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

[swill]

Got my first plate made from my tool.    I am super excited about this one and I think it turned out great.  This thing is going to be epic.

Ya brass!!!


(teaser because my camera ran out of batteries as soon as I tried to take pics)

[shaymerrill]

Got my first plate made from my tool.    I am super excited about this one and I think it turned out great.  This thing is going to be epic.

Ya brass!!!

(Attachment Link)
(teaser because my camera ran out of batteries as soon as I tried to take pics)

That looks awesome,  the brass turned out great! Glad you finally got yourself in on the action.

I'm looking forward to using your tool soon, I'm working on designing a two piece ergo board. I just discovered the custom keyboard world and thanks to people like you (and the rest of GH) its possible for me to get in on the fun.

...as if I didn't have enough choices to make I now have to consider brass!

[Dihedral]

Got my first plate made from my tool.    I am super excited about this one and I think it turned out great.  This thing is going to be epic.

Ya brass!!!

(Attachment Link)
(teaser because my camera ran out of batteries as soon as I tried to take pics)

Looks steampunky!

[suicidal_orange]

I saw brass as an option on a cutter's site and wondered if it would be suitable - looks like it is!  Nice board in progress swill, I hope you have some suitably old school looking caps waiting for it

[swill]

I saw brass as an option on a cutter's site and wondered if it would be suitable - looks like it is!  Nice board in progress swill, I hope you have some suitably old school looking caps waiting for it

I have new old school caps coming for it. I think the 1976 set is destined for this board.

A word of warning with brass. Apparently it warps quite a bit, especially with thicker plates. BBS has been having a hell of a time with my 3mm bottom plate. We will see.

[derezzed]

I saw brass as an option on a cutter's site and wondered if it would be suitable - looks like it is!  Nice board in progress swill, I hope you have some suitably old school looking caps waiting for it

I have new old school caps coming for it. I think the 1976 set is destined for this board.

A word of warning with brass. Apparently it warps quite a bit, especially with thicker plates. BBS has been having a hell of a time with my 3mm bottom plate. We will see.

Is that why the bottom plate isn't in the photo?  That thing looks like a beast.  Are you going to keep it polished or are you going to let it get a patina?

[skullydazed]

I have my own plate on order from a local fabrication shop. Nice work on the tool, I'm excited to see how it comes out. I did learn a couple things.

First, if you want to make a split layout keyboard, just make two different boards. Especially don't draw your own line on the DXF, as their software won't know how to adjust for kerf.

Second, my shop prefers inches. Apparently he has to go through 2 or 3 conversions to convert the drawings, or an extra 30 minutes of setup and teardown time to convert the machine.

Third, there's something weird about the DXF's I send from DraftSight. I should probably invest in a real CAD tool if I'm going to continue doing this, but for a one-off prototype this has worked well.

If all goes well I should have my plate in hand soon. It's based on this layout: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/7eed8f14ec5c4d77d52bc5e34c464cc2

[GreenUnicorn]

Are 6u spacebars supported because the stabs looks like 2u.

[azhdar]

I've seen several korean boards and even people modding their plate to partial plates:


maybe you could had support to this? I'm not sure how many people would use that though.

[swill]

I've seen several korean boards and even people modding their plate to partial plates:

Show Image

maybe you could had support to this? I'm not sure how many people would use that though.

What is the point of that?  Why would you want the alphas pcb mounted and the mods plate mounted? 

[azhdar]

I've seen several korean boards and even people modding their plate to partial plates:

Show Image

maybe you could had support to this? I'm not sure how many people would use that though.

What is the point of that?  Why would you want the alphas pcb mounted and the mods plate mounted?

I'm not sure, maybe you'll get a better idea there: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70231.msg1707120#msg1707120

After a second though, I think people that want to do it will be able to do it quite easily on CAD.

[jdcarpe]

I've seen several korean boards and even people modding their plate to partial plates:

Show Image

maybe you could had support to this? I'm not sure how many people would use that though.

What is the point of that?  Why would you want the alphas pcb mounted and the mods plate mounted? 

The point of it is for custom keyboards where the PCB is mounted to the case only by the plate (floated), with no standoffs in the case to attach the PCB. But some people prefer the feel of typing on PCB mounted switches over plate mounted, so they cut the plate out of the alpha section.

[sakai4eva]

@swill, you might wanna include an option to be notified of the completion of the plate. I think email will be fine.

