Looking for Thoughts on Mounting Plate as Case (like Corsair K95)

[ShriekBob]

I've been checking out some case ideas for my Ergodox, and I found Corsair K95.  I've seen a couple of keyboards that follow a similar idea.  They use the mountaing plate for the switchs as the top of the case.  I was wondering if anyone had a keyboard that did this, and what there thoughts were.

Cheers.

[damorgue]

There are plenty of examples. Some custom cases are just a plate with the edges bent down, some have layers but only up to the mounting late layer. The thing they have in common is that you can see the switches when looking at it slightly from the side. The spruce marks are not hidden as well, and the flat edge at the bottom of DCS profile also becomes visible. I tend to dislike having these things visible. My 2c

[dorkvader]

I've been checking out some case ideas for my Ergodox, and I found Corsair K95.  I've seen a couple of keyboards that follow a similar idea.  They use the mountaing plate for the switchs as the top of the case.  I was wondering if anyone had a keyboard that did this, and what there thoughts were.

Cheers.

I think the first I saw that used the platecase (my favourite case design) was the original DOX kb design. After that, it was also used by many DIYers with their prototype designs (for example samwisekoi's GH75 prototype) as well as commercial vendors like GON.

GON has a particularly nice implementation of the idea:
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=44613.0

Here's a render of the idea from the doxkb topic. Sadly, DOX's original pictures and renders were lost.
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=19227.msg462536#msg462536

[MOZ]

It won't be possible for you to do the same with the ErgoDox, since the Teensy mounts on the top side; you could however ofcourse mount it on the bottom but then the reset switch would not be accessible.

[ShriekBob]

Hmm...good point, the Teensy, and the USB and 3.5mm Jacks all visible through the mounting plate don't they, which would mean the top plate would need to cover them, at which point you have unsightly bumps and you've kind of lost the aesthetic.  I could mount them on the bottom, you are correct, though that might make the USB connection a little awkward to wire.  I'd also want it sealed at the bottom, so yes I would lose access to the reset switch (not sure how important that is).

As for the aethetic appeal.  I kinda like it, its a bit more "in your face".  Especially with the SA profile I'm gonna have

My other option is to get someone to make the "layered case" for me out of some really nice hard wood, that could be really nice but I've heard there is some difficulty in laser cutting the mounting plate for wood.

[MOZ]

Yeah, most of the wood experts on GH, recommend against wooden mounting plates.

[ShriekBob]

Hmmm... ah well.  Thanks anyway folks.

This is all interesting things to note for my next keyboard though.

[dorkvader]

It won't be possible for you to do the same with the ErgoDox, since the Teensy mounts on the top side; you could however ofcourse mount it on the bottom but then the reset switch would not be accessible.

I just bridge the two reset pins anyway. My current ergoDOX is a single hand with an upside-down mounted teensy.

You could forego the 3.5mm jack and just have a wire. You could even panel mount a jack of some sort to the "front" of the case from under the board. The possabilites are endless! Or you could simply have the 3.5mm jack on the underside.

Basically the ergodox was designed with all the components sticking "up". If you flip it, the teensy goes on the "bottom" of the LH PCB, and the port expander on the bottom of the RH PCB. You'd need to forego the USB connector and just use the one on the teensy (it's easier, and what I ended up doing). Then you solder the switches to the "top". The entire assembly would look great (only switches and plate visible from the top, and only connectors come out the front.

You'd have to do some careful measuring, to see how much space the bend eats up, but you can have it all lasered at one place, then the two sides bent down at another. I like it!

The only thing you "lose" is that it has to be at least tall enough in the back to cover the height of the teensy, plus add a little room so you odnt press the rest button or USB port by mistake. If you don't use pin headers, the teensy can be very close to the PCB: so it's not an issue.

[ShriekBob]

Hmmm...I think it would look pretty badass, hence my original pondering.

Could you not just solder them on the underside of the same side?  So Teensy on the underside of the RH, IO Expander on the underside of the left?  Surely the through-hole connections are going to be on the same "track".  At that point you could probably do the same thing with the various ports too. 

The problem with soldering the teensy and IO Expander as normal then flipping it, is that its going to make creating layouts really really awkward, because the right hand is now the left when you flip them.

[dorkvader]

Hmmm...I think it would look pretty badass, hence my original pondering.

Could you not just solder them on the underside of the same side?  So Teensy on the underside of the RH, IO Expander on the underside of the left?  Surely the through-hole connections are going to be on the same "track".  At that point you could probably do the same thing with the various ports too. 

The problem with soldering the teensy and IO Expander as normal then flipping it, is that its going to make creating layouts really really awkward, because the right hand is now the left when you flip them.

you could keep them on the same side, but moving them to the bottom of the PCB will cover the reset button. I find it easy to reset anyway (I use my DMM in amps mode, but a paperclip also works) but it certainly is less useful than having a handy button available.

