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Are you looking to make a switch? James Stanley certainly was when he designed this 3D-printed keyboard with mechanical switches. Everything from the caps to the switch mechanism was 3D-printed for the final design.
According to Stanley, this project took a few months to complete and required three different testing machine iterations. After printing over 100 individual switches, the project resulted in a totally functional mechanical keyboard.
The keys work using a spring mechanism, which is also 3D printed. Like most clackers, including the best gaming keyboards, when the cap is pressed, the spring is compressed which moves the contacts together, registering a keypress. The key can be pressed further until the spring bottoms out, and when the key is released, the spring pops the key back up into the starting position.
Almost everything in the keyboard was 3D-printed, including the case, keycaps, mechanical switches, and key stabilizers. Stanley also created the keyboard firmware using QMK to develop it.
If you want to recreate this project yourself, check out Stanley's blog post breaking down the project. He provides everything you need to get started from wiring diagrams to the STL files for 3D-printing. Be sure to follow him on his website for more projects and future updates!
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
