Should I DIY a keyboard again

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these are rough notes where i assess whether i want to debug & repair the keyboard(s) i currently have (max sustainable, possibly max hand ouchies option), diy a new one (max makes me feel like a coolguy option), or buy something prebuilt (max time efficent but also lamest option).

in memorium to my first child

ever since my capital E employment hiatus since 2023 i haven’t been on the puter much, but then i had an in-office job for a few months this past winter which had me reconnect with my sweet, extremely diy’d babies:

baby 1 with the trust fall into colemak keycaps

baby 2 this one stopped working actually ;_;

baby 3 clock the bootleg case bottom secured with an elastic so that i can access the pcb to do surgery lol

they surprisingly still work (usually…) BUT have been causing me finger fatigue, i think because of the switches i initially opted for (browns on one, blues on the other) and the ortholinear layout. possibly also because of the reduced keymap - i end up using my thumbs a lot more to hit the GUI key (to access other layers of the keymap) and space keys. also i last flashed them in like 2018 but running a quick check rn, i can’t get the old drivers from my qmk fork to compile on my nixtop, which isn’t a problem right now because changing the hardware keymap isn’t something you often need to do but makes me nervous nonetheless. lastly a few of the microusb dongles have detached or have loose connections from the microcontrollers between the 4 sections of keyboards lol, and it’d be nice to switch them to usb-c’s or maybe even bluetooth if that’s a thing these days. theyre a bit annoying to access because the keyb is plate mounted.

i first built these in 2017. they are the levinson rev2 40% ortholinear pcbs which are now discontinued, and they’re based on the let’s split pcbs which also appear to be discontinued.

i ordered the pcb from keebio, switches and caps off of aliexpress (my bad guys), and my fave part - the cases i 3d printed at the library :D :’) the cases cost like 2 bucks a piece to print!! I LOVE THE LIBRARY. i solder’d everything together at home and flashed the keyboards with qmk_firmware.

the whole motivation to diy them was to (1) reduce costs, split keybs at the time of building were like 300-500$ USD prebuilt, with the cute options (not a microsoft-core bulky thing) being the most expensive and (2) ergofy my set up, eg reduce size cus i got lil hands and the split layout helps me not pinch my shoulders and arms inwards.

what i want from my next keyb

  • split!
  • reduced layout probably? something between 40-60%
  • ergo layout, not ortho (eg curved like iris)
  • low profile and softer key presses? which constrains the swtich types i can use (todo look into kailh choc pinks and low activation options)
  • hot swappable switch sockets for the pcb (keebio). i might even have an old set from 2017, todo find!
  • current keybs are plate-mounted. maybe go plateless so i can swap plates and access switches more easily? but it may reduce stability
  • if 3d printing case again - sand down the case lol
  • usb-c dongles
  • maybe a dial/knob for scrolling?
  • bluetooth connectivity?

there are all kinds of amazon and aliexpress pcb options out there now compared to when i first did this (for example), which is wild! but it’d be nice to source one from a canadian store, or at the very least not an american seller (keebio </3)

next step: look into group buys and other sellers