NOW OPEN SOURCE!!! swill's plate building tool [builder.swillkb.com]

[swill]

So I've measured (only approximately unfortunately, got no equipment for precise) the cutouts on BlueNalgene's plate with AEKII layout (I've got not actual AEKII plate, sorry). So, it looks like the numbers you've got are good. Please disregard the one for 2.75u from the CAD file I wrote about earlier, it's way too big (I'm happy I've caught this now and not when the plate is cut).

So the actual measurement I got for 2.75u stab is 21.75mm - and that should be the one I've linked to before. So a bit shorter than that should be good.

The 2.25u and 2u keys have the same stab distances; also confirmed by looking at the keycaps from the bottom side.

One more I'd like to add is the stab for 6.5u spacebar (AEKII-size), that one is 45.3mm.

PS: Thanks again! Just last weekend I've done this one manually. I'll compare with the result from your tool - and I'm sure discover a couple more problems with my manual plate

Cool. Thanks again for the help.

I will add the 6.5u space bar cutout, thanks for the details.

So you think the 2.75u measurement is good? I suspect it is, given it is from JD and he is one of the pro plate designers in the community, but double checking is always good.

I have not gotten into the additional changes I am planning to make, so I will get the 6.5u stab added tonight.

Thanks everyone for the support. Don't be shy if you have suggestions.

[swill]

Judging from the image, I think the stab would have to be about 3mm smaller to solve the 2.75u stabilizer issue (in that example). Was that plate cut at about 24mm?

[swill]

So I've measured (only approximately unfortunately, got no equipment for precise) the cutouts on BlueNalgene's plate with AEKII layout (I've got not actual AEKII plate, sorry). So, it looks like the numbers you've got are good. Please disregard the one for 2.75u from the CAD file I wrote about earlier, it's way too big (I'm happy I've caught this now and not when the plate is cut).

So the actual measurement I got for 2.75u stab is 21.75mm - and that should be the one I've linked to before. So a bit shorter than that should be good.

The 2.25u and 2u keys have the same stab distances; also confirmed by looking at the keycaps from the bottom side.

One more I'd like to add is the stab for 6.5u spacebar (AEKII-size), that one is 45.3mm.

PS: Thanks again! Just last weekend I've done this one manually. I'll compare with the result from your tool - and I'm sure discover a couple more problems with my manual plate

Is the 6.5u length of 45.3mm a measured value or did you get that number from somewhere?  If I adjust for the change in key length, based on my current cutout, I would put the stabilizer at 44.25mm (but that is just extrapolated).  I ask mainly to make sure I am not missing a resource that has some of these dimensions available.  I got a lot of my MX numbers from the DT Space Bar wiki, but I have not found a resource for alps at all.

[flabbergast]

I just measured the 6.5u with a ruler on my plate, so the precision is going be about half a millimeter. I don't have any other resource for the measurements. I'm sorry this is probably not very helpful, but fortunately the way these stabilisers work there's a lot of leeway.

To answer your previous question about 2.75u: the 24mm number should be completely ignored (I had that from a CAD file from BlueNalgene, but that particular one had some other problematic numbers as well). What I measured on the plate from BlueNalgene (i.e. from the same batch as the photo on the forum I've linked to) is 21.75mm. So perhaps about 1.5mm less than that would be good?

Also - I have an old alps board on the way (Focus FK-2002). When it arrives I'll measure the stabs on it and let you know...

[skullydazed]

One thing about alps/matias stabilizers that I have recently learned is that Matias does vertical stabilizers the opposite way apple did on the AEKII. On the AEKII the vertical keys have the stabilizer holes to the left side. However, Matias and Tai Hao keycaps have stabilizer holes to the right side. This means picking a default and having some way to switch between the two. I would argue that the modern caps should be default, since those are what will most commonly be available.

I also noticed that you have a bit of padding for the alps holes. I tried padding values smaller than what you have and had the occasional issue with stabs not fitting securely enough. I have switched to exact measurements per the matias data sheet and my stabs hold perfectly every time now. Perhaps I'm not adjusting for kerf properly, but I've had the same result from two different machine shops too.

