deskthority

I'm currently working on my first custom board and everything is planned except for the case. A friend owes me a favour and will be making the case for me, but I don't know much about wood stuff and what I need to provide him with. To give you a rough estimation of what the board will look like just imagine a 60% ANSI with an F-key row. There is no PCB, only a plate (steel/aluminium, not decided yet). My question is after I've made the backplate files with swillkb I'm clueless on how to put it in a board. Should I add some holes for standoffs? If so, where? How does the board stay put? What do I put in the case for holding the plate in its place? What other stuff do I need to take into consideration?

This is how I did mine

Other ways to do it:

"Sandwich case": Switch plate covers all the top, and the bottom plate covers all the bottom. A wooden frame in the middle. Bolts in rows around the edges holds the sandwich together. (Many "home-made" cases are like this, most often from laser-cut acrylic or laser-cut plywood commissioned from somewhere. Some cases have layer(s) on top of the plate also)

"Tray" case: Four sides and a bottom permanently fixed together. The plate fits in-between the walls, so it has no extra borders. Standoffs between bottom and the plate. Bolts through plate and standoffs.
(Poker cases are made this way, except that it is the PCB that is on standoffs, standoffs are integrated into the case and those are tapped for M2 screws.)

"Picture frame" case (my term): Four sides and the plate are fixed together. The bottom is removable. Each side has a lengthwise groove cut into it which the plate is slotted into. Requires that the frame parts are strongly joined together in the corners.
(I have made a case like this but in aluminium and epoxy with finger-joints in the corners and L-brackets for reinforcement on the inside)

For Cherry MX, the plate should be 1.5mm if you want the switches to snap to it. You could use a thicker plate if you glue the switches in place. You might want to glue the switches anyway if the keycaps sit too tight and want to be able to change them without risking pulling the switches out by mistake (Cherry MX Clear sliders have this problem).
If you would use laser-cut acrylic for the plate then you should use a thicker plate with glued switches, or two or three layers of 1.5mm acrylic where the switches snap only to the top layer and the lower layer(s) don't interfere with the snaps.
For laser-cut parts, adjust the drawing for the "kerf" - the thickness of the laser beam.

For Cherry MX, the space between the bottom of the plate (1.5 mm) and the case bottom should be at least 8 mm (for standoffs or sandwhich layer(s)) but you might want more for cabling and the controller, depending on where you place it.
If you use a side-wall, add 1/2 mm spacing between keys and the wall. If you want the wall to reach the keycaps, make it 1/4" (6 - 7 mm) high above the plate.

Saw this on Geekhack right now:
https://imgur.com/a/CDDdf

CNC-milling your own keycaps might not be for everyone, but could maybe provide some inspiration.

Findecanor wrote: Saw this on Geekhack right now:
https://imgur.com/a/CDDdf

CNC-milling your own keycaps might not be for everyone, but could maybe provide some inspiration.

i'm hopeing to have abit more of that in my life soon aluminum keys are love

Thank you both for the replies, my apologies for my late reply.

What I would prefer to have is a tray case so no screws or anything are visible. Are there any schematics out there that I can base myself of? When using the plate and case builder, what's the best way to add holes for the standoffs? What standoffs should I buy and what are the best ways of putting standoffs in a case? Besides the standoffs, is there a small edge the frame is laying on or how does it work exactly? Have you got any pictures?