The Svalboard is the high end of keyboard ergonomics designed by Morgan Vernable. I got my hands on a Svalboard self print kit and was really excited to put it together. This page describes how I decided to personalize my Svalboard, along with a gallery of my build process. Check out the official Svalboard page at svalboard.com!

The perfect keyboard setup, featuring my cat Nutella

Statistics

To analyze the learning curve needed to adapt to the Svalboard, I documented my best typing speed after each day of practice.

It should be noted that in addition to learning how to adapt to the Svalboard, I also made the decision to use the Halmak keyboard layout instead of my standard layout, Dvorak. I did this because Halmak moves most letters out of the center column, so modifying it for the Svalboard will not drastically impact its efficiency. As a result, the learning curve for me became much higher than if I had chosen to stick with Dvorak.

Plot of my typing speed in words per minute on both the Svalboard and my old keyboard. Typing tests were done on monkeytype. I did medium quotes when using the Dvorak layout. For Halmak, I did fifty words instead to ease the learning curve a bit.

Layout

The modified Halmak layout I use with the Svalboard

Build Gallery

Attaching magnets to keys

Putting a magnet in each key. I used an extra magnet to hold everything in place as the glue dried.
Full set of side keys
Tipping center key
Full set of finger keys
Focused view on the eight center keys
Full set of thumb keys

Attaching magnets to clusters

Magnets in finger clusters
Magnets in thumb clusters. The magnets aren't visible in the picture though...

Assembling clusters

Added PCB and keys to finger clusters
Added PCB and keys to thumb clusters
Full set of keys and clusters, all fully assembled

Adding heat set inserts to base plate

Small heat set insert
Big heat set insert used with a camera mount
Full top half of the base plate

Attaching towers to clusters

Tower added to a finger cluster
Tower added to a thumb cluster
Full set of towers added
Side view of all the clusters.

Putting everything together

Right half of the board
Left half of the board
Both halves together

Placing the PCBs in the base plate

Adding the MCU to the right side
Adding the MCU to the left side

Full assembly

Close up view for the right half of the board
Final product