[swill]

One thing about alps/matias stabilizers that I have recently learned is that Matias does vertical stabilizers the opposite way apple did on the AEKII. On the AEKII the vertical keys have the stabilizer holes to the left side. However, Matias and Tai Hao keycaps have stabilizer holes to the right side. This means picking a default and having some way to switch between the two. I would argue that the modern caps should be default, since those are what will most commonly be available.

I also noticed that you have a bit of padding for the alps holes. I tried padding values smaller than what you have and had the occasional issue with stabs not fitting securely enough. I have switched to exact measurements per the matias data sheet and my stabs hold perfectly every time now. Perhaps I'm not adjusting for kerf properly, but I've had the same result from two different machine shops too.

Can you send me the matias data sheet.  I could not find one that described their stabilizers when I was looking.

You you can flip the stabilizer so it goes the other way by rotating it 180 degrees: {_rs:180}

Do you think I should default the stabilizers to flipped up?

What measurement exactly are you having problems with?  I didn't really follow what you mean.  Thanks for the feedback.

[swill]

I just measured the 6.5u with a ruler on my plate, so the precision is going be about half a millimeter. I don't have any other resource for the measurements. I'm sorry this is probably not very helpful, but fortunately the way these stabilisers work there's a lot of leeway.

To answer your previous question about 2.75u: the 24mm number should be completely ignored (I had that from a CAD file from BlueNalgene, but that particular one had some other problematic numbers as well). What I measured on the plate from BlueNalgene (i.e. from the same batch as the photo on the forum I've linked to) is 21.75mm. So perhaps about 1.5mm less than that would be good?

Also - I have an old alps board on the way (Focus FK-2002). When it arrives I'll measure the stabs on it and let you know...

OK, so I should probably make my 2.75u stabilizer even closer together than what I have right now to make sure that it works well with the matias stabilizers judging from the picture you sent.  I will make that change.  I will also go with my extrapolated number of 44.25mm instead of 45.3mm because it is better to error on the side of smaller and I doubt 1mm is going to cause any problems in this case.

Thanks again. 

[skullydazed]

Can you send me the matias data sheet.  I could not find one that described their stabilizers when I was looking.

Sorry, you're right that the stabs aren't in the datasheet. I dashed this off this morning in between some other things I had going on. Thinking back I'm going based on measurements I made of both a V60 and my AEKII, and I rounded to the nearest .1mm in most cases.

You you can flip the stabilizer so it goes the other way by rotating it 180 degrees: {_rs:180}

Do you think I should default the stabilizers to flipped up?

For vertical keys yes. For horizontal keys leave them default.

What measurement exactly are you having problems with?  I didn't really follow what you mean.  Thanks for the feedback.

You know, looking at it again this evening I think I swapped axis this morning. I was thinking about the vertical size of the cutout, but now that I look again you only provided the center of the cutout, not any of the dimensions. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the "right" amount of padding, but in the end ended up using exactly 5mm, as even 5.1mm would leave the stab too loose half the time.

One of these days I'll learn to not post when I don't have enough time to think it through.

[flabbergast]

I got the FK-2002. The measurement for the 2.75u shift came out at 19mm.
Also it has a 7u spacebar, with kinda weird stab, for which the s measurement is 42mm. I can also confirm that the ISO enter stab length is exactly the same as normal 2u stabs.
(EDIT: I measured again with an ordinary ruler, so the precision won't be very good, cca 0.5mm, maybe 1/4mm.)

[wodan]

Oh my god this tool/site is so awesome, I couldn't have dreamed of something that epic before I saw it.
Borrowed a laser cutter/engraver from a friend yesterday and started cutting acrylic plates using SVG files from this Plate & Case builder. The results are incredibly good. Just for a test and since it's more or less the maximum size my laser can do, I did some generic 60% ISO plates from the keyboard layout editor templates.

Now I'm not sure if it's just my laser/software but the plate was precisely 1mm too narrow. Stretching the whole plate by 1mm horizontally gave me the perfect fit !

Thanks again for this incredible tool, I love it.

