Piantor in brass

"Edel muss die Welt zu Grunde gehen!"

This was one of my colleagues first comment, when spotting the upgrade my favourite gadget just had received. Which deeple translates to: "noble the world must perish against!".

And jeah, he is kind of right, because at least economically this wouldn't have made sense at all, but who would we be, if we would always follow that path.

And doesn't it look gorgeous now? Also the sound changed quite a bit. I didn't expect the keypresses to be that different, when the underlying material changes. It feels more solid, just great.

Goal

The initial goal was to have it more durable and heavier, compared to the original 3D printed plastic. So that it doesn't move that quickly when pushing.

Also integrating some screws for the tenting to have a better wrist angle, which I am happy with as well.

And finally, well just because we can. I use it almost every day so having something that looks motivating is not unimportant too.

Process

The STP file and a PDF of the drawing can be found here. What is drawn would be the ideal, but we had to make some sacrifices to simplify the manufacturing.

We made some additional holes in the bottom plate, to be able to tighten it down. To create the USB-C openings, we omitted the vertical radius and the surrounding bevels.

We had to rasp a bit off the electronic print on the center site. So it would probably be good to leave more space at the bevel where the diameter R4/R13 are. Have a bit of play there would be fine, since the switches will hold the print in place anyway.

Speaking of switches, they are kailh sunsets and they sound great here, although that's subjective of course.

Credits

They go of course to beekeeb for making such a beautiful device. Having the STP file open sourced made the construction part pretty easy. Meanwhile they provide a aluminium case for the Piantor. If that would have been available when I purchased it, I might wouldn't have started this project here.

Thanks a lot also to my coworkers! What a blessing to have such knowledgeable people next door.

Conclusion

Well look at the picture 😍.

I especially love the cap nuts. Looks like early 20th century design. I really hope to be able to enjoy it for the decades to come. Next thing TODO; create a nice case that lives up to its entrails.