• 12 Posts
  • 26 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 16th, 2023
  • cloffwrangler@lemmy.worldOPtoMechanical Keyboards@lemmy.ml•This layout was made for speed
    8·
    5 months ago

    Haha it was at my wife’s family cottage for decades and we tried to sell it in a garage sale but nobody wanted it so it’s been sitting in our basement for several years. I had a SNES and N64 hooked up to it for a while but didn’t play them much so now it’s back in the basement.

    Also getting a screenshot of a typing test on it was kind of a huge pain and I probably did it in the most convoluted way possible. But in the end I was super happy with how the shot turned out, especially since a friend of mine made this insanely cool video out of it.

  • cloffwrangler@lemmy.worldOPtoMechanical Keyboards@lemmy.ml•[IC] Qazimodo
    1·
    6 months ago

    Even for people who do touch type, there’s a definite learning curve when you move to a 40% or lower board. I found that the muscle memory starts to build up pretty quickly so after a bit of stumbling around I got used to smaller keyboards without too much trouble. The main problem now is when I try to write code on anything larger than a 40% I make constant typos.

  • cloffwrangler@lemmy.worldOPtoMechanical Keyboards@lemmy.ml•[IC] Qazimodo
    51·
    6 months ago

    It started as a joke for my friend who doesn’t understand how I use a 35% but then some people seemed interested so I actually made it.

    I’ve been using it for about a month now and use the QAZ keys for macros. I have tried actually using them as Q, A, and Z, too and it was actually easier than I expected.

  • cloffwrangler@lemmy.worldOPtoMechanical Keyboards@lemmy.ml•Qazimodo prototype
    3·
    7 months ago

    Oh I was very worried that something wouldn’t fit right once I got the prototype; mostly the USB cutout. I did like 20 printed prototypes with little adjustments to the cutout until I was as confident as I could be, but I still wasn’t positive it would fit because of differing tolerances but thankfully my printer was pretty much spot on with what I got from the manufacturer.

  • cloffwrangler@lemmy.worldOPtoMechanical Keyboards@lemmy.ml•Qazimodo prototype
    20·
    7 months ago

    When you hit Q, A, and Z at the same time it spits this out

    You guys always kill me because it’s like you come up with a funny idea for a keyboard meme product and then someone spends actual effort mocking it up or making a CAD model and then someone decides to actually make it and you spend real money on it because nobody had the sense to just say “this is actually stupid” somewhere along the way.

  • cloffwrangler@lemmy.worldOPtoMechanical Keyboards@lemmy.ml•Qazimodo prototype
    3·
    7 months ago

    For sure! As far as process, I came up with the layout using keyboard-layout-editor.com and from there I designed the PCB in KiCad and the switch plate and case with Fusion 360. The case took a lot of trial and error to get everything fitting right so I made a lot of 3d printed prototypes before I was satisfied with it. After I had my printed prototype done I basically went on Alibaba and searched for manufacturers who had keyboard cases listed as products they could make and I messaged a bunch of them asking for quotes on 1, 3, and 25 cases (I was trying to decide on 1 or 3 prototypes and then 25 will be the minimum order quantity if it makes it to group buy). The one that gave me the lowest price was also the company that someone I’ve been getting advice from has used on group buys he’s done, so I ended up going with them since he vouched for their quality.

    The cost goes up quite a bit as the order quantity decreases, so this prototype was expensive. After shipping and fees and everything, it was over $600. I probably wouldn’t have paid it if I hadn’t just gotten a tax refund honestly. Some of the other manufacturers that I talked to had slightly lower prices for smaller order quantities but they were too expensive for the group buy quantity.