Building the Manuform Dactyl

WHAT YOU NEED

PARTS

Keyboard case

Keyboard case bottom

(2x) Pro Micro controllers

(2x) TRS/TRSS ports

(10x) Brass thread inserts

(64x) 1N4148 (or similar) switching signal diodes

(64x) Cherry MX switches

(3 feet) Wire

TRS cable

TOOL LIST

Soldering iron

Wire strippers

Phillips screwdriver

Side cutters

1 PRINT THE CASE

The first part of the build is simply printing out the case. The model is approximately 6 x 7 x 2 inches, so it will fit on most popular FDM printers with a bed over this size. We have access to a few 3D printers, one of which has a 20 x 20 x 20-inch bed, so we used that. With supports each side, it took around two days for each half to print. This time could have been reduced by having fewer walls and less infill, but we wanted to make sure that everything was as solid as possible. We used four walls and 30-percent infill. In total, we used just under 0.7lb of filament. The filament cost us $22 for 2.2lb, making the price of the case $7, not including the few cents of electricity we used. We also