Russ Nelson's blog
rants and raves
http://blog.russnelson.com/chordite/index.atomRuss Nelsonhttp://blog.russnelson.com/chordite/index.atomme@russnelson.comCopyright 2021 Russ Nelson
Pyblosxom hhttp://pyblosxom.github.com/ 1.5.4.dev
2016-11-21T22:38:00ZArchiveshttp://blog.russnelson.com/2016/11/21/MarkXVII2016-11-21T22:38:00Z2016-11-21T22:38:00Z
<p>It's been three years since I updated this section of my blog, but I've got
another update to publish. I have a folding bluetooth version of my Chordite
now. The pictures of my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelson/tags/markxvii">MarkXVII</a> are
over on Flickr. This is 3D printed on my printer. The idea is to be able to
print multiple sizes for people with different hand sizes.</p>
<p><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5708/31050203311_bdd8c10337_z_d.jpg"></p>
Archiveshttp://blog.russnelson.com/2013/06/29/MarkXVI2013-06-29T20:12:00Z2013-06-29T20:12:00Z
<p>It's been a couple of years since I updated this section of my blog, but
I've finally got an update to publish. I have a folding bluetooth version
of my Chordite now. The pictures of my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelson/tags/markxvi">MarkXVI</a>
are over on Flickr. This one is still made out of shapelock. I tried,
without much success to have the ground wires be the frame of the
keyboard, so you could bend them into the shape you want before setting
it into stone with the Shapelock.</p>
<p><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5522/9169718048_9c43e1306c_z_d.jpg"></p>
<p>This version also has, in addition to a USB interface, a bluetoooth
interface. Finally found a module that would work reasonably well with a
Teensy. I've recently found one which might not even need a Teensy, but it
needs more development than I want to put into it right now.</p>
<p>The <a href="">XVII</a> will have a 3D printed key holder, with the idea
that I can measure people's hands and make them a bespoke keyboard that fits
their hand well enough.</p>
Mark XIV keyboardhttp://blog.russnelson.com/2011/01/28/MarkXIV2011-01-28T20:55:00Z2011-01-28T20:55:00Z
<p>I've given up on the <a href="http://blog.russnelson.com/chordite/keymodules.html">Mark XIII</a> keyboard. The problem is that the small PC board plus
the brass barrier was too big to position close enough even for MY hands.
I've got a Mark XIV keyboard which uses different switches (surface mount SPST very short displacement). Soldered the switches directly to the copper wires I suggested earlier, and ran wires to the bottom, weaving them into a grid holding the keyboard firmly. Got them as I wanted them and put polycapralone on both sides as reinforcement. Have a folding knuckle rest, thumb rest, and palm heel rest. It's by far the smalltest keyboard I've made so far.</p>
<p>I'm using a wired keyboard this time, to see how compatible I can make it. It's based on the <a href="http://www.pjrc.com/teensy">Teensy</a>. It's very similar to an Arduino, but it can take on a USB Keyboard flavor.</p>
Mark XV keyboardhttp://blog.russnelson.com/2011/01/28/MarkXV2011-01-28T20:55:00Z2011-01-28T20:55:00Z
<p>Sigh. So little time, so many keyboards. The <a href="http://blog.russnelson.com/chordite/MarkXIV.html">Mark XIV</a> keyboard, using surface-mount pushbuttons was utter fail. Had I actually <b>looked</b> at them, I would have seen that they can't withstand any sideways force at all. Consequently, they break when you look at them sideways. I only discovered this after arriving in India and finding three switches completely useless. Oh well, back to the reliable
Marquardt switches. Will remove the surface mount switches and replace them with the Marquardt switches.</p>
Keymoduleshttp://blog.russnelson.com/2008/02/13/keymodules2008-02-13T07:28:00Z2008-02-13T07:28:00Z
<p>Working on the Mark XIII keyboard. This one will have the keymodules
connected together with a matrix of stiff-ish copper wires, covered over
in polycapralone. The theory is that people will be able to change the shape
of their keyboard by heating it up using a hot air blow dryer. That will
soften the polycapralone, which gets quite soft, and won't hold up its
own weight, hence the copper wires. The keyboard owner can push the
keymodules around until they're in the perfect position for them. The
copper wires will hold the shape until the polycapralone hardens, making
the keyboard both flexible and stiff, soft and hard, as needed.</p>
<p>Here are a set of keymodules, soldered to a small PC board, with a
brass strip used as a barrier against the polycapralone. Without the barrier,
the polycapralone would stick to the keys and/or jam up the key movement.<br>
<a href="http://blog.russnelson.com/images/keymodules.jpg" title="Key modules (Full size)">
<img alt="Key modules (Thumbnail)" src="http://blog.russnelson.com/thumbs/tmprDkETR.png"/>
</a></p>