Author Topic: First DIY board - Project "emma" (Read 12333 times)

dingusxmcgee · « **on:** Sat, 21 September 2019, 10:03:41 »

Having thought about designing/building my own board since I started this hobby, I finally decided to go for it and followed this guide https://imgur.com/a/1ppO2Rq to start the process.
I started in freecad but eventually switched to Fusion360 and found it much easier.
Having never touched a CAD program it was definitely a challenge, but very fun.

I call the board "emma" after My wife(Her name isn't Emma, but it's her favorite nickname I call her.) She doesn't quite understand my hobby but She indulges me and shows me a great deal of love and I wanted to dedicate something to her that came from my creativity and inspiration.

I knew I wanted an angled layout, and I loved layouts like the Alice, but, too many keys! When the primeE was IC'd I was hooked, but I couldn't swing the money, so I took that inspiration and created my own layout

Once I was decided on the layout, I went to work in fusion and ended up with this:

I had to split the board down The middle so that the printer could print it and at the advice of the guy who was printing it, I cut 2 holes in each side to stick some small metal rods in, in order to increase the rigidity of the case, with the plan to affix a piece of clear acrylic to the bottom.

After recieving the print I realized that the holes were a bit too close to the outside edges and there wasn't much material between the hole and the actual edge. In hindsight, I should have made the bezel just a hair thicker, but so far so good.

The case is one piece, integrated 4mm plate, about 18mm high in front, (19.5ish after the acrylic bottom) with a 6 degree slope.

Currently sanding and painting until I'm happy with it

Next steps - lube my zealios, then handwire with an EliteC and attach acrylic piece!

So far, this has been a very fun process. Pretty happy with it!

EDIT:
Here's the Thingiverse link for those that want to check it out
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3994459

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #1 on:** Sat, 21 September 2019, 10:17:30 »

Some in progress photos

And one with SA Ice Cap before starting sanding/painting

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #2 on:** Sun, 22 September 2019, 17:49:13 »

Progress.
Nearly ready to call it “good enough” after a bit more sanding and hopefully 1 more layer of paint.

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #3 on:** Wed, 25 September 2019, 18:12:35 »

About ready for a good evening of handwriting

Stocked with 62g v2 Zealios, lubed with 3203

suicidal_orange · « **Reply #4 on:** Wed, 25 September 2019, 18:42:20 »

Interesting layout and I'm liking the all white look, hope the handwiring goes well

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #5 on:** Wed, 25 September 2019, 19:56:52 »

Quote from: suicidal_orange on Wed, 25 September 2019, 18:42:20

Interesting layout and I'm liking the all white look, hope the handwiring goes well

Thank you!

I basically wanted my Zlant, but “ergo” haha. So that’s what I ended up with.
Probably not the best when it comes to key set compatibility but that’s not a huge concern for me.

Will be my second handwire, first was just a small 6key macropod I built. So this should be fun!

invariance · « **Reply #6 on:** Sat, 28 September 2019, 17:25:45 »

Looks great!
I'll take 2

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #7 on:** Sat, 28 September 2019, 18:45:06 »

Quote from: invariance on Sat, 28 September 2019, 17:25:45

Looks great!
I'll take 2

Thanks!

Maybe someday

hahaha

_rubik · « **Reply #8 on:** Sat, 28 September 2019, 19:06:03 »

Very intrigued to see how the hand wiring turns out. Following closely!

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #9 on:** Sat, 28 September 2019, 19:45:50 »

Quote from: _rubik on Sat, 28 September 2019, 19:06:03

Very intrigued to see how the hand wiring turns out. Following closely!

Only made it about halfway tonight. Hopefully finish up sometime next week

Not the cleanest (but as long as it works it’s good enough for me for now!) and was struggling to get good row wires with insulation spaced properly so said screw of and just stripped it all. Much easier on the columns.

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #10 on:** Tue, 01 October 2019, 18:42:45 »

Mostly done! All that’s left is to wire up the Elite C and then add the acrylic bottom!

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #11 on:** Sun, 06 October 2019, 19:34:31 »

All wired up!
Tried to make it a bit pretty but got over it real quick.
All keys work which is what matters most hahaha

Still working on the layout and recreating what I’ve got setup on my Zlant.

Next step is probably putting some epoxy or something on the bottom edges of the switches because they don’t stay in place super well when taking caps off them.

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #12 on:** Fri, 25 October 2019, 07:42:38 »

Currently in use at work as my daily driver!

Still need to:
-Potentially affix the Elite-C to the edge of the board somehow(I bought some magnetic attachment cables so this is not a problem right now) so that plugging in cables doesn’t just push the board away from the hole.

-consider adding indicator leds, which would involve drilling some holes in some empty space and wiring them up

-drill a hole in the acrylic bottom for the reset button on the Elite-C

-affix the acrylic bottom piece(probably epoxy?)

What I’m realizing very quickly is that I don’t like the arrow keys at all in their placement

Aesthetically I like them. But functionally they are just too far away. I have since mapped arrow keys to BHNM on a layer and it’s not so bad.
Was a pretty quick layout lesson to learn!

Additionally I’m thinking the left side column could be move to the right just a little bit.
Otherwise, I’m adjusting to the angle and it feels fairly comfortable!

audiosl4ve · « **Reply #13 on:** Fri, 25 October 2019, 07:46:24 »

always wanted to know how much does this DIY cost you? Wanting to do something like this myself so asking

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #14 on:** Fri, 25 October 2019, 08:35:03 »

Quote from: audiosl4ve on Fri, 25 October 2019, 07:46:24

always wanted to know how much does this DIY cost you? Wanting to do something like this myself so asking

The 3d print was around 40$ I think
Epoxy was like $5
Wire was like $5-7(few spools of different colors)
Spray paint around $3-5(took me two cans

hopefully next one is easier) plus some coats of polyurethane finish (like $3)
Sandpaper was like $2-3 for a few different grades.
Then switches, lube, caps, solder, Elite-C(think it was $17)

Time was the biggest. Most of that being waiting for paint to dry so I could sand again and then repeat.

audiosl4ve · « **Reply #15 on:** Fri, 25 October 2019, 08:40:36 »

That's super nice! Do you maybe want to share files for 3D printing?

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #16 on:** Fri, 25 October 2019, 08:41:51 »

Quote from: audiosl4ve on Fri, 25 October 2019, 08:40:36

That's super nice! Do you maybe want to share files for 3D printing?

Yup!
Once I’m all finished with it I plan to put them on thingiverse so there will be a link here

audiosl4ve · « **Reply #17 on:** Fri, 25 October 2019, 08:42:25 »

Thanks a lot! Looking forward

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #18 on:** Fri, 22 November 2019, 18:53:40 »

I'm calling it good. Glued the acrylic bottom to the case and boy howdy, does it have a nice thock to it.

Case isn't perfect, but I'm super proud of it. Now I'm off to more designs

I went ahead and added a link to my thingiverse with the stls if that's your thing.

Thanks for looking!

OldIsNew · « **Reply #19 on:** Fri, 22 November 2019, 20:40:44 »

Very nice for sure!

dingusxmcgee · « **Reply #20 on:** Fri, 22 November 2019, 21:25:25 »

Quote from: OldIsNew on Fri, 22 November 2019, 20:40:44

Very nice for sure!

Thank you!


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Author Topic: First DIY board - Project "emma" (Read 12333 times)