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Custom Keyboard Builds

Charger

The first bit of the post of I quoted.

The wedding joke? Which I don't think I'm gonna stop making till I get my invitation... Or hear the wedding bells and get murdered by a god of death being manipulated by a college freshmen with a god complex...

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The wedding joke? Which I don't think I'm gonna stop making till I get my invitation... Or hear the wedding bells and get murdered by a god of death being manipulated by a college freshmen with a god complex...

Talk to @Charger about that last bit im sure he can hook you up ;)

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Talk to @Charger about that last bit im sure he can hook you up ;)

just because I talk to a few 19 year old girls I know from cs doesnt mean I know any college freashmen with god a complex
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Talk to @Charger about that last bit im sure he can hook you up ;)

@Charger where is my invite?  

just because I talk to a few 19 year old girls I know from cs doesnt mean I know any college freashmen with god a complex

Charger you dog, also you know 1 you're talking to him... I still want my invite... 

5820k4Ghz/16GB(4x4)DDR4/MSI X99 SLI+/Corsair H105/R9 Fury X/Corsair RM1000i/128GB SM951/512GB 850Evo/1+2TB Seagate Barracudas

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@Charger where is my invite?

Charger you dog, also you know 1 you're talking to him... I still want my invite...

I have known them since they were 15-16 so ya that would just be odd lol. I did try a long distance thing with a different girl I knew from cs but she was 19 at the time so should be 23 or so now.
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I have known them since they were 15-16 so ya that would just be odd lol. I did try a long distance thing with a different girl I knew from cs but she was 19 at the time so should be 23 or so now.

Guess it kind of matters how old you are... for some reason I get the feeling now you're far older than I had thought. I'm a college freshmen so let's say between 18 and 21  but now that I look at your profile I notice you're 27 I didn't think you'd be anything over 25 not a shot in hell xD 

5820k4Ghz/16GB(4x4)DDR4/MSI X99 SLI+/Corsair H105/R9 Fury X/Corsair RM1000i/128GB SM951/512GB 850Evo/1+2TB Seagate Barracudas

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just because I talk to a few 19 year old girls I know from cs doesnt mean I know any college freashmen with god a complex

Well my image of a man capable of anything has now been crushed.

Guess it kind of matters how old you are... for some reason I get the feeling now you're far older than I had thought. I'm a college freshmen so let's say between 18 and 21  but now that I look at your profile I notice you're 27 I didn't think you'd be anything over 25 not a shot in hell xD

lol hey now not everyone on the forum is a kid as much as we might sometimes act like it

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Well my image of a man capable of anything has now been crushed.

lol hey now not everyone on the forum is a kid as much as we might sometimes act like it

I wasn't imagining a kid I was imagining someone in low 20s and if you want a man capable of anything I know just the guy, he's a college freshman with a god complex bit masochistic the name even implies it...  incase you don't wind up marrying charger...   

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  • 1 month later...

Looks great,


Don't know how I missed this one.

  ﷲ   Muslim Member  ﷲ

KennyS and ScreaM are my role models in CSGO.

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  • 2 weeks later...

you would think I would have ordered the 4 keycaps I was going to need for this since my parts keyboard was a mono price mechanical keyboard and has a non standard bottom row but some how it never crossed my mind I was going to need a 6.25u space bar and 3 1.25u caps from the left side of the bottom row

an image of something that I'm working on

Abi4eZz.jpg

there should be some updated coming to this thread in the next few weeks

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  • 2 months later...

Holy crap. I really want to do this.

Go for it! It isn't that hard but it can be a little costly. You may be interested in http://ortholinearkeyboards.com/ since he has been doing some non staggered keyboard work and has been becoming popular.

Feel free to ask any questions you have and I will try my best to help you with them.

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Go for it! It isn't that hard but it can be a little costly. You may be interested in http://ortholinearkeyboards.com/ since he has been doing some non staggered keyboard work and has been becoming popular.

Feel free to ask any questions you have and I will try my best to help you with them.

jack is bae

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jack is bae

lol ya hes a good guy but a little overwhelmed and the massdrop probably is going to make that far worse for a bit anyways.
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Now assuming you are trying to make your own fully custom board a decent place to start designing the layout of the board as well as the intended key placement is keyboard-layout-editor.com. It is a relatively simple tool that allows you to move switches and change the side until you get a layout you like. There are stranded presets which as probably best to start with if you mess with this tool.

Now the reason I pointed you to keyboard-layout-editor.com is that recently someone on Geekhack has been making a tool that will take the raw data from that site and create a cad drawing of the plate for the keyboard you have drawn up so that you can have it laser cut or water jet out of metal or acrylic. This can be a costly process which is why I have been salvaging parts when I can rather then having things made for me. Here is a link to a thread on geekhack for Swill's plate building tool as well as a direct link to his site http://builder.swillkb.com.

May I get help on what I should pick in the options? 

How much more expensive is the H cutout vs the second cutout?

What is a stabalizer? 

What is padding?

What are plate corners?

What is a Kerf?

What is Line Color?

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May I get help on what I should pick in the options? 

How much more expensive is the H cutout vs the second cutout?

