Fab Academy at AS220 Labs

November 24, 2009 10:27 PM

Year-long Project

by Elliot Clapp

chord8.jpg

I'm working on creating an chording keyboard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard

for my final project. Hopefully I'll be able to use the skills I learn in the FAB Academy to make one that actually works.

chord-side.jpg

So far I've made a couple of prototypes on the laser cutter to test the ergonomics. I first figured out the the shape it should take by layering topographic planes in Illustrator and then I spread them out to create a file for the laser cutter:

chord-card.jpg

For this first one I used cardboard but I found it to be too flimsy and hard to judge how well it fit in my hand, I also decided to add a joystick and buttons to the top surface along with the touchpad.

chord4.jpg

chord3.jpg

chord2.jpg

chord1.jpg

After some adjustments to the overall shape and the addition of a joystick and buttons to the top and front I made another .svg.

chord-mason.jpg

This version I made out of masonite so it was much more solid, sadly, I'm afraid the original design fit better in my hand, I'm going to have a few more prototypes before I move on to creating a 3d file in blender that will eventually be cast or printed.

chord7.jpg

chord8.jpg

chord5.jpg

chord6.jpg

Return to front

Older articles