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Molekula: keyboard & framework

Evgenii Vilkov shared his monoblock split Molekula, a modular keyboard and framework.

KBD.news
Published January 7, 2025
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The Molekula is not simply a gorgeous unibody split keyboard but also a modular framework. Designer Evgenii Vilkov aka zzeneg was inspired by Sadek Baroudi's VIK standard:

I really like modular approach in keyboards, where you can change and replace different parts, and I'm happy the community is moving into that direction. It's one of reasons why I love VIK standard so much, I made multiple VIK (display/touchpad) modules for my stront keyboard, and I'm using it for every wired keyboard since – zzeneg.

Pic:

Framework

This project aims to provide components for building modular ergo keyboards by separating one main PCB into central and side parts.

  • Side is a dumb PCB, with key matrix only (up to 25 keys), and accepts all switch types (MX/ChocV1/ChocV2/GLP).
  • Central is a keyboard brain, which contains any MCU (wired/wireless/integrated) and additional hardware – encoders/touchpads/trackballs/displays/etc, while keeping its size under 100x100mm.
  • PCBs are interconnected with 12-pin FFC cables, and can be replaced/updated independently.

According to the author, such modular approach allows for quick, cheap and easy experimenting with different hardware, prototyping, and reusing of side PCBs.

Pic:

Molekula2 features

  • 36 keys
  • combined switch footprint (MX/ChocV1/ChocV2/GLP)
  • minY (19x16mm) spacing
  • unibody that can be disassembled into two parts for traveling
  • Pro Micro footprint (nice!nano)
  • wireless
  • nice!view support
  • rotary encoder

Pic:

Resources

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Published on Tue 7th Jan 2025. Featured in KBD #183.

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