Making my own keyboard

November 28, 2024

Making my own keyboard

Hello,

Its been a while. I know. I did not complete the Singapore series but am posting on a different topic. Life's been very bland these days, I was not feeling it to write about it. I will do it some time in future, but lets talk about today's topic.

So, why a custom keyboard? Its simple. Because I like it. I like the way you can decide what is important to you - the functionality, appeal, sound etc.

I chose functionality - less keys, less hand movement and less pain. But it is also because I thought I can spend a lot less building than buying one, though at the end I found it not to be the case. You also need to consider the time you spend on building and customizing it. Because time is precious.

But as i said before, there are definite advantages. Keyboards bought in budget often feel cheap, things break soon and lack the option to customize the functions. You can decide how you want your keyboard to be. Also this can be a very good project on the side.

So, I started building it. I chose Reviung41 (https://github.com/gtips/reviung) because it was compact, ergonomic and looked cool. I went with a sandwich case design (where you put two sheets of acrylic together and make it work - the top plate houses the keys and the bottom plate acts as a base and cover). It is prone to dust and debris, but it the most cost effective design to start the hobby.

I also chose to hand wire the switches together because - a. pcb manufacturing is costly and at least 5 pieces are required to place an order, b. I was good with soldering and costs a tad bit less. I wanted the keyboard to be my travel buddy, so I put ttc low profile red switches (bought on stackskb - cause there was a discount) cause it takes less space. The keycaps were from an earlier build that was lying around - blank dsa off white and translucent grey keycaps, which i bought on meckeys. The links will be available at the end. But I want to switch to low profile keycaps. These two caught my eye - https://curiositycaps.in/products/electrical-wire-slope-low-profile-side-printed-keycap?_pos=3&_sid=326068db0&_ss=r and https://neomacro.in/products/cfx-mx-bow-low-profile-keycaps-134-keys?variant=49467125793046. I cannot decide which to choose.

A few days ago I designed a case for it in fusion 360, using the bottom plate from acrylic case. I made many mistakes.

Design of the bottom plate and top plate is different. I extruded the bottom plate directly without checking the top plate. pics here. I will have to drill/cut the top plate to make it fit.
Tolerances of the end product. The inside of the case matches exactly with the top plate's dimensions. The top plate will not slide in easily. It needs force applied to settle in. Taking the top plate out will be a nightmare.
I added standoffs but did not put holes. I will have to drill holes separately, which is an added cost. Also the standoffs measure exactly 4 mm, so I cannot put the brass inserts for screwing the top plate in.
I did not measure the microcontrollers dimensions and how it fits in the case. The case cut out for inserting cable is out of place, I would probably need to cut some parts off.

Overall, there are many such small improvements that can be made, which can be improved in the next version. But it will have to wait, as I do not have the time nor money for another project.

Links:

Switches: https://stackskb.com/store/ttc-low-profile-red-switch-linear/

Micro controller: https://robu.in/product/pro-micro-5v-16m-mini-leonardo-micro-controller-development-board-for-arduino/

Keycaps: https://meckeys.com/shop/accessories/keyboard-accessories/keycaps/blank-dsa-keycaps-1u/

Diodes: https://robu.in/product/1n4148-1w-zener-diode-pack-of-50/

3D printed case: https://robu.in

Sandwich case & custom keyboard build guide: https://medium.com/@datacompboy/building-my-own-ergo-keyboard-ch4-make-a-sandwich-1e08658a615f

Pictures: