I've been designing my own keyboard for the first time
I've been designing my own keyboard for the first time
I've bought the idea of getting an ergo keyboard for work, but it's too expensive to buy one from where I live, so the last days I've been learning and designing my own.
I know it won't be as good as a manufactured one but I really want to see how the result will be
Nice! If you haven't bumped into it, then the build log of the Steel Tormentor and it's cardboard prototype have been really illuminating for me.
Edit: Also, an Inkscape trick: you can set it's zoom using a real ruler placed on the screen so it can show you your drawing real size. Then you can test button placement without having to print.
4Wow, great content, it will definitely be helpful once I start building the keyboard, my father in law works with laser cutting and acrylic so I'm planning on using it for the case/board
About the inkscape tip, I'm doing this, helped a lot because I could fine tune the angles and offsets pretty quickly
2CAD (cardboard aided design) is really powerful. You get to fail fast: figuring out things don't work before more expensive manufacturing steps (such as laser cutting).
And using inkscape is fine, but even better if you print it out and stick it to cardboard.
2Edit: I put up my .svg files here, in case they might be useful.
Cool! I just did a full Inkscape+laser-cutting build using MDF and acrylic. I'm still to write something up about it, though. In short, I used a 1,5 mm acrylic bottom cover, on top of that 2x 3mm MDF as "case" (minimum height with a 1,5mm plate), the top one supporting the plate, but with larger holes so the switch clamps fit, a 1,5mm acrylic plate, and finally another MDF layer on top of the plate, outlining the keys, for aesthetics and rigidity.
After having set up the keys, I used mainly offsets around those to do the outline etc.
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First thought was that it looks similar to a Keyboardio model 100: https://shop.keyboard.io/products/model-100
3It was an inspiration, the model 100 and also the moonlander
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I’m of the opinion that if it’s cheaper with the same or more functionality than a consumer grade option, it’s superior. Bravo
3Great line of thought
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I think you should probably use a CAD instead of graphics software to design...
1I probably should but I'd have to learn it first and I'm going to use laser cut acrylic so any 2d design should be fine for now, maybe in the future I'll 3d print a case, if so I'll try to use fusion 360 to do it
1Depends on what they want. Inkscape is perfectly fine for plate design, which you can then lift using standoffs, like the Steel Tormentor.
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Shift not on thumbs with that many thumb keys?
1There's two shifts, one of them in the thumbs
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