Keyboard Journey
In 2020, with at home time increased during Covid, people found new hobby and DIY project to do at home. Mechanical keyboard was what I picked up. 2 years later, I think I’m done with this one. Putting the story here for future reminiscent.
Started with a few off-shelf mechanical keyboards and sampled bunch of different switches.
It starts with boards with pre-build switches and keycaps like the one above from Ducky. Then came to know about hot-swappable PCB that allows changing switches without soldering.
Later, start to gift a few to family and friends.
Also picked up a few other interest during Covid.
Then in 2022, a reddit about an interesting keyboard layout called Arisu caught my attention.
What’s even more attractive for me was:
- It has ‘Esc’ key in the right place compare to other smaller form keyboards where ‘Esc’ key is above of apostraphe.
- It has space for ‘Home’, ‘End’, “PgUp’ and ‘PgDown’ on the right side which I use often.
- It has volume knob which at the time, was a novelty to have and I also use often.
DIY Begins
The problem is that, it’s not something one can buy. If you want one, you gotta build one (Or find someone who can build one and sell you one). Luckily, the author of the Reddit post made available a github repo ( https://github.com/dcpedit/adelheid-plus )with all the necessary files for different parts of the keybaord.
However, it was a pretty steep learning curve to get into. Many new terms like plate materials , cases materials. And then there’s a bit of sticker shock when fabricating the cases. Hardest one for me is probably editing cases’s SVG vector graph so they can fit in a file for cheaper manufacturing.
It was hard, but when the parts arrived, it’s a peculiar feeling. Things designed on the computer turned into physical objects. That is something software people like me don’t get often. So here, I’ll document a few notes on each topic.
- PCB. Pick a PCB Manufacture and sending PCB files to them. I used JLCPCB which had a 5 minimum order requirements. It’s straight forward, upload the gerber file from github repo and that’s it. Here’s the setting I used to make them. It took about 2 weeks. The end result is 5 PCB boards ready to be soldered with USB connector and switches.
- Case fabrication. Although switches can go into the PCB directly, it’s best to have plate between the switch and the PCB for consistent spacing and keeping the switches in place. In addition to the plate, the github repo also has all necessary files to build additional case parts in layers. I used http://ponoko.com for fabrication. This part is really expensive when doing 1 off project. Prices greatly reduce when doing 5 or more. I learned a bit of tinkering with vector graph to fit parts better for more economical acrylic prints. There is also a foam piece that would go between the plate and the PCB to soften the touch and dampen the sound. For cost saving, maybe joining the local Maker’s Club that has laser cutting machine will be more economical.
- Soldering. As DIYer, one needs to solder on the USB controller as well as the switches. You can solder on hot swappable clips that allows easy changing of switches in the future. I tried both methods. Soldering USB controller takes a bit of skill since the pins are tiny. So first apply flux on the pins, place the pins in the pads, then dragged solder across. With correct heat, the pad will suck up the solder and leave a clean look.
Lesson Learned
Differences in tool and material qualities:
- Soldering machine where good ones is quick to heat and has consistent temperature. At first, I went with cheap Amazon soldering pen and used whatever lead it came with. It was frustrating, it could’t keep the temperature. Eventually bit the bullet and purchased a Hako fx888d which has a dedicate soldering station with clear temp readout. A bit overkill for a few keyboards. For new comer, I would recommend cheaper but quality USB soldering pen (ie: TS100) with good chisel tip. It’s a lot smaller and easy to store away.
- Soldering lead makes huge difference. The one came with cheap iron doesn’t melt easily. The reputable ones from Kester melts cleanly and easily. There are difference size ones. I like to to use ones with lead instead of lead free, 63/37 they called it. 63% Tin/ 37% Lead. There are different sizes, 0.015" diameter is good for small soldering like the switches.
- Desoldering sucker. Inevitably you might need to replace parts or made mistake with incorrect soldering. Having a good desoldering solution will make that easy. I used two methods, one with desoldering sucker and one with desoldering wick which absorb lead onto itself once heat up.
- The jeweler’s magnifying glass is very useful for soldering small parts.
- Fume absorber as that burnt fume probably isn’t good for you. I got the one with longer neck so I can hide it behind the monitor. See above pic.
Result
At the end, I broke one PCB and fixed one broken from factory, so made 4 working keyboards and gave away 3 of them.
With new soldering ability, I was able to explore cheaply other DIY keyboard such as Corne Split Keyboard. It’s a two-piece ergo keyboard with minimum keys. to I tried to add a small track ball on the right side as a quick way to use pointer. At the end, I gave it away partly due to my inability to quickly change my type habit.
I initially fabricated all the 7 layers of case just to see how it looks. In the end, I prefer the look without top layers with keys just sitting on the plate. Wife got a plate cut with walnut which looks pretty good with a special GMK keycaps called Patisserie.
By the way, just so you know, GMK keycaps is ridiculously expensive German made ABS plastic keys that can be designed by anybody.
It’s expensive for many reasons, probably because of limited run and rarity. The color design is the only difference. Material used and qualities are exactly the same across all GMK keycaps. Not only it’s expensive, over long period of use, the keycap will have a shin to it. Cheaper keycap using PBT doesn’t have the same problem.
I bought two sets just so we understand what the fuss is all about. I can’t tell much difference from the texture. Will see in a year or two.
The cost of the first keyboard with all the case parts and good keycaps is about $460. The other ones with generic/clone keycaps and no case is about $250.
Really expensive for a keyboard, but not that expensive for a custom made ones. The tools costed about $235. However, I think the experience and acquiring the new skills made this journey worth while. Detail of price break down is here.
Conclusion
This is an hands-on project, design on a computer then actually manufacture them. It is very refreshing compare to purely software development. At the same time, learning new software like Kicad for PCB designing and Inkscape for vector graph meddling is not straightforward either.
On hardware side, I got to learn a bit about soldering/desoldering, which I’m really happy with because it can be used in future projects. I learned about difficulties in provisioning all the pieces together to make a complete hardware. ie: sourcing right size led, trying different volume knobs, etc.
As for my own keyboard, I wanted the bottom case of the keyboard to be made out of wood and the plate would embed into the case. Since this is a custom keyboard, the case will have to be made specifically for this.
For that, I start to learn more woodworking. That is whole other journey that deserve its own articles.
