Christian Lo’s Tiny Mechanical Keyboard Prices Simply $5 in Elements — and Makes a Good Giveaway

Software program engineer and keyboard fanatic Christian Lo has designed presumably the most affordable mechanical keyboard you can make with out having to go dumpster-diving for elements: the idawgz32. a 32-key pocket-friendly keyboard constructed with simply $5 in elements.

“A mechanical keyboard, on this economic system? [The idawgz32 is] an experimental ultraportable and ultra-affordable pocket keyboard that prices $5 value of supplies to make,” Lo explains of the design.

“I bought excited with the brand new latest development of constructing keyboards with the [WCH Electronics] CH552 chip, and wished to broaden on my pusheenz40 design, with the top objective of constructing a keyboard that prices so little that I can freely give it away as a small reward or as a freebie at conventions. The dimensions of the board, format, and element choice (or lack there of) are all in service of getting the value as little as attainable.”

That dimension is, maybe, the most important disadvantage of the idawgz32: regardless of utilizing mechanical switches and boasting 32 keys in a break up ergonomic ortholinear format, the whole keyboard is roughly the identical footprint as a bank card — making for an undeniably cramped typing expertise higher suited to twin-thumb use than touch-typing.

Getting the dimensions down was solely a part of the mission, although: every element has been picked for minimal value, shaving the invoice of supplies down from Lo’s earlier and similarly-sized pusheenz40 by shifting to the ultra-low-cost WCH CH552T eight-bit microcontroller with built-in USB System help. Different modifications, Lo admits, could also be extra controversial — such because the elimination of the transient voltage suppression (TVS) diode and fuse.

“One stunning realization that got here out of the method was the invention that the switches are by far essentially the most dominant value issue for any given mechanical keyboard, barring a flowery metallic CNC’d case,” Lo writes of his findings through the mission. “Even for a 40 key STM32 board with a good quantity of trimmings, the keys took up nearly all of the price of a keyboard.”

The experiment was derailed, sadly, as a consequence of a excessive failure fee within the G-Change mechanical switches chosen for his or her low value. “Whereas these prototypes can’t be given away as a consequence of defects within the switches,” Lo admits, “they helped affirm a number of experimental questions I had. Primarily, they confirmed {that a} 32 key format is viable for me, in addition to validating that FAK [keyboard firmware] is usable for my present and future layouts.”

The mission is documented on Lo’s weblog, whereas the design recordsdata have been made obtainable on GitHub underneath the reciprocal GNU Common Public License 3; Lo advises, nonetheless, ready for a 2.0 design that makes use of extra dependable switches earlier than constructing your personal.