Lily58 case with magnets, tent, tilt, and a palm rest

Description

The Lily58 is an opensource column-staggered 58-key split keyboard. I wanted a versatile and portable yet sturdy case that is easy to transport, lightweight, hassle-free operation in different usecases (e.g. in public transport, at a desk, from bed), allows for adjustable tenting, has space for sound-dampening material, and remaining firm in all scenario.

I believe the best approach to the above criteria is a minimal case with embedded magnets. Besides robustness during transportation, the embedded magnets provides a solid base creating accessory modules (e.g. tenting legs, palm rests, etc.).

Hence, I designed my own case from the ground up with this in mind. The design is parameterized such that it is easily adaptable to different design philosophy (e.g. high-profile / low-profile, tent angle, tilt angle, etc.), different hardware components (e.g. screw dimensions), and even completely different keyboards (by replacing the SVG files)!

The design is written in OpenSCAD. It is open source under a MIT license and can be found at https://github.com/tossenxD/cad-files

Print details

I printed every component on my Prusa I3 MK3S+ with a 0.4mm nozzle using Polymaker PolyLite PLA. It was sliced on PrusaSlicer version 2.9.3 using the 0.2mm (quality) profile, with 8% infill, a brim, and paint on supports for only the cable cutouts of the case and the steepest line (the lower rightmost leg-to-leg line), and with pause for inserting magnets one layer before the magnet hole is covered.

The files depict the right hand side and can be mirrored along the X-axis to get the left hand side.

Post-processing

I sanded a couple of rough edges to make it more comfortable to pick up. I also put some sound dampening synthetic wool between the PCB and case to give it a more muted sound. Lastly, I put some rubber feet under the palm rest case to make it more firmly placed.

I also had to sand a bit to get the USB C cable flush and to avoid the “3” keycap touching the sides. This should have been fixed in the uploaded STLs (and also the openscad file), and was further heightened by using the wrong print settings.

These wrong print settings also resulted in the rough lines along the outer rim of the bottom keyboard case in the pictures. Since I switched to the above mentioned profile, I have had no problems with printing the case, but cannot justify printing a new set and so I sanded them instead.