It really depends on where you are getting it cut chances are if you get the plate cut at big blue saw you will just hit the minimum order price really and not be effected by the cutout shapes. It takes longer to cutter and there for cost more but if you are not using a pcb its probably best to use square cutouts anyways since it should hold the switch better.

What is a stabalizer?

stabilizers are what go under the any key that is 2 units or wider so things like shift, space bar, enter and backspace tend to have them. They help keep the cap level when you press off to the side of the cap. I'm a fan of cherry style stabilizers at least when I'm not using a pcb but both work well it just depends on what you like really.

ignore the pcb mount cherry style unless you are getting a pcb what is made for them anyways

wjaTfye.jpg

image taken from WhiteFireDragon over on geekhack

What is padding?

padding is how much space is left on each side of the plate for you work with. I'm not sure what it is set to do with no padding lol

What are plate corners?

plate corners lets you put a radius on the outside corners of the plate

What is a Kerf?

What is Line Color?

you don't really need to mess with these options but kerf adjust for how wide the cut will be and line color is for if you save it as a svg file i think and not really relevant for the cad files.

Also if you just click the question mark next to the options it gives you a better explanation then what I just typed lol

Im not sure but I think I did 6mm of padding and 3mm radius on these

K3iy57p.jpg

z2THYhPh.jpg

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stabilizers are what go under the any key that is 2 units or wider so things like shift, space bar, enter and backspace tend to have them. They help keep the cap level when you press off to the side of the cap. I'm a fan of cherry style stabilizers at least when I'm not using a pcb but both work well it just depends on what you like really.

iler]

How do I know which one to pick? Do they feel different? Can you give me  descriptions?

Edit: I just looked up and people are saying that Cherry is much easier to take off, but Costar is sturdier. 

Also, what does it mean when there's an option for Cherry + Costar? How can it have both?

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How do I know which one to pick? Do they feel different? Can you give me  descriptions?

Edit: I just looked up and people are saying that Cherry is much easier to take off, but Costar is sturdier. 

Also, what does it mean when there's an option for Cherry + Costar? How can it have both?

when you do cherry + costar you can do both but the cherry stabilizers will no longer clip in. I did that option and kind of regret it since I plan to use cherry on my stuff.

As for the difference there is a bit of a difference to the feel of them with a pcb but without its not really something that is noticeable. Since the feeling comes from cherry stabilizers kind of having a setup that acts like plastic springs when it hits the pcb(at least that is how I feel about them). The cherry ones will let you pull the cap straight off while the costar ones you need to remove the cap form the switch and then kind of move the cap side to side to release it from the wire.

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So, I have the files now that I don't know how to open. Who exactly can make the PCB for me to buy? Do I have to do it myself? I don't have any tools.

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So, I have the files now that I don't know how to open. Who exactly can make the PCB for me to buy? Do I have to do it myself? I don't have any tools.

the files are cad files some something like LibreCAD or DraftSight to open and edit them. As for the pcb I know people are working on tools for that but as of right now you would have to try and make your own so I would suggest hand wiring them to a teensy 2.0 micro controller instead like I have been doing with my keyboards other then that 60% I posted a few posts up which has a pcb.

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the files are cad files some something like LibreCAD or DraftSight to open and edit them. As for the pcb I know people are working on tools for that but as of right now you would have to try and make your own so I would suggest hand wiring them to a teensy 2.0 micro controller instead like I have been doing with my keyboards other then that 60% I posted a few posts up which has a pcb.

Wait. Is the board that you put the keys on called a PCB or is a PCB a plate that has wiring already on it?

I meant the plate. I was thinking to hand wire it myself. Where do I get the custom plate? (Sorry for the confusion, but thank you a lot for helping me.)

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Wait. Is the board that you put the keys on called a PCB or is a PCB a plate that has wiring already on it?

I meant the plate. I was thinking to hand wire it myself. Where do I get the custom plate? (Sorry for the confusion, but thank you a lot for helping me.)

lol ya a plate is what the switches clip into. PCB stands for printed circuit board which would be the electronic side of the keyboard. I had my plates cut at http://www.bigbluesaw.com/ because they have an online system where do don't have to talk to people lol I had them cut out of Stainless Steel T-304 that was 0.06 inches thick. you may be able to find people that can cut them cheaper for you if you shop around.
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lol ya a plate is what the switches clip into. PCB stands for printed circuit board which would be the electronic side of the keyboard. I had my plates cut at http://www.bigbluesaw.com/ because they have an online system where do don't have to talk to people lol I had them cut out of Stainless Steel T-304 that was 0.06 inches thick. you may be able to find people that can cut them cheaper for you if you shop around.

Oh. Thank you. I don't know how to look in to it so I'll ask around.

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  • 1 month later...
K3iy57p.jpg

z2THYhPh.jpg

What diameter did you use for these mount holes? Also how did you  mount the controller in there?

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What diameter did you use for these mount holes? Also how did you mount the controller in there?

the 40% is not done yet, the 60% used a pcb, the numpad I heatshrinked it and didn't mounte it instead I mounted a mini USB breakout board to the bottom plate. For my keyboard and numpad I connected the controllers to some perfboard that I screwed into the top plate.

I can't remember the screw hole sizes if that was what you were asking I just used them as a present drill as I drilled and tapped the bottom plate and clearance drilled the top plates

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