On November 4, 2024, Japan’s largest keyboard meetup event “Tenkaichi Keyboard Waiwai Kai Vol. 7” was held.
Tenkaichi Keyboard Waiwai Kai Vol.7
- Date: Monday, November 4, 2024 (national holiday)
- Time: 13:00-17:00
- Capacity: 300 people
- Venue: Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower 24F, 3-2-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
DMM.com Group Seminar Room - Participation URL: Tenkaichi Keyboard Waiwai Kai｜connpass
It is no exaggeration to say that the most exciting part is seeing the wide variety of “home-made keyboards” designed and produced by individuals.
In this article, we report excerpts from the works that show the recent trend of self-made keyboards, as well as individual booths where the author was able to talk directly to the makers.
Representative of GreenEchoes Studio
He launched his own media as a site operator and web writer, and now plans and manages multiple corporate media. He often types heavily in his work, and in his search for greater efficiency, he became addicted to the keyboard swamp and established “GreenKeys”.
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Split? 40% or less? With trackballs? A wide variety of home-built keyboards on display
One thing that struck me throughout the individual exhibitors’ booths this year was the increasing variety of homemade keyboards.
Among them, many of the keyboards, whether integrated or separate, gave the impression of having the concept of a keyboard and pointing device as a set.
KawamuraI feel that the self-production of pointing devices is rapidly advancing against the backdrop of aki27 ‘s trackball module, the appearance of the M5 Dial, and the widespread use of Keyball.
In addition, the quality of homemade keyboards may have risen dramatically as the hurdle for obtaining 3D printers has dropped and, with it, the know-how of case design using 3DCG software has been shared.
In the past, many cases were made of acrylic sheets, but this time, resin cases and machined metal cases using 3D printers were very common in Tenkey.
Interview with the Producer
Here are some of the works of the two artists we were able to talk to at their exhibition booths.
Kimura Shinshokuba (member of India’s merchant-and-farmer caste)
As expected, the “corne xiao” case caught the eye.
With a design reminiscent of a guitar’s “elbow contour” that doubles as a palm rest, and toggle switches reminiscent of a pickup selector, this is a relatively rare piece in the “design-first” home-built keyboard world.
I was very impressed by the phrase, “Don’t design from the board, but adapt the board to the design.
KawamuraIt was an interview that gave us a sense of the depth of the artwork creation process.
takashicompany
At takashicompany’s booth, keyboards selected from among the entries to the “First KLE Sequence Championship” held at X were mainly on display.
KLEC-01 Filled46 is an array proposed by half.
As a 40% keyboard form with arrow keys, this is a personal strike arrangement.
The other unit, KLEC-02 #Gravity36, is actually an array proposed by Kawamura.
As someone who cannot design, this project brought tears to my eyes.
The acrylic plate color called “glass edge” is used to reproduce very well “that greenish feeling” characteristic of glass when viewed from the side.
Also, it seems to be customary to make the PCB “along the outer diameter line,” but I was surprised at their insistence on making the PCB inside the outer diameter line so that the PCB would not be visible when the keyswitch is installed.
We are planning to distribute this work under the name Gravity36 with the backup of takashicompany.
summary
These are the works that I have picked up at my own discretion and prejudice about the individual booths.
The talk session also had a theme of “pointing devices and keyboards,” but from the viewpoint of wanting the click button to be independent, it actually came to the unexpected landing point that the mouse function does not have to be “integrated”…etc. The relationship between keyboards and pointing devices is very interesting. The event was a reminder that the relationship between keyboards and pointing devices is a very interesting one.
The next event is still undecided, but we are looking forward to it.
Note that keyboards designed and manufactured by individuals may be available for purchase at Kiket, so please take a look here as well.
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