
I made a mechanical keyboard with 3D-printed switches - jstanley
https://incoherency.co.uk/blog/stories/jesboard.html
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mypalmike
It is insane to print your own switches when you can buy extremely high
quality ones for 25 cents a piece. And that level of insanity makes this a
great project.

~~~
justinclift
Next project idea: Pneumatic keyboard!

Kind of surprisingly, doing a quick search for that term online shows up a
1960's patent for one:

[https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034628A/en](https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034628A/en)

    
    
      The advent of the fluid amplifier has led to the development 
      of data processing and control systems wherein the
      processing and control functions are carried out by elements 
      which operate entirely on fluid principles. That is, these
      systems contain no moving parts other than the working fluid 
      which flows through the system.
    
      Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide
      a pure fluid system for inserting information into a fluid
      data processing device. 
    

If anyone wants a challenge... ;)

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rightbyte
Hydraulic would probably be easier with the limited stroke.

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justinclift
That also sounds like a potentially "fun and worthy challenge" for some
people. :)

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ChuckMcM
This is a neat project. I printed some switches out when I saw his post on
Twitter I believe. It dovetailed into work that I've been doing to figure out
replacement switches, buttons, and sliders using DIY 3D techniques vs sourcing
through NKK or what not. Primarily for cost since any custom switch design is
like $25K for the first 100.

As others have pointed out, these keys feel "mushy". And I agree with that. It
comes down to the spring constant of printed springs. It is really really hard
to make it consistent from print to print. Fortunately _springs_ are actually
super cheap and you can make those yourself pretty easily too if you want. So
if you back off the "everything has to be printed" mantra just a bit. You can
make a more consistent feeling switch. (and less deep which has some benefit
on front panel stuff)

~~~
skybrian
Neat! Have you actually done that? You wouldn't happen to have a design to use
as a starting point?

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ChuckMcM
Haven't published my progress so far. I'm ChuckMcM on Thingiverse and that is
where I've been putting my designs so it will show up there eventually.

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tutfbhuf
> Spending some time typing on my homemade switches has given me a newfound
> appreciation for just how good Cherry MX switches are.

I know at least one mech keyboard enthusiast from reddit who went from cherrry
mx brown -> clears -> ergo clears -> gateron brown -> zealios v1 -> zealios v2
-> custom switches -> cherrry mx brown making a full cycle.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
I assume you're talking about the "feel" of Cherry switches. Which many people
really like.

As for reliability, I don't know how readily available they are any more, but
IMO the true "gold standard" is Hall Effect, because it's contactless.

Hall effect keyboards used to be quite common 45 years ago in heavy data entry
applications (e.g. people who spent their days entering typewritten
manuscripts submitted by authors, years before every writer used a word
processor).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_technology#Hall-
effec...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_technology#Hall-
effect_keyboard)

Contactless is great because there's no mechanical key bounce or contact wear.
Some quick googling showed that Cherry (at least once upon a time) made hall
effect keyswitches. But they're probably too expensive for most applications.

~~~
bllguo
there has actually been renewed interest in hall effect switches recently. See
here [https://kono.store/products/keystone-analog-mechanical-
keybo...](https://kono.store/products/keystone-analog-mechanical-keyboard) and
[https://wooting.io/lekker](https://wooting.io/lekker)

not quite readily available, but that may change soon

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mef51
> "I toyed with the idea of getting a PCB made up that I could directly solder
> my switches to. It would certainly have made it easier to put the keyboard
> together, but I thought outsourcing the manufacturing of a PCB kind of takes
> the edge off making your own switches..."

Totally! There are ways to make your own PCBs using presensitized boards and
exposing it to light ([1] for example) to keep it DIY

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wAer7a3tU4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wAer7a3tU4)

~~~
pronoiac
Also, I know people have used CNC to mill a PCB.

~~~
StavrosK
Or a 3D printer: [https://www.stavros.io/posts/make-pcbs-at-
home/](https://www.stavros.io/posts/make-pcbs-at-home/)

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Scene_Cast2
With something like this, one could merge the switches with the keycaps for a
potentially lower overall profile.

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ahelwer
Custom-built keyboards are very cool, but I will never understand putting all
this love into a non-ergonomic design. Typing on something with no separation
or tilt murders your wrists! Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts will spend ages
refining & debating every possible aspect of the individual switches, then lay
them out on a flat slab like it's a giveaway Dell keyboard from 2006. At least
the design he chose avoids a number pad, which either makes you situate the
keyboard more to one side of your body or pushes the mouse too far out to use
comfortably.

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ftk_
Good job! However, according to the wiring seems like it wouldn't be able to
register something like ctrl+shift+z which is used as redo hotkey almost
everywhere.

~~~
StavrosK
The good thing about QMK is that you can remap anything you want to anything
you want. For a hobby project, I don't know how much it would matter anyway.

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umvi
This is pretty sweet. One thing I've always wanted to do is embed a hardware
keylogger into the keyboard itself (optionally with bluetooth or some other
radio - so I can retrieve contents of logs remotely).

Seems like with one of those you could even defeat 2FA (if you were a black
hat). Swap out the victim's keyboard with the one with the embedded radio
keylogger. Auto-detect when they are logging into something with 2FA. Put the
characters they type into the web form and submit faster than they do.

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kanobo
Cool project, it's unfortunate that it's unpleasant to type on - what do you
think the estimated lifespan of daily use be before it breaks down?

~~~
StavrosK
IIRC in his tests the later versions of the switches lasted at least 100k
presses, so quite a long time.

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quora
A guy in the mechkeys discord posted a clip of his 3D printed mech switches
yesterday as well. I believe he is using reed switches instead of a 3d printed
leaf but its pretty cool.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwRfQ3p_jFo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwRfQ3p_jFo)

~~~
bllguo
yes, this is linked in the OP! It's fantastically interesting. Uses magnets
instead of springs

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will-mortar
James - first of all, well done! you say it’s not a ‘good’ keyboard, what is
your definition of good?

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enchiridion
Awesome! When I saw the switches a little while ago I was hoping you'd make a
full keyboard.

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literallycancer
Looks cool but how do you clean it? The grooves will get filled up with dirt
in a month or two.

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libraryatnight
I love seeing stuff like this, really cool - thanks for sharing.

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_def
Oooh I'm totally gonna build this! Thanks so much