[Heliobb]

Hello

First try for me.

I have a new layout :



I will soon be able to user a laser cut machine and will love to cut a test plate. I went to http://builder.swillkb.com/ with my raw json but it returns me this.



Any ideas ?

What the best way to add the outlines of this keyboard (it will be splitted) ?

Thanks a lot for the builder !

[swill]

Oh my god this tool/site is so awesome, I couldn't have dreamed of something that epic before I saw it.
Borrowed a laser cutter/engraver from a friend yesterday and started cutting acrylic plates using SVG files from this Plate & Case builder. The results are incredibly good. Just for a test and since it's more or less the maximum size my laser can do, I did some generic 60% ISO plates from the keyboard layout editor templates.

Now I'm not sure if it's just my laser/software but the plate was precisely 1mm too narrow. Stretching the whole plate by 1mm horizontally gave me the perfect fit !

Thanks again for this incredible tool, I love it.

1mm too narrow for what? . Did you adjust for kerf by modifying the kerf value? If you are cutting g it yourself, you will need too. Some fab shops will adjust for kerf for you, but if you are doing it, you will have to enter a kerf value into the tool.

[swill]

Hello

First try for me.

I have a new layout :

Show Image

I will soon be able to user a laser cut machine and will love to cut a test plate. I went to http://builder.swillkb.com/ with my raw json but it returns me this.

Show Image

Any ideas ?

What the best way to add the outlines of this keyboard (it will be splitted) ?

Thanks a lot for the builder !

It will be a bit annoying,  but it is possible. You basically have to change your drawing to only represent one hand at a time.

Check this post for an example and a potential starting point.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65189.msg1880557.msg#1880557

[Heliobb]

Thanks Will have a look.

[rsac]

I'm also having problems with angled thumb clusters in this design:



On the plate builder it ends up like this:



Also, I assume that the advanced rounded corners feature of the keyboard-layout editor keyboard proprieties is not supported on your tool, right?

[swill]

I'm also having problems with angled thumb clusters in this design:

Show Image

On the plate builder it ends up like this:

Show Image

Also, I assume that the advanced rounded corners feature of the keyboard-layout editor keyboard proprieties is not supported on your tool, right?

No, I do not support the CSS rounded corners stuff.  That was not in KLE when I wrote this.  I will have to review that to see if support is possible, but I doubt it will be easy.

My tool thinks the LEDs are switches, so that is messing things up a bit.  I will have to look at this layout to figure out how to fix it so it will work.

[swill]

I'm also having problems with angled thumb clusters in this design:

Show Image

On the plate builder it ends up like this:

Show Image

Also, I assume that the advanced rounded corners feature of the keyboard-layout editor keyboard proprieties is not supported on your tool, right?

No, I do not support the CSS rounded corners stuff.  That was not in KLE when I wrote this.  I will have to review that to see if support is possible, but I doubt it will be easy.

My tool thinks the LEDs are switches, so that is messing things up a bit.  I will have to look at this layout to figure out how to fix it so it will work.

I may have to look into why the placement of that bottom cluster is so far off too.  Maybe it is because the y value is both negatives, but i am not sure, I will have to look into that.

[rsac]

No, I do not support the CSS rounded corners stuff.  That was not in KLE when I wrote this.  I will have to review that to see if support is possible, but I doubt it will be easy.

My tool thinks the LEDs are switches, so that is messing things up a bit.  I will have to look at this layout to figure out how to fix it so it will work.

The most important for me is the key placement in general, as I don't want the keys rubbing on each other.

The CSS rounded corners isn't crucial, as it seems I will have to do some finishing on Inkskape latter anyway. And I can take out the LEDs for your tool to process. So, support for those are just nice to haves.

[swill]

No, I do not support the CSS rounded corners stuff.  That was not in KLE when I wrote this.  I will have to review that to see if support is possible, but I doubt it will be easy.

My tool thinks the LEDs are switches, so that is messing things up a bit.  I will have to look at this layout to figure out how to fix it so it will work.

The most important for me is the key placement in general, as I don't want the keys rubbing on each other.

