Problem: It is difficult to test new keyboard mounting styles without expensive prototypes.
Solution:An inexpensive rectangle that can serve as an analog for a keyboard.
Background:There's a lot of keyboard bro science out there. Claims of more flex. Optimal typing experience. etc etc.
How many of these are actually tested...
Testing different mounting points is expensive.
Everyone uses Jane plates.
Is it because it's the best or because it's good enough and no one bothers to do anything else because they can't cheaply prototype it...
This has been a thought of mine and some of my friends for a while (bisoromi and suyash).
An idea for multi-mount test bench has been on my mind for a long time but I never really found a way to implement it.
Geon's plateless kit for F1-8X gave me an idea for SIMP kit, which lead me to building a 3d printer, which make me mess with extrusions, which brings us here.
I thought of this while building a 3D printer and thought that extrusions could work well as a test bench for keyboard mounting.
So...instead of extrude rectangle, we have Extruded Rectangle.
Concept:10x10mm aluminum create a box.
3d printed adapters screw into the extrusion using t-nuts. Plates screw into the 3D printed adapters.
For this, we made adapters for top mount keyboards, specifically Jane V2 plate specifications.
3D printed adapters can be designed for many different things: top, bottom, gasket isolation, o-ring, etc etc.
One could even make these out of sheet metal to be a closer analog to an aluminum keyboard but this is cheaper.
Thick enough 3d printed parts are very stiff and with a high infill, may be "close enough" to an aluminum keyboard-plate interface.
I'll add some pics of design I had for o-ring mounts.
For gasket/isolation mounts, I imagined two plates that screwed together.
Inspirations and Contributors:
Geon - F1-8X
Bisoromi
Suyash - helping me with extrusions