[derezzed]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

[StinkyTheDonut]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

That's a very good point that I didn't even consider. I'm trying for thinnest bezel as well. Good thing I'm still mucking around and haven't proceeded with my plans yet. 

[Dihedral]

So I can confirm that when laser cut, cutout 2 works fine for Alps and MX. It also works fairly well for rotated MX, though the switches are fairly loose.

[skullydazed]

I just got one of my plates back from the shop today. They screwed up and only made one set, I should have the other set tomorrow. Here's a shot showing the bottom of the plates, the one of the left I scrubbed clean with a scotch pad.



After scrubbing the rust away I'm hitting it with a couple coats of rust-oleum for protection:



Tomorrow I hope to wire it up.

[rsheldiii]

And crap. I've been building towards a custom keyboard that fits in a TEX CNC case and my numbers don't line up to the ones on the site at all. Worst part is the 3d printed prototype totally fits, but I'm at least 3mm off of both Swill's and JD's numbers, and the effect is cumulative (I had to set the unit length to be 19.2 in order for there to not be a ton of slop). I got some tough decisions to make before I get a plate cut...

[jdcarpe]

And crap. I've been building towards a custom keyboard that fits in a TEX CNC case and my numbers don't line up to the ones on the site at all. Worst part is the 3d printed prototype totally fits, but I'm at least 3mm off of both Swill's and JD's numbers, and the effect is cumulative (I had to set the unit length to be 19.2 in order for there to not be a ton of slop). I got some tough decisions to make before I get a plate cut...

Hmmm, that's strange. Send me what you have, and I can check it for you. Maybe we can figure out what's going on.

[swill]

And crap. I've been building towards a custom keyboard that fits in a TEX CNC case and my numbers don't line up to the ones on the site at all. Worst part is the 3d printed prototype totally fits, but I'm at least 3mm off of both Swill's and JD's numbers, and the effect is cumulative (I had to set the unit length to be 19.2 in order for there to not be a ton of slop). I got some tough decisions to make before I get a plate cut...

Hmmm, that's strange. Send me what you have, and I can check it for you. Maybe we can figure out what's going on.

Ya, I can take a look too.  Just send us the files.

[swill]

@swill, you might wanna include an option to be notified of the completion of the plate. I think email will be fine.

Sorry I have been so MIA, it has been pretty crazy recently.  I haven't even been lurking, never mind posting. 

The fact that the plate takes so long to render is the main problem I see.  The technologies this is built on is not really designed for the way I am using it.  Personally, I just leave the tool open in a different tab in my browser and check it periodically when I am doing complex drawings.  Recently I have been working on rebuilding my tool from scratch (new language and everything) and skipping the CAD software entirely.  I am looking into writing the SVG format directly and then producing a DXF file from that.  I found a library that does exactly what I need, but it only has integer precision, so I have been extending the library to support floating point precision everywhere.  This should give me all the control I need to produce an SVG.

[swill]

So I can confirm that when laser cut, cutout 2 works fine for Alps and MX. It also works fairly well for rotated MX, though the switches are fairly loose.

No problems with the Alps cutout?  Where did you get it cut? 

[swill]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...





I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

[swill]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

The fact that I don't have a 1.25u Penumbra Shift key is pretty obvious now.  Haha... 

[neverused]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Very nice! Beautiful wood and brass contrast.

[derezzed]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Awesome!  That is nearly all the information I need when I finally pull the trigger on my custom.  Thanks.   If I may bother you with a few more questions --  did you hand-wire?  did you use notched cutouts and, if so, did you glue your switches to the plate?

Your board is stunning.  It's like Penumbra was made specifically for your board.  The only thing that would make it better is full SA profile.  If you ever post a picture of the entire board, that is definitely getting set as my wallpaper.

[swill]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Awesome!  That is nearly all the information I need when I finally pull the trigger on my custom.  Thanks.   If I may bother you with a few more questions --  did you hand-wire?  did you use notched cutouts and, if so, did you glue your switches to the plate?

Your board is stunning.  It's like Penumbra was made specifically for your board.  The only thing that would make it better is full SA profile.  If you ever post a picture of the entire board, that is definitely getting set as my wallpaper.

I have not handwired it yet, but I will be using the Enabler PCBs when I do.  I used the standard square switch cutouts and the cherry only stabilizer cutouts.  I will probably use plate mount stabilizers, but I could use PCB mount and use the 2u Enablers.