The CSS rounded corners isn't crucial, as it seems I will have to do some finishing on Inkskape latter anyway. And I can take out the LEDs for your tool to process. So, support for those are just nice to haves.

Ya. I need to figure out why it is not rendering the key placement correctly. This is the first layout I have seen that is rendering so poorly.

[swill]

I am trying to figure out what the deal is with some of these non-standard layouts.  I have to dig into the KLE code again to figure out what is going on.  It looks like something is confused about absolute vs relative positioning.  I will see what I can do to fix it.  Did you guys build those layouts from scratch? 

[swill]

I'm also having problems with angled thumb clusters in this design:

Show Image

On the plate builder it ends up like this:

Show Image

Also, I assume that the advanced rounded corners feature of the keyboard-layout editor keyboard proprieties is not supported on your tool, right?

Hello

First try for me.

I have a new layout :

Show Image

I will soon be able to user a laser cut machine and will love to cut a test plate. I went to http://builder.swillkb.com/ with my raw json but it returns me this.

Show Image

Any ideas ?

What the best way to add the outlines of this keyboard (it will be splitted) ?

Thanks a lot for the builder !

So it looks like rsac is only using relative positioning for the rotated custer (which I did not realize was even possible), so I did not code for it.

It looks like Heliobb is using a combination of relative positioning and absolute positioning, so this is also causing problems.

Right now my tool only supports rotating absolutely positioned clusters.  That means that the rotated cluster is positioned with 'rx' and 'ry' and not using 'x' and 'y' for the placement of a rotated cluster.

I will have to see if I can figure out how to support both absolute and relative positioning for rotated clusters.  I think I need to handle that for non-rotated clusters as well.  Being able to use absolute positioning and then doing relative positioning based on that, should be supported, but I need to review my code to figure out how to handle that.

[rsac]

Did you guys build those layouts from scratch?

I built mine using Atreus as base, but probably changed a lot of things. I noticed now that if I move the center of rotation using ctrl + arrows the position of the rotated clusters change. Your tool don't seem to receive this center of rotation as input. What it assumes as default?

[swill]

Did you guys build those layouts from scratch?

I built mine using Atreus as base, but probably changed a lot of things. I noticed now that if I move the center of rotation using ctrl + arrows the position of the rotated clusters change. Your tool don't seem to receive this center of rotation as input. What it assumes as default?

I will have a look at that. I am only supporting absolute positioned rotated clusters. I will have to see what happens when you do ctrl + arrows on a key selection.  Can you describe how you are creating the rotation so I can reproduce?

[rsac]

I will have a look at that. I am only supporting absolute positioned rotated clusters. I will have to see what happens when you do ctrl + arrows on a key selection.  Can you describe how you are creating the rotation so I can reproduce?

I don't know how to do absolute positioned rotated clusters. IIRC I initially just replaced the rotation value in the key proprieties (based on the atreus one), using copy and paste to generate more keys. I might have use the ctrl+arrows by accident at that point, but I only really discovered the whole keyboard shortcuts (F1) after I finished the basic positioning.

[swill]

I will have a look at that. I am only supporting absolute positioned rotated clusters. I will have to see what happens when you do ctrl + arrows on a key selection.  Can you describe how you are creating the rotation so I can reproduce?

I don't know how to do absolute positioned rotated clusters. IIRC I initially just replaced the rotation value in the key proprieties (based on the atreus one), using copy and paste to generate more keys. I might have use the ctrl+arrows by accident at that point, but I only really discovered the whole keyboard shortcuts (F1) after I finished the basic positioning.

Ya ok.  I will have to spend some time to see how KLE handles stuff through the UI.  I started looking at the code last night, but I am going to have to review and do a bunch of testing to figure out how to handle both relative and absolute positioning of keys.

[Zorox]

Today I discovered you tool and now I need to left a comment to say that this is so brilliant. Thankyou very much for making this!

[swill]

Good News!!!

@rsac && @Heliobb
I have pushed an update which fixes both of your situations.  I am now handling the absolute positioning, relative positioning and rotated clusters better, so all of these layouts are now working. 

