Designing a slide-out phone case with a keyboard
For reference, I have next to zero knowledge of building electronics. I've replaced the joysticks on two Nintendo joycons (which I actually found pretty fun), and that's it. I also have no experience with 3D printing or designing specific products.
I am also sick of touch screen keyboards on phones, do not like any of of the phones that do have keys or the Clicks phone case (why is it on the BOTTOM—), and currently have a lot of free time.
So my question to you: how would I go about designing my own slide out case with its own keyboard?
Because that is my ideal solution at this point. And in fact, it turns out someone DID make a 3D printed "slider terminal" this year. Except it's for the Note 10 (I have a Galaxy S9), and seems to be used as a full-fledged replacement for a desktop experience with a trackpad. That's neat and will probably appeal to a lot of people here, but personally, I just need physical keys.
Along with the keyboard used for that terminal, I also found this other tiny keyboard which doesn't have the trackpad and is about the same dimensions as my Galaxy S9. Actually I found that first and was trying to figure out if there were any cases that could store and pop that out. The biggest issue is that it would cover my camera except maybe when it's slid out, but screw it, I want a damn physical keyboard.
I do have access to 3D printers (yay public libraries!) and I'm willing to learn Blender in order to make this thing. I just need advice on where to begin and how to tackle this. In particular, I have no clue how to go about the slide out part. I feel like I should be able to figure out how to make a case that fits the dimensions of my phone and the keyboard fairly easily, but no idea where to begin with researching the sliding component.
Besides that, I also know that I'm not alone here in my frustrations with phone keyboards, so I'm hoping we can pool together ideas on how to do this. As far as I can tell there's not really a "one size fits all" solution that would work for all phones (well, except perhaps a foldable case instead of slide-out), but maybe we can at least share decent starting points for people to design their own. For instance, the slider terminal uses a keyboard that came with a remote, and it would never have occurred to me that could be used for this sort of project. And there are a lot of potential workarounds for the camera placements, so Person A may have an idea that doesn't work well for them, but does work better for Person B than their own original idea.
So yeah. Advice, ideas and general brainstorming are welcome!
I think you are on the right track using one of those pre-existing bluetooth keyboards to start from. I suggest you take one apart, see how the internal parts mount together. It can sometimes be much easier to screw someone else's circuit board into a custom case, rather than trying to find a way to mount onto their case which was never made to be added on to.
You have a lot of freedom in how you make the sliding mechanism. It might be fun to try lots of different approaches and see what has the best feel. You can see in this video that some old slide phones use an over-center spring mechanism to make it snap into place at both extremes. If you just want something that works for a prototype, you could look for a product which already has a nice slide mechanism, and raid it for parts.
Ooh, that's a good thought. Just... Not sure what, exactly, would have that sort of mechanism off the top of my head. I might still have an old phone somewhere that had one. It was the last phone I had before I had to get a Samsung smart phone, and I hung onto it long enough that the default email app was about to get depreciated. And yes, I hung onto it solely for the majestic physical keyboard.
I went down this rabbit hole a few years ago but the project fell off the backlog. I started with this T-keyboard from lilygo (sadly, sold out). The firmware was not very good, but since it was Arduino-based and open, I was ab to write my own, better firmware.
The conclusion I reached is that a narrow keyboard like that is actually too small to use comfortably. Something like the second one linked you linked would probably be better, but many apps are optimized for the vertical display, so using the phone in landscape mode may not be good in all cases.
Actually, what I want is a split keyboard that works something like this game controller, but it has half the keyboard on each side, and grips the sides of the phone in vertical mode. No joy finding anything like that so far though.
I remember you going on that rabbithole! Pretty sure we both got invigorated by the same post about text editing on mobile. I think I remember you mentioning later how that idea didn't pan out, and I felt disappointed.
I can agree that the narrow keyboard for vertical mode isn't that comfortable, especially for those with larger hands. I have dainty hands, but I still find it too cramped, hence why I'd prefer it horizontal. While most apps are meant for vertical usage, I figure I can put up with the on-screen keyboard for short bursts when needed. I'd want the horizontal one for when I want to write something long, which would mostly be in apps that are primarily built around text input and thus probably fairly usable. Or text boxes on Tildes.
On that note, even with a slide-out keyboard, a split keyboard might work better than a regular one. I remember when I had to get a smart phone, I first tried out a "starter phone" at the store with the horizontal keyboard orientation in mind. My thumbs couldn't comfortably reach the center of the screen of the regular models, and even then I knew the vertical keyboard would be a pain. Alas, while the "starter phone" was smaller, it had much more limited storage and memory or something, so I didn't get it.
That center space is still a potential concern for me, and I'll need to get that keyboard to see if it's actually a problem or not. I have some thoughts on how I could design the slide-out component to hopefully fit the keyboard more comfortably. But I also had the thought that a split keyboard would also be a good solution. I don't know if any split keyboards exist that would fit a phone's dimensions though, so you'd probably have to build that keyboard from scratch before you could even begin looking into designing a case to do what you described.
