deskthority

Hi everyone,

I've come over (finally) from /r/MechanicalKeyboards hoping for a better discussion as I develop my project. The format of a forum is just better suited to something like this rather than constantly posting a new thread for each update on reddit.

So on to the details..

At the moment I have a prototype 60% keyboard with a case made in MDF (bad decision), laser cut aluminium plate and cherry mx blues with Ducky PBT keycaps. It's a non-standard layout though so I don't have all of the correct keycaps. No electronics as of yet, but I'm hoping to find a cheap solution soon. I'd love to give wire wrapping a go ^_^



Today I've just finished filing the plate for a separate number pad. The case is also MDF bodged together from the first version of my main keyboard case which was too small. The plate is salvaged from a DELL keyboard that used ALPS switches. I've wanted to try Matias ALPS for a while so I bought the DELL 105 key off eBay and cut out the numpad. I intend to do the same with the rest of the plate to get the 60 key section.

So my numpad is, again, MDF case, plate from DELL keyboard (not sure of material), Matias Quiet ALPS and the DELL key caps. It's looking pretty chunky at the moment but I'll eventually sand the sides down to be more slim.







So that's where it currently stands. Like I mentioned, the next step is making these functional, probably utilising the ATmega32u4 breakout board that I have.



Feel free to ask any questions

As an engineer you should at least be able to take a magnet to the metal and see if it's ferromagnetic; most plates are made of steel. (I don't have my Dell AT105 to hand to check.)

Yeah it is a steel plate, just looked it up. The donor board is a DELL AT101W.

In my defense, I'm a newly graduated electronics engineer, I'd have never thought about testing to see if it was ferromagnetic

Kender Borg …?

Woops just realised I was logged into an old account for that last comment ^_^

Yay! Another Welsh custom keyboard maker!

The 60% case looks quite nice, even in MDF. The numpad should look great after sanding too.

I'll look forward to seeing this progress

photekq wrote: Yay! Another Welsh custom keyboard maker!

The 60% case looks quite nice, even in MDF. The numpad should look great after sanding too.

I'll look forward to seeing this progress

:O There's more of us?!

I'm not going to dwell too much on the prototype cases to be honest. I'm going to look into constructing it separately with 4 sides rather than routing from a single piece. Wastes less wood that way and there will be a cut out on the underside for something special

4 sides and a base works just as well, if not better in a lot of cases. With a nice piece of wood and a nice CNC machine, you could certainly cut out a great looking case, but as you said, its a lot more expensive. Using multiple pieces makes it a lot easier to prototype as well. If you need something a bit wider or shorter, etc. etc. its just a matter of cutting out an extra piece or 2, and attaching it back to every thing else.