopped and realized that there are very few members in the community who currently own Unsavers. It’s very much possible that there isn’t any information about metal cases for Unsavers simply because there is very little information on Unsavers in general. Again, there’s no harm in asking. Please do let me know why it isn’t feasible.

The third board I wish to customize is the DisplayWriter. It’s no secret that I’m interested in Beam Springs; I’ve already posted two threads comparing them to other excellent switches (Topre and Buckling Springs). I’ve been given advice about which BS (to save time, assume this stands for Beam Spring and not Buckling Springs in this thread) board is the best to restore, and the name DisplayWriter never came up. I get it; I know that it’s not the best BS board money can buy. But that, right there, is the main issue. Not only are the more desirable boards more difficult to find, they also cost a lot more. And of course, the restorations costs would only add on to that amount. Basically, to avoid these high costs and long waits, I’m most likely going to go with a DisplayWriter (if I end up restoring a BS, which I’m still highly skeptical about doing). I’ve seen custom metal cases fabricated for other BS boards (in fact, could someone please get him (kuato) to provide some input here?), and was wondering if the same could be done for the DisplayWriter. Again, please explain whether it is or isn’t feasible and why.

Now, if this is possible, for any out of the three, then what is the process for getting it done. I’d obviously have to have the case dimensioned first, correct? Any idea as to how much that could cost? And then of course, the cost of the fabrication itself. But to be honest, I pretty much came here with the feeling that this is a just a dream for all three of these boards; I know there will be something preventing this happening.

AbuBakr Akram wrote: ↑ there will be something preventing this happening.

$$$$

fohat wrote: ↑

AbuBakr Akram wrote: ↑ there will be something preventing this happening.

$$$$

I came into this knowing it would be costly, but ok
I'm kind of surprised I only got one reply.

I guess the lack of replies was due to a lack of concrete questions? Your OP reads like a pie in the sky wish list. Try to focus on specific steps to reduce scope and increase your odds of getting specific answers.

Custom machining and fabrication is a large problem space that you, the designer and customer, will need to explore and navigate before reaching the desired end product.

The barriers to entry are time, money and skills. If you want to actually make something be prepared for a long and tiring ride. Focus on the process as much as the end goal to maintain your sanity.

What skills can you bring to the table? What do you know about mechanical design, CAD/CAM, or machining? If you are in the US then a facility like TechShop is a great place to start. If not start with contacting some local machine shops with some ideas about your project.

Here, for example, would be my thought process:

• hey this is a nice keyboard!
• ...but the case is crap. I want to make my own.
• I like anodized aluminum and I know aluminum is really easy to work with. Let's start there. It can be drilled, milled, put in a lathe, tapped for threads (ideally with Helicoil inserts), and even anodized. It's strong, cheap, light, readily available, and easy on cutting surfaces.
• Hmm, what type of aluminum? 6061 seems like a popular alloy, my bicycle has tons of 6061 parts. Let's use that.
• Okay, I took the keyboard apart and got a whole bunch of dimensions. They keyboard's internals need to be supported in this way: screws here and here, tabs here and here. Whatever I make has to have the same support points.
• Let's just do something simple: a big blocky design that I can refine later.
• Let's do some sketches of how I want the thing to look. Okay, it looks like I've got a top case and a bottom case.
• How would I make this? Start with a big block and mill out the inside.
• How can I get access to a nice mill? Hmm. The local auto machinist has a nice milling setup that (s)he uses to hone cylinders and reface flywheels, maybe they can help me? Let me give them a call and make an appointment.
• Three hours of machine time?! Gee whiz that's pricey. How can I make my design even cheaper?
• Hmm, Harbor Freight sells a little mini milling machine that can just barely hold my design if I'm doing this for a TKL board, let's get one of those.
• How does this thing work? Time to watch a bunch of YouTube videos...
• ...etc etc.

On a related note - I recently asked about key switch force setups to pick folks' brains. I got a couple of responses that mostly verified and or supported research I had already done. I know that the next steps are finding a good length scale (digital calipers), a good force scale, and finding or building a sturdy stand.

I hope this doesn't read like discouragement. Projects are great and I for one would love to see what you come up with. But one needs to be realistic about the work involved.

Recall Akins Law #29:
29. (von Tiesenhausen's Law of Program Management) To get an accurate estimate of final program requirements, multiply the initial time estimates by pi, and slide the decimal point on the cost estimates one place to the right.
(http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html)

A really nice example of a recent fabrication project was wcass's writeup of the XTant:
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/brin ... t3047.html

I liked how wcass used that thread as a lab notebook with lots of photos, and how wcass focused on one specific thing: building a PCB.

Perhaps your next step is picking one keyboard, performing a disassembly, figuring out what parts you want to transplant, and getting some dimensions.

Reading XMIT's comment: Absolutely. Be specific. Choose your constraints. Get back to us when you've decided what you really want to do!

