void_switch VS riskeyboard70

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?

And there are is a good reference hall effect PCBs and firmware from Riskable. So a lot of the legwork for doing something for this kind of project is done already.

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.

https://github.com/riskable/riskeyboard70 (it's not quite ready for prime time but at least serves to demonstrate the analog multiplexer logic).

I've finally released the (OpenSCAD) source files for my Void Switch and its paired magnetically-stabilized stabilizer design! For background, I've been obsessing over making a fully 3D-printable (analog) keyboard for about two years now. Hackaday has written about it multiple times:

https://hackaday.com/2020/08/20/print-your-way-to-keyboard-s...

https://hackaday.com/2021/08/02/mag-lev-switches-are-the-fut...

https://hackaday.com/2022/01/17/3d-printed-magnetic-switches...

The void_switch repo is actually just one part of the 3D printable keyboard "library" of files I've released in order to make 3D printing a really great keyboard possible. Here's the others:

https://github.com/riskable/keycap_playground -- Design and print your own keycaps (tutorial/demo here: https://youtu.be/WDlRZMvisA4)

https://github.com/riskable/void_switch_kicad -- Kicad 6 footprints and libraries for making analog keyboard PCBs (using Void Switches)

https://github.com/riskable/void_switch_65_pct -- Kicad 6 Source files for a tutorial I'm working on, "How to design an analog keyboard". Want to see what an analog keyboard PCB looks like? Look here!

...and I have early alpha firmware written in Rust that runs on stm32f4x1 microcontrollers (like the Black Pill) here:

https://github.com/riskable/riskeyboard70 (it's not quite ready for prime time but at least serves to demonstrate the analog multiplexer logic).

So far the keyboards I've made using my Void Switches have been made so that the whole top comes off: https://gfycat.com/costlyglaringhyracotherium

This makes it super easy to clean your keyboard (which is a complaint I hear regularly about 3D printed keycaps... That they collect bacteria in the layer lines or whatever): https://gfycat.com/unconsciousvigilantkinglet

...and here's some other gifs of the keyboards/macro pads/numpads I've made demonstrating various features I've incorporated into their designs:

https://gfycat.com/silentgorgeoushydatidtapeworm (macro pad with analog hall effect rotary encoder--it's knob comes up with the rest of the top plate yet)

https://gfycat.com/scrawnyglisteningandeancat -- Numpad with PLA everything (I normally print everything in PETG so it's an example that yes, you can use PLA)

https://gfycat.com/carefulangrybirdofparadise -- Very fancy Keycap Playground keycap

https://gfycat.com/fewcomplicatedhuia -- What could be the most historically-significant keyboard accessory of the 21st century

https://gfycat.com/marriedtediousaquaticleech -- All my PCBs so far have incorporated an infrared receiver so you can turn any old remote control into a wireless macro pad (got extra GPIO pins so why not? haha)

https://gfycat.com/firsthanduniformeasteuropeanshepherd -- Simple glamour shot of my Riskeyboard 70 with all LEDs set to white.

Yes, it's a bit out-of-date (haven't committed my changes) but you can have a look at it here: https://github.com/riskable/riskeyboard70/