I'm somewhat new to the community, but I'm all in here! With all the pet peeves about keyboards I've had for so long... I feel like I've wasted so many key presses.
So after picking up a 30%, 60% and 75%, I've been looking to get myself a 40% keyboard, but nothing I can find fits the bill for me.
I call this the Fabricator because I'll literally be fabricating it myself.
My layout (motivations below):
These are my motivations for my layout:
- A 40% keyboard that my wife or a coworker can sit down and use with out too much trouble. I want to share the feels
- Standard stagger. I know the ergonomics aren't the best, but this helps with the above constraint, and also makes my life easier. I've typed for a couple months on a gherkin, and enjoyed it, but switching between linear at home and staggered at work was a little goofy. I imagine other folks want to use their existing muscle memory as well.
- Dedicated arrows, in a standard orientation. I use vim, and I'm used to home row arrows, and I've been using function layer arrows on my banana split, but I miss the ease of browsing pdfs or websites with standard arrows (also helps with the first item).
- 40% key cap compatibility. How can you use it without caps, right? And if your arrows can fit your profile even better.
- Minimal Layers. I don't want to think about my keyboard, I want to use it. Using the gherkin absorbed a significant amount of mental power.
- Triple space bar. I love using my thumbs. They are the only fingers that normally average less than a key per finger. This gets it up to 1.5 per thumb.
- No chords. I'm not a pianist (props to the musicians out there, I'm not that coordinated).
- Num Lock. Everyone knows what that means. Let's just make that center space bar toggle the number layer on the top row. Then I can shift to get the symbols like normal.
- Custom keymaps. Why not have tmk/qmk and all the power they offer? The biggest complaint I see others have about the core is that they wish they had more flexibility in the programming.
- No stabilizers. Reduces the complexity of the design. Nothing to rattle. 1.75u is a stable key (I use caps lock as control and love it) and plenty big for any function.
My case design (rough, just to confirm its not terrible, prototype forthcoming):
Motivations for the case:
- Steel. I want the weight and I want a small size. I need a dense metal to get both. I love the large bezel look, but this keyboard is meant to be portable. The weight I want is just enough for a stable feel. The gherkin doesn't move around much, but I did find myself making little adjustments to position more than usual.
- A healthy angle. 8* here. Front and rear are parallel.
- A completed and clean look. Most narrow bezel cases are small metal trays, and while nice, I want a bit more style.
- I want the case design to have no visible seams. There is a lot going on in a keyboard, and you need to get it all in somehow. However, the more seams you have on a case this small the more cluttered it looks (imho), and the more potential for noise (leaking from or created by the case). The plan is to do the following:
- Integrate the plate into the case. Fewer screws, less fiddling, keeps the sound in the case.
- One layout. It's nice to have options, but the extra holes make for bad acoustic properties, and other fiddly design problems.
- Recess the bottom access panel into the case. You will only see it if you turn the board over, but I have some jewelry in mind
- White. I want a white case.
How am I going to do this? Well the plan is to have the parts cut by a CNC place that is only an hour drive from my home. I'm going to weld them together and paint them myself ( color and clear coat like a car
).
PCB's aren't a big deal. I've got experience having a design spun a couple times, and the cost is relatively low if you are careful. I've got the first pass together in KiCad. Prototype will be handwired with a pro micro, which will let me determine installation issues with the integrated plate and recessed back panel before 1st rev. The pro micro will rest in the back panel making the usb port as low as possible. I'll copy the form factor of the pro micro board in a break out board that contains just the usb port ( which will be usb c), to keep my case design as clean and functional as possible.
Potential flaws (at least what I'm struggling with right now):
- The .25u blockers. I'm not a fan of blockers (just my personal taste) and I'm sure that people who do like them will consider these anemic if I fill it with steel case. The current solution is to use the space for 3 mm LEDs, two on each side (the pic shows them as metal just for visualizing that solution). I'm hoping they will look like tail lights, but they might look like junk. We'll see. Suggestions are welcome.
- The layout. I really want one more key in width to get a full home row with an '/" key and ;/: key (right now I'm flip flopping on which will live there). I think 13u is as wide as a 40% can go without defeating the purpose tho. I'll be using tap dance and space cadet to work out unusual keys like \,|,/,[,{,],}
Non obvious features:
- I have a plan to make shift+up make a ?
- LEDs will show that you have the NUM LOCK/CAPS LOCK on
- FN shift for CAPS LOCK
- FN plus arrows for pgup, pgdn, home, end
- space cadet for parens and braces/brackets
- Likely a fork of qmk to really do everything I want, but it's be cool if my changes get merged too
What are my plans? Well I'm making a working prototype (probably just the first, but wouldn't be sad if the first go works out). The parts have been ordered. I'll be posting plenty of pics
If I love it as much as I hope I will, then I'll post an IC by the end of the year. I'm not trying to make a business out of this, just share. I see key cap sets struggling to get MOQ for 40% kits, which sucks for anyone who uses this size keyboard. I figure if I can lower the barrier for people by giving them another option, its good for the community (maybe others have had similar concerns about trying this size). It'll be byo switches and caps, for under $200 (barring unforeseen issues). I've got quotes on all the materials, so this seems reasonable to me, and if it would cost more than that, I don't think I'd be providing enough value to justify moving forward. (Stretch goal would be to include switch options and a simple cap set, which could bump that over $200, but I haven't looked into this in great detail as of yet).
If I do end up making this for other people, there will be limits on the numbers (because I'm doing some work myself, not just design and placing orders). I'd love to spend the winter making keyboards in my workshop, but I have to keep this realistic
Let me know what you guys think!
