Author Topic: I got bored, made a poor mans one hand keyboard  (Read 1738 times)

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Offline adventurepoop

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I got bored, made a poor mans one hand keyboard
« on: Mon, 23 June 2014, 23:17:10 »
I got bored and was curious about using foamcore to prototype plates, so I made this one handed keyboard



(note, one switch for space isnt soldered yet because I added this after everything else was done.)
Inspired by this, http://www.boundlessat.com/Keyboards-Mice/Alternative-Keyboards/Half-Keyboard-PC-Mac

The teensy isn't in yet because its in the mail, but I plan on having the teensy just be able to detach so I can use it in a plethora of silly prototypes. I used cherry mx blues, and keycaps from a crapbag. Without the teensy it cost me around 12$. I made it in about 2 hours, of which about 1/2 was cad and cutting the foamcore, and the other half was soldering/gluing/other stuff. The foamcore is surprisingly sturdy, and you cant feel it give at all as you type, but I doubt it would feel that way with anything significantly larger. I'm currently looking for a way to just punch out holes for the switches instead of cutting them with an exacto, as I felt that took too much time to make this a viable way to prototype any decent sized layouts.

Anyway, it was a fun short project to mess around with and now I have something that I can use for Cad/Photoshop/whatever. I might try a larger plate with this super cheap/easy method sometime, if I can find a better way to cut the holes. if anyone has any ideas that would be great :D

Offline rowdy

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Re: I got bored, made a poor mans one hand keyboard
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 24 June 2014, 00:53:39 »
Nice one :))

It's random experimentation like that that could end up as the next big thing.  You don't know who needs a keyboard like this.

Some times I think of creating something like this, or a gaming-specific micro-keyboard.  One day I might get around to it!
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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