My first custom build, nicknamed the Panda 60

[sparrows89]

It all starts with an idea and a bit of inspiration, or maybe just a little bit of foolishness and a will to reinvent the wheel. A month or so ago, I built a Preonic keyboard after getting it through Massdrop, and really liked the keyboard. However, I always wondered if it could go just a bit bigger to a 60% while keeping that nice ortholinear layout.



This is what I came up with, it's bigger than a Preonic, but smaller than the XD75RE. Save for a bit of reaching too, most common keys are about one key width away. I may try to change the enter key to a 2u width, but I'll only know if I should after using it for a bit.

[sparrows89]

With the layout decided, I could move on to making both the PCB and the plate. I have little experience here, but thankfully there's really good guides and tools to help out anybody who's willing to sit down and go through all the information and documentation.



The plate came first from lasergist, and they did a fantastic job on it too. Everything is to spec and the stainless is a nice quality with a good finish. I'll have to brush up on my own CAD skills or dive deeper in to how the plate maker works so I can make my plates have multiple layouts and options.



Next, the PCB it's self. This one was nicely easy to lay out because of the spacing between the keyswitches. I also had a bit of help from people in the community helping me learn best practices and what makes a good board and a bad board. I used Eagle CAD for this, mostly because I've done a few projects with it before, and I'm used to the ecosystem as well. If this build interests anybody, I can share the gerbers once I know I have a working board.



Oh... Uh, shoot. I guess this is why they say triple check, and then check again before submitting anything to fabrication. It turns out I had one of the data lines incorrectly routed on this board. I guess I'll have to fix things and then wait for my new set of boards.
 

[sparrows89]

In the mean time, I can actually do what I consider my strength and design the case.


I was originally going to go for a high profile and slim case made out of paduk wood that I could CNC. It didn't look bad at all, but it was something that was a dime a dozen. I did a 3d printed test to see how things fit together, and I was actually surprised how nice it looked. With a bit of sanding and hand polishing, I bet it could even look injection molded.





After thinking I could use my 3d printer, it opened up how I could design just a little bit more, and I tried to go for something a little more unique and a little more ergonomic too! That led me to this, and the colour scheme I have now, that looks just a little like a panda, as a friend said. That pretty well settled it on the name that I had been struggling with until now. I'm calling this board the Panda 60, and the macropad I want to make for this will be called the Bamboo Shoot.

[molecularronin]

This is super dope dude, I love the Bamboo Shoot name lol. How long do you think it took to get from the beginning to these pics?