Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
Boardsource smol Rev 2
Cole Smith's smol is a symmetric staggered monoblock split with the same small flippable PCB for both halves, stuck together by the controller.
Published April 15, 2023
Cole S. Smith aka 66633 designed a pretty crazy two-part monoblock split PCB to be able to capitalize on the cheap 100mx100mm offer of manufacturers. Teased in February, the author now shared the v2 design files with an additional back support to make it more durable, and also a case.
The smol uses reversible PCBs for the halves, stuck together by the controller. (We have a split keyboard already going by the same Smol name here.)
I read A LOT of keyboard stuff day to day, one day I was reading about how much some people find the 100x100mm $2 pcbs very important to the hobby. That made me remember back years ago when I first got into custom ergo boards how thats where I cut my teeth. So I wanted to give back to this awesome community by making another cheap board – Cole.
I'm glad Cole was also inspired by the square matrix write-up.
So the smol is a symmetric staggered keyboard using two square matrices with PCBs under 100x100mm, Choc-spaced, with a 3D-printed case that comes pre supported for FDM printing.
Specs
- monoblock, sub-100x100mm PCBs
- symmetric layout
- low profile, Choc spacing
- square matrix
Resources
Published on Sat 15th Apr 2023. Featured in KBD #120 (source).
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