Author Topic: I like doing things the hard way  (Read 4885 times)

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Offline JianYang

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I like doing things the hard way
« on: Thu, 07 June 2018, 13:15:35 »
So after the Papyrus, I wanted to make a split version. There is still a long way to go, and some of the parts I am still waiting for, but here are some of the in progress shots:
197443-0
197445-1
197447-2
197449-3
197451-4
The paper is actually red and black.

Offline T14

  • Posts: 31
  • Location: Northern Denmark
Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 08 June 2018, 11:02:10 »
Paper laminate requires patience and precision. Kudos for embarking on such a journey. I look forward to following your progress  :thumb:
Autocorrect is my worst enema.

Offline kgolden

  • Posts: 100
Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 08 June 2018, 12:50:38 »
Wow this is pretty awesome. Sometimes the hard way is the best way.  :thumb:

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 10 June 2018, 05:06:45 »
Thanks for the encouragement!

Things are moving along:
197765-0
However, at the current ambient temperature, it looks like it will be under vacuum for about 4hrs or so.

Offline DiodeHead

  • Posts: 14
  • Location: Spain
Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 17 June 2018, 14:20:47 »
have you ever tried wood veneer? I watched some time ago a video on youtube about how Bentley made their car's dashboard and it was with the vacuum bagging laminate technique, very interesting and very premium finish.

regards :)

Offline dead_pixel_design

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  • Location: Portland, OR
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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 17 June 2018, 18:14:34 »
What am I seeing here? Is that like a cardstock of some kind? And what is that.. knife? In picture two? Can you explain some of your process here? I'm very interested

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 18 June 2018, 01:06:44 »
What am I seeing here? Is that like a cardstock of some kind? And what is that.. knife? In picture two? Can you explain some of your process here? I'm very interested

Yup, its a bunch of cardstock. I made a custom chisel from a snapped knife (the handle part - it bent during hardening and jumping on it did not really straighten it). The chisel is the same width as the switch cutout, to streamline the cutting process.

The main idea is that it is a lot easier to make the cutouts for the switches before you infuse the paper with resin.

There is some more information in this thread -> https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=95389.0

Offline dead_pixel_design

  • Posts: 623
  • Location: Portland, OR
  • IIIV is not a Roman Numeral. Positive Vibes.
Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 18 June 2018, 01:42:29 »
What am I seeing here? Is that like a cardstock of some kind? And what is that.. knife? In picture two? Can you explain some of your process here? I'm very interested

Yup, its a bunch of cardstock. I made a custom chisel from a snapped knife (the handle part - it bent during hardening and jumping on it did not really straighten it). The chisel is the same width as the switch cutout, to streamline the cutting process.

The main idea is that it is a lot easier to make the cutouts for the switches before you infuse the paper with resin.

There is some more information in this thread -> https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=95389.0

That's really awesome, thank you! So inspiring!!

Offline katotaka

  • Posts: 68
  • Location: Hong Kong
Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 27 June 2018, 05:33:01 »
so this is paper micarta? this reminds me of G10 grips on knifes

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 27 June 2018, 07:31:53 »
so this is paper micarta? this reminds me of G10 grips on knifes

Yup. G10 is essentially the same, but with the paper replaced by fiber-glass. (And the inspiration comes partly from knafs...)

Offline katotaka

  • Posts: 68
  • Location: Hong Kong
Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 27 June 2018, 08:29:50 »
so this is paper micarta? this reminds me of G10 grips on knifes

Yup. G10 is essentially the same, but with the paper replaced by fiber-glass. (And the inspiration comes partly from knafs...)

hmmmmmm G10 caps anyone?

or go nuts and CNC a case out of a solid block of G10?

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #11 on: Wed, 27 June 2018, 08:45:57 »
so this is paper micarta? this reminds me of G10 grips on knifes

Yup. G10 is essentially the same, but with the paper replaced by fiber-glass. (And the inspiration comes partly from knafs...)

hmmmmmm G10 caps anyone?

or go nuts and CNC a case out of a solid block of G10?

G10 is not exactly cheap... And getting a good finish will be a bit of a challenge, I suppose.

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #12 on: Sun, 01 July 2018, 05:40:20 »
Almost done, just need to get a trackpoint to build in, and manufacture wrist rests...

Offline kurplop

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 01 July 2018, 08:39:42 »
Very nice. It looks like your skills are improving.

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #14 on: Sun, 01 July 2018, 10:22:34 »
Very nice. It looks like your skills are improving.

Thanks. Guess I was successful in hiding the imperfections then  ;D .

I changed some parts of the process - some of them had good effects, some had unintended side-effects. Like wet-laying, I think I waited just a couple of minutes too long - it was colder than the tables given by the manufacturer, so extrapolating the time from the tables required some guesswork. That lead to some of the layers having inconsistent thickness when compared to my previous attempt. I do think that it is not really visible from the outside. And even though I still made the cutouts by hand, I changed the way I secured the layers before cutting, leading to much better alignment of the keys.

Oh, and of course the big surprise - the ergodox firmware has the rows and columns swapped for some reason. This means that the diodes are also wired the other way around. And lazy me assumed that the designer made reasonable choices and wired the diodes correctly, so I lost a couple of hours adapting the firmware.

Offline JianYang

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Re: I like doing things the hard way
« Reply #15 on: Sun, 05 August 2018, 03:00:28 »
Finally got around to installing a trackpoint... Looks a bit like a chess piece, that was not the intention, but I like the way it came out.