Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
Barnacle
The Barnacle is a modular ortho keyboard by floookay – heavily inspired by the Boardrun keyboards.
Published January 4, 2025
Floookay shared his Barnacle, an ortholinear monoblock keyboard in an Alice-like flavor, with a modular middle piece. Heavily inspired by the Boardrun keyboards, its main focus is keycap set compatibility, modular design, and ease of sourcing/making.
I love the look of the boardrun classic and desperately wanted to get one myself but things happened so that's not likely anymore unfortunately – floookay.
Specs
- 61 keys + 0-9 (module)
- MX, hotswap
- 0xCB Helios controller
- OLED option
- encoder option
- per-key RGB
- 3D-printed case (5 deg typing angle)
The keyboard is a two-part PCB design where the middle piece can be switched for different functionality or layout options. The author created a couple of modules with encoders, OLED display, numblock already and plans on adding a few more.
The base layout stays the same and was chosen to achieve a symmetrical look while using the available mod keys of standard keycap base kits.
Resources
Published on Sat 4th Jan 2025. Featured in KBD #183.
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