Hand wired 54key full split mechanical keyboard

To cut a long story short, I started feeling pain in my wrists and shoulders in Dec 2014. I did some research into ergonomic keyboards, bought a Kinesis Freestyle, got sucked into the mechanical keyboard scene, hand wired a test 8key keyboard from switch tester, sourced and hand wired an Atreus, ordered an Infinity Ergodox but the wait and delays were killing me, so I designed and built my own, codenamed blackhawk.

High resolution photos »

Design goals

• Fully programmable - multi-layer keymaps, mouse keys, oneshot modifiers, macros, ...
• Full split with laptop wide separation - most comfortable hand positioning I've found
• Non-staggered columns - human fingers don't move diagonally
• Staggered rows - human fingers have different lengths
• Just enough keys you can reach - no stretching, no hand movement
• Multiple thumb keys - pity to waste two thumbs on just one key
• Trackpoint on home-row - great mouse at your finger tip (guide)
• Tactile mechanical switches - once you go mechanical, you can't go back
• Full hand with integrated wrist rests - mobility and tenting
• Small, minimal and compact - mobility

Keymap layout

Parts

• Gateron brown switches
• Teensy 2.0 micro-controller
• USB type-c breakout board
• USB type-c to USB A short coiled cable
• Interconnect 11 conductor cable
• Vortex PBT cherry keycaps
• Grafiti skin surface slim wrist rest
• Laser cut transparent gray acrylic 3mm 5 layer sandwitch case
• 3mm hex bolts and nuts
• Trackpoint module and 16G labret for stem

Inspiration and thanks

• My wife - for putting up with me and my new obsession
• Matt3o - for the excellent tutorials
• TMK - for the amazingly powerful open source keyboard firmware
• Suka - for the inspiring builds
• Technomancy - for the Atreus
• Jacobolus - for the great riff designs
• Lister - for the sandwitch plate case design
• Ponoko - for great service and customer support
• Massdrop - for taking so long with the Infinity Ergodox
• Geekhack and Deskthority communities