Sometimes, you just want a gadget which isn't readily available. Perhaps you want a computer keyboard with a particular set of keys. Perhaps you want a seven way headphone splitter (in the style of a Sinclair X-10). Perhaps you want a skateboard with six wheels. Perhaps you want a remote control car with working lights and horn. Or perhaps a car steering wheel with integrated drum pad. We make these niche products to your specification.
Perhaps it is to make your life easier or slightly more pleasant. Perhaps you seek a unique and thoughtful gift for someone special in your life. We can make these products for you.
Case Study: Brackets And Currency Keypad
Many computer keyboards have an inconsistent and cluttered arrangement of punctuation. They also provide poor access to a wide range of currency symbols. This can be rectified with a dedicated keypad with the symbols of your choice. Two types of 4*4 keypads are available with smiley symbols. However, the keys are low quality and no serious variants are widely available.
Our modular keypad circuit boards allow industry standard Omron, Cherry M or Cherry MX keyswitches to be arranged in grids of arbitrary size - straight run or staggered. The use of a standard USB keyboard library allows an AVR microcontroller to scan an arbitrarily large grid of keys. In the most ludicrous case, this may exceed 2000 keys and we have already designed a 240 key system. The microcontroller may provide arbitrary keycodes using AltGr codepoints over USB. The microcontroller may be configured to provide keycodes for round brackets, square brackets, curly brackets, angle brackets, Francophone guillemets (« and ») and Japanese lenticular brackets (【 and 】). The remainder of the keypad may be filled with symbols representing major world currencies - or perhaps a regional set of interest. Durable "double shot" plastic key caps may be imitated using a two part, three dimensional printing process. This ensures symbols do not wear from the keys after brief use. Unfortunately, the software and keycaps for this solution are subject to copyleft license clauses. However, in this specific case, ease of use is more important than intellectual rights.
Case Study: Hi-Fi Racking
Miniturisation has reduced many electronic products to 100mm*160mm or significantly smaller. However, standard cabinet and racking options have not kept pace. Therefore, we have developed a table-top racking system which allows storage, servers, routers and audio equipment to fit into a 1/4 scale racking system. Adapter panels allow hundreds of units to fit into one full size standard cabinet. Our use of parametric vector CAD allows this system to be specified in a manner which allows sheet metal fabrication to 10 micron tolerance. Our generic designs reduce most configurations to four types of panel. As an example, Raspberry Pi servers, 2.5 inch disks and 3.5 inch disks all use one common tray. This is possible because the tray has mount holes for multiple types of equipment. This type of modular system may be used as the basis of a bespoke solution. You may be assured that the bespoke solution is similarly pragmatic in concept and implementation.
