Someone built their own split keyboard with a 3D printer and $25

What I love the most about the SBC and 3D printing community is how hard they go in on the mentality of "don't buy, build." If they see a product they want but it's too expensive, the cogs start turning within their heads. Give them a few days and a GitHub page, and they'll find a way to achieve the same result with a fraction of the price, with open-source plans and code, and somehow fix people's problems with the paid product.

Such is the case of this one tinkerer, who balked at the $100+ price that split keyboards usually go for. As such, they did what any good DIY enthusiast would do in their situation: figure out how to make their own, then created it for a fraction of the price. Because why not?

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You, too, can make a split keyboard with a 3D printer and $25 worth of components

As spotted by Hackaday, this cool idea was brought to life by DanielYordanov on YouTube. Their story starts much like every other DIY project out there: they saw something they wanted, saw that it was too expensive, figured they could probably make something just as good back home, and then rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

For the base, Daniel used a 3D printer, which managed to make a pretty sturdy foundation for the rest of the hardware. Of course, you can't 3D print wires, PCBs, and keyboard keys (or, at least, ones that look and feel good to use), so Daniel dug into his pocket, saw what change he had spare, then got to work on cutting down costs on the hardware.

Turns out, if you go a-hunting, you can score all the keyboard hardware you need for $25. Don't believe me? Here's the full cost breakdown Daniel posted:

If you want to see where he got each component, pop over to his GitHub page where he gives product listings for the parts. While you're there, you can also snag all the schematics and firmware needed to get this cool project up and running.

So, interested in 3D printing more stuff you'd usually buy? If so, don't you worry; we have a bunch of 3D printing enthusiasts here at XDA that are more than happy to regale you about all the stuff they now 3D print instead of buy. For example, our residential 3D Benchy wrangler Jeff Butts published a piece on everyday items he no longer has to buy thanks to 3D printing.