What parametric CAD tool did you use? Thanks!
Autodesk Fusion
Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
211–220 of 259 posts
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#212OP, congrats on the product and effort. _NOTHING_ beats prototyping and building. For other split-mechanical keyboards check out: ZSA Voyager Moergo Glove 80
Also, should you prioritize ergonomics over function or form, the Kinesis Advantage 360 Professional
Why stop there when you could go for a Charybdis and get the purer form of zmk and a trackball option
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#213I like your design choices. Putting the micro-controllers at the far ends means the rest of the board can be lower, meaning less need for palm supports. Also I like you NOT having OLED screens - they're toys at best and one more thing to break at worse. As for Ortho VS Staggered, ortho has the great advantage of things like WASD just being usable out of the box, and also flexibility with things like numpad layers. I'…
I would not put OLEDs for the reasons you mentioned, but also because it would drain the battery in 1 day vs 1 week.
Steel is likely better and surely stronger, but manufacturers charge 2x more for steel alloy machining. At that price level, titanium also becomes an interesting option.
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#214This is so funny, I dived into the custom keyboard rabbit hole just 3 weeks ago. Never thought this would be so intriguing and time consuming. Did you consider Mill-Max Sockets? My personal favorite are 80% TKL ISO low profile keyboards, which is quite uncommon and I've not found much except the Keychron K1 Max having this layout. Unfortunately, the integrated Gateron brown/red/... low profile switches are not my thi…
> I dived into the custom keyboard rabbit hole just 3 weeks ago
Take your time, the GAS is real and expensive !
All jokes aside, ordering small batches of PCBs is unfortunately very expensive, especially if you have a larger size.
If you ever feel the itch of going towards ergonomic split keyboards, you'll find plenty of ~40% splits that use reversible PCBs for both halves which allows for cheap batches. Typically you get 5 PCBs with JLC and that gives you enough to build one full keyboard for work and one for home.
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#215I always wanted Apple to make a split keyboard. Then I realized I could just buy two Magic Keyboards and use them at the same time -- typing on the left half of the left one, and the right half of the right one. After all, the proper ergonomic position is for your forearms to be parallel (not angled inward), which means the keyboard halves you're using should be approximately shoulder-width apart, so there's tons of…
This is such a chaotic solution, I love it.
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Where's the arrow keys block? Insert/delete/home/end/pgup/pgdown block? In the nav layer. One popular layout of split keyboards is two 3x5 grids of keys with 3 thumb buttons. With this configuration, it is common to map modifier keys to the home row keys, activated when they are held down. Likewise, for numbers, symbols, navigation, a thumb key is held down to activate that layer. Your fingers never have to stretch…
I get the idea, but how comfortable is it for shortcuts requiring multiple modifiers?
I have a 34 key split and it's decently comfortable. I have my mods mirrored on both halves so depending on the non-mod key of the shortcut I use the opposing hand for mods.
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#217OP, congrats on the product and effort. _NOTHING_ beats prototyping and building. For other split-mechanical keyboards check out: ZSA Voyager Moergo Glove 80
Yeah this is awesome. For keyboards really similar to OP's The keyboard they were inspired by (not for sale... yet?): https://old.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1cfg3vr/... Corneish (out of stock): https://lowprokb.ca/products/corne-ish-zen?variant=376943319... Unicorne: https://new.boardsource.xyz/products/unicorne-LP The corneish is an absolute gem in my opinion. It is possibly (probably?) open-sourced too…
The mikefive is my dream work keyboard. It's two keys extra from what I have currently but I know I can find something to do with the extra cluster keys
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#218This is really impressive, especially considering the complexity of designing a wireless split keyboard from scratch! Having built my own mechanical keyboard before (though not wireless), I know how much goes into PCB design, key switch selection, and firmware development.
One challenge I’ve seen with wireless keyboards (especially splits) is managing synchronization lag between halves. Some DIY split builds struggle with Bluetooth interference, while others use NRF-based communication. What approach did you take to keep latency low and ensure reliable keypress synchronization? Also, how does the power efficiency compare to something like a ZMK-powered split?
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#219This is really impressive, especially considering the complexity of designing a wireless split keyboard from scratch! Having built my own mechanical keyboard before (though not wireless), I know how much goes into PCB design, key switch selection, and firmware development. One challenge I’ve seen with wireless keyboards (especially splits) is managing synchronization lag between halves. Some DIY split builds struggle…
Maybe stupid question, but can split keyboard work as two separate keyboards connecting independently to the operating system? That way you don't have to synchronise anything.
Re: Show HN: Bayleaf – Building a low-profile wireless split keyboard
#220This is the keyboard I’ve been hoping Apple would make for years! I’ve currently got a UHK 60 but would probably switch to this if I could buy it. Especially if it had the standard Apple keyboard layout so my fingers don’t need to relearn things like arrow keys and cmd like when I switch between the UHK and MacBook keyboard.
For folks looking for something similar that you can buy https://hellonuio.com/