The TEK-80

[photekq]

Original thread here
All photos in full resolution here

It's been a long time since this project started. A very long time. Almost 11 months. It's finally finished though. I couldn't be happier with the result. It's not perfect, but for my first case design I think it's brilliant. I've learned a lot from doing this, and it's been a great experience. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me & gave feedback along the way, especially CPTBadAss who made me more confident about my design and gave me valuable feedback throughout. The biggest thank you goes to JBCNC who machined this case. It simply wouldn't have happened if it weren't for him!

I'm not a very good photographer but I tried my best. Sorry there's no buildlog, but by the time the parts came here I just wanted to get it done and couldn't be bothered photographing the process. Without further ado here are the photos!

Keycaps are from a Cherry 3000SAU. Windowed lock keys are from a G80-1191HPU. Brobot V2 in irradicated red.

Spoiler:

[tlt]

Looks great!

[Muirium]

Can't argue with that well proportioned case. Literally. It'll beat you up!

Is the Escape key backlit red or am I just attempting to give you bad ideas?

[photekq]

Can't argue with that well proportioned case. Literally. It'll beat you up!

Is the Escape key backlit red or am I just attempting to give you bad ideas?

It's a translucent red key. No backlight, unfortunately, as the Phantom doesn't support and LED behind the ESC.

[snoopy]

Very nice case and keyboard! And I always love to look at your pics, so don't say you're a bad photographer. Your pics are awesome!

[Kurk]

Great stuff!
The case is milled from aluminium and the anodized, I guess. Does the brass inlay do anything else but adding weight? Speaking of which, how heavy is this thing? Is there additional support for the PCB or is it held solely at the edges?

BTW, 11 month is nothing for a masterpiece like this.

[Monkay]

Wow that is a beautiful keyboard. How much did it cost you to make it overall?

[cookie]

gorgeous!

I'd love to have such thing as 60% KBD

[nourathar]

very very pretty !

[rindorbrot]

gorgeous!

I'd love to have such thing as 60% KBD

Well, there is also the TEK-60
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=45047.0

[photekq]

Great stuff!
The case is milled from aluminium and the anodized, I guess. Does the brass inlay do anything else but adding weight? Speaking of which, how heavy is this thing? Is there additional support for the PCB or is it held solely at the edges?

BTW, 11 month is nothing for a masterpiece like this.

It's about 3.4kg. The brass is just for show + for weight. The PCB is suspended by the switches, which are mounted on the plate. The plate is screwed onto the case as you can see in the pictures. The PCB doesn't come in contact with the case.

Wow that is a beautiful keyboard. How much did it cost you to make it overall?

About £500 including anodising costs + 2 switch plates. 1-off machining and low-quantity laser cutting/anodising isn't cheap

[Muirium]

Wonder how much of a discount there could be if we did a 60% alu case group build! Like with Matt's laser cutting GB last year. That was a ton of fun.

[LeCado]

Came here after seeing your comment on "For Sale". Very very beautiful custom keyboard and design!

[photekq]

Came here after seeing your comment on "For Sale". Very very beautiful custom keyboard and design!

Thanks. It was a fun experience. Wasn't the best to type on, because 15 year old me had the wise idea of giving it a 28mm front height. Will have to make a more refined follow-up one of these days (tentative ETA 5 years ).

[LeCado]

Haha wow 28mm front height seems really high, but there's still a lot of custom keyboards that use a high front height. Really impressive designing and even producing such a good looking keyboard!