Close

Time to actually build this thing

A project log for yet another dactyl build

Because key wells are swell.

kristina-panoskristina panos 07/01/2020 at 18:065 Comments

Okay, so the prints are printed and the switches are lubed and re-sprung. Time to do the real work of turning it into a keyboard. But I'm not ready! So what needs to happen now?

I will tell you this: I have wanted automatic wire strippers for a long time, and I finally got some. They excel at stripping wire in the middle so you can wire up your switches like this instead of cutting a bunch of short wires. NOTE: the picture below is someone else's build.

Discussions

W5VO wrote 07/02/2020 at 03:41 point

Oh, you re-printed your upper case, and changed switches. I've printed mine and I'm almost exactly at half a spool of filament. My mentor was a huge proponent of foam-core and copper tape circuits.

  Are you sure? yes | no

kristina panos wrote 07/03/2020 at 11:46 point

Case is the same, it  just looks different in every light! I did switch to browns because I think I will really like this keeb and want to be able to use it a lot.


Edit: oh, I get it. The one above is just a wiring example I found. I was trying to illustrate the benefits of a single wire with a peekaboo stripping job!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Simon Merrett wrote 07/01/2020 at 20:12 point

Oh you should have said about the tester - that's exactly what a Kailh hotswap socket would excel at. Perhaps it wouldn't have arrived fast enough for you and your copper tape hack sounds like a good workaround. 

  Are you sure? yes | no

kristina panos wrote 07/03/2020 at 23:45 point

Oof, you are so right! >_<

I was just about to buy a pack of them and play the waiting game when I got a bit of inspiration. :D

  Are you sure? yes | no

Simon Merrett wrote 07/03/2020 at 23:50 point

Job done! 

Diy keyboards seem like a classic among the rabbit holes of "build the tool before you can build the thing" but they get away with it because they're so useful! 

  Are you sure? yes | no