How can I create my own custom keyboard CASE?

[Luciqueii]

Hello, friends of Geekhack,

My name is FLawLesS & I wanna build own custom 65% or 75% size kb case.
The material that will be used will be wood, a little short story we totally dive into what I wanna achieve.
So here in Sweden, my relatives own a  big private company where we make furniture or art stuff from wood materials only.

My goal is to make a 65% or 75% size kb with a clean design. I have all the access beside a 3D template to print out my wooden case and see how it turns out.
I don't have any kind of skills in cad or any other 3D modeling program, so if there is anyone out there with time and knowledge that knows how to make KB cases to a true size that fits for PCB
so it can be used please team up with.

If I can make this goal to become true I will ask the community of Geekhack if they are interested in a group buy of the KB case.
(The people who help will get the case for free, only paying for the ship...)

Anyone that has ideas or smart tips that wanna improve the world of keyboard cases just let us know, join us and influence us about how you would like to the perfect case to be.
Tag the people who you think or know would be the perfect guy that I could work with.

Also, I will link Imgur link with the things we make in our company so you guys can be sure that if the case design becomes real you will get a premium wooden case of high quality all the way from North Sweden.

https://imgur.com/a/5DTImOF

Thank you for reading and I wish you all amazing weekend! 

[JohanAR]

I don't have any 3d skills either, but if you want to build it with a metal switch plate you can use this tool: http://builder.swillkb.com/  After that it ought to be fairly easy to create a square box large enough to hold the plate and pcb. The wooden part would look something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/GH60-Keyboard-Wood-Case-PCB-Board-Position-Plate-Satellite-Axis-And-Walnut-Wood-Wrist-Rest-For/32836566852.html

Maybe it would be possible to take the drawing that online tool generates and convert it into a cad model if want cnc the switch plate from wood. Some guy posted photos of his wooden switch plate in this thread: https://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/plate-materials-t12755.html

And I've been to your relatives' gallery/store btw

[Blitzschnitzel]

Hi,
I am a product designer and I would be happy to work with someone who has the tools and is willing to experiment a bit.
When you say print wood you mean a CNC-mill right? Do you plan to make a profit from the cases? If not, thats cool. But if you do, a free case wouldn't be enough.

[tp4tissue]

Hi,
I am a product designer and I would be happy to work with someone who has the tools and is willing to experiment a bit.
When you say print wood you mean a CNC-mill right? Do you plan to make a profit from the cases? If not, thats cool. But if you do, a free case wouldn't be enough.

I think he means plan out the case with CAD.

General wood cabinetry is much more gentle on the material.

[Blitzschnitzel]

I think he means plan out the case with CAD.
General wood cabinetry is much more gentle on the material.

Of course, but also more limited. And especially for keyboard cases where you have to do a lot of hollowing out it can become forbiddingly expensive. All the “made from one block” designs on Aliexpress are defiantly cnc-milled. The only alternative would be hand carving or a normal mill. So, basically a human powered cnc-mill. Don’t wanna be that guy.^^

[Leslieann]

There are plenty of files already created for 60%, which makes it simple since most 60% follow the Poker mounting system and size, or at least are close enough to not matter.

75% is a challenge since every 75% uses different mounting points and can even be a different size. If you break it down to the individual models and community involvement, you would probably get a better response doing Ergodox or 40% instead of 75%, it’s just not used by enough people in the community. Even better, Ergodox and 40% already has cad files made.

A cad file is only a small part of the process.
People often think access to the machines is the most difficult part of getting something made, when in reality it’s not only a small fraction, it’s not even the most difficult part. You also may want to check with those relatives before digging too deep into this, while they may allow you to make one or two in their workshop, changing or tying up their line to make a small production run may not be what they had in mind.