Adding another keyboard configuration: Lets split

[20lives]

Here is my poor attempt for a custom mod. This project clearly has the potential of being a universal keyboard modeling tool. And I think that more examples and implementations could really help people dive in

[veikman]

Thank you for offering this contribution. Like you, I can see the didactic value of a relatively simple design like the Let’s Split; it’s a good choice. I also quite like the way your case walls should make it especially ease to print the parts upside down for good adhesion.

However, I cannot accept the contribution as it is. Please consider the following points:

• Your design is not the Let’s Split, nor does it appear to be a case for Let’s Split PCBs, nor is there any indication that you are using the name or design with the permission of or attribution to the creator of the Let’s Split. This is confusing, rude, and possibly a legal liability.
• Evidently, you mean for the user to apply only your YAML without config/base.yaml, but there is no GNU Make target or even a comment about that. Please document your intent, not only for this detail but for any code you think may confuse a beginner. YAML supports comments.
• As a result of not using the base configuration file, your case walls and key mounts are conspicuously thin and probably brittle. Low key-mount-thickness also means that your switches won’t sit well: The MX nubs are shortened to almost nothing.
• By contrast, the thickness of your bottom-plate mounts looks a bit too big. The space reserved for switches cuts into the screw mounts to the point of intersecting the screws inside. I suggest you try a print with about 1.6 instead of 2.5 mm thickness and see if that’s strong enough. You may also want to try shorter screws.
• You use prefer-rear-housing twice, but you don’t have a rear housing. This is currently redundant.
• Because you don’t have a rear housing, or any equivalent, it looks as if your MCU is just going to be floating in space, with nothing to prevent the force of the user inserting a USB cable from pushing the MCU itself inside the case and out of reach. Actually adding a rear housing might be a worthwhile experiment, albeit a departure from the Let’s Split.
• Similarly, I don’t see how your TRRS mounts are supposed to work. Please document the type of hardware you’re planning to fit in there, and your results.

Finally, I object to the STL file. I can see its value: GitHub displays STL well, and such a preview is clearly beneficial to a browsing beginner. Unfortunately, STL does not support colour, so it won’t be clear to a beginner how the case opens or where the MCU goes.

As you can see, I have removed all STL files from the repo. This is because they are much larger than the source and, despite being plain text, they are rewritten virtually at random with each re-render. In order to be usefully maintained along with the application, they would have to be re-rendered regularly. This means that, over time, they would bloat the repo to the point of inconveniencing anybody with a slow or expensive connection: Most people. I suggest you put such artefacts on Thingiverse or in a Git repo of their own, separating them from the source code. This also solves part of the long-term maintenance problem I laid out in #16.

Following my argumentation in that issue, please consider maintaining your almost-a-Let’s-Split as a separate project for now, at least until you have prototyped it and documented it to your satisfaction. I will be proud to link to such a project.