[rsheldiii]

And crap. I've been building towards a custom keyboard that fits in a TEX CNC case and my numbers don't line up to the ones on the site at all. Worst part is the 3d printed prototype totally fits, but I'm at least 3mm off of both Swill's and JD's numbers, and the effect is cumulative (I had to set the unit length to be 19.2 in order for there to not be a ton of slop). I got some tough decisions to make before I get a plate cut...

Hmmm, that's strange. Send me what you have, and I can check it for you. Maybe we can figure out what's going on.

Ya, I can take a look too.  Just send us the files.

Hey thanks guys, it's much appreciated.

so I made a little album here:

http://imgur.com/a/vjZZI

the first image is the three plates, JDCarpe's DXF in the middle (which is reversed for some reason, but you can see the outline) and Swill's exported STL at the top. I've got around a 3mm difference on you guys, which sounds trivial, but it's across the whole board, so the further right screw holes don't line up at all. The plate I printed on my 3d printer fits the case though in both dimensions really well, which is a fair stroke of coincidence if the sizing is wrong, since the key units are still square - I just upped the side's length from 19.05 to 19.2 and slop on both sides of the plate disappeared perfectly.

The print also seems to be pretty dimensionally accurate, as I have the total length coming in at 288mm, and the case seems to be around 277.5mm or so in the third picture.

my designs aren't proprietary or anything so I'll attach the STL and SCAD here but if we want to continue this elsewhere in order to not gum up the thread that's fine too. Where did you get your numbers from JD? maybe the tex case has extra slop around the edges

[nubbinator]

Am I doing something wrong?  I'm trying to make an AEK II plate, and this is what I'm getting spit out:



Info I'm putting in:

More

[VinnyCordeiro]

Am I doing something wrong?  I'm trying to make an AEK II plate, and this is what I'm getting spit out:

Show Image

Info I'm putting in:

More

Show Image

Delete this in the 1st line:

Code: [Select]

{y:1.5},
You forgot to reposition the keys at the Keyboard Layout Editor.

[nubbinator]

Actually needed to change that y to a w.  I took the raw data as I was supposed to, but it wasn't quite right.

[swill]

Actually needed to change that y to a w.  I took the raw data as I was supposed to, but it wasn't quite right.

As Vinny pointed out. Remove the '{y:1.5},' from the first line in the raw dara you pasted into the tool and it will fix it.

In the editor UI you just removed the keys from a preset 104 layout, but did not remove the space taken up by the function row in the original layout.

Make sense?

[StinkyTheDonut]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Did you make the middle screw holes on the side with your tool? Or was it added after?

[swill]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Did you make the middle screw holes on the side with your tool? Or was it added after?

Everything was done with my tool, no other modifications.  I think I used 14 screws. They are all evenly spaces.

[fknraiden]

Just picked up a plate I made with this tool, will see how switches and stabs fit and post some pictures later when I get home.

[StinkyTheDonut]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Did you make the middle screw holes on the side with your tool? Or was it added after?

Everything was done with my tool, no other modifications.  I think I used 14 screws. They are all evenly spaces.

Oh, now I see. I think my previous attempts were 10 holes or less, and it never gave me side holes. I thought they were only meant to be spaced along the top and bottom lol.

[swill]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Did you make the middle screw holes on the side with your tool? Or was it added after?

Everything was done with my tool, no other modifications.  I think I used 14 screws. They are all evenly spaces.

Oh, now I see. I think my previous attempts were 10 holes or less, and it never gave me side holes. I thought they were only meant to be spaced along the top and bottom lol.

The holes will be evenly spaced around the case. To get holes in the sides you need to add enough holes to make the space between them small enough to start filling in the sides.

[StinkyTheDonut]

The plate builder tool tip for height and width padding settings uses an example of 6 mm.  Is 6 mm sufficient for a sandwich case with stainless steel top and bottom plates and 2 mm screw holes?  I want the thinnest bezel possible while still having structural integrity.  At 6 mm padding, the middle layers would only have 2 mm of material on either side of the screw holes.  At this thickness, is acrylic strong enough to avoid cracking if the keyboard gets dropped from a height of 1 inch or would polycarbonate be a better choice for padding this narrow?

So here is what I did in brass.  6mm padding all around with a 3mm rounded corner. I used an M3 screw, but I made the hole 2.5mm in diameter and tapped them.

Potatoes...

Show Image

Show Image

I think 2mm with M2s should be fine.  If you are worried, error on the side if too many screws and that will help mitigate the strain on one specific screw.

Did you make the middle screw holes on the side with your tool? Or was it added after?

Everything was done with my tool, no other modifications.  I think I used 14 screws. They are all evenly spaces.

