Modder builds Framework Laptop with mechanical keyboard, and it's an all-aluminium hunk straight out of the '90s
Flurples, a YouTube creator known for a particular cursed cardboard keyboard that sounds astonishingly good, is back at it again with the absurd mods, except he has stepped up his game, this time effectively rebuilding an entire laptop in pursuit of a better typing experience. Flurples started what he has dubbed the Campus Laptop project as a with a regular old Framework 13, whose keyboard delivered a thoroughly underwhelming typing feel and sound compared to a standalone mechanical keyboard.
To solve this problem, the modder reverse engineered the Framework 13's chassis, redesigned the entire bottom chassis, replicating all the original mounting parts for everything from the motherboard and battery to the hinges and trackpad. Of course, the bottom housing had to also support mounting the keyboard, which ended up being mounted to the top half of the bottom case using a gasket top-mount design. In addition to the low-profile mechanical keyboard added to the Framework laptop, Flurples designed space and mounting points for programmable rotary encoders. He also had to redesign the top case and hinge mounting points to accommodate the much thicker bottom chassis.
The parts were 3D printed to confirm proper fit and finish, but ultimately, except for the display bezel, all the final parts were made from CNC-cut aluminium, giving the project a rather premium look.
Integrated mechanical keyboard
The mechanical keyboard used to modify the Framework Laptop is a fully custom design in a compact 60% HHKB layout — borrowed from keyboards like the HHKB Hybrid Type-S, which retails for $259 on Amazon. It uses Kailh Choc Sunset tactile switches and MBK profile keycaps, and it also handles the three rotary encoders, and a custom internal USB hub connects the keyboard to the motherboard. The USB hub takes up the space originally used by one of the Framework Laptop 13's USB-C expansion cards, but Flurples cleverly made the most of this by integrating a microSD expansion slot, HDMI port, and USB port into the hub. This means the Campus laptop still occupies the same footprint as the original version, despite all the additional hardware and the chunky new design. Unfortunately, in the end, the complexity of the USB hub's design meant that he was unable to get that functional.
The keyboard itself isn't hot-swap, with the switches being soldered in place, and this was likely done to save space, since hot-swap sockets add a little thickness to the back of the PCB. Soldered keyboards are also generally more reliable than their hot-swap counterparts, so this may also have been a consideration.
The keyboard itself features custom QMK firmware, which makes the keyboard highly customisable. While it doesn't feature fancy Hall effect features, like the Keychron K4 HE we recently reviewed, it does enable advanced configuration options. Features like multiple programmable layers, home row mods, mod tap, and tap dance, for instance, can help expand the functionality of smaller layouts like the HHKB.
There are a number of other nuances covered in Flurples's YouTube video documenting the design and build, so watch the video below for more. However, suffice it to say, he is left with a shockingly clean, albeit thick, Framework Laptop 13 with a major upgrade to the typing sound and feel, according to his own review.
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