Had this aluminum plate laser cut a few months back and hand-wired it with Box Navies and a RPi Pico, and oiled oak for the sides. I missed my numpad, though, so I used my own laser cutter and made an external one from Masonite and textured spraypaint.
I’m not sure where it will live long term, but “southpaw” numpads are definitely a thing. They allow for mousing while doing data entry, and they mitigate one of the reasons some people do without numpads by allowing the shoulders to stay more neutral when the mouse is close to the right edge of the keyboard.
Just finished up this one. No-stabilizers, handwired custom 98% layout. 3D printed case and feet, plate laser cut from 3.2mm Masonite, blank XDA laser dye-subbed in a Josefin Sans Medium font. Not exactly professional fit and finish, but it types nice with Box Jades, and ZERO STAB RATTLE! ZERO!!!
That curve at one side and the numpad being merged withe the rest of it is a really nice look! I love the feel of box jades but they’re just too loud for me unfortunately.
Thanks. I am overall very pleased with how it came out, especially on a budget. In particular, the layout is quite usable and versatile. Visually though, I've had to convince my brain that my hands are in the right spot. The left hand modifiers aren't actually too small or anything, but your hands are set up much closer to the left edge, even compared to a typical 1800 layout, so it's a mental adjustment.
I may or may not extend the keymapping out to include four spacebars and move some other bottom row stuff around, but that could just be that I got used to that layout on this one's immediate ancestor. I don't hit the wrong spot so much as forget that the spot I'm aiming for is now an Alt key.
Trying out this Mastodon/Microblog thing. Had a customized TKL keyboard plate laser cut, 3D printed and painted a case, hand wired the switches, and added keycaps. Geekhack link. #mechanicalkeyboards#DIY#3dprinting
@Deceptichum I had three identical plates made, though one I modified very slightly. After accepting that I'd need to simply live with a split Left-Shift, it's been extremely usable.
Build 1 was BBC Micro inspired and is a simple flat sandwich with oak sides, DSA on the FRow, a Dolch-like "VSA" elsewhere, and Box Navies. This may still be the one I like typing on the most.
Build 2 was pre-lubed brown TTC, sloped 3d prints for the left and right, and stiff springs in the middle. In effect the entire board is a leaf spring. CSA keycaps from Amazon. This one has the double shift adjusted (courtesy of a dremel and a metal file) to be in line with what the ISO layouts do.
Entire writeup with pictures of all three are on my geekhack thread. They're all a little too rough around the edges to make sense as anything other than personal projects, but they are usable and do have their charms, and I love building these things from scratch.