Keyboard

Ortho-Turtle

Ortho-Turtle is an ortholinear keyboard designed by me, Fastturtle, for Hackclub's KEEB project.

If you want to make this yourself, just grab the files from Production-Ready_Files, and you should be good to go.

Design Philosophies:

Keyboard Layout: I went for a fairly unique layout with this keyboard, as not only is it a ortholinear layout, but it's a fairly nonstandard amount of keys (81). My main motivator behind choosing the keys was having all the keys that I usually use, plus the ones that I would require to navigate an environment without a mouse, as I frequent janky linux distros.

PCB: I designed my keyboard PCB fairly basically, as it's the first circuit board I've ever designed. I chose to use surface mount diodes, to give the keyboard a cleaner look, and to challenge my soldering skills a bit. Other than that though it's not particularly unique, although I'm quite happy with the design, especially with it being the first one I've made.

Case: I chose to 3d print the case so that I could have more options when it comes to customizing it, additionally, it saves a lot of cost, as I'm able to use materials I have on hand, vs having to utilize grant funds. As for the actual case design I made a nice and simple tray mount, with a plate, to make it easier to 3d print. I plan on O-ring mounting the PCB to ensure a nicer, and more consistent typing experience.

Things I learned:

I think the main lesson I learned throughout the development of this project was the importance of having a concrete idea of what you want before you start. As I could have saved a fair bit of time spent redesigning if I had just decided upon an idea to begin with. In addtition I also learned how to utilize KiCad.

Credits

First of all, lots of thanks to Miles and the amazing team at Hackclub that helped put KEEB together, because without KEEB this project never would have been possible.

Secondly, thank you to Scotto Keebs for all the amazing guides on making custom keyboards.

Finally, me, I did design this whole keyboard, so you know, don't steal it, if have issues or questions just let me know, I'm always happy to help!