I debated what approach to take, but decided to keep it a little more personal here. I made a promotional post on Reddit but Keebtalk has always felt more like a small family — many of you probably know me already or have seen my Minila builds around here.
Over the past year, my life and career took a bit of a turn, and I’ve been putting my time into design and fabrication work. I recently launched Dusty Acorns to share some of those projects.
At the moment, most of the shop is keyboard-focused and will likely remain that way for a while — though I do have a few other projects in the works. I’d love for you all to follow along as it all grows.
Please take a look when you have time and let me know what you think! Open to all feedback, thoughts, ideas, suggestions!
(PS: Mods — please DM me if this post breaks any rules. I wasn’t entirely sure if promotional posts require registration or fees. Will gladly fix or remove post if needed!)
Ohhhh I remember seeing that keyboard shelf post and didn’t know it was you lolol. It’s a pretty neat idea you have and I’m kinda surprised that no one else has seemingly made a similar product (at least for sale).
The miter work on those corners is gorgeous, and you clearly used some really nice no-void veneered ply. The dovetail splines are just the cherry on top. Nice, nice work.
If you continue to go down this path, the chroma-ply skateboard stuff might work well for the keyboard audience.
Thank you!
It is baltic birch plywood that I cold press veneered with urea glue, specifically because baltic birch plywood is voidless and dimensionally consistent – and it’s crazy hard to find pre-veneered sheets that isn’t prohibitively expensive.
Chromaply looked super nice just expensive as well, but now I can’t seem to find them online anymore(?). A big issue is always the size of sheets is pretty limited to ship. I am playing with the idea of picking up some skateboard deck veneers try to make my own rainbow plywood, some maybe a little down the line. I have some 3/4 sheets of valchromat that I’ve yet to find a good use for–that stuff is really pretty too, just a pain to work with and finish since it’s basically MDF.
Hey everyone!
I’ve adjusted prices and am running a Black Friday sale with free shipping on all orders. Feel free to take a peek!
Tis the holiday shopping season.
Thanks for all the love!
Sorry for bumping this thread again, but I’ve started writing some blogs that I hope can be helpful for anyone tinkering on keyboards.
Some of it is pretty specific (like reusing Mill Max sockets) and some of it I hope is more useful like how to figure out the pinouts of non-unified daughterboards.
I’d love to get your feedback on how I can improve them and/or what related topic(s) would be more helpful!
Also, just wondering if this type of content is useful or more akin to unsolicited marriage advice from a bachelor uncle at a Thanksgiving dinner.
**I’m not sure if I need to mention this here either but I am by no means an electrical engineer or a SME in regard to these topics
Love the guides, especially on reusing Mill-Max sockets!
For cleaning flux off, I tend to use nylon spudgers instead of a metal screwdriver, as they are much less likely to damage the board. You can still damage the board by ripping off components (ask me how I know! ), but it takes a bit more effort. They’re cheap and useful for a lots of other things, as well.
For really dirty PCBs, I tend to just soak them in a bath of isopropyl alcohol (99%, or 91% if I can’t get that). This uses a lot, but you can re-use and filter it a few times before throwing it out. You could also distill it back to usable but I’m lazy and spaced constrained for that.
Ahh thanks for the tips. Wasn’t really aware nylon spudgers was a thing, but I also kind of have light fingers. Maybe I should pick up some spudgers.
If you don’t mind I’ll add that tidbit in there as well!
Curious how you filter the IPA, too. Is there a process to it?
Feel free! And just coffee filters – mostly it’s to get all the cat hair that covers everything in my life, along with fuzz and dust and other random floof. Most of the flux winds up dissolved, so how many times you can reuse it depends on the amount of flux you’re dealing with and how gnarly it gets when heated.
Hey everyone
I’ve been heads down with some new things.
Just dropped wrist rests on my shop: Wrist Rests – Dusty Acorns
They’re simple box-on-wedge, with cross-grain hardwood on 3D printed PETG wedges. They use standard sized silicon bump-ons and have silicone strips on the back to prevent direct contact with your keyboard.
I’m a heavy wrist rest user and wanted to re-invent the wheel
), but it takes a bit more effort. They’re cheap and useful for a lots of other things, as well.
Can’t wait to see it mounted!
