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Building a Keyboard: Part 2

blog.fsck.com

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Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#11

Post by obrajesse »

Kliment wrote: post #10
obrajesse wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! In a bunch of the cases, the problem was "hysterically bad solder joints." It wasn't so much that the joints would fail when put under pressure as that they'd fail when you looked at them funny.

Please don't melt holes into that material with a soldering iron. The plastic you are using appears to be nylon, and nylon releases highly toxic fumes when melted. In addition to the nasty smell, there are some things in there that can kill you before you notice them. I highly recommend using a drill and a small file to make access holes like that. It's faster, safer, and looks better in the end.

Indeed. From here on in, I'll be using a dremel.

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#12

Post by obrajesse »

Kliment wrote: post #10
obrajesse wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! In a bunch of the cases, the problem was "hysterically bad solder joints." It wasn't so much that the joints would fail when put under pressure as that they'd fail when you looked at them funny.

Please don't melt holes into that material with a soldering iron. The plastic you are using appears to be nylon, and nylon releases highly toxic fumes when melted. In addition to the nasty smell, there are some things in there that can kill you before you notice them. I highly recommend using a drill and a small file to make access holes like that. It's faster, safer, and looks better in the end.

I'd love a citation on "some things in there that can kill you before you notice them" to update the original post with - A quick websearch doesn't find anything more than "it's carcinogenic" and the material safety data sheet doesn't call it out. (http://www.shapeways.com/rrstatic/material_docs/msds-strongf...)

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#15

Post by pkamb »

An interesting wrinkle in these "column" keyboards (where Q-A-Z are lined up in a column rather than staggered) is that I self-corrected for this deficiency years ago; my left pinky hits Q-A-Shift, ring finger hits W-S-Z, middle hits E-D-X etc.

The W-S-Z fingering leads to a nice curve that mostly follows the movement of your finger, just like what you get on the right side of the keyboard (U-J-M, etc).

I don't know how folks type Q-A-Z with their little finger. It causes immediate hand pain to curl my fingers inward/perpendicular to hit Z, X, C, and V.

I imagine this method was only taught in the first place thanks to clueless typing teachers who thought "first keys on the left = first left finger", ergonomics be damned. Does anyone else type "Z" with their ring finger?

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#16

Post by obrajesse »

pkamb wrote: post #15

An interesting wrinkle in these "column" keyboards (where Q-A-Z are lined up in a column rather than staggered) is that I self-corrected for this deficiency years ago; my left pinky hits Q-A-Shift, ring finger hits W-S-Z, middle hits E-D-X etc. The W-S-Z fingering leads to a nice curve that mostly follows the movement of your finger, just like what you get on the right side of the keyboard (U-J-M, etc). I don't know…

Actually, I do. That's part of what has made this design challenging for me. The next thing I build will have a ...somewhat different layout.

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#17

Post by js2 »

obrajesse wrote: post #11
Kliment wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't melt holes into that material with a soldering iron. The plastic you are using appears to be nylon, and nylon releases highly toxic fumes when melted. In addition to the nasty smell, there are some things in there that can kill you before you notice them. I highly recommend using a drill and a small file to make access holes like that. It's faster, safer, and looks better in the end.

Indeed. From here on in, I'll be using a dremel.

And wearing a dust mask and googles of course.

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#18

Post by gcb »

obrajesse wrote: post #12
Kliment wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't melt holes into that material with a soldering iron. The plastic you are using appears to be nylon, and nylon releases highly toxic fumes when melted. In addition to the nasty smell, there are some things in there that can kill you before you notice them. I highly recommend using a drill and a small file to make access holes like that. It's faster, safer, and looks better in the end.

I'd love a citation on "some things in there that can kill you before you notice them" to update the original post with - A quick websearch doesn't find anything more than "it's carcinogenic" and the material safety data sheet doesn't call it out. ( http://www.shapeways.com/rrstatic/material_docs/msds-strongf... )

#1 result for "nylon fumes"

http://www.greyops.net/2010/05/advisory-burning-nylon-thread...

    Dioxins
    HCN gas
    HCl gas

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#19

Post by wallflower »

sbierwagen wrote: post #5

- Poking holes in a plastic project box with a soldering iron isn't something you'd do in production, but it's fairly common when screwing around with a hobbyist project. - Twisted-pair cable either requires either grounding one wire in the pair (in 100baseT) or fancy differential-signalling tricks. (in 1000baseT or HDMI) - Sounds like the biggest problem was solder joint failure as a result of inadequate strain reli…

> as a result of inadequate strain relief.

OT: Related from yesterday, a USC doctoral student has proven that a "strain or stress gradient" is key to tin whisker growth

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4893745

Re: Building a Keyboard: Part 2

#20

Post by joebadmo »

There's a personal balance point between customization and portability e.g. how much to customize Vim or rely on shell/git aliases. These kinds of customizations can improve your personal workstation, at the cost of incompatibility with other people's machines and the spin-up time for new machines.

For keyboards, having to sometimes use other people's machines as well as frequently switching between my desktop and laptop means that, while tempting, this level of customization is too far for me. The sweet spot for me is a high quality mechanical switch (-style) keyboard: Topre's Realforce.

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