Dactyl Manuform 5x6

March 15, 2020

A build guide for Dactyl Manuform 5 x 6

The dactyl manuform is an open source ergonomic split keyboard. This board is a mixture of two other open source split ergonomic keyboards: namely the dactyl and the manuform. Thus you can see where it gets its name from.

⚠️⚠️WORK IN PROGRESS⚠️⚠️

This guide is a work in progress. I'm currently working through building it so don't take it as gospel until it's done. I'd rather publish things incrementally than leave it all until the very end to make sure I capture all of my thoughts.

Materials

Material	Description	Quantity	Cost	Link
1418 diode
Amoeba single switch pcb				Keebio
Elite C micro controller
Female Lemo socket
Harajuku pink filament
Mill-Max Manufacturing Corp. 0305-2-15-80-47-80-10-0				Digikey
Kester leaded solder
Male Lemo socket
Male TRRS connector
Female TRRS jack
Male USB-C connector
Wire

Tools

Tool	Use	Link
Cutting mat
Tweezers
Soldering iron
Desoldering pump
Loupe
Wire stripper
Alligator clips

Part list breakdown

We'll discuss why we chose each part

Some names

Before we begin I want to make sure that we're on the same page. Let's give some names to a few things to make it easier to communicate throughout the guide.

Board orientation

Top

Bottom

Fabrication

Tips

Don't go following these tips quite yet. Just peruse through before beginning your build.

Bending diode legs

Breaking up the amoeba boards

Breaking the boards can be difficult. Sometimes it can feel like you're going to break it the wrong way. I've found the easiest way to break off the individual pcbs is to let one row of the board hang off of a table.