Enjoy and thank you for letting me know so I can continue to improve the tool.

I'm also having problems with angled thumb clusters in this design:

Show Image

On the plate builder it ends up like this:

Show Image

Also, I assume that the advanced rounded corners feature of the keyboard-layout editor keyboard proprieties is not supported on your tool, right?

Hello

First try for me.

I have a new layout :

Show Image

I will soon be able to user a laser cut machine and will love to cut a test plate. I went to http://builder.swillkb.com/ with my raw json but it returns me this.

Show Image

Any ideas ?

What the best way to add the outlines of this keyboard (it will be splitted) ?

Thanks a lot for the builder !

So it looks like rsac is only using relative positioning for the rotated custer (which I did not realize was even possible), so I did not code for it.

It looks like Heliobb is using a combination of relative positioning and absolute positioning, so this is also causing problems.

Right now my tool only supports rotating absolutely positioned clusters.  That means that the rotated cluster is positioned with 'rx' and 'ry' and not using 'x' and 'y' for the placement of a rotated cluster.

I will have to see if I can figure out how to support both absolute and relative positioning for rotated clusters.  I think I need to handle that for non-rotated clusters as well.  Being able to use absolute positioning and then doing relative positioning based on that, should be supported, but I need to review my code to figure out how to handle that.

[swill]

Today I discovered you tool and now I need to left a comment to say that this is so brilliant. Thankyou very much for making this!

For sure.  Enjoy.  Please let me know if you have any feedback. 

[KHAANNN]

Hi everyone, I hope you are alright, quick question, not directly related to the builder :)

So I noticed I forgot everything I knew about FreeCAD since my last build, luckily swill has the 2D to 3D video linked in the OP, so I recalled the process

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/210a25bed527f640a4a9

For this design, the stepped caps-lock is joined to the outermost Polyline (and I'm guessing for all stepped caps-lock's), is there an easy way for me to separate them?

[swill]

Hi everyone, I hope you are alright, quick question, not directly related to the builder

So I noticed I forgot everything I knew about FreeCAD since my last build, luckily swill has the 2D to 3D video linked in the OP, so I recalled the process

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/210a25bed527f640a4a9

For this design, the stepped caps-lock is joined to the outermost Polyline (and I'm guessing for all stepped caps-lock's), is there an easy way for me to separate them?

I assume you are talking about the poker case right?  I think your only option is to change your hole size. Not sure that is a good solution though.

[KHAANNN]

Hi everyone, I hope you are alright, quick question, not directly related to the builder :)

So I noticed I forgot everything I knew about FreeCAD since my last build, luckily swill has the 2D to 3D video linked in the OP, so I recalled the process

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/210a25bed527f640a4a9

For this design, the stepped caps-lock is joined to the outermost Polyline (and I'm guessing for all stepped caps-lock's), is there an easy way for me to separate them?

I assume you are talking about the poker case right?  I think your only option is to change your hole size. Not sure that is a good solution though.

Thanks, it does work :)

I had the impression the left and right screw sections were un-affected by the hole diameter, but they are, setting it to 1mm solves the issue

I will manually add some cutouts in 3D

[Heliobb]

Good News!!!

@rsac && @Heliobb
I have pushed an update which fixes both of your situations.  I am now handling the absolute positioning, relative positioning and rotated clusters better, so all of these layouts are now working. 

Enjoy and thank you for letting me know so I can continue to improve the tool.

Ouhao. Excellent. Thanks a lot !! 

[swill]

Out with the old.  In with the new...

I have recently launched a new version of the builder.  Here is a quick breakdown of the changes.

- A complete UI rewrite from top to bottom.
- An awesome editor to make it easier to work with your layout and add the advanced inline options.
- Mobile friendly.  Now every aspect of the tool scales to best fit the size screen you are working with.
- Much easier for me to be able to extend the UI and add additional features.
- Dramatically improved the deployment process.  The tool is now deployed as a single binary.

All the previous functionality should work as expected.  If you have any problems, please let me know.

A comparison...

The old:


The new:


Enjoy...

