3D printed keyboard case, feet, and cable grommet.
3D printed keyboard case, feet, and cable grommet.
I hate everything about this keyboard. Starting with the relocating of esc and moving of ~
Thanks! LOL.
Those specific issues could be changed with software and a keycap puller in about 5 minutes. Obviously I can't get ESC back exactly where it "should" be, but the idea with this layout was to look and feel a bit like old 8-bit computer keyboards without forcing a drastic departure from modern "ten-key-less" layouts.
More pics at geekhack, including its older siblings, which also have some 3D-printed parts, though nothing like this one.
I would've added some fillets especially on that front edge. Seems kind of sharp on the wrist.
There are some very small fillets that ease the edge just enough for when I do touch the front edge, but honestly that's not too often. If anything, I may just need a wrist wrest, as I usually use lower boards.
While there are a lot of "happy accidents" in the design, being kind of flat-nosed was on purpose. The case's design is meant to evoke the final (and largely unloved) iterations of the 8-bit Atari computers, the XE line. My first real computer (though I had no storage device) was the XEGS.
I had an Atari XE growing up, and I loved that thing! Nice job on the keyboard, what a splendid project.
Gorgeous build dude.
I have to ask, where on earth is your super key and why do you have two shift keys next to eachother?
Super key is the Win next to Right Shift. I may flip it with the Fn key on the bottom... not sure, but it's a few keystrokes in the firmware, so I'll see how it goes.
The double shift is because I got a little too cute when designing the layout. Every single button is completely reprogrammable, but ultimately I found that 30+ years of typing (poorly) on big American style left shifts has left me preferring a large landing spot.
But how does it sound?
I'm hopeless with sound profiles, but it's mostly not bad. Maybe on the line between poppy and thocky? Is that a thing, even?
In the end, we have heavy tactile switches (which I kinda like, despite being obvious knockoffs, but I'm usually team clicky), tall & reasonably beefy ABS keycaps, an aluminum plate, a cavity inside that's maybe only 1/2" thick, full of wires and with more aluminum on the bottom. Oh, and a typist who pretty much ALWAYS bottoms out keypresses. Whatever that adds up to. :-)
Spacebar is a little hollow sounding, and despite a little bit of silicone on the stabs, the one on backspace is a bit rattly (pretty sure that's the one from a batch I used to fill out an AleExpress order minimum, where the other two are durock). So, in the end, it's... fine? It's not quiet, but quieter than my Box Navies, which I will probably go back to in future builds because I need MOAR CLICKY.
