PocketCHIP "Mechanical" Keyboard by callmelightningjunior

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

I really like the idea of the bottom hinged HP calculator styled keyboard.
This is a pretty trivial remix. I went to printing the keys top up, which allowed me to make a remix for the F and J keys with a touch-typing finger location button Obviously this keyboard is too small for touch typing, but the buttons allow one to "home" ones thumbs better.
Some care is needed in printing the frame, one corner lifted on my first try. I printed all the keys (except the D-pad) at 98% to make fit easier. Again, all keys except the D-pad were printed face up. I chased out all the key pivot holes with a #60 drill. I used .039" (1mm) music wire for the hinges.
I wanted to print this multi-color to go along with the PC's "mad scientist Barbie" color scheme. This turns out to have a functional benefit. The main section of the keyboard if color-coded for touch-typing finger usage. This provides an easy way to locate and remember fingering on the keyboard. Between the key action and the color coding, I find that using the keyboard makes typing on the PC much more pleasant. I used a Pxmalion assorted color set to get the key colors.
The bottom row deserves a particular mention. The Shift keys (shift, alt, ctl, shift) are in silver (dark gray), the CHIP second shift is in gold (dark yellow) in homage to HP using a gold key for it's shift. The pale yellow key is the one normal character key in the row.
All in all, I'm very pleased with how this turned out