Reading the original post: oh right, I see what you mean. (The wall of text effect put me off!) As far as I know, working with metal, especially at larger sizes like complete keyboard cases, is expensive, so the one pithy answer you got was spot on the money.

AbuBakr Akram wrote: ↑The second board that I wanted to ask you about was the Space Unsaver. Now, I wanted to have a metal case on this for similar reasons as above, but that same sixth sense told me it couldn’t happen. [...] Please do let me know why it isn’t feasible.

Should be fine electrically. The only oddity I've seen with Model F keyboards is that the grounding screw (controller to back plate) is really important. Either your metal chassis will need a solid connection to ground (soldered or screwed), or be entirely electrically isolated. "Let Ground Abound" as the old analog design adage goes.

Take a look at Photekq's stunning (and just as costly) project here:

http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/alum ... ium%20case

AbuBakr Akram wrote: ↑The third board I wish to customize is the DisplayWriter. [...] I’ve seen custom metal cases fabricated for other BS boards (in fact, could someone please get him (kuato) to provide some input here?), and was wondering if the same could be done for the DisplayWriter. Again, please explain whether it is or isn’t feasible and why.

Displaywriters and other beam springs are capacitive PCB boards at their core much like the Model F (other way round really, F is like the beam spring). For a while the blocker was that there was no good capsense logic. Note the two year delay in wcass's build log. In that time xwhatsit provided the excellent capsense controller logic.

Just do a Google search for "displaywriter keyboard disassembly" to see what is inside if you don't have one handy yourself.

Muirium wrote: ↑Take a look at Photekq's stunning (and just as costly) project[...]

That's phenomenal. I thought I remembered seeing that but couldn't quite think where to look for the link. Thanks µ. (That's Compose M U on my Linux system.)

photekq even makes the CAD files available in a post near the end: https://onyx.gladosdan.com/tom/TEK80CAD/

Why not start trying to see if you can make that yourself? Seriously it would be a great way to get introduced to fabrication.

Some say that 7bit is working on a case as well.

XMIT wrote: ↑ Should be fine electrically. The only oddity I've seen with Model F keyboards is that the grounding screw (controller to back plate) is really important. Either your metal chassis will need a solid connection to ground (soldered or screwed), or be entirely electrically isolated. "Let Ground Abound" as the old analog design adage goes.

As someone who deals with electricity on a professional level, and electronics at a hobby level, there's one minor detail to note - the negative/return path/common for DC systems and electronics is NOT the same as the ground for an AC system. If by some twist of fate the grounding path for an AC system and the return path for a DC system become connected and there's no TVSS, filtering, or some kind of choke, odd things on will happen on the DC side proportional to the voltage and current on the AC system. Long story short version: I received a troubleshooting call to help out at the installation of some new EQ at an amusement type ride, and the installing electrician tied the grounds from the 3 phase 480 volt motor control center, the four freq drives (all fine and good up to this point), and the DC return path from ALL of the controllers and sensors to the same ground bus. Any one of the four rides would operate just fine, but as soon as more than one came online, none of the sensors would read accurately and the controllers would begin misbehaving badly. An even less interesting story further removed from having anything to do with keyboards is the DC system in telephone and cell tower equipment - the return path is the positive and the equipment operates at -48 volts.

...my word.

No, I really just meant that having lots of ground plane on PCB designs is often a good idea. With keyboards usually the serious AC is on the other side of a wall wart or power supply so we're just dealing with low voltage DC.

I know that no one was implying that the AC and DC stuff would be combined (unless someone is shoe horning a RasPi or an Odroid C1 inside a case)... Just passing time waiting to get my taxes done.

I hadn't posted because I felt that I had nothing to contribute as this is out of my league. With that being said I would like to see this happen.

XMIT wrote: ↑

Muirium wrote: ↑Take a look at Photekq's stunning (and just as costly) project[...]

That's phenomenal. I thought I remembered seeing that but couldn't quite think where to look for the link. Thanks µ. (That's Compose M U on my Linux system.)

photekq even makes the CAD files available in a post near the end: https://onyx.gladosdan.com/tom/TEK80CAD/

Why not start trying to see if you can make that yourself? Seriously it would be a great way to get introduced to fabrication.

Some say that 7bit is working on a case as well.

I would not recommend getting my design made without modifying it quite a lot. It was my first design (on CAD, not just my first keyboard casing) and I was only 14 or 15 when I started it. There's a lot of things that need changing on it.

The files are mostly there for educational purposes, or for if someone wants something to work from. It's not a 'finished product' by any means.

I would love to make a second custom keyboard housing (I'm confident I could make a good one, since I learned a lot from designing that one and having it made), but I do not have the money for a CNC-machined prototype, so I think it would be pointless.

Well, ever given thought about stepping into your nearest fablab?

JohnVenture wrote: ↑Well, ever given thought about stepping into your nearest fablab?

Sadly, there are none near me with the kind of facilities I would need to get a nice result.