Honestly, when I first hit the "new post" button I was originally going to ask about the logistics of building a keyboard from scratch, before finding the ones I linked. That's probably still the main option for some people's use cases, like the one you described. At the very least, your idea sounds like it could possibly bypass the camera issue depending on how it's implemented. But designing a keyboard from scratch is likely a lot more complicated than designing a case that can hold a keyboard, so that's a whole other rabbithole.
Because of the number of split custom keyboard designs out there, I think there should be quite a lot of guidance on pcb design, and probably low volume fab/board setup too. I think it's mainly the challenge of adapting the split keyboard matrix designs intended for full size keyboards with tiny embedded key switches instead of key caps. Here, for example, is a single keyboard matrix with the embedded switches.
I think as a prototype, I would start with this target: a split keyboard design in a case that clamps around the phone. I would make it just a USB keyboard that plugs into the phone's USB. That would be a good "halfway there" design because you could focus on key design, layout, and the relative placement on the phone, but not have to worry about power or wireless. If it you wanted to keep going, you could iterate to add battery/charging/wireless capability in the second round, or not.
This way out there mechanically, but it would be really cool if the two halves lived stacked under the phone and slid out sideways, then down/up to be level on either side of the vertical phone when deployed.
Talking about this is exciting, so much so that I have the urge to want to collaborate on it, but realistically I have no free time to do anything but bounce ideas on tildes, which I'm happy to do anytime.
Yeah, the fact it's for such a tiny keyboard seems like a bigger roadblock as someone totally unfamiliar and inexperienced with keyboard design. A tiny, split keyboard is pretty much the deep end. I feel like you'd want to get experience by building some full-size keyboards first, so you can familiarize yourself with how the process works and thus develop the knowledge to determine how exactly to make it work on a smaller scale. Except, most people don't need multiple keyboards, so you'd be building just for experience for a single project. Limits the incentives a bit.
Honestly, it might be easier and faster to commission someone with more experience to help design the keyboard. Probably expensive, but I'd say the keyboard requires the most specialized knowledge with the largest barrier for actual practice/experience. I can think of other things to model and print to work my way up to the phone case, but I personally don't have any potential projects that would use the same skills as the keyboard. And I really don't need a bunch of keyboards...
The prototype sounds like a good idea, since the first priority would be just making sure the keyboard works. My personal concern would be how it would fit in your hands and how you'd interact with the screen, so I imagine there would be much tweaking and testing there. Chances are it may make using the phone too inconvenient due to the extended width.
That said, I imagined them stacking under the phone and folding outwards. Sliding them up and down the phone would add complexity, but also sounds like an ideal counter to the problem with comfortably reaching the actual phone.
Totally agree it's exciting to talk about this and bounce ideas! Not sure how good I would be for a collaboration though since, like I said, I have literally no experience with this at all. I feel like half of it would devolve into teaching me... Well, everything, heh. So for now I think I'll probably be starting with 3D printing other things, to get some familiarity with that part at least.
That said, it's still fun to see all the ideas and tips. I'm hoping all this discussion can be useful to other people, too, and give some inspiration for this or some other vaguely similar project.
Good luck with the 3D printing! I do a fair amount of printing and almost everything In print are my own models (some stuff on my printables profile). If you get stuck on anything, I'm happy to give advice, just DM me.
As someone currently in the process of designing their own portable device (and 3D modelling for the first time), I will say that device thickness balloons quickly. Especially as you are designing in software, 5mm does not seem like much, but once you get it printed you realize that an extra 5mm of thickness can make it feel bulky. There are some design decisions that I have made that has increased that issue (prioritizing repairability and standard parts), so with a project like this it might not have the same issues.
Thickness is a concern of mine too, but that slider terminal suggests that this particular project can be done without making it feel too bulky... Hopefully. Not sure how thick it would need to be to safely protect the contents (and also just not break) in case I drop my phone, which admittedly happens more often than I'd like...
As someone with a moderate amount of experience doing 3D design of parts to 3D print, I'd encourage you to look at additional software to Blender if you currently aren't familiar with any 3D computer aided design (CAD) software. You absolutely can use Blender for 3D print part design, however, it's not designed to be used as a CAD software so there's some features that may make your life easier in other software specifically designed for the application. Fusion360 is free for hobby use and is probably one of the easiest to get started with. There's also a ton of YouTube content for learning it. I've seen OnShape which is a fully online CAD tool recommended by folks and it's probably worth checking out if you're completely new to doing design. Avoid TinkerCAD for this. If you want to go the FOSS route, FreeCAD just launch it's 1.0 version and I've had a decent experience using it. It's not as user friendly as commerical software I've used, but it's stable and gotten pretty good. Just know each tool will have its own learning curve so there's not really a wrong choice if you're leaning towards one. You can always try a few out to design a test part and get a feel for them before commiting to one for the project.
A couple tips:
Sounds like a great project! Best of luck!
Thanks for all the advice! I'll look into that software you mentioned. I just remembered my friend mentioned using Blender for some of his creative projects. Makes sense CAD would be better for something more precise and technical.
