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It is insane to print your own switches when you can buy extremely high quality ones for 25 cents a piece. And that level of insanity makes this a great project

It is insane to print your own switches when you can buy extremely high quality ones for 25 cents a piece. And that level of insanity makes this a great project.

justinclift 6y ago
Next project idea: Pneumatic keyboard! Kind of surprisingly, doing a quick search for that term online shows up a 1960's patent for one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034628A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034628A/en The advent of the fluid amplifier has led to the development of data processing and control systems wherein the processing and control functions are carried out by elements which operate entirely on fluid principles. That is, these systems contain no moving parts other than the working fluid which flows through the system. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a pure fluid system for inserting information into a fluid data processing device. If anyone wants a challenge... ;)
- rightbyte 6y ago
  Hydraulic would probably be easier with the limited stroke.
  - justinclift 6y ago
    That also sounds like a potentially "fun and worthy challenge" for some people. :)
jacobolus 6y ago
The part I don’t understand is: > Apart from the fact that the keyboard is quite unpleasant to type on, I'd say this project was mostly a success. [...] I think my mistake was optimising for reliability instead of feel. Existing switches are extremely reliable (if their reliability isn’t satisfactory, find some used Alps switches from the late 1980s, or some Honeywell switches, or ...), so the only reasons I can think of to make your own are to fit in some unusual spatial condition where an off-the-shelf switch won’t work, or for a better feel.
- mypalmike 6y ago
  Yeah I think this was something like the guy who built a toaster entitely from raw materials* such as iron ore. It's a terrible toaster, but there's something to be said for learning first person what goes into the modern things we take for granted. * https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toaster_from_scratch/up-next https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toas...

It is insane to print your own switches when you can buy extremely high quality ones for 25 cents a piece. And that level of insanity makes this a great project.

justinclift 6y ago

Next project idea: Pneumatic keyboard! Kind of surprisingly, doing a quick search for that term online shows up a 1960's patent for one: https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034628A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US3034628A/en The advent of the fluid amplifier has led to the development of data processing and control systems wherein the processing and control functions are carried out by elements which operate entirely on fluid principles. That is, these systems contain no moving parts other than the working fluid which flows through the system. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a pure fluid system for inserting information into a fluid data processing device. If anyone wants a challenge... ;)

rightbyte 6y ago
Hydraulic would probably be easier with the limited stroke.
- justinclift 6y ago
  That also sounds like a potentially "fun and worthy challenge" for some people. :)

jacobolus 6y ago

The part I don’t understand is: > Apart from the fact that the keyboard is quite unpleasant to type on, I'd say this project was mostly a success. [...] I think my mistake was optimising for reliability instead of feel. Existing switches are extremely reliable (if their reliability isn’t satisfactory, find some used Alps switches from the late 1980s, or some Honeywell switches, or ...), so the only reasons I can think of to make your own are to fit in some unusual spatial condition where an off-the-shelf switch won’t work, or for a better feel.

mypalmike 6y ago
Yeah I think this was something like the guy who built a toaster entitely from raw materials* such as iron ore. It's a terrible toaster, but there's something to be said for learning first person what goes into the modern things we take for granted. * https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toaster_from_scratch/up-next https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toas...