Showing off my kustom keyboards
25.04.24
So I've been in the keeb game for a few years now, and I just randomly felt like sharing my keebs, since they are
not featured on my projects page.
So I bought my first mechanical keyboard in 2019 I think. It was a cheap chinese brand TKL with very light linear
swhitches and I absolutely loved that thing. But then, in late 2021, I discovered the
Split89
Split89 is a TKL split keyboard designed by jusrrasic73, and it's ultimetaly
the reason why I got into mechanical keyboards. To be frank, I've been thinking about cool custom keyboards for a looong time,
since, like, 2018. The realization that I can make keyboards on my 3D printer for cheaper than buying all the parts
was the great "aha" moment for me. And when I saw this keyboard on reddit I fell in love with it instantly and I had to make it.
There is actually a great source of information on topic of 3D printed keyboards, namely
this video by Zack Freedman. It game me enough confidence to order some switches and get going.
So I ordered some kind of tactile swithces (reviews say it feels similar to the Holy Pandas) and "Off white" clone
XDA keycaps from Aliexpress. The printing went mostly fine, although I did manage to scratch my print bed pretty bad when
printing the writs supports. Wiring took me ages, since tthis was the very first thing I ever soldered on my own.
And of course there were some mistakes. This keyboard needs 2 Pro Micros, and I managed to break the ports on both of them.
Other than that, it was my daliy driver for quite some time, I actually used it every day until last November.
Banana pad
Around this time I still had some leftover parts from Split89 and a lot of free time. I found this
banana macropad, and I just had to make it.
Building Split89 taught me one important thing tohugh, and that was the magick of the QMK firmware. While I had next
to no experience with it, I knew it was far more elegant solution to using it than the proposed arduino code.
I had no idea what I was doing, but I managed to make something using the, now depricated, keyboard firmware builder.
While fun project, I didn't find it to be that useful, since I had some programmed macros in my Split89 and I never found
a use for it. It was nice though, improving someone elses project. I never shared the qmk firmware though, I though I'd
fix it one day. Might fork it and make new, better working firmware for it soon though.
SmolBoat
This was around the time I got much deeper into the rabbit hole. I fell in love with the aesthetic of 40% keyboards.
Mainly the Planck keyboard. And I thought I could make my own on cheap. And so I did. What was supposed to be a wekkend
project took me around 5 days to complete and I hated it.
I got cheap, heavy clicky swithces, since it was the last category of mechanical switches that I never tried, and I
combined that with Aliexpress special, black and yellow double shot keycaps of unknown profile. And thats when I
realized, that 40% keyboard is absolutely unusable when typing in Czech. We need the number row for extra characters,
such as "č" and "ř", not to mentiont the "ů" on the right of the alphas. So I caved in, disassembled my beloved
whateverTheHellWasItCalled, and I started making the SmolBoat.
The thing was though, there was no guide. So this was a great learning experience for me, since I had to edit the
3D files a bit, design the wiring matrix and write the firmware, all of which is described here.
I also had to solder it together and then tear it apart and remake, since I messed up royaly, and I made something
somewhere short, and since I didn't have a multimeter, I just had to rebuildi it. And no, my homemade arduino based
continuity tester didn't help.
But after I was done, I never really used it. The switches are annoying and I never got to designing a usable keymap
for it. It still lives in my drawer, waiting for something to happen.
RickPad
It has it's own project page. I just wanted to mention it here, since it tought me how to write QMK macros. While I had some special functionality in my Split, I used the online tool QMK configurator. This, on the other hand, was all done by me in the span of one day. And I'm still proud of it.
Batoid
After long period of nothing, I saw this beauty
on reddid and I just had to make it too. I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 40%. I thought that now I just
had to make it work, it was just too nice looking not to use it.
But.
I had a lot of troubles.
My printer was out of whack, I was ill, my wiring was faulty, and I could not get it to work with provided firmware.
I put it on the shelf for some time, thinking I'd come back to it. I eventually managed to vrite working VIAL
firmware for it, but after weeks of experimenting, I just could not come up with keymap that would work for Czech.
And it's heartbreaking since I really like the look and feel of the board. It uses DIY gasket mount, and I got the
Holy Pandas for it and cute keycaps and everything.
Unix60
Here comes the real deal. The first keyboard kit I ever bought, and it might be the last, at least for some time.
The Unix60. I've been wanting to try HHKB layout for years, I just could not find a good 3D printed chasis for it.
The ones I found either used costar stabs, which I hate, or were off in some ways. I even half heartedly tried modifying
existing 60% 3D printed keyboard files, but to no avail. Then I found this kit in local shop and I just had to get it.
Though it was not without it's own set of problems. I speedrun soldering, and I managed to royaly mess something up,
and some keys just did not work without putting a lot of preassure to it. I decided to take it apart and rebuild it,
but I managed to rip off several solder pads and absolutely destroy the Pro Micro I used.
While sad and angry at my own stupidity, I ordered anoter kit.
Once it came I did everything in my power to make it work right. And boy was it worth it. I decided to change the controller
mid way throught and that didnt't go without any damage. I ripped the solder pads of one switch, again. But this
time, I used my gigantic smooth brain and I just followed the trace, and then I soldered a wire between the switch and
the end point. Once I got that working I rewrote the firmware to use VIAL, so I can quickly make changes, but I landed on
a prety much perfect keymap, very close to the original HHKB. And I love it to bits. After that I 3D printed case parts
for it, and wrapped them in redbull cans. With my UFO keycaps it is the perfect keyboard for local crackhead.
Unix60, part Two
So now that I fell in love with the HHKB layout, I decided I should try to get my other, more broken Unix60 kit to work, since now I had some ideas about how to fix it and my germophobic friend talked to me about his disgust whenever he has to type on the keyboard at his workplace. I took one look at the keyboard in my office and decided that I wish to never touch them. So there you have it, plan an motivation to fix it. And I went all in. Silent linear switches with film, and, for the first time ever, bluetooth. I bought elite C controler thinking it would be EZ, since the shop where I got my Unix60 kits listed the Elite C as compatible. While that was true, I didn't know that it does not support QMK and at the time I knew nothign about ZMK. I hit the ground running. I tried and failed and tried and failed to write working ZMK for Unix60. I even asked for help at the official discord server, still nothing. I even concidered swapping the Elite C for Pro Micro or something, just to get it working. But after staring at the board diagram for hours and trying tirelessly I finally got it to work. And it even works wirelessly. So cool. Even my coworkers say it's dope. I'm very satisfied with it, although the silent switches feel kinda weird, and next time I'd go with something heavier.
So what's next?
To be honest, I'm not really sure. I love my Unix60s, and I'm not really looking for anything different right now.
I mihgt try out something more exotic in the future. I really wanted to join this year maker fair, and talk about
3D printed keyboards and QMK (which might become it's own blog post soon™), and for that I really wanted to build
and show the famous Dactyl Manuform, but I can't attend because of school this year, and after printing half of it
I kinda lost interest. I still want to finish it someday, maybe before the next year, but it's nowhere near my
list of priorities right now.
What I want to do is refine my keyboards. Fix broken firmwares, squish the bugs, learn more about QMK... But I don't
see myself building a new board anytime soon.
That Being said. I would love to create my own keyboard form scratch. But when, well, who knows...
Gallery
