NintendogsWithGuns t1_isjwyxr wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:31 PM

Reply to comment by _vastrox_ in Am I getting the wrong impression about this hobby? by Rare_Acanthaceae5890

I have a degree in sculpture and specialize in digital fabrication. Unpopular opinion, but CNC machined aluminum is overkill for most keyboards. It makes sense on highly stressed components or complex shapes, but most people aren’t doing kickflips on their Zoom65. Investment casting is a lot more cost effective at scale and doesn’t need a ton of cleanup if you’re just going to electrophoretically coat it afterwards. There are plenty of factories in Vietnam that will cast high-quality parts at a lower cost than their Chinese competitors.

I’d personally rather see more innovation in PCB design though, as the custom scene really has been sleeping on things like USB pass through and whatnot.

_vastrox_ t1_isjy70q wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:39 PM

Yes of course it's completely overkill for a keyboard.
Pretty much all keyboards around in this community are overkill.

But like you said for small scale production CNC really is the most sensible route if you want the case to be made out of metal.
Casting only makes sense if you are going to mass produce the product which doesn't apply to most custom keyboards simply because the market for them is too small.
No company in their right mind is going to invest tens of thousands of dollars into prototyping and manufacturing metal casting molds for a board that will maybe sell a thousand units at best.

As for the PCB:
Some designers have tried to do stuff like USB passthrough but many people here just don't really seem to want that kinda stuff on a high-end boutique board.
And since those PCBs are a hell of a lot harder to design and also more expensive to manufacture most custom PCB makers just decided to not go that route.

NintendogsWithGuns t1_isk32dt wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:12 PM

I was referring to investment casting, which does not involve producing permanent molds. The molds are made of ceramic and are shattered with thermal shock to release them. It’s similar to sand casting, but with a much smoother finish. Common technique for manufacturing high-end cast iron, jewelry, and bronze sculptures.

_vastrox_ t1_isk6ely wrote on October 16, 2022 at 4:34 PM

I would guess that this would be much more expensive than just CNC machining.
Especially with the size and geometry that some of the higher end boards have on the inside.

And it would probably still required at least some finishing in a CNC machine.
Screw holes will have to get drilled and tapped and the mating surfaces between parts have to be absolutely flat to not create any visible gaps in the assembled part.

And with casting the QC process is usually much more involved than with CNC machining since a casting can fail a lot easier than a CNC program.