I'm thinking I'll try looking at other 3D printed phone cases first, particularly the Note 10 slider terminal. It might be possible for me to maybe use that a base and edit it. Heck, maybe I'll start with a regular old phone case just to test the waters since mine is currently in bad shape (literally have tape on it because some of the button coverings are falling off).
Your mileage may vary editing someone else's project if you're starting with just the .stl file. Sometimes it's easier to build yours from scratch since you can make changes down the line to the project file. It's not a bad idea, just realized it's a different process than starting from scratch.
Well in this case, the files are 3mf. Which a cursory search of differences tells me it includes a lot more details than a .stl, for better or worse. Seems better for straight-up printing, maybe worse for trying to edit or understand it as someone with zero experience. But hey, even if I don't edit it directly, might be able to at least study it as a base for the slide-out part.
I'll probably print something else entirely first, just to learn the software. Maybe a holder for my Nintendo Switch games, since I remember someone printed one based off Mario pipes. Seems like a decent starting project: no moving parts, and still requires some precision to make slots that can fit the games.
I agree, that'd be a great introduction to learn about designing your part with tolerences in mind. (you generally have to add at least 0.1 mm to gaps where things need to slide together, or in this case where you'd want a cartridge to slide in. You may need to go up to 0.2mm or even 0.3mm depending on how dialed in the printer is.)
Have you checked if the product you want maybe already is a thing? Maybe for other phones so you only need to adjust the case part.
I had such a case a few generations earlier for my galaxy s3. Here is that one (shady website warning, just for the pictures
This one might be too old, but I figure there might still be similar products out there that are a bit more current.
I've searched for them many times over the years, but have had no luck. The few I'd find would be for older phones and thus not fit mine, a different model from mine (maybe including the very one you linked), iPhones, or even more annoyingly just a case with the image of a keyboard printed on it.
Right now the main option for a case with a keyboard seems to be the Clicks keyboard, which... I don't like at all. Even if it did have an option that fit my phone, it extends the phone's length, has the same cramped keyboard layout as on-screen since it's vertical, and doesn't even have a proper number row or arrow buttons. (The one you linked also lacks a number row, but it has arrow buttons!!) And the price just seems way too high after seeing the size of other tiny keyboards on their own.
If someone can find a horizontal slide-out keyboard case that can fit a Samsung Galaxy S9, I will buy it. Heck, I might even be willing to buy one for another phone so I can cannibalize and repurpose it after alden's suggestion.
I get that, but it might be easier to make adjustments to those to make them fit a different phone than trying to do it from scratch. Mainly the sliding mechanism is something you wouldn't need to do from scratch.
The one I linked to for galaxy S3 is probably too ancient. But if you look at how it works it basically is two pieces. The first is a case around you phone, the second piece has the keyboard and then attaches to the first one. So, in theory if you were using that keyboard you'd only need to have to 3d print a new case for your phone with slots for the keyboard to attach to.
Of course this would leave you with an oddly shaped keyboard on the back. But it would be a nice starting point and require less bespoke electronics.
Edit:
Alright, did some googling and it really looks like the s3 case is effectively one of the last of its kind. So, I am not sure if my idea really is that feasible.
Edit 2: One last thought I had when I re-read your opening post. Your main hang up does seem to be the sliding mechanism. So if you somehow can find a case like the one for the s3 (or for a different phone) you possibly could still use just the sliding mechanism as a starting point. What I am getting at is that you don't need to do everything from scratch. In fact, I feel like that is a pitfall many people with access to 3d printers fall into. You don't need to 3d print everything, you can also 3d print things around existing parts.
Having said that, you don't even need to design the sliding mechanism from scratch. The original creator of the note 10 case has made the files available on printables.com. So you can also just use that project as a basis and adjust the dimensions to your phone and whatever donor bluetooth keyboard you end up using.
Not what you asked for, but too dumb and fantastic not to point out: There's a BlackBerry Q20 (Classic) revival project. The goal is to reuse the body, keyboard, and screen, while updating the mainboard and OS.
Current status shows LCD display, digitiser, keyboard, trackpad, cameras, speakers, headphone jack, and modem all working, with Android booting, and apps opening. I made the call a few months ago that I'd rather burn the ~$400 CAD (at the time) than miss out if there's only one run produced.
While you might be able to fabricate something you're happy with, I'd be remiss not to extoll the BlackBerry keyboards for how satisfying they are to type on - not to mention the availability of spare parts (of which the Q20 has lots, for cheap)
https://linkapus.com/
I recently bought the device designed at github.com/ZitaoTech/HackberryPi_Zero via Elecrow - it uses various Blackberry keyboards to accomplish something similar. Perhaps using the information in that repo might help? FWIW, the keyboards in question are also available in standalone bt form.
@CannibalisticApple, even though this is an oldish thread, tagging you with this item I ran across today: a physical keyboard case for the Iphone or Pixel 9.
https://www.clicks.tech/products/clicks-for-google-pixel.
It doesn't look that practical or usable to me, probably more like a beta, but it is a commercial-ish product in the space we were discussing.