ergogen VS kad

ergogen online

If you decide to go down this rabbit hole (which is a totally doable thing, by the way, as the others have already noted), then you might want to look into Ergogen. To be fair, it won't save you from KiCAD, but it could make the journey a bit easier.

Contractual PSA: if you're willing to get your hands dirty, you could try Ergogen (tool, Discord). There might already be a pretty close starting point that you only need to modify a bit if you ask around. Alternatively, there might be people in the server who'd be willing to do a commission - some are fucking machines when it comes to curning out great designs one after the other...

Howdy y'all! 👋 Ergogen, the ergonomic keyboard layout generator app, recently hit v4! I've been enjoying using this tool for a while now, so I decided to collect everything I've learned into a series of step-by-step articles outlining the basics of Ergonomic keyboard PCB creation.

Hey thanks! Ergogen made this entire project super approachable. Also thanks for being so quick to fix #86

Doing more research I couldn't find anything that really fit what I was looking for. At this point I decided to build my own keyboard, from the design of the PCB to the 3D model of the chassis. I used Ergogen to get the layout and outline of the plate, KiCad for the PCB, Fusion 360 for the chassis, and QMK for the firmware. All in all it took me probably 2 to 3 months of work in my spare time (I had next to no "Electronic Engineering" experience and had hardly used CAD before) from the idea to having the thing to type on. I learned a lot, and already have a list of things I wish I had done differently for V2 😅.

If you can't find one you like you can also design your own. I don't advice for your first build though. Perhaps your second. Ergogen and Kicad are vital tools for this. https://ergogen.xyz/

Sorry, forgot the link.

Another option would be designing the layout yourself with http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/ and https://kbplate.ai03.com/ or maybe https://ergogen.xyz/

I tried to PCB design and it's a harsh learning curve without electronics knowledge. I'm trying to do mine with Ergogen

As for switch hole sizes, I haven't designed anything myself but heard ppl use http://builder.swillkb.com/ to design their plates - it's some generator with size standards for switches and stabs.

Not 3d printing, but found this site which can generate files for laser cutting http://builder.swillkb.com/

In terms of workflow: I'm using a generated layout from Plate & Case Builder - swillkb after pasting in the raw data from http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/ : if there's a better workflow out there im all ears and open to trying anything new.

Use SwillKB to create layer design files

I design my own key layout and copy paste the raw json file to this site to generate the case and the plates. http://builder.swillkb.com

The only thing is, it's hard to do a plateless design with handwiring - but not many customs are plateless, anyway. You'll need to get a plate cut, but that workflow can be quite streamlined using a tool like Swillkb's builder.

I used this incredible tool to generate the top and bottom .svg files for the switch portion of the plate and a vector graphics editor to make the silly screen bump on the top right. The cost for the plates on this one was around 180USD after shipping but they charge by area so I was at a distinct disadvantage. I wish you luck on your keeb! This project was very fulfilling once all the bugs got hammered out, I hope yours is as well.

If you can't find a plate file, make a QAZ layout with KLE, import it to this plate generator to make a plate file. The thing is, the generated plate file will be without mounting point or holes. If you want more control, use this one, it's more complicated but with more options.

I just swiped it off of here. seeing as it's a custom board and all hahaha.