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The Reference Shelf
Templates, definitions and planning tools for having keyboard cases made. All free, none of it gated, and all of it works just as well with a shop you found yourself.
We would rather you got a good outcome than no outcome. If these pages save you a remake, they have done their job whether you ever send us anything or not.
- Template
Manufacturing glossary
58 terms that appear on a drawing, in a quote or in an argument with a finisher. Not the hobby vocabulary.
- Template
Materials and finishes index
Every alloy and finish used on a keyboard case, one paragraph each, with the standard and the cost driver behind it.
- Template
RFQ template
A request a shop can quote without a second email. Copy it, fill it in and send it to anyone, including shops you found yourself.
- Template
Cosmetic standard template
Zones, viewing conditions and defect limits. The document that stops "flawless" becoming an argument in month five.
- Template
Switch and stabiliser cutout dimensions
Cherry MX plate cutout values in inches and millimetres, with tolerances, stabiliser slots and spacing by key size.
- Template
Drawing callouts
What to write on a keyboard case drawing, line by line, and which five dimensions deserve a tighter tolerance than the rest.
- Tool
Case cost estimator
A transparent model with the arithmetic published on the page. A planning number, never a quote.
- Tool
Lead time planner
Build a schedule backwards from a ship date and see how much buffer you actually have.
Want the long version?
Twenty guides on specifying, pricing and scheduling a machined keyboard case, from what drives the quote to why the anodised colour never matches your render.