[BigBlueSaw]

Looks good, swill, thanks!

[rsac]

Good News!!!

@rsac && @Heliobb
I have pushed an update which fixes both of your situations.  I am now handling the absolute positioning, relative positioning and rotated clusters better, so all of these layouts are now working. 

Enjoy and thank you for letting me know so I can continue to improve the tool.

Thank you very much! Sorry for the late response, but your tool was already useful for me to get a quote. Now I need to have time to tinker the outer design.

As for further improvements, your tool isn't very smart in positioning the mount holes for the sandwich case. If I chose six, the top midle hole in the second layer ends up in the middle of an opening. It also don't ajusts the position in the rounded corners case. Bellow with 15mm radius.



If I specify a larger radius, like 50mm, the tool bugs out completely.

As I said, I won't be relying on your tool for this, so not a priority for me.

[swill]

Good News!!!

@rsac && @Heliobb
I have pushed an update which fixes both of your situations.  I am now handling the absolute positioning, relative positioning and rotated clusters better, so all of these layouts are now working. 

Enjoy and thank you for letting me know so I can continue to improve the tool.

Thank you very much! Sorry for the late response, but your tool was already useful for me to get a quote. Now I need to have time to tinker the outer design.

As for further improvements, your tool isn't very smart in positioning the mount holes for the sandwich case. If I chose six, the top midle hole in the second layer ends up in the middle of an opening. It also don't ajusts the position in the rounded corners case. Bellow with 15mm radius.

Show Image

If I specify a larger radius, like 50mm, the tool bugs out completely.

As I said, I won't be relying on your tool for this, so not a priority for me.

The placement of the hole in the opening is easy to change by adding 2 more holes. That is actually a bit of a feature because it allows you to tap those holes and use set screws to help fix a USB connector into that opening. That was raised a long time ago and I left it as is because it is easy to work around and can actually be useful in some cases.

As for the radius.  That is pretty difficult to fix with the current code. I am rewriting how the padding is configured and the holes are placed, so expect some changes in this area in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

[rsac]

There is still something wrong with the rotation handling.

The position of the Tab key in this layout is clearly wrong in the plate your tool generates (too high) . The F4 key also seems suspiciously high. The other rotated keys seems ok at a first glance, but I haven't checked.

[swill]

There is still something wrong with the rotation handling.

The position of the Tab key in this layout is clearly wrong in the plate your tool generates (too high) . The F4 key also seems suspiciously high. The other rotated keys seems ok at a first glance, but I haven't checked.

Sorry I have been so slow recently. I have had very limited time recently.  I am in the middle of a complete rewrite of all of the padding and mount hole code, so I won't be able to address this for a little while.

I recently took on the role of release manager for a huge open source project and it is taking a lot of time. I can't seem to get through this backlog of over 50 unread emails at any given time.

I will try to find time for this, but I suspect I won't have any time for at least a couple weeks. I am over half way through the padding rewrite, so I will be finishing up that first as well.

As always. Thanks for reporting this and I will do my best to get you a solution in a reasonable time frame.

[rampantandroid]

Why are you trying to get the dimensions?  BBS has never asked for that on my plates.  BBS will automatically calculate all that stuff for you when you upload the file.  Can you explain your process of submitting the file to BBS so I can help guide you?

How does BBS calculate size? Just to see a ballpark figure of cost, I followed the steps: I created my layout on http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com, I dropped that code into your tool and generated it (I added a bit of padding on all sides - I need to also draw in holes at some point.) It seems to think that the item is 369.663 wide and 169.638 long. Did I miss a step?

[jdcarpe]

Why are you trying to get the dimensions?  BBS has never asked for that on my plates.  BBS will automatically calculate all that stuff for you when you upload the file.  Can you explain your process of submitting the file to BBS so I can help guide you?

How does BBS calculate size? Just to see a ballpark figure of cost, I followed the steps: I created my layout on http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com, I dropped that code into your tool and generated it (I added a bit of padding on all sides - I need to also draw in holes at some point.) It seems to think that the item is 369.663 wide and 169.638 long. Did I miss a step?

