It had to happen—of course I'm going to build my own keyboard. Recently I bought some oven-bake clay and starting modelling the layout using some keys I borrowed from a friend. The layout will be tailored to my hand, with four keys in a column per finger plus three extra for the index finger and another two extra for the pinky. I also plan to have three keys for the thumb (it's actually baffling how little the thumb is actually used in regular day-to-day typing). Right now it is only the design phase. Having made a model for the right hand, a few things are still missing. First off there is the actual modelling - how could this be built? Originally I wanted to build a model of clay, bake it and somehow make a mold or plastic "shell" from the model. This doesn't appear to be easy though. I think the simplest "first design" would be to get the design I want first, then complete it on a flat surface and post-pone raised keys for version 2. Secondly, there are the electronics: I need * keys (Cherry MX Brown) * key caps * wiring * diodes * some sort of controller. For the controller, I originally envisioned using the Arduino Uno, but it would seem a bit like overkill. Instead I'm considering the "Teensy":http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/ or the "McHck":https://mchck.org/ I want to post some design documents—pictures and drawings—soon. Highly recommended reading * "Keyboard Matrix Help":http://www.dribin.org/dave/keyboard/one_html/ Key set and key cap stores Living in the EU, I would prefer to shop in the EU, since taxes can be quite horrendous on imports from the US. * "The Keyboard Company":http://www.keyboardco.com/index.asp (base in the UK)