Oh, now I see. I think my previous attempts were 10 holes or less, and it never gave me side holes. I thought they were only meant to be spaced along the top and bottom lol.

The holes will be evenly spaced around the case. To get holes in the sides you need to add enough holes to make the space between them small enough to start filling in the sides.

Now I have to play around with it more and see what I can get. =D

[skullydazed]

I'm typing on the keyboard this tool helped me build, and it's great. However, my stabilizers aren't working and I'm not sure where the problem lies. When I had the plate generated I selected costar stabs, since that's what I have already. But I can't get them to actually work. With the plastic pieces inserted into the keys it seems to slide into the stabilizers perfectly, but once I add the wire the key gets stuck in the down position and I have to physically pull it up.

Anyone have an idea of what may be going on here?

[Dihedral]

I've seen several korean boards and even people modding their plate to partial plates:

Show Image

maybe you could had support to this? I'm not sure how many people would use that though.

What is the point of that?  Why would you want the alphas pcb mounted and the mods plate mounted?

Nice springy feel alphas and solid feeling mods I guess.

[Usarise]

Hey!  So I've been lurking through this thread and I just wanted to get a few suggestions before I run off and build something with it!

I just want to make a simple 60% on the cheap with this as I have access to a laser cutter & water jet cutter as well as scraps of materials to use for construction.  I'm using 14 holes with 3mm diameter, the 6mm padding on all sides & 3mm corners.  I am planning on making the case sandwich style and I'm not really sure how thick I need the two middle pieces to be on the safe side.  Any suggestions as well as any tips when I cut it?

[evera]

Got my first acrylic swill plate laser cut (from ponoko.com)

[derezzed]

Got my first acrylic swill plate laser cut (from ponoko.com)

Show Image

Looks good.  What size padding and what size screw hole did you choose?

[swill]

Hey!  So I've been lurking through this thread and I just wanted to get a few suggestions before I run off and build something with it!

I just want to make a simple 60% on the cheap with this as I have access to a laser cutter & water jet cutter as well as scraps of materials to use for construction.  I'm using 14 holes with 3mm diameter, the 6mm padding on all sides & 3mm corners.  I am planning on making the case sandwich style and I'm not really sure how thick I need the two middle pieces to be on the safe side.  Any suggestions as well as any tips when I cut it?

The settings you are describing are pretty much exactly what I used (images posted recently to compare).  I think 6mm padding for M3 screws works pretty well.  The 3mm rounded corner with 6mm padding is pretty nice as well.

As for thickness of the middle plates, I think it depends a bit on how you plan to wire it up.  Are you using teensy?  You need to have enough space under the switches to fit a controller and the wiring.  For my board (which I have not wired up yet, but looks like it will work fine), I used 4 layers of 0.15" (3.81mm).  This gives me a total middle thickness of 0.6" (15.24mm).  According to the cherry spec, the switch takes 8.5mm of space from the top of the switch.  This means that it takes 7mm of space below a 1.5mm plate.  the tallest part of a teensy is where the mini USB connector plugs into it.  The mini USB connector is 4mm tall and the teensy PCB is probably about 1.5mm, so you are looking at about 6mm of space needed for the teensy (without wiggle room).  So by my calculations, you need at least 14mm of middle layer to make everything fit inside...

As for suggestions when you cut it.  You will want to do a test cut and measure the kerf of the cut and then enter that into the tool so the openings are the correct size.  Let me know if you have questions and I can help you... 

[evera]

Got my first acrylic swill plate laser cut (from ponoko.com)

Show Image

Looks good.  What size padding and what size screw hole did you choose?

I think I used 6mm padding and 3mm holes. I cut it on 3mm acrylic. seems a bit thick, so i'll go for 1.5mm next time.

[swill]

Got my first acrylic swill plate laser cut (from ponoko.com)

Show Image

Looks good.  What size padding and what size screw hole did you choose?

I think I used 6mm padding and 3mm holes. I cut it on 3mm acrylic. seems a bit thick, so i'll go for 1.5mm next time.

If you are not using a PCB it needs to be 1.5mm (careful, won't be strong enough on its own). If you are using a PCB you should probably use 5mm.

[Usarise]

Hey!  So I've been lurking through this thread and I just wanted to get a few suggestions before I run off and build something with it!

