Non-standard case materials

[cribbit]

I've been thinking about this a little, and the carbon fiber thread (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=54825.0) got me really interested.

What non-standard materials have you seen/considered for a case? It seems like everything is either plastic, acrylic or aluminum. Steel on occasion. Titanium seems to be almost never, and only rarely for plates. Is glass too hard to work with? Carbon fiber seems like something obvious to try, but I've never really seen it used before, even as a shell. Wood is relatively common for DIY stuff, but very rare for vendor boards. Ceramic or clay seems to be incredibly rare, if tried at all. Cement would be lulzy for a keyboard you only used on your desk.

[davkol]

Card board. ^_^

Czarek makes CNC-machined PVC cases.

[jacobolus]

Marble?

[Smasher816]

Marble?

Marble would be cool.

[dorkvader]

I'm told that glass is hard to machine, and investing in moulds to make it is sorta expensive.

Carbon fiber is dangerous to machine, but people have wrapped things in it I think

Ceramic would be awesome. I think a powder injection moulded case / keycaps are easily possible, but they need to sinter and not everyone has access to a sintering oven. Other powder process methods are easier or harder.

Powder SLS 3D printed titanium keycaps exist. The only thing barring someone from making a case out of it is the cost.

many materials are too brittle to be used as an effective plate. Glass / ceramic / etc. I'm not sure if it'd work out.

I was thinking about cement recently. It beats adding lead weights to your keyboard....

[heedpantsnow]

ice

[SpAmRaY]

What about a leather case?

[HoffmanMyster]

I hate to be that guy, but there are tons of different plastics that could be used but are not.  So there are many non-standard options in that category too.

It seems like everything is either plastic, acrylic or aluminum.

It's like if this statement read "It seems like everything is either plastic or metal".  There are tons of types of plastic, just as there are tons of types of metal.

Anyway, that aside, AFAIK most plastic cases are injection moulded ABS or CNCed acrylic.  It would be interesting to see how some other polymers handle being moulded into keyboard cases... Like HIPS, or PET...   That would be fun.

[EpicSNES]

Uranium ore 

[FrostyToast]

Brass.

[davkol]

Unobtainium

[damorgue]

Ceramic is a possibility, at least for keypads. I am considering making a 3d printed ceramic one for my GHpad.

[Vanilla]

Bamboo

[evolveS]

Copper anyone?

You'd have to insulate it but it would look brilliant!

Ceramic would be awesome. I think a powder injection moulded case / keycaps are easily possible, but they need to sinter and not everyone has access to a sintering oven. Other powder process methods are easier or harder.

I would absolutely buy one of these.

[dorkvader]

I hate to be that guy, but there are tons of different plastics that could be used but are not.  So there are many non-standard options in that category too.

It seems like everything is either plastic, acrylic or aluminum.

It's like if this statement read "It seems like everything is either plastic or metal".  There are tons of types of plastic, just as there are tons of types of metal.

Anyway, that aside, AFAIK most plastic cases are injection moulded ABS or CNCed acrylic.  It would be interesting to see how some other polymers handle being moulded into keyboard cases... Like HIPS, or PET...   That would be fun.

Matias uses injection moulded PC, which is also quite common for apple products of a certain age. I think CNC PMMA is used for less KBs than (say) aluminium. I only know of reaper's HHMX, that TEX one, and maybe another custom. Lasered PMMA (the cheat, etc.) is more common, especially for layer cases (hhmx, litster, ergodox, etc )

There's been keycaps made in the following polymers:
ABS/PBT/POM/Nylon, and a few others (especially for non cherry keyboards)

Now I'd love to see a FR PC+ABS like what they make laptop computers from. Also, a PIM magnesium (also used in computers by lenovo, hp, fujitsu, etc) case would be sweet.

sadly tooling for these would be expensive, so they'll likely never get made,

Other than that my great hope is glass (yes I saw them) and ceramic (particularly Al2O3!) keycaps.

Ceramic is a possibility, at least for keypads. I am considering making a 3d printed ceramic one for my GHpad.

I am very interested in this.

