Travel-friendly Redox Keyboard

thingiverse

After two months of using it full time, I am thoroughly pleased with my Redox Manuform keyboard (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3503380). It is extremely comfortable to type on. The only drawback is that it becomes quite bulky when I need to go on business trips. This is why I decided to build a second keyboard which would be flatter for better portability. Instead of the handwired version, I started with the PCB (Rev1) version of the Redox keyboard with several modifications: - The case now goes underneath the key caps rather than stopping at the bottom of the switches, hopefully protecting them better when the keyboard is lugged around in a bag. - The case screws are located on the bottom rather than the top, making it easy to print only the bottom with transparent filament. - I used a TRRS socket that screws onto the case rather than soldering onto the PCB (mostly because I had some leftover from my last keyboard build and because I find the new location for the socket more visually appealing). - Arduinos can be easily soldered on using a standard header. - The case sides are curved. Some of these modifications come at a price: more filament is used and some slight sanding is required on the top of the keyboard since you cannot benefit from the buildplate surface to get a smooth finish. The overall keyboard is also slightly thicker than the original design. In order to bend all the diodes, I used a very simple bending jig: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3587081 On the left side, the Arduino Pro Micro gets soldered upside down. I printed two spacers to add to the standard header to get the proper height. As the micro USB connectors on the Pro Micro are notoriously weak, I preemptively added a good dollop of epoxy to reinforce that location.