Scratch Build mini

[morffius]

This is amazing! I just jumped on the bandwagon with a Filco black and am already interested in modding. This would be ultimate. I love the progress and the teamwork here and all over this forum so far.  You can count me in for this custom board!

[Swede]

Wow!!
This is just amazing! I'm all over this board xD To bad it's in us layout, but this board is so awesome I want it anyway!
Any chance you might try a Eu layout in a later revision, if this is succesful?

Might seeing this wrong but, looks like you have to make completely new layout for Eu. Because the layout is so slimmed, I can't see a place for another key, maybe you have to cut into the enterkey to prevent that... or loose the arrow keys :/
Can't wait to see this board finished, it will be epic

[chimera15]

Finally got the blank pcb for this.  Was like a month lead time...  If I sell these I'm going to have to order a huge quantity or find faster source.  Still waiting on the caps.  Going to build a 3d model next.  Taking a 3d modeling course, so hopefully can do it for one of my projects.

[Input Nirvana]

Thanks for showing the individual progressive steps and the thinking that goes into the decisions you make. That in itself is interesting and has transferable value. I've found it to be of great assistance with my silly stuff!

[chimera15]

Finished a cap render, well sort of finished, some places are still kind of rough I noticed after the render.

[rantenki]

Finally got the blank pcb for this.  Was like a month lead time...  If I sell these I'm going to have to order a huge quantity or find faster source.  Still waiting on the caps.  Going to build a 3d model next.  Taking a 3d modeling course, so hopefully can do it for one of my projects.

You may want to look at gold phoenix if you are doing multiple boards: http://www.goldphoenixpcb.biz/special_price.php as they are the company that actually manufactures boards for BatchPCB/Sparkfun (don't let them know I told you that)

Also, I don't know if you had a solution for the metal plate (so many posts), but you may want to look at http://bigbluesaw.com/ ,  who can waterjet cut steel/aluminum to very tight tolerances (not as much rounding in the corners).

[microsoft windows]

Finished a cap render, well sort of finished, some places are still kind of rough I noticed after the render.

Show Image

That might be something with anti-aliasing.

[chimera15]

Finally got the caps.  3 steps left to get a fully produced keyboard.  Plate, pcb, case.





I think the caps look pretty good.  They'll definitely work if I can get working plate dimensions.  At least now I have the end point of my design so I'm not up in the air if the final dimensions are correct or not.  Unfortunately I'm really busy with school right now.  I'm not sure when I'll have the time to find out a way to produce the plate.  I also need to get a laser printer to try to work on the pcb, but low on funds.

[dmw]

Exciting!  Doesn't it make you want to just drop everything to work on your keyboard?  I was in a pretty similar position as you when I started on my keyboard.  I was in school, and I found it difficult to study when I really wanted to work on the board.  

Looking forward to future updates - whenever you're able to get back to it.

[clee]

Damn, dude. My hat's off to you, this is truly awesome stuff.

I wonder if anybody even makes scooped aluminum keycaps. I'd like to try something like that.

[cirthix]

Just get a PCB made.  33 bucks (~50 shipped) will get you a 2layer board from 4pcb/advancedpcb if you're a student.  good quality, good turnaround, good prices.  I've used them for projects a few times and recommend them.

As for layout, get the altium designer trial edition.  fully featured for 30 days.

[WhiteRice]

Just get a PCB made.  33 bucks (~50 shipped) will get you a 2layer board from 4pcb/advancedpcb if you're a student.  good quality, good turnaround, good prices.  I've used them for projects a few times and recommend them.

As for layout, get the altium designer trial edition.  fully featured for 30 days.

This was exactly what I was looking for. Good to know if I ever make my own.

[didjamatic]

This looks great Chimera.

[chimera15]

Just get a PCB made.  33 bucks (~50 shipped) will get you a 2layer board from 4pcb/advancedpcb if you're a student.  good quality, good turnaround, good prices.  I've used them for projects a few times and recommend them.

As for layout, get the altium designer trial edition.  fully featured for 30 days.

Hmm I'll look them up.  This is my next project and I'm so close on it.  All I really need to have a functional keyboard is the plate and pcb.  The case may be a big hurdle, but the keyboard would be working  if I could just get the pcb and plate. I could make the case out of cardboard if I had to.

[chimera15]

Trying to work on this project again.  Still looking for an economical way to cut square holes in aluminum.  Found this page.  

http://makezine.com/extras/15.html

The greenlee die looks like the best method.  I need to find one for around or less than $100 though that's 14mm.   Might be tough.

Yup, no luck finding one that's 14mm...  I don't think the hole for cherry switches have a good inch comparison?  They're like .55 inches or so?

The other method is possibly the Whitney punch, but again 14mm may be a problem.  I may call Whitney to see if they have any suggestions.