Making a custom computer case with "built-in" keyboard

[ScanDisk]

Hello.

In the past few days, I have learned of an amazing piece of kit called the Color Maximite 2. It's basically a modern kit computer that runs basic, but runs it very fast, and is also capable of music and other things.

I decided I want to buy one.

Problem is it doesn't have it's own keyboard, you need to use just a standard USB keyboard with it.

I have decided that when I get one (since you can buy them in a kit as in you have to build and solder it yourself, or you can buy it pre-assembled with or without an enclosure) I will buy it pre-assembled without the enclosure, so that I can make my own custom case that has a keyboard "built-in".

right now my idea is just to make a rectangular case out of wood with the Maximite board itself on the left side, and then the keyboard on the right on top of the case, and of course a little hole for the keyboard's USB cable to route through.

In my naivety, I thought getting the keyboard would be as simple as removing the guts from an old keyboard, and then gluing, or velcroing it to the top of the case. However, now I am not sure of this, if it's even possible or how to do it. All "keyboard teardown" guides I find on google or youtube are for cleaning, and not removing the guts of the keyboard.

If anyone knows how and/or has previous experience with doing something like this, help would be very much appreciated.

Essentially, I want to replicate computers like the Commodore, or ZX Spectrum, etc which all had keyboard built in.

P.S: Here's a link to the product page of Circut Gizmos' version of the maximite which I will probably end up buying: https://circuitgizmos.com/RetroMax-CGs-Color-Maximite-2-p241231864

 

[whartung]

I can't give specific advice to this case, but perhaps you may look to take it from the other direction.

There is decent subculture out there of folks who make their own keyboards. From scratch. We're talking buying a 100 switches, getting their own keycaps, making their own PC boards. Literally from the ground up keyboards.

So, perhaps some searching and falling down in to that well of folks building them from the ground up can give you some insight in the middle of what you want to do.

In the end, you could always make your own.

 

[Eudimorphodon]

It all depends on the construction of the keyboard. A modern cheap membrane keyboard might be very highly integrated into its plastic skin and have no structural integrity without it, essentially limiting you to screwing almost the whole keyboard down. A gamer mechanical keyboard, on the other hand, usually has a metal plate anchoring the keyswitches above the PCB giving it excellent stiffness even if you strip off the casing on the bottom.

Here’s the crude hack-puter I made out of “vintage” garbage last year; I call it the Tandy 1000 SUX:

The guts are the bare motherboard from a Tandy 1000 HX, and the keyboard is the mechanism out of a late 80’s Wyse terminal. (No working terminals were harmed, this was literally junk.) To interface them I sawed through all the keyboard PCB grid traces with a dremel and soldered with wire jumpers a new matrix to match the HX’s original keyboard. (KB controller circuitry is on the motherboard.) The case is made of scrap wood from a drop side baby crib I couldn’t even legally give away, and you can see how I sized it to the width of the metal plate the KB is anchored to. The resulting structure is plenty stiff to type on (and has nice Cherry keyswitches) and, even though I know objectively the thing is ridiculous I love the crude Apple I-era vibes.

You can get a stiff metal-cased “mini” (no number pad) gamer keyboard with Cherry clone keyswitches off Amazon for less than $30. (I kind of love them, stupid backlighting and all. They type great for what they cost.) Incorporating one of those onto a similarly crude case big enough to hold the Maximite should be a snap.

 

[ScanDisk]

It all depends on the construction of the keyboard. A modern cheap membrane keyboard might be very highly integrated into its plastic skin and have no structural integrity without it, essentially limiting you to screwing almost the whole keyboard down. A gamer mechanical keyboard, on the other hand, usually has a metal plate anchoring the keyswitches above the PCB giving it excellent stiffness even if you strip off the casing on the bottom.

.........

You can get a stiff metal-cased “mini” (no number pad) gamer keyboard with Cherry clone keyswitches off Amazon for less than $30. (I kind of love them, stupid backlighting and all. They type great for what they cost.) Incorporating one of those onto a similarly crude case big enough to hold the Maximite should be a snap.

nice job dude, and thanks for the suggestion I will probably go that way, cheap mechanical gaming keyboard seems like a good idea.

Thanks.

I will be building speakers into mine too but that's rather simple, just a small audio amp, two small speaker drivers, wires, and some basic soldering.

 

[whartung]

I can't give specific advice to this case, but perhaps you may look to take it from the other direction.

There is decent subculture out there of folks who make their own keyboards. From scratch. We're talking buying a 100 switches, getting their own keycaps, making their own PC boards. Literally from the ground up keyboards.

So, perhaps some searching and falling down in to that well of folks building them from the ground up can give you some insight in the middle of what you want to do.

In the end, you could always make your own.