Oh, that and you'd have to bend the legs of the io expander around to the other side, which may well break some of them.

It would make creating a layout slightly harder, but I just copy a "default" layout to a spare (unused) layer and then reverse it for the working layout. Then again, it's much easier for me, as I'm only using one hand. In practise, I don't make new layouts very frequently.

[tbc]

I'm confused...can't you just make a cutout on the plate to allow access to the controller?

or are we trying to keep the plate as clean looking as possible?

[jacobolus]

Yeah, most of the wood experts on GH, recommend against wooden mounting plates.

Do you have a link to any longer explanations here? It seems like with a hard enough wood, someone with a 3-axis CNC router could make a pretty effective plate + top case.

[It wouldn’t have to be uniformly as thin as a typical metal plate; only the parts where the switch clips in need to be; and maybe not even there: people’s laser-cut acrylic cases, e.g. on the Ergodox, are too thick for the plastic to properly clip in, but that doesn’t seem to stop them.]

[Melvang]

Yeah, most of the wood experts on GH, recommend against wooden mounting plates.

Do you have a link to any longer explanations here? It seems like with a hard enough wood, someone with a 3-axis CNC router could make a pretty effective plate + top case.

[It wouldn’t have to be uniformly as thin as a typical metal plate; only the parts where the switch clips in need to be; and maybe not even there: people’s laser-cut acrylic cases, e.g. on the Ergodox, are too thick for the plastic to properly clip in, but that doesn’t seem to stop them.]

Acrylic is much stronger than wood when you get down to that thickness and start putting stress in that direction with relation to the grain.  The biggest worry about using wood as a top plate is splitting and cracking especially when moving between environments of differing humanities quickly.

[MOZ]

Yeah, most of the wood experts on GH, recommend against wooden mounting plates.

Do you have a link to any longer explanations here? It seems like with a hard enough wood, someone with a 3-axis CNC router could make a pretty effective plate + top case.

[It wouldn’t have to be uniformly as thin as a typical metal plate; only the parts where the switch clips in need to be; and maybe not even there: people’s laser-cut acrylic cases, e.g. on the Ergodox, are too thick for the plastic to properly clip in, but that doesn’t seem to stop them.]

On the third GH Podcast, the_beast, mkawa and others discussed using wood as a plate.

[ShriekBob]

@tbc

Trying to keep the plate as clean as possible, and ideally as blank as possible.  I guess i'm just gonna go with the stock Acrylic case.  I'll probably not go with clear, I might go with whatever is cheap and vinyl cover it, I might go with some other color, not sure.  I'm just not sure.  Its a shame wood is a no go, it would look pretty damned amazing.

@Moz

What was the outcome?  Don't?

[jacobolus]

Acrylic is much stronger than wood when you get down to that thickness and start putting stress in that direction with relation to the grain.  The biggest worry about using wood as a top plate is splitting and cracking especially when moving between environments of differing humanities quickly.

Sure, absolutely.

I wonder though if we aren’t dismissing wood based on what it would be like as a plate w/ the same shape as a metal plate. i.e. thin and flat.

Notice that the only part that actually needs to be cut out (assuming we can do 3-axis CNC with pretty high precision) is the space actually taken up by a switch, including the fully depressed keycap and the little plastic tabs that hold the switch onto the plate. It should be possible to use a piece of wood that's quite thick (like a centimeter or something) with only the part immediately holding the switch cut to very thin, and even then, I think the thin part could be done as a sturdy wedge, instead of being plate-like. [I’ll try to make some illustrations tomorrow, as I’m not sure my text is clear.] My guess is that, given any reasonably hard wood, this would be more than sturdy enough, and it would be possible to add enough space so that any stretching/scrunching in different temperature/humidity would be not enough to start cracks. Additionally, if the whole top case were part of the same piece of wood, the wood could be even thicker around the margins of the switch area, which could add quite a bit of additional rigidity.

Then again, I’m not at all an expert on wood, so I could well be wrong about this.

[damorgue]

You are speaking of solid woods now. I don't think you would have any issues using 3mm lasercut plywood.

[jdcarpe]

You could always do something like this. I got the idea for my case from metalliqaz' Epsilon keyboard case.

[MOZ]

@Moz

What was the outcome?  Don't?

At even around 2-3mm they thought it wouldn't work IIRC, there was the issue of grain and possible cracking as well. However very high density processed wood could work, again this is based on their discussion and kawapedia, I am by far the last purpose to talk to about wood.

[rowdy]

I feel that for smaller boards having the switches more on show is less unpleasing than for larger keyboards.

Larger ones just look ... unfinished.

The 40% Jade pictured above actually looks a bit like a big switch tester