u/yanos626

finished this one too.

Build details pretty much the same as the bigger tofu dactyl i made here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/s/3Mdxnic4Jr

The hole for the rotary encoder on the left half was too close to my thumb, so i drilled a hole slightly north of it and mounted the encoder there instead. Covered the og hole with a small piece of acrylic sheet.

I cut the wood palm rests a tad too short which is why you see some makeshift pieces of black acrylic strips i jammed in the middle of the case and palm rests.

Tenting legs this time was cheap two-level folding laptop stands. Not the best looking but it works and it instantly flips on/off if i need more/less tent.

Sharing my post here too over from r/ErgoMechKeyboards

a diy handwired build of mine. Its a dactyl split keyboard with a minimal boxy case design, inspired by the KBDfans Tofu boards, the Qi 65 board and the like.

Build details:

• switches: lubed choc v1 blue 25g linears
• keycaps:
  • navy blue Taihao low profile choc keycaps.
  • gray LDSA choc thumb-shaped keycap for thumbs.
• wired only, no bluetooth.
• made using Cosmos generator with some fusion360.
• Uses Vial QMK
• 3-key thumb clusters.
• gmmk pro rotary knob placed under palm.
  • (doesn't touch my palms while typing)
• 1-inch oled screen displays on each half.
• 3d printed tenting feet at 7 degrees.
• integrated wood palm rests
  • (its a normal 65% wood wrist rest that i cut in half with a saw).
• keywell curve angle/concave depth at 21 degrees.
  • pretty comfy, all keys closer to my fingers at homerow.

Shared my case STL files too for those interested to make this. Feel free to use and edit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1u564i4/tofu_dactyl_keywell_keyboard_done_a_cosmos_dactyl/

Another handwired project of mine done.

It's basically a mashup of the dactyl keyboard designs and minimal boxy case designs over at r/MechanicalKeyboards (think KBDfans Tofu65, Qi65 etc).

I'm calling this the Tofu Dactyl? or

Cosmos Tofu?

Cube Dactyl?

Cubyl?

Tofutyl?

I made two versions you see in the pics:

1. green case:
   1. mx-spaced choc v1 keycaps with an aggressive keywell curve.
   2. choc direct solder only.
   3. used mx-spaced navy blue taihao choc keycaps.
   4. used choc blue 25g linears
2. purple case:
   1. choc-spaced choc v1 keycaps with a smaller/subtler keywell curve.
   2. has 3d-printed kailh choc socket mounts via Cosmos.
   3. used choc-spaced LDSA lowprokb choc keycaps.
   4. used ambient nocturnal 20g linears
   5. i relocated the encoder

Other build details:

• fully handwired, w/ dupont wires
• split ~6x5 -ish matrix
• 3 thumb key cluster
• has oled and ec11 encoders
• made with the goat Cosmos generator and some Fusion360.
• bottom plate screw size: m3 screw inserts set in Cosmos.
• microcontroller holder made with Cosmos too.
• integrated some wood palm rests.
• 3d printed tenting feet at ~7° degrees.

These were made fully wired in mind. You could prolly make this wireless if you can figure out where to put the battery.

Case 3d models and how i made it:

• i uploaded the 3d models over at Printables.
• see the last pic in my older reddit post for the steps to create the case.

^the steps i mentioned are pretty replicable if you're familiar with Cosmos and some basic 3d modelling. The minimal blocky design meant i mostly worked with straight-up rectangles w/ no complex curves.

Bottom plate and palm rests:

• no 3d models for the bottom plates.
  • i just cut and drilled some 3mm acrylic plates to size.
• palm rests are just normal 60-65% mech keyboard wood rests.
  • you can likely buy wood palm/wrist rests in your local area.
  • takes 2 minutes to cut these in half with a mini-saw
  • the case's front height is at ~1.75cm, so it'll almost be level with most normal wood palm rests.
  • if palm rest is too low, could add another layer of acrylic sheet under it or taller bumper feet.

I set the wood palm rests high enough that its insta-contact with my palms if they get lazy, but not too high that it constantly grazes my palms when I hover type.

See how i type with the board here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/N6MswhQ7mBo

You could prolly go no palm rests with the smaller purple case.

Impressions so far:

Love the keywell curve here. I made the "E" key in my "ESDF" arrow layer much more close to my middle finger at homerow, vs my previous keywell builds.

Added some slight ring/pinky column splay.

3 cluster thumb location is just right. Home thumb key is the middle one. Thumb always moves just one-key-in and one-key-out.

****This is like my ~5th iteration of my dactyl builds since last year (see my older posts), so it's really meant for what i like. This can still be a meh choice for those with different pref and hand sizes etc.

Encoder placement:

Encoder is reachable with my thumb, and it doesn't touch under the palms. I recommend using ~15mm tall ec11 encoders. 20mm tall ones could touch the palms when reaching the top numrow.

See pic #5 on how i scroll them with my thumb/middle finger.

Caveats and other notes:

This isn't really a full fledged-ready "product". It's a very diy "version 1" design i"m sharing.

It has some meh build choices like:

• hole at the back for the type-c and trrs cable was too big.
• straight-up just hotglued the oleds/mcu/trrs jacks etc to the case mounts.
• straight-up a rectangle case, so the corners are sharp.
  • can gently sand them down a bit.
• acrylic covers for the oleds were just cut to size by hand.
• no separate 3d model for the:
  • "accent lines" on the sides of the case. I spraypainted those.
  • "keywell switch plate". I spraypainted this black to add contrast to the overall case colors.
• For the green case (mx-spaced choc keycaps):
  • I slightly made the mx-spacing slightly closer between my taihao choc keycaps.
    • so i haven't tested the case with normal mx switches and choc v2 switches so i'm not sure if their keycaps would graze each other.
  • my bottom row keycaps (the two keys under X and C keys in qwerty) slightly grazes each other,
    • had to do some slight keycap corner sanding to stop this.
• palm rests are screwed into bottom plate. Could've done magnets instead.
• 3mm thick bottom acrylic plate is hefty
  • its nice and more solid but you could prolly get away with thinner 2mm.

Feel free to download and iterate.

Pics show a test print of mine, looking good so far.

Making a unibody version too in my last pic with a ~30d unibody inward angle^

Wood palm rests are normal keyboard ones i got that i just cut in half with a saw.

Low profile choc v1/v2,

handwired,

4x6 matrix with 3 thumbkeys.

With encoder and oled display screens.

Keywell plate was generated with Cosmos generator, then combined to a boxy case 3d model i diy'd. Inspired by the kbdfans tofu keyboard designs for their boxy look

This is still in the drafting stages before I 3d print this, but here's a handwired build i'm planning where I basically combine:

• a keywell plate you can generate from Cosmos https://ryanis.cool/cosmos/beta (but remove its walls and base)
• onto a conventional boxy-shaped keyboard case 3d model (inspired by the KBDfans Tofu aluminum case)

Made 6x3 no numrow and 6x4 numrow versions but will likely go with 6x4; also split and unibody versions. Pics show low-profile choc v1 spaced keycaps and switches.

Total case height at the front is 2cm, which is exactly level with conventional wooden palm rests made for most mech keyboards (~2cm tall by ~30cm wide usually).