Proteus Keyboard.

OVERVIEW

Proteus is a completed custom mechanical keyboard developed from the PCB upward. I designed the electrical system, the case, the mounting approach, and the firmware needed to make it operate as a finished desk object.

Its name comes from Proteus, the shape-shifting sea god of Greek mythology. The side profile uses a wave motif as a small visual reference to that origin, while the construction is intentionally protean in a more practical sense: the internals can be opened, serviced, and reconfigured without treating the case as a sealed object.

A second keyboard case was later designed around a tadpole mount, but it remains a CAD exercise rather than a completed build. It is intentionally omitted here; this page documents the project with the stronger physical evidence.

PCB DESIGN

The keyboard uses a custom PCB designed in KiCad. The electrical design began with the key matrix and its scanning circuitry, then carried that schematic intent through to the physical board layout and the mechanical constraints imposed by the case and switch positions.

Making the PCB forced the electrical and mechanical design to agree early: switch placement, mounting locations, connectors, and the case geometry could not be treated as separate problems.

• Custom schematic and key-matrix design.
• PCB layout constrained by switch positions and the enclosure.
• Board designed as part of the mechanical assembly, not as a separate module.

CASE AND MOUNT

The case was modeled and fabricated around a magnetic sandwich-mount architecture. Rather than relying on a conventional permanent fastener stack alone, magnets clamp the assembly together while allowing the keyboard to be opened, serviced, or have its internal stack swapped quickly.

The wavelike side profile carries the Proteus reference into the physical object. It gives the printed case a distinct silhouette without separating the visual idea from the serviceable, change-friendly construction underneath it.

The enclosure was 3D printed, and the plate and case geometry were developed together with the PCB so the switch field, electronics, and mounting surfaces resolved as a single assembly.

• 3D-printed enclosure.
• Magnetic sandwich-mount assembly for quick internal access and reconfiguration.
• Case, plate, and PCB designed as a coordinated stack.

FIRMWARE

Firmware handles keyboard-matrix scanning and the additional dial input. Writing the firmware alongside the custom board made the interface between circuit design and user behavior concrete: the hardware had to be debuggable, and the input behavior had to be reliable enough for regular use.

OUTCOME

Keyboard 01 is complete and functional. The project was an early end-to-end hardware build that established practical experience with manufacturable PCBs, enclosure design, embedded firmware, and the iteration required to turn those pieces into a usable object.