Cryptodancer keyboard
Table of Contents
Almost a year ago I made a split keyboard I named Hovert60. It was a fun project, and I wrote a couple posts about it. However, I didn’t like the end result, so I never actually used it.
There were several issues with Hovert60:
- The keyswitches I used were Kailh Pink, with actuation force of 20g. They turned out to be too light to press for me, but I could not easily replace them due to the assembly method I used.
- I didn’t like the split aspect of the keyboard that much – it was annoying to position and move around.
- I didn’t like having to deal with bluetooth and with charging the halves.
That whole experience let me understand my preferences better, so eventually I gave in to the temptation to try again. This is how Cryptodancer was born. The name does not mean anything. I chose it because I once accidentally said that referring to the «Crypt of the Necrodancer» game and thought it sounded cool.
My friend Colin from Edinburgh Hacklab recently wrote a blog post using a VT320 terminal, and I decided I should write this post using Cryptodancer. I need practice :)
What makes Cryptodancer unique
(knob positioning, functionality and custom event handling)
(fabrication process that involved writing a G-code generator for the CNC router)
(relatively low effort put into design at the initial stage)
(not so unique, but still notable: buzzer)
Design process
Farication process
What could be improved in the design?
Layout configuration and what’s next
(space for Ctrl on both sides)
(limitations of needing Right Alt)
(some combos I didn’t position well, e.g. to type ')
(and just second layer in general)
(having to tweak sway keybinds)
(shoutout to people who fiddled with the keyboard and provided feedback)
(shoutout to Edinburgh indieweb witing session meetup where I started this post)