Makers Making Change is going to host a group of students from UBC Mechanical Engineering at VHS on Thursday, October 4th from 1:00 - 4:00 PM.
The students will be volunteering their time to design keyguards that will be laser cut out of acrylic. Keyguards are often used by people with disabilities to make it easier and more effective to use keyboards and touchscreen devices. Makers Making Change
The plan is to use the desk area for design and to use the laser cutter to make test in card stocks and the final version in acrylic if there is time.
If possible, please avoid the use of loud equipment during this time.
@JDMc Jake, are their designs available? A friend of mine with CP needs a new keyboard cover, I can CAD it myself but would be good to have a starting point. Thanks.
There are a bunch of device / screen templates available in the repo as well - mostly for Apple tablets. There is also the set of instructions of the process. In my experience, it’s much easier to grab actual measurements in person than to try to scale an pull them off of an image.
Should also mention there are a few other applicable projects depending on what you friend is looking for, including a 3d printed version: Makers Making Change
Thanks, he has acrylic guards for his old laptop so we’ll do the same for the new one. I’ll add the design to your github once I’m done (will be some time, the laptop is still on order).
Have you tied using PETG? Its significantly more flexible and less shattery, not sure if its so flexible that it will cause a keyboard mash but it might be worth a try. Also if you increase your radius on the sharp corners around the track pad you’ll get less of a stress riser.
Here is the latest rev, 5mm acrylic, added guides for the mouse button and advice from @dbynoe wrt to corners. Also advice from the recipient to use a lot less velcro.
