Print, Build, & Wire
Your Own Keyboard
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN 3D-PRINTED, MECHANICAL, ERGONOMIC KEYBOARD
Everyone who uses a computer uses a keyboard. The difference is, some people are happy with a $5 membrane board, some are happy with a $100- 150 mechanical board. Then you have the enthusiasts.
There’s never been a better time to be in the latter two categories. The mechanical keyboard space has never been so inclusive of end users and enthusiasts. Five to 10 years ago, anything smaller than a TKL board meant you were entering the enthusiast space. You’d be buying an HHKB, Ducky, Vortex/POK3R, or similar. Today, these names are far more popular, and many purist keyboard enthusiasts regard some of them as entry level. But they played a big part in shaping off-the-shelf boards.
Nowadays, all the top brands offer a 60-percent keyboard. Companies such as Glorious have taken it a step further by making hot-swappable boards more accessible. But how can we go even further? How about building a keyboard from scratch? Printing our own case, with custom wiring, flashing it ourselves, then crossing our fingers, and hoping it works. We like that idea.
Of course, this is Maximum PC.We’re not going to go the easy route and build a 60 percent, TKL, or even a fullsize board. Heck, if we did that, we might still have a full head of hair after the coding process. Instead, we’re building a split keyboard. A Dactyl Manuform, to be exact. A parameterized, concave, columnar, ergonomic board. And we explain how you can, too.
–DAVE ALCOCK
Building the Manuform Dactyl
WHAT YOU NEED
PARTS
Keyboard case
Keyboard case bottom
(2x) Pro Micro controllers
(2x) TRS/TRSS ports
(10x) Brass thread inserts
(64x) 1N4148 (or similar) switching signal diodes
(64x) Cherry MX switches
(3 feet) Wire
TRS cable
TOOL LIST
Soldering iron
Wire strippers
Phillips screwdriver
Side cutters
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1 PRINT THE CASE
The first part of the build is simply printing out the case. The model is approximately 6x 7x 2 inches, so it will fit on most popular FDM printers with a bed over this size. We have access to a few 3D printers, one of which has a 20 x 20 x 20-inch bed, so we used that. With supports each side, it took around two days for each half to print. This time could have been reduced by having fewer walls and less infill, but we wanted to make sure that everything was as solid as possible. We used four walls and 30-percent infill. In total, we used just under 0.7lb of filament. The filament cost us $22 for 2.2lb, making the price of the case $7, not including the few cents of electricity we used. We also printed out a couple of wrist rests at the same time.