It's about time I made another post. A lot has changed... got a new job, relationship is super steady, got a truck, built a 3d printer from scratch, 3d printed a LOT of pikachus, went on 2 vacations that required trips by plane (Seattle is fun, albeit full of homeless people and a guy named Jim who tried to pay for his tab with heroin), and I've finally gotten sick of my Ergodox. Don't get me wrong, it's a great keyboard. I'll never do a non-split keyboard again. But it leaves a bit do be desired. Call it laziness from not wanting to make a profile that works, but I miss the F-keys. This was especially evident when I tried to play Star Citizen on the first. My new Freelancer was pretty well unflyable.
So, what to do? Go back to the tried-and-true chocolate bar keyboard? 60%? 110-key max configuration? Oh, I could just pull out the K70...
Nah. I'll spend waaaaaay too much time designing my own. After a long weekend I'm finally satisfied with the layout. Built a rudimentary thing and some scripts that output DXF files for each layer, including the pcb's layout to import into tracing software.
Keys are just there for making sure it all fits. BUT, I think this is coming along nicely. So. The plan here is to design a pcb, build a prototype by hand using transfer paper (something I've never done before), finalize it, order a small batch, and see who in my friend group/professional network is interested. If interest is high I might make another small batch to sell kits for. No preassembled ones because that takes ages and you should have your own choice of switches and caps, but, it'll be fun to assemble regardless. This keyboard will probably cost me six thousand dollars.
Alright, now that I've gotten a lot of the thinking done, the real fun begins.