MidEvil Keyboard
In the custom mechanical keyboard world, it's extrely hard to find a keyboard with a numberpad, because apparantly, numberpads are evil. OK, I may have made that last bit up, but if it were actually true, then this keyboard places that evilness smack dab in the middle.
The MidEvil layout is a spin-off of NoPunIn10Did's Jabberwocky keyboard. I personally love this layout because it's split, angled, ortholinear, ISO-friendly, and base-kit-friendly. For MidEvil, I removed the F row, added a numberpad in the middle, and a large 4" 320x480 display on the left to balance the board out.
Keyboard Layout Editor (KLE) link
Build Notes
Below is a list of components I used for my build.
| Part | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RP2040-Plus/Pi Pico | 1 | Link (Plus supports USB-C) |
| BAV70 diodes | 48 | |
| ILI9488 Display panel | 1 | Link |
| Stabalizers | 3-8 | |
| Hot swap MX sockets | 89-95 | |
| MX switches | 89-95 |
The RP2040 develoment board can be soldered directly to the bottom of the PCB. But for this particular build, I used Mill Max sockets instead to place it on the top with the components facing down (towards the PCB). This is because I wanted to keep the bottom thin, and I had enough room under the LCD display.
For the case, I had to split it in half because my lasercutter was too small to cut the full length of the keyboard in one piece. I would recommend avoiding this if possible since it's extremely difficult to line up the acrylic layers. Because of this split design, I opted to use Weld-On (acrylic cement) to hold everything together instead of screws+stands-offs for added rigidity. I would also recommend avoiding this since arcylic cement can be messy and difficult to work with.