Uranium ore 

far too brittle. pitchblende is not the best structural material.

Now DU (Depleted Uranium) on the other hand... That has possibility. It's extremely expensive, however.

Copper anyone?

You'd have to insulate it but it would look brilliant!

See, I'd purposely oxidize the copper to let the verdigris out. It's make a sick matte green case, imo.

[cribbit]

There's a good chance I have access to a sintering oven, I should check.

Does titanium really do anything that much better than aluminum, for keyboards? It's not like we need super strong boards.

Marble would be awesome, though definitely not portable.

[dorkvader]

There's a good chance I have access to a sintering oven, I should check.

Does titanium really do anything that much better than aluminum, for keyboards? It's not like we need super strong boards.

Marble would be awesome, though definitely not portable.

It's just got a much better strength-to-weight ratio. The goal for some people is to have a titanium case, so it has the solid "feel" of a stainless steel plate / case, but with the weight and portability of aluminium.

Myself I hate aluminium plates and try to avoid them.

[evolveS]

Copper anyone?

You'd have to insulate it but it would look brilliant!

See, I'd purposely oxidize the copper to let the verdigris out. It's make a sick matte green case, imo.

We should do this and make a Statue of Liberty click clack for maximum freedom..

[cribbit]

Copper anyone?

You'd have to insulate it but it would look brilliant!

See, I'd purposely oxidize the copper to let the verdigris out. It's make a sick matte green case, imo.

We should do this and make a Statue of Liberty click clack for maximum freedom..

Statue of Liberty that can store a bit of lamp oil inside, with an actually burning torch?

I... if I had the tools on hand I would go make that right now.

[Findecanor]

Statue of Liberty that can store a bit of lamp oil inside, with an actually burning torch?

Or just make it from transparent plastic and paint everything but the torch to make the key's LED light it.

I want to try to make cases out of laser-cut plywood, not layered but interlocking. My makerspace needs to install better ventilation for the laser-cutter first...  I have used thin wafers of wood cut by hand, but that was too much manual labour to do often and with single sheets I had problems with warping.

BTW, Maltron has always used vacuuformed ABS. I have not seen anyone else do that.
A single sheet of plastic is heated and draped over a mould using air pressure, producing an imprint in the plastic of the mould. The big drawback is that the edges are a bit soft, and there can be variance between different "pulls".

[Puddsy]

I'm working on a ceramic case. It's proving to be incredibly heavy.

[ShawnMeg]

[cribbit]

Statue of Liberty that can store a bit of lamp oil inside, with an actually burning torch?

Or just make it from transparent plastic and paint everything but the torch to make the key's LED light it.

Perhaps fiberoptic cable, rather than simply diffusing through the plastic. Would be more functional. Actual flame is more badass though.

[dorkvader]

Statue of Liberty that can store a bit of lamp oil inside, with an actually burning torch?

I... if I had the tools on hand I would go make that right now.

oh my gosh, this could actually work. You'd have to engineer it a bit, but oil burning lamps have been made out of copper in the past and are not too difficult to actually make.

[HoffmanMyster]

Statue of Liberty that can store a bit of lamp oil inside, with an actually burning torch?

I... if I had the tools on hand I would go make that right now.

oh my gosh, this could actually work. You'd have to engineer it a bit, but oil burning lamps have been made out of copper in the past and are not too difficult to actually make.

I just...I mean, do we really want a burning flame on our keyboard...?  As a proof of concept I 100% approve, for the record.

[jacobolus]

BTW, Maltron has always used vacuuformed ABS. I have not seen anyone else do that.
A single sheet of plastic is heated and draped over a mould using air pressure, producing an imprint in the plastic of the mould. The big drawback is that the edges are a bit soft, and there can be variance between different "pulls".

Yeah, vacuum forming should be a pretty good way to prototype different designs. For any larger scale production, I’d expect injection molding to result in a cheaper and sturdier case. I find the Maltron feels very flimsy.

[katushkin]

The Beast's 60% wooden case project looks amazing.

[cribbit]

The Beast's 60% wooden case project looks amazing.

Link?

