ABS plate questions

[Go Gurt Stick]

Hello, I'm posting this because I have some questions about ABS plates. I have heard that the easiest way to get one is to have it 3d printed, and I would like to know if I was to 3d print one, would I have to CAD the entire thing or do people have files made for different layouts, mounting styles, and form factors? If there are any files I can download to 3d print, if anybody knows, could I have a location of where to get it, or maybe a link to it if you could? I don't really have any experience with a 3d printer, so please excuse me if I am missing something.

I was also wondering how the sound and feel compares to other plate materials such as carbon fiber, brass, aluminum, steel, polycarbonate, so on so forth, and if people have any experience with one, could you please also mention your build with it and how it felt/sounded? Thanks for your time.

[Vorge]

I cant tell you the differences between ABS and the rest of the plates since I  honestly havent tested one, however I don know how to 3D print and how to make plates, so I may be of help in that regard.

First you are most likely going to CAD your plate unless its an open source board, in which case you should have a step, dxf or even an stl file.

If  you have an STL file you are lucky, you just have to send it to someone that 3d prints and hope the printer is big enough, if not just send it to someone else.

If you dont have an STL you will have to make one, a step file can just be converted to stl and a dxf file can be extruded in a CAD program to make a 3d file (step file) and then convert it or just export it as stl if your program is able to.

If you have nothing you are in trouble and are going to make everything from scratch, if you dont know how to make 3d stuff its going to be kinda hard. First your layout, you can easily make the base of your plate using http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/ you copy all the raw data and paste it here https://plate.keeb.io and you will download it as a dxf file.

Once done you will have to make the boarders and screw holes if there are any manually depending on the keyboard you are using, I cant help a lot here since idk what keyboard you are using, extrude it and you have your 3d model finished, now just export it to stl or step and convert it to stl to finish it.

You can also ask to the maker if he/she could spare an stl file for 3d printing but I dont think they will accept.

Hope this is helpful