Wanted to share my ongoing project.
I've always wanted a truly mobile keyboard that could replace my phone's touch screen kbd with something I don't have to look at to use. And something with a little more positioning flexibility when stationary.
For this project, the kbd electronics are ripped off from Mitosis. So there's 2 halves that work wirelessly with a dongle. The dongle has an Adafruit Feather with BLE, so it's not perfect but the whole deal can still be wireless/bluetooth if you get a battery for the dongle too.
Rearranged PCB for smaller footprint, swapped ML switches, and reduced spaces between switches.
Designed and 3D printed the keycaps, case and mounting system, and have been experimenting with attachments for putting the keyboard anywhere I can think of.
Prototyped most things in cardboard first, but not an engineer and had to learn tools as I went, so still made a ton of funny and frustrating mistakes.
Keyboard & bracket mount:Keyboard clips into the bracket. Snug fit, but still easily removable. The bracket connects to accessories with a single screw, and there are alignment bumps/holes so you can lock the kbd at 30 degree increments in relation to whatever its attached to. Check pictures further down that show this.
Belt clip:
Tenting:Broke the 3D printed arm supports as I was installing them (oops! poorly designed). Luckily, bamboo skewers are a perfect substitute. Angles from 0 to 90 degrees are achievable, in roughly 10 or 15 degree increments.
Clothespin:For clipping onto stuff! Like pockets...(still want to make a fancy, and more robust, 3d printed version of this)
The Dream (if only this was retractable into my sleeve!):
You saw it here first folks: next year's hot holiday toy is... keyboard spoons!
Other thoughts:- velcro? Put soft side on your clothing/backpack/whatever, and then velcro teeth side mounted on bottom of keyboard. Keys anywhere you want 'em!
- for travel: on my list to create a cover that attaches to the keyboard the same way the white bracket does, except it goes overtop of the keys. A single piece both boards can clip onto either side of
- want to make a Kailh low profile version, perhaps with standard spacing & keycaps
- still struggling with the electronics, unfortunately, so this is not in daily use yet. My first ST Link V2 for programming the NRF board appears to be corrupted, so I bought two more. It's been over a month so I'm expecting them any day now...
- also need to finish up the enclosure for the dongle & battery
Let me know what you think!
Shoutouts/inspiration:Mitosis by reverse_biasEnclosure & bracketTentingML KeycapsThis community!
Under the hood, sad prototypes and silly mistakes:More
