Illustrated Kristina with an IBM Model M keyboard floating between her hands.

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Cutting Board Keyboard

February 17, 2025 by Kristina Panos 4 Comments

Doesn’t this look fantastic? Hard to believe it, but the base of this keyboard began life as a cutting board, and there’s a gallery to prove it. This is actually [androidbrick]’s second foray into this type of upcycling.

This time, [androidbrick] used a FiiO KB3 and replaced the bottom half of the plastic shell with a hand-routed kitchen cutting board. The battery has been disabled and it works only in wired mode, which is fine with me, because then you get to use a curly cord if you want.

A lovely keyboard built into a kitchen cutting board. — Image by [androidbrick] via reddit

The switches are mostly Gateron EF Currys, though [androidbrick] left some of the original Gateron G Pro 3.0 on the stabilized keys just for comparison. As you might imagine, the overall sound is much deeper with a wooden bottom. You can check out the sound test on YouTube if you’d like, though it’s pretty quiet, so turn it up.

Those keycaps look even nicer from top-down, which you’ll see in the sound test video linked above. Just search ‘JCM MOA GMK’ on Ali and you’ll find them in a bunch of colorways for around $20. Apparently, [androidbrick] was saving them for months, just waiting for this build.

Via reddit

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Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With All The Espionage

November 11, 2024 by Kristina Panos 6 Comments

[Ziddy Makes] describes this cute little guy as a biblically-accurate keyboard. For the unfamiliar, that’s a reference to biblically-accurate angels, which have wings (and sometimes eyes) all over the place. They’re usually pretty scary to behold. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

A cube keyboard with adorably vibrant pastel keycaps. — Image by [Ziddy Makes] via GitHub

But this? This is the opposite of scary. Sure, there are keys everywhere. But it’s just so darn adorable. You know what? It’s those keycaps.

This 16-key macro cube uses a Pro Micro and a system of PH2 5p ribbon cables to connect the four four-key sisterboards to the main board. A 3D-printed base holds all the boards in place. Out of all the switches in the world, [Ziddy] chose Otemu Blues. Clack!

Although it may take some getting used to, this seems like it would be a fun way to input macros. I can see the case for putting some rubber feet on the bottom, otherwise it might scoot around on the desk. That might be cute, but only the first couple of times, you know?

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