Making my first keyboard plate...

[Hiroyuki]

I was wondering if someone would be so kind to have a look and check for any potential problems (spacing, keys not positioned correctly and possible mistakes with holes) with my CAD-layout for plate mounted cherry MX's. (My first time doing CAD, and first time experimenting with custom keyboards)

The layout is based on the one in the attached gif, sans the two rows on the left side.

The keys should have a spacing based on 1u = 0.75",
Spacebar row keys have the following sizes: 1.5u, 1.5u, 1.5u, 7u, 1.5u, 1u 1u
LShift: 2.25u, RShift: 2.75u, Return: 2.25u, tab: 1.5u, bspace 1.5u

 plate.dwg (228.72 kB - downloaded 105 times.)

[Melvang]

bottom row for 7 unit would be

1.5, 1, 1.5, 7, 1.5, 1, 1.5

or for 6.25 unit

1.25, 1.25, 1.25, 6.25, 1.25, 1.25, 1.25, 1.25

The bottom row just needs to add up to 15 units, however you want to get there.  Just remember that anything over 2 will have a stabilizer, and 2unit through 3 unit will have the same dimensions for stabs. 

Winkeyless is the same as the 7 unit space bar but omits the single unit keys and part of the top cover blocks that space so all other keys are in the same position.

Looking at your bottom image your layout does match what you have listed.  It just isn't a common setup.

[Hiroyuki]

Thanks for your reply 

I know it's an unusual layout - it's based on the Sun Type 7 Unix version keyboard layout - which uses
1.75 - 1 - 1.5 - 7.25 - 1.5 - 1 - 1 for the bottom row which i am modifying to better suit my usage (I think the 1.75 caps lock is too big for a key which i never use)
Furthermore I am still considering shrinking the spacebar to a more common size to increase the availability of keycaps to use.

I do wonder about one thing though - is there a standard size for the width of keycaps? such as to make sure I can line up the keys properly on the sides? It's trivial when you have the 1u keys on the edge, but what about when you have wider buttons there, so that you cannot line up the key centers?

[Melvang]

Use this tool and it will solve all your problems.  Cherry switch spacing is .750" as a standard for pretty much every MX based application I have seen.  The distance between 1x and other sized keys is just an average between the two. 

((.750*Key unit 1)+(.75* Key unit 2)) / 2 = distance from center to center of two switches

IE 1.5 unit sitting next to a 1 unit key

((.750*1.5)+(.75*1)) / 2 = .9375" 

Or you can use http://builder.swillkb.com/

Link for the thread relating to discussion of that tool https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65189.0;topicseen

[swill]

Use this tool and it will solve all your problems.  Cherry switch spacing is .750" as a standard for pretty much every MX based application I have seen.  The distance between 1x and other sized keys is just an average between the two. 

((.750*Key unit 1)+(.75* Key unit 2)) / 2 = distance from center to center of two switches

IE 1.5 unit sitting next to a 1 unit key

((.750*1.5)+(.75*1)) / 2 = .9375" 

Or you can use http://builder.swillkb.com/

Link for the thread relating to discussion of that tool https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65189.0;topicseen

Thanks for the plug Melvang.

[Oobly]

Your bottom row switch positions don't look right for the keycap sizes you want to use, in particular the Caps Lock switch should be the same distance from the left edge as the Ctrl key if they're the same size.

I suggest you switch to a standard bottom row (1.25, 1.25, 1.25, 6.25, 1.25, 1.25, 1.25, 1.25) as that will be easy to lay out and you can then use any standard keycaps set. Don't worry about the actual keycap sizes, just use the standard 0.75" switch spacing as a guide and the keycap edges will line up fine. For instance, for a 1.5x key near the edge, you need the switch centre to be (1.5/2)*0.75"=0.5625" from the edge. For a 2.25X key you need (2.25/2)*0.75"=0.84375". The formula is:

(size/2)*unit=distance from centre of switch to "edge" of board, where size=keycap size in units (1, 1.25, etc.), unit=unit size (0.75" or 19.05mm). This is actually the outside edge of the keycap area or inside edge of the case opening.

[Hiroyuki]

Ahh... of course - that edge spacing confused me a bit, should have seen that. Thanks a lot for pointing it out. 

I agree with the suggestion to change to 1.25 - 1.25 - 1.25 - 6.25 - 1.25 - 1.25 - 1.25 - 1.25, it also fits better to my plan of using the DSA keycaps from SP.

[Hiroyuki]

I updated the design to fit with using a PCB - Gon's NerD 108 specifically - In that respect I have a couple of assumptions I would like to have confirmed.

1. The PCB-dimensions CAD file from Gon specifies that the stabilizers for spacebar, numpad 0, enter and + have their orientation reversed compared with original cherry PCBs - so my question here is if my positioning is correct? (I haven't received any of my orders yet, so I cannot confirm myself) (The PCB Cad is included in the CAD-file enclosed here)

2. Will PCB mounted cherry stabs fit through the holes I designed in the plate? I assume they will, but I found somewhat contradictory answers when searching around.

I would like to thank all the people who have given me assistance so far, much appreciated!

 plate final.dwg (553.31 kB - downloaded 106 times.)

[CPTBadAss]

I don't know about question #1 so I'm going to skip that .

For #2, the cutout you're using is the combined Cherry and Costar stabilizer cutout. According to jdcarpe, it will not work for plate mounted Cherry stabilizer. That cutout is only for Costar and PCB mounted Cherry.

[jdcarpe]

For #2, the cutout you're using is the combined Cherry and Costar stabilizer cutout. According to jdcarpe, it will not work for plate mounted Cherry stabilizer. That cutout is only for Costar and PCB mounted Cherry.

It will work, but not very well. The top part of the stabilizer will not clip in where the cutout for the Costar holes are. So every time you remove the keycap, it will want to pull the stabilizer out with it.