Those are mm, not inches.

[swill]

Why are you trying to get the dimensions?  BBS has never asked for that on my plates.  BBS will automatically calculate all that stuff for you when you upload the file.  Can you explain your process of submitting the file to BBS so I can help guide you?

How does BBS calculate size? Just to see a ballpark figure of cost, I followed the steps: I created my layout on http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com, I dropped that code into your tool and generated it (I added a bit of padding on all sides - I need to also draw in holes at some point.) It seems to think that the item is 369.663 wide and 169.638 long. Did I miss a step?

Yes, you have to convert to mm after you upload it to BBS.

[rampantandroid]

D'oh - I can read.

OK - so next (possibly silly) question - for selecting thickness, if I go with the sandwich case from the tool, what material do I need in terms of thickness? I need 8mm or so clearance for a Phantom, right? Everything they list is pretty thin (including acrylic) - is that just what the tool can quote and you need to ask for something thicker?

(and just to be sure - if I take the 104 key preset from keyboard-layout-editor, chop off the numpad and turn that into a plate, it'll work for a Phantom, right?)

Thanks a ton - the tool is awesome!

[swill]

D'oh - I can read.

OK - so next (possibly silly) question - for selecting thickness, if I go with the sandwich case from the tool, what material do I need in terms of thickness? I need 8mm or so clearance for a Phantom, right? Everything they list is pretty thin (including acrylic) - is that just what the tool can quote and you need to ask for something thicker?

(and just to be sure - if I take the 104 key preset from keyboard-layout-editor, chop off the numpad and turn that into a plate, it'll work for a Phantom, right?)

Thanks a ton - the tool is awesome!

I have a few posts on this, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

You need to look at the cherry spec and calculate how much space the switch, pcb, controller and USB connector will take as they will all be in that space. For my build with a teensy, I think I dud about 15-16mm, but I needed space in the case for the teensy and the USB cabling etc.

That should get you going to figure out what you need. You will probably need to buy multiple layers for the middle. Since it is unlikely the USB opening is where I put it, you will probably have to use all closed layers and cut your own opening (or modify a closed cad drawing to add it)

[jdcarpe]

(and just to be sure - if I take the 104 key preset from keyboard-layout-editor, chop off the numpad and turn that into a plate, it'll work for a Phantom, right?)

I wouldn't count on it. There is currently a group buy going on for skeleton style Phantom cases, and there is a thread by MOZ for an open source Phantom cases.

[rampantandroid]

I wouldn't count on it. There is currently a group buy going on for skeleton style Phantom cases, and there is a thread by MOZ for an open source Phantom cases.

Moz's SVG tells you to get a top plate from Swill's tool, hence why I was asking if someone has an approved Phantom KLE layout done that is known to work with Swill's tool.

I had missed the skeleton GB - maybe I'll do that, thanks for bringing it up! Not 100% liking the skeleton thing, but it's probably the least painful option for me to get a known good top plate?

[swill]

I wouldn't count on it. There is currently a group buy going on for skeleton style Phantom cases, and there is a thread by MOZ for an open source Phantom cases.

Moz's SVG tells you to get a top plate from Swill's tool, hence why I was asking if someone has an approved Phantom KLE layout done that is known to work with Swill's tool.

I had missed the skeleton GB - maybe I'll do that, thanks for bringing it up! Not 100% liking the skeleton thing, but it's probably the least painful option for me to get a known good top plate?

Oh, I didn't realize that. I would have to do a bit of research to figure out what layout is correct for that board.

[climbalima]

I love your software and use it all the time. The only thing that I think could improve it is if you could change the line thickness. This would be nice for people who get their plates laser cut at ponoko.

[swill]

I love your software and use it all the time. The only thing that I think could improve it is if you could change the line thickness. This would be nice for people who get their plates laser cut at ponoko.

I can add that pretty easily. What thickness does poncho require so I have a point of reference.

[climbalima]

0.01mm

[swill]

0.01mm

Oh. So smaller than I have. Ya OK. I should be able to add that soon. Just need to get the code back to a deployable spot. Have the guts open right now.