Hi all,
I started working on designing a keyboard a while ago and worked on it on and off for a bit. The first idea was a very special kind of 65% board which I might post more about in the future. The thing was, that I didn't really want to get into PCB design right now and think that getting a usable 3D model that uses a common PCB and running a GB for it would be enough of a challenge for now.
That puts us to the next step. What do I even want to make, or even better, what isn't "commonly" made but does still use a common PCB? I could just do another classic TKL, but there are tons of them, especially now, so I doubt that many people would be interested, and not hitting MOQ would be devastating. Soo, what other PCB's are commonly available? There are some Leeku PCB's that should be somewhat easy to get in GB quantities, but I prefer something that supports QMK and TMK, so those aren't it. Anything else? Well, yes, 60%. Even though it seems like EVERYTHING has already been done more than often enough in that formfactor there is something that is very rare. Top mount cases. Thanks to the popularity of the Pok3r most cases are Pok3r compatible, meaning they are tray mount. I personally LOVE top mount cases for their typing feel, so it makes me sad to see so little of them in circulation, and when I see them they are very expensive, OTDs and KMACs are considered the holy grail of Korean customs, so they of course are very pricy. The X60 and Duck Viper/Eagle also both are over $300 before shipping.
I want to make it more affordable while still being relatively heavy and offering a sleek and simple design. Which brings us to the next point, originality. I don't care about that, the main points in my design are affordability and simplicity. I still would like to not offend too many people. Which is why I scrapped the design with 8mm top and bottom bezels and 3mm side bezels which in the end was a bit too similar to the X60 for me (more about that later). Here is an album of the scrapped design in different stages(
http://imgur.com/a/qJlhP).
\Edit1
So, being me I just started working on it after thinking about what to do, so I just played around in Autodesk Fusion 360 for a while. After some time fiddling around I was able to make my first render:
More
This was faaar from being finished, but it felt like I accomplished something and was a very special moment. After this render I started taking some measurements and double checking stuff, which made me realize that I somehow ****ed up the plate drawing (something among the lines of angles that were ever so slightly off) which I used as a base to create the rest of the case, so I redid everything *yaay*. After I spent waay too much time redoing everything I tried adding a hole for the USB port, then I realized something was not right:
More
Well fk. Seems like I totally forgot about the USB when I did the design for the plate mounting points.. well so I redid everything again (wohoo). And ended up with this through re positioning of the mounting points:
More
Now the problem with this was, that I was told that the positioning of the mounting holes was suboptimal due to the large distance between the corners of the plate and the mounting tabs... You guessed it. Redid it again which made me end up with this:
More
Around at that time I also changed the case from the thing that was insanely similar to the X60 to the version with the constant 8mm bezel which is used in the current design which you will see enough of after this edit ends. There is still this one thing bothering me, and it is not being able to chamfer the edges of the top case to my liking. I want to make everything except the part where it mates with the bottom case (I'll leave that one out to get a smaller gap) chamfered. The thing is the only part I can chamfer with the normal chamfer tool is the sides making it look like this:
The thing is that I would like to have it go around the corners as well and then fade out, like it was done on the new LZ TKL
More
. But I haven't figured out how I can get it done like this yet.
Edit1 end/
I'll continue my writeup and add more renders of details later. The next paragraph is about the current stage of the case and the plans, thanks for reading this.
Right now the base is done. I decided to add compatibility for the ALPS64 PCB (and will offer at least one ALPS plate option in the possible GB). I decided to add a weight and chose the cheapest way to add it to the design while still adding some aesthetic to the board, a cutout in the bottom which houses the weight which is just a 3mm thick plate cut to size. In order to not be too close to the other designs in this category I decided to add some overhang to the left and right side and make the bezel 8mm to all sides. Here is a link to the current Album (
http://imgur.com/a/iY7Wq) as well as two renders:
What does the future hold? Well the main reason of this post is to get some general feedback before I post an IC, so I'd appreciate it if you take your time to write out your thoughts about it. Please point out obvious flaws, maybe they are obvious for you, but they maybe aren't for me, either because I don't know better, or because I just overlooked them. There are also a lot of other things I still have to do before I feel confident in posting an IC, I'll just list a few of them now and will add to them if something comes to mind later:
-find out about the legal stuff I have to consider when running a GB from germany, like taxes and stuff // Need to update my PayPal account with some info, might need to close it and open a new one
-add custom feet and find someplace that will produce them Too much work, I'll either try finding the source on the feet Duck is using or I'll just use standard bumpons
-either decide on keeping the edge of the overhang like it is or finding a nice way too partially chamfer the edge (Autodesk Fusion 360 only has messy workarounds). DONE, thanks dubberrome!!
-find a factory that would cooperate with me, this is a very crucial point, as I have no contacts in the maker scene but would really love to work with a factory that has experience with keyboards. I will probably need a hookup on this, and I would REALLY appreciate any help in this regard. // Basically done
-get a prototype made to make sure everything fits, etc. // First prototype ordered
-get quotes for everything in order to calculate pricing for a future GB // Currently talking to manufacturers
Some of this stuff is a long shot and some is probably very far in the future, but I just wanted to write it down so I don't forget.
Thank you for reading this far, and thank you even more if you decide to comment or maybe even decide to contact me.