8mm Diode Bender Tool

thingiverse

Building mechanical keyboards often involves carefully shaping diodes to fit through PCBs, a task that has long been hindered by the availability of tools. Current options are either prohibitively expensive or designed to accommodate multiple sizes, forcing users to bend diodes one at a time. This is particularly cumbersome when working with full-sized keyboards, which require 104 diodes. A more efficient solution was needed, and this is where I come in. I designed a diode bender specifically for mechanical keyboard PCBs, capable of bending the legs of simple diodes with an 8mm gap. With a little care, it can bend up to 25 diodes at once. The bender consists of two halves, each featuring guided slots that allow users to easily insert and align their diodes. Simply drop the diodes into place, attach the second half, and press them together. The bending process is then completed by hand. Check out a demonstration of the bender in action here: https://youtu.be/34JjBbBkBqc