Keyboard Builders' Digest / Projects
Cygnus 1.0
Juha Kauppinen shared his Cygnus, a 36-key handwired project with keywell.
Published February 29, 2024
Featured in KBD#83, the original Sygnus or Cygnus (v0.5) was released almost 2 years ago. While not officially released yet, the files of the Dactyl-inspired sub-40% Cygnus 1.0 by Juha Kauppinen aka scytile/juhakaup are already available. (Brought to my attention by shinshurt's v0.5 build.)
Specs
- 36 keys (5x3+3)
- MX, hotswap support via single-switch PCBs
- handwired
- multiple controller support (via holder brackets)
- keywell
So what have changed compared to v0.5? According to the designer, the v1 is pretty much rebuild from the ground up.
I wanted to make the design parametric, so that it would be easier to modify. It also supports single switch PCBs, for easier building and for hot swapping. And a lot of other improvements like support for various controllers etc.
While the v0.5 STL featured holders for hotswap sockets, hot swapping is supported with the single switch PCBs this time.
The controller is held in place by slotting it between two brackets. This way differently sized controllers can be used without modifying the case.
If you are wondering about the rather odd pinky column:
I press the topmost key with my ring finger, so it stays closer to the fourth column – Juha.
Warning
The author is going to make the posts for the threaded inserts a bit thicker as they can flex a bit. There is also some clearance issues with the bottom of the case when using the PCBs. That can be fixed by scraping off a bit of the plastic from the current version.
Resources
- Cygnus 1.0 on GitHub.
- Cygnus 0.5 build by shinshurt.
Published on Thu 29th Feb 2024. Featured in KBD #157 (source).
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