Exploded axonometric · Diagram Design

Mechanical keyboard · Five layers under your fingers

Keycaps come off first. Under them every key has its own switch, held by a steel plate and plugged into the board in the case.

Mechanical keyboard · Five layers under your fingers Exploded view of a mechanical keyboard: the case, the PCB with hot-swap sockets, the steel plate, a switch for every key, and the keycaps on top, with the switches as the focal part. Casealuminium tray PCBhot-swap sockets Platesteel, one cutout per key Switchesmechanical, linear Keycapspbt, 51 keys

The headline

The switches are the feel

Keycaps change the sound and the look. The switch under each key sets how far it travels and how hard it pushes back, so the switches get the accent.

Reading the explode

  • One switch per keycap, one cutout per switch
  • Hot-swap sockets mean no soldering
  • The case is a tray, so its front walls paint last
  • Wider keys sit on one centred switch

Small parts, one primitive

Every keycap and switch is the same rounded prism as the case, just smaller. The part box is the envelope of its grid.

mechanical keyboard · exploded axonometric example · diagram design