I just want to make a simple 60% on the cheap with this as I have access to a laser cutter & water jet cutter as well as scraps of materials to use for construction.  I'm using 14 holes with 3mm diameter, the 6mm padding on all sides & 3mm corners.  I am planning on making the case sandwich style and I'm not really sure how thick I need the two middle pieces to be on the safe side.  Any suggestions as well as any tips when I cut it?

The settings you are describing are pretty much exactly what I used (images posted recently to compare).  I think 6mm padding for M3 screws works pretty well.  The 3mm rounded corner with 6mm padding is pretty nice as well.

As for thickness of the middle plates, I think it depends a bit on how you plan to wire it up.  Are you using teensy?  You need to have enough space under the switches to fit a controller and the wiring.  For my board (which I have not wired up yet, but looks like it will work fine), I used 4 layers of 0.15" (3.81mm).  This gives me a total middle thickness of 0.6" (15.24mm).  According to the cherry spec, the switch takes 8.5mm of space from the top of the switch.  This means that it takes 7mm of space below a 1.5mm plate.  the tallest part of a teensy is where the mini USB connector plugs into it.  The mini USB connector is 4mm tall and the teensy PCB is probably about 1.5mm, so you are looking at about 6mm of space needed for the teensy (without wiggle room).  So by my calculations, you need at least 14mm of middle layer to make everything fit inside...

As for suggestions when you cut it.  You will want to do a test cut and measure the kerf of the cut and then enter that into the tool so the openings are the correct size.  Let me know if you have questions and I can help you...

Thanks for the info man!  Yeah I'll be using Teensy most likely.  I enjoy how easy it is to use that little board~  I think I'll try to make it about 16-18mm just to be safe then.

...And it seems my construction has been delayed a little bit as I have been told by the lab techs in the machine shop not to use the machines for personal projects...(jerks) <~<
Maybe I'll go the Ponoko route like evera there.  They have a pretty nice selection of material and maybe I could use wood or acryllic then. ^~^

[swill]

Hey!  So I've been lurking through this thread and I just wanted to get a few suggestions before I run off and build something with it!

I just want to make a simple 60% on the cheap with this as I have access to a laser cutter & water jet cutter as well as scraps of materials to use for construction.  I'm using 14 holes with 3mm diameter, the 6mm padding on all sides & 3mm corners.  I am planning on making the case sandwich style and I'm not really sure how thick I need the two middle pieces to be on the safe side.  Any suggestions as well as any tips when I cut it?

The settings you are describing are pretty much exactly what I used (images posted recently to compare).  I think 6mm padding for M3 screws works pretty well.  The 3mm rounded corner with 6mm padding is pretty nice as well.

As for thickness of the middle plates, I think it depends a bit on how you plan to wire it up.  Are you using teensy?  You need to have enough space under the switches to fit a controller and the wiring.  For my board (which I have not wired up yet, but looks like it will work fine), I used 4 layers of 0.15" (3.81mm).  This gives me a total middle thickness of 0.6" (15.24mm).  According to the cherry spec, the switch takes 8.5mm of space from the top of the switch.  This means that it takes 7mm of space below a 1.5mm plate.  the tallest part of a teensy is where the mini USB connector plugs into it.  The mini USB connector is 4mm tall and the teensy PCB is probably about 1.5mm, so you are looking at about 6mm of space needed for the teensy (without wiggle room).  So by my calculations, you need at least 14mm of middle layer to make everything fit inside...

As for suggestions when you cut it.  You will want to do a test cut and measure the kerf of the cut and then enter that into the tool so the openings are the correct size.  Let me know if you have questions and I can help you...

Thanks for the info man!  Yeah I'll be using Teensy most likely.  I enjoy how easy it is to use that little board~  I think I'll try to make it about 16-18mm just to be safe then.

...And it seems my construction has been delayed a little bit as I have been told by the lab techs in the machine shop not to use the machines for personal projects...(jerks) <~<
Maybe I'll go the Ponoko route like evera there.  They have a pretty nice selection of material and maybe I could use wood or acryllic then. ^~^

careful using non-metals for your plate as you are likely to have issues with strength and durability.

[swill]

Got my first acrylic swill plate laser cut (from ponoko.com)

Show Image

out of curiosity, what did it cost to cut that plate?

[abjr]

@evera,

Whiterice has a build log for a board with a 1.5mm acrylic plate here: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=61169.0.

I would suggest asking him about it, but he doesn't seem to be active lately, so I'll paraphrase a PM from him to me.  Typing "feels less solid" sort of like "typing on a suspension", but that it didn't "hinder the operation of the keyboard".

I would guess 3mm might feel a bit more solid?