geekhack
geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: elgiraffe on Mon, 05 October 2015, 10:39:32
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I was going make a guide, but there are plenty of those out there and I don't think I'd have much to add. If you need step by step I have the links for the 2 guides I mainly used. Thanks to matt3o over at deskthority.net. Instead, I wrote up a little bit about doing my build. Maybe someone will be able to read through this and gleam something. I'd like to make a tool similar to http://builder.swillkb.com/ that would take the raw data from keyboard-layout-editor.com and spit out the .stl files for keycaps and a case for people to print. If I get that going, I'll contribute that for sure.
I bought my first mechanical keyboard about 2 months ago. The first time I sat down at my desk and typed on it I knew I was hooked. Little did I know what rabbit hole I had fallen down. Different switches, different clone switches, different layouts, different keycap profiles, different keycap materials... Oh my...
I decided I was going to build a custom keyboard. It didn't take me long to find out I like silent tactile switches (browns, but still need to try clears). And I wanted a compact layout. I liked the 60% and the 40%, but wanted something in between. I present 50ish. It's basically a 40% layout with arrow keys and a number row added at the top. I toyed around with more compact designs, but landed on this as my first test.
That was layout and switches decided. That's the easy part. Now I had to decide what I was going to make it out of. At first I wanted to go with metal and decided on aluminum. I knew that was the way most customs seemed to be made. I worked for a couple of weeks looking for a local service that could do this and found nothing. All of the online services I found were ridiculously expensive. I eventually decided to look into doing it myself. I decided the best way to do this would be to become a member of the local makerspace (I'm lucky to have one) and utilize those tools.
Now the makerspace is, in a word, AWESOME. Holy crap the endless possibilities, but that rant could go on so I'll stop.
I eventually backtracked on the metal idea because I just wasn't going to be able to get the tools needed. I debated between wood and acrylic and decided to 3d print a numpad to test and because I really wanted to. It worked great and was surprisingly strong so I decided to go with that for the full keyboard. I am using PolyPrint 229 3d printers.
Now I needed to design the 3d model for the case. There are a million ways to do it. I decided to go with Tinkercad.com. It is a free 3d modeling tool that is very powerful, but fairly basic. It is also online so I could do it from any computer. I started with a block, and made holes where the keys would go. Then I added slots for the wires and diodes. Then a spot in the back for the teensy. I might go into more detail on this later, but I will have a link for the tinkercad projects so you could have a look at what I did.
Now I had to decide on the keycaps. At this point, I was so thrilled with 3d printing that I thought it might be a cool idea to 3d print the keycaps. I eventually did it, but this part took the longest by far. I had to figure out the specifics of my printer so that it would print correctly and consistently without supports and with a cross-post that would actually work on the MX switches. This took a couple of weeks of tinkering with it since I only had access to the 3d printer at the makerspace, mostly on the weekends.
After several failed attempts and screw-ups, I eventually printed my full keyboard and all of the keycaps. The switches all fit in perfectly. I didn't have any stabilizers, so on the RShift key I used a hollowed out 2nd switch as a stabilizer. It works almost perfectly on a 2u switch. I tried making the space bar 3u long and that same method did not work as well. I ended up with 2 1.5 u space bars instead. Good enough for me...
Once I had all of the switches in the top plate and all of the keycaps on I was on to wiring it. This was by far the most soldering I have done, but I got it done in a few hours mostly over 1 weekend. Be sure the diodes are facing the correct direction for the firmware you are planning on using. I did the wiring for the TMK firmware, but tried using the Easy AVR firmware. Nothing worked and I couldn't figure out why. Luckily a user on reddit was able to help me out and I switched to TMK. It's better anyway and only a little complicated to program.
Once I got it working, I ecitedly plugged it into my computer and played some Payday 2. I'm pretty much done with it now. I still need to make the bottom plate, but it is fully functional. WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!
-Links-
imgur gallery:
http://imgur.com/a/BwHFn
Keyboard Layout:
http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/ce6e9c8f0d7a7c3c9362
Keyboard Case/Top Plate:
https://tinkercad.com/things/f59SVtVzTS4
Keyboard Bottom Plate (untested):
https://tinkercad.com/things/cijIiqCf09q
Keycaps:
https://tinkercad.com/things/i0znQqLER90
-Guides I Used-
BrownFox step by step by matt3o on deskthority.net:
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/brownfox-step-by-step-t6050.html
how to build your very own keyboard firmware by matt3o on deskthority.net:
http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/how-to-build-your-very-own-keyboard-firmware-t7177.html
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Looks like you learned a lot! I'll be honest, those caps don't look like fun to type on. But it's a cool layout.
Are those keys larger than the standard size?
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Not printing pancake keycaps https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1853707494/pancakebot-the-worlds-first-pancake-printer
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Looks like you learned a lot! I'll be honest, those caps don't look like fun to type on. But it's a cool layout.
Are those keys larger than the standard size?
Thanks.
I learned a ton. The key's a little rough, in more ways than one. But they aren't to bad to type on. I think they are a tiny bit larger than regular keys and as a result the space in between is smaller, but its not noticable for the most part. There are a couple of keys that stick because they aren't quite straight.
The biggest issue is that this keyboard is very very very very very light. I will probably eventually make another keyboard with this or a similar layout that is made out of metal or has weights. I'm going to put rubber feet on the bottom eventually so that it doesn't slide as much.
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Nice. If you printed with ABS then you can paint the printouts with acetone. It is quick and it will look better ... like here (http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/katy-keyboard-or-k80cs-key80-contoured-split-t8524.html#p247068).
I did a keycap (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43362.msg1507680#msg1507680) (model (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=73277.msg1792951#msg1792951)) too. But it was without any legend.