i spent sleepless nights watching live stream and builds on youtube...i think it is now time to give you a little update...
like i mentioned earlier i am not sure when but at some point i decided that i wanted to build my own keyboard
i know very little but i knew that there were a couple of things that i wanted:
- it had to be minimal
- it had to be iso, and possibly as similar as possible to the default iso layout
combining all the above i think i opted for a 60% layout with a split spacebar
it all started with a delivery, a small box full of goodies from KBDFans (thank you by the way for the incredible support, i know i have been a pain...i just had no clue what i wanted...)
gateron brown switches, i know nothing fancy, but it seemed like the reasonable choice as first switch, i did not want anything clicky and nothing too exotic or expensive
for the keycaps i wanted something sober i knew i didn't want ABS and i didn't want to have OEM or cherry profile
for the pcb i read so many good things about the dz60 that i don't think there was ever any doubt
for the back plate i went with steel, i actually regretted this later on, but i didn't know any better
since i decide to work on this i decided also that i wanted to make my own case
i had some plywood an aluminium plate that wanted to be the bottom of a keyboard
![](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/imgur/uploads/default/original/3X/b/2/b29ea33891e34c3937420e8b4979c04a9359ab71.jpeg)
and some acrylic glass that always dreamed of being used...so i started playing with what i got
![](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/imgur/uploads/default/original/3X/2/1/214d667d3ac21508df55718e099beaaf454b67e1.jpeg)
some layout test, i read it was important so i did it and indeed it helped me in getting the right switches in the right place
![](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/imgur/uploads/default/original/3X/a/e/ae2cfaaacfecc5d96b86ba646686cdd393042d05.jpeg)
the best way to make the standoff was to glue nuts of different size to the bottom plate...i know i know this is not ideal...
i band aid modded and lubed all the stabilisers following the advices of all the keyboard gurus...
first test, everything seems to fit
![](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/imgur/uploads/default/original/3X/7/8/78a494f91d66b54895851fce36c0a503e2776204.jpeg)
i didn't take many photos of the painting process, but i can tell you it was long and painful
the bottom plate got a couple of layers of primer and then some red/orange and a translucent coat (which in the end left some strange shades..)
the wood got a darker shade and several layers of flatting
and here are the pictures of the final product
![](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/imgur/uploads/default/original/3X/d/9/d96f0474a89330028364c268eef8a737f115b2ce.jpeg)
more pictures here:
https://community.imgur.com/t/first-60-build-own-case/61140waiting for all the different coats to dry gave me the perfect excuse for studying a bit the QMK documentation
i might be wrong but i could not find any layout that fit, there was an iso and split but not an iso split
so i added an iso split to info.json and dz60.h under keyboard/dz60
i initially thought that rgb was not important and i just wanted a plain colour
but then i stumbled upon a thread on how to have rgb settings per layer (thanks to AGausmann and drashna)
and i felt that i had to have it
i combined the rgb layer switch with a 99% default base and function layer plus a arrow/mouse layer and an rgb layer
and i saved everything under my layout folder "iso_split-spacebar"
i would like to give what i have done back to the community, i know it is not rocket science
but in case anybody else needs an iso split layout...it might be useful i guess
but first i need to learn how to commit (is that even the right word???) changes to github (if anybody want to help me out with this and link some info..)
i know the keyboard is not perfect but i am quite happy with the result
i will need to improve painting and the feet need some rethinking
i will want to have also my own usb cables
overall it was a lovely experience
thank you all for the support and inspiration
thanks M
dz60.h, keymap.c, info.json attached