[Findecanor]

Marble?

Actually... someone here once posted pictures of a keyboard where the top was a slab of polished stone.

Another material I can think if would be lacquered papiér maché. In Japan, lots of household wares were made that way in the old days. But it is very labour-extensive, so any new items are very costly artful items.

[Puddsy]

filco has made laquered cases

they're like $500

[cribbit]

But if they're labor intensive they shouldn't be too expensive to self make. Just get netflix going. What's the material like though? I wouldn't want a board that's just unique, I'd want the best possible material for my use.

[Smasher816]

The Beast's 60% wooden case project looks amazing.

Link?

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=46435.0

[nubbinator]

Wood cases are fun, especially if you make your own.

[Puddsy]

But if they're labor intensive they shouldn't be too expensive to self make. Just get netflix going. What's the material like though? I wouldn't want a board that's just unique, I'd want the best possible material for my use.

Trust me, you don't want to lacquer your own case. It's really, really, REALLY hard.

[cribbit]

But if they're labor intensive they shouldn't be too expensive to self make. Just get netflix going. What's the material like though? I wouldn't want a board that's just unique, I'd want the best possible material for my use.

Trust me, you don't want to lacquer your own case. It's really, really, REALLY hard.

All my googling keeps finding me stuff on laquering wood. What's the process to laquer-make a case?

Also, what's it like to have a laquer finished wood case?

[nubbinator]

But if they're labor intensive they shouldn't be too expensive to self make. Just get netflix going. What's the material like though? I wouldn't want a board that's just unique, I'd want the best possible material for my use.

Trust me, you don't want to lacquer your own case. It's really, really, REALLY hard.

All my googling keeps finding me stuff on laquering wood. What's the process to laquer-make a case?

Also, what's it like to have a laquer finished wood case?

Lacquer is illegal here in CA, so I use Arm-R-Seal or Deft Danish Oil.  I really like a nice oil finish better most of the time since poly can make you sweat.

[Findecanor]

Lacquer is illegal here in CA, ...

AFAIK, it is not lacquer itself but some types of organic solvents that are often used in lacquer. There should be alternatives that use other solvents.

[P3TC0CK]

For smaller keyboards you could use Shapeways to get a ceramic keyboard case. I'm not sure if you could do so with a full 104 keyboard as you need to fit the case in their bounding box for ceramic of:

340 × 240 × 170 mm and X + Y + Z ≤ 400 mm

[dantan]

I'm told that glass is hard to machine, and investing in moulds to make it is sorta expensive.

Carbon fiber is dangerous to machine, but people have wrapped things in it I think

Ceramic would be awesome. I think a powder injection moulded case / keycaps are easily possible, but they need to sinter and not everyone has access to a sintering oven. Other powder process methods are easier or harder.

Powder SLS 3D printed titanium keycaps exist. The only thing barring someone from making a case out of it is the cost.

many materials are too brittle to be used as an effective plate. Glass / ceramic / etc. I'm not sure if it'd work out.

I was thinking about cement recently. It beats adding lead weights to your keyboard....

Wow... if I tell people I have a cement keyboard...

Maybe we can have cast cement keycaps. They'll really, really last forever.

[dorkvader]

For smaller keyboards you could use Shapeways to get a ceramic keyboard case. I'm not sure if you could do so with a full 104 keyboard as you need to fit the case in their bounding box for ceramic of:

340 × 240 × 170 mm and X + Y + Z ≤ 400 mm

I was thinking of getting some ceramic keycaps made via them, but I am not sure they'll come out well.

Fortunately it's very easy to make keycaps for hall effect

[P3TC0CK]

For smaller keyboards you could use Shapeways to get a ceramic keyboard case. I'm not sure if you could do so with a full 104 keyboard as you need to fit the case in their bounding box for ceramic of:

340 × 240 × 170 mm and X + Y + Z ≤ 400 mm

I was thinking of getting some ceramic keycaps made via them, but I am not sure they'll come out well.

Fortunately it's very easy to make keycaps for hall effect

There's actually a minimum size for their ceramics I think. Out of all the keys I had designed for my flat key cap set I was only given the option to do ceramics for my spacebar.

