pcb or acrylic plate

[peggisan]

Thinking of a budget custom build. In terms of durability, flex and price, which performs better? A pcb plate or an acrylic plate? What about 2 stacked acrylic pieces similar to how the acrylic clueboard works?

[Tactile]

Don't know what case you have in mind but I was also on a budget for my first 60% build and went with no plate at all in an iQunix Lambo case. It turned out very nice, with a great typing sound & feel. IOW, PCB mount can be very nice if you do it right.

[peggisan]

looking to build a 60% sandwich case. looking at using 1.5mm acrylic for the aesthetic but im worried that its too fragile or has too much flex. might add another layer for a reinforcing plate like how clueboard does it

[suicidal_orange]

You're right, 1.5mm acrylic isn't going to be strong enough for a sandwich case without a PCB so get a reinforcing layer.

I've not heard of using PCB material for a plate in a sandwich case but at a guess it would be very bendy as a PCB mount board moves with significantly smaller holes.  Less likely to break than acrylic, but too bendy to be good.  Though you could try adding more standoffs only screwed into the bottom to support it between the keys...  If you're on a budget I'd go with the safe acrylic option

[emenelopee]

I've seen a few budget builds that use a PCB switchplate - I think there's a gherkin kit with one? and the recent Cartel board does this.

Point of information on acrylic - I used acrylic as my top and bottom vanity plate, and notice there is some significant contraction in the cold which closes the keycap openings enough to cause a little binding until the room has warmed up. Worth keeping in mind that acrylic has a high coeff. of thermal expansion which could cause cycling stress on the solder joints if too snug around the switches. I don't know what the PCB expansion coeff. is but I would assume pretty low.

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/linear-expansion-coefficients-d_95.html

[suicidal_orange]

Had a look at the Gherkin, looks like it has a PCB plate option but it still uses the PCB for the switches which would make it more rigid.  Can't find the Cartel board on their site or the first page of GBs here so

Very interesting about thermal expansion, could be a big problem depending where you live and how cool you like your workspace.  Out of interest what switches were you using?  If the switches also shrank it might not be a problem.  Or maybe it would be worse...

[TalkingTree]

I recall hasu offering PCB plates along with his Alps64.

[kmba]

PCB plates are pretty sturdy, much moreso than a 1.5mm acrylic. I'd say go this route simply because it's rigid enough and strong enough (wont crack) at the correct thickness to allow switches to clip in.  With acrylic you need to go thicker, or have a supporting plate, neither of which I like very much due to various reasons.

[emenelopee]

Had a look at the Gherkin, looks like it has a PCB plate option but it still uses the PCB for the switches which would make it more rigid.  Can't find the Cartel board on their site or the first page of GBs here so

Very interesting about thermal expansion, could be a big problem depending where you live and how cool you like your workspace.  Out of interest what switches were you using?  If the switches also shrank it might not be a problem.  Or maybe it would be worse...

Here's the Cartel Contra: https://cartel.ltd/projects/contra/

RE: my board/thermal expansion - I seems I wasn't clear in my description. The switches and switch plate are fine (aluminium combined chassis and switch plate, regular PCB), the issue, and it's not a huge one, is the top acrylic cover (the shiney visual bit) which was cut with keycap clearances a little too tight. At normal room temperature the caps pass through the opening in the acrylic top fine, but on a cold day with no heating I get a little binding between the keycap and cover plate in the bottom left

• and top right [backspace] of the board.

Based on the above I'm extrapolating to the concept of using acrylic for a switch plate over a PCB. Based on quick numbers, a 20degC change causes a 0.75mm expansion in my 500mm board for acrylic. It's probably not a big deal for a small board which doesn't see a big temperature swing, but my board is big and office heating inconsistent so I notice this effect for a couple hours in the morning. In comparison Alu would expand 0.25mm, stainless steel 0.2mm-ish over this temp range and material length, which is a much more forgiving number for a mounting plate/expansion compatibility.

[Links in my sig for images of the build just in case]