void_switch VS custom-topre-guide

As far as I know the "other times this has been tried" all have had individual displays (and controllers) in each key. The difference being that here there is just one panel under the whole board with most of the parts above the display being transparent. This approach should be far less complicated to build, more robust and cheaper.

Honestly, I don't think I need an LCD in my keyboard but I'd quite like to have a go on some mAgLeV hall effect switches! On that note, if you like magnets and/or keebs you might be interested in Void switches[0] -- 3D printable hall effect switches

[0] https://github.com/riskable/void_switch

I made a 3D printed keyboard with 3D printed switches + stabilizers and sent it to Chyrosran22 for review.

Longer story: Chyros suggested about 5 months ago that I make an "ultra bright" RGB LED keyboard that used my 3D printable Void Switch design (https://github.com/riskable/void_switch) so he could do a fun "RGB" video. I designed the PCB, the case, the top plate, switches, stabilizers, rotary encoders, etc from scratch and the keyboard in the video is the result.

The keyboard hardware was actually done within the first 3 months but I needed some extra time to add lighting effects to the firmware to meet the "fancy RGB" requirement :)

It's actually my 2nd normal-size analog keyboard design. The first being my Riskeyboard 70 which used a MAX7219 LED matrix display and regular (non-XL) ws2812b RGB LEDs: https://gfycat.com/firsthanduniformeasteuropeanshepherd

Not shown in his video: The top plates have no electronics in them which means they're completely waterproof and can be washed in a sink with soap & water: https://gfycat.com/unconsciousvigilantkinglet . Also, the incremental rotary encoder and absolute rotary encoder (aka "the selection knob") are analog as well (using a custom design).

The keycaps were 3D printed as well and designed using my Keycap Playground: https://github.com/riskable/keycap_playground

Haha... So I can use my awesome contactless magnetic separation+levitation 3D printable Void Switch design of course:

https://github.com/riskable/void_switch

...and so I can do this:

https://gfycat.com/costlyglaringhyracotherium

..and this:

https://gfycat.com/unconsciousvigilantkinglet

You can clean it in the sink with soap and water because there's no electrical contacts or components in the switches.

... But that's really just scratching the surface of what it can do.

Answering myself: the void switches by riskable can be used as analogic switches. It's an open source project: https://github.com/riskable/void_switch

If you wanted to try to do something DIY you could build something with riskable's void switch and adapt his firmware to do this. Since hall effect sensors are analogue, you program the set and reset point and can set multiple. Although, I do wonder how easy it is to reliably use this feature, but that's the fun in experimentation.

> "Instead of developing, manufacturing and keeping physical buttons in stock for years to come, car manufacturers are keen on integrating more functions into a digital screen which can be updated over time."

That's lame. 3D printing buttons is a very quick and simple solution to that problem. They can even use my lasts-forever, contactless analog hall effect Void Switch design: https://github.com/riskable/void_switch

Keeping buttons--something that's so quick and easy to 3D print--in stock seems like a huge waste of storage space.

Maybe these?

Topre switch would be able to achieve that. I remember niz sells individual topre switches. You should be able to make your key matrix and keyboard with this tutorial. https://github.com/tomsmalley/custom-topre-guide

Came across this while combing through my comments and thought I'd already answered, so pardon the delay.

People have certainly tried [1][2], but the big issue in the design is that the switches don't operate as a standard on/off (trivial to detect), but are instead capacitive, in that the current passing through the electrocapacitive pad on the PCB is somewhere between 1 and 0 (exclusive bounds, iirc, and simplified) at all times, dependent on how far the 'switch' above it is being pressed. This old repo seems to explain it well: https://github.com/tomsmalley/custom-topre-guide

Price and marketability are also issues. Split keebs are niche, ortho keebs are niche, EC keebs are niche, and you're talking about fusing those three together. People would 100% buy in, but it would probably be a microscopic market, to the point where the project would be financially lossy, even if you were selling them for $400 apiece.

The closest you/one might get for now is by buying two of these[3], unless you're dedicated enough to DIY.

[1]: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=97975.0

With that said, there have been a couple of attempts at a custom build: here's Tom Smalley's guide.

Making a custom Topre keyboard is very involved.

I remember this project and just came across custom HHKB-like PCB, while looking it up. There's a summary in this repo.