[cribbit]

But actually though POM blanks for main keycaps + cermaic spacebar for that nice different sound... mmmm. Have you tried actually ordering it? $7 seems incredibly affordable.

Full case is I think slightly over that dimensions limit. Could work for a 40% though.

[P3TC0CK]

But actually though POM blanks for main keycaps + cermaic spacebar for that nice different sound... mmmm. Have you tried actually ordering it? $7 seems incredibly affordable.

Full case is I think slightly over that dimensions limit. Could work for a 40% though.

I'm actually not done with my set as I've found out you save a considerable amount of money if you can include all your elements in one model. I'm trying to find someone on fiverr to work on two sets, one with 104 keys floating and one with 104 keys attached by "sprues" at the moment, so it should be 1-2 days before I order the set and maybe 3-5 days to receive my first set of them since I live in Dubai.

It should cut down the handling cost of the keys which is currently at 1.50 USD a key cap

Maybe with the larger group I could get a full ceramic set done? Who knows until I get the models uploaded

Edit: I was just thinking of how you could do a full sized case in shapeways and maybe you could design a case that came in 2 parts locked together/ was fastened together by some nuts or bolts or a custom locking mechanism you could design, would definitely be an interesting thing to see.

[damorgue]

For smaller keyboards you could use Shapeways to get a ceramic keyboard case. I'm not sure if you could do so with a full 104 keyboard as you need to fit the case in their bounding box for ceramic of:

340 × 240 × 170 mm and X + Y + Z ≤ 400 mm

I was thinking of getting some ceramic keycaps made via them, but I am not sure they'll come out well.

Fortunately it's very easy to make keycaps for hall effect

Minimum wall thickness is 6mm, so I am quite certain a keycap can't be done in ceramics there.

But actually though POM blanks for main keycaps + cermaic spacebar for that nice different sound... mmmm. Have you tried actually ordering it? $7 seems incredibly affordable.

The reason why it is cheap is that the ceramic material is cheap since the ceramic models need to be very thick. In this case it is way to thin to fulfill the requirements set by Shapeways.

There's actually a minimum size for their ceramics I think. Out of all the keys I had designed for my flat key cap set I was only given the option to do ceramics for my spacebar.

See comment about minimum thickness above. It will be checked in steps, only the overall size check is automated.

[cribbit]

What if the body of the cap was ceramic, with a notch to attach the stem inside?

[damorgue]

What if the body of the cap was ceramic, with a notch to attach the stem inside?

Again, at least with that particular technology, the sides have to be 6mm thick on each side. This would interfere with the switch housing. There is basically no space for the switch inside, unless you make the cap thicker outwards instead, which would make the cap huge and greatly increase the spacing between the switches.

Edit: There may have been some confusion on 6mm. That would be approxiamtely 1/4" to the non-metric ones of you. See the problem?

[cribbit]

I think there's barely enough room. A key is 19mm wide. I guess the top width is a little too skinny. Perhaps wider tops than usual?

[damorgue]

I think there's barely enough room. A key is 19mm wide. I guess the top width is a little too skinny. Perhaps wider tops than usual?

Ok, I don't seem to be getting through here. It is not even close to working with 6mm

Pictures might better illustrate it. This model has been split in half for illustrative purposes:

The above cap is about 1mm thick. Now imagine a cap which is 6 times as thick on all sides, and which can't expand outwards either since the distance from switch to switch is 19.05mm. Even if the stem is made of something else, a 6mm thick cap will leave you with 6mm from one side to the other on the inside of the cap. That isn't even enough for the stem, let alone the entire switch.

Edit: Hopefully that will clarify things. Their requirement of 6mm minimum wall thickness just renders it impossible to make a reasonable key cap in ceramic with their machine.

[fknraiden]

Card board. ^_^

Czarek makes CNC-machined PVC cases.

do you know if 60%'s were ever made?

[davkol]

60%'s what? czarek currently offers only ErgoDox cases AFAIK, but GH60 and maybe Phantom is in the works.