I built an Apple keyboard and trackpad case

Last quarter I had the opportunity to take ME203: Design and Manufacturing. 203 is a core Mechanical Engineering requirement at Stanford and known colloquially as the “shop class”. The class consistes of a weekly lecture on physical manufacturing processes and methods and copious amounts of time in the Product Realization Laboratory (PRL). Students pick a product at the beginning of the quarter to manufacture and spend the 8 remaining weeks designing, prototyping, and manufacturing whatever it is they choose.

I settled on making a case for my Apple keyboard and trackpad. I use the iMacs in the computer lab as external monitors and often carry my keyboard back and forth from dorm-room to lab. Over time the keyboard has gotten pretty beat-up and was beginning to lose some keys. I wanted to make a case that would be protective, but also have that sweet, polished aluminum, Apple look.

After several prototypes, I decided to stack the keyboard on top of the trackpad. The case would be machined out of a solid block of aluminum (similar to an Apple laptop) using a mill.

The most challenging part of this project was manually milling out a 1.5’’ block of aluminum. All in all, the project took me somewhere near 80 hours. Once I had the main block milled out it was another 20-30 hours to create the lid, slot for the lid, and features on the bottom of the case. I then spent about 6 hours hand sanding the interior of the case.

The “secret sauce” to the Apple finish is bead-blasting and clear anodizing. Bead blasting is a process in where small glass beads are shot at the object under high pressure, creating a lightly textured finish. While I could have done this process with the tools available in the PRL, I wanted the finish to be as perfect as possible so I took the case to PK Selective down in Santa Clara and handed it off to the owner, Peter. I realized I was in the right place when, after hearing the finish I was after, Peter asked me if I wanted the iPad finish or the laptop finish. I chose iPad finish, as it was a bit more textured than the laptop finish and would better help to conceal any blemishes in my milling workmanship.

When I picked up the case 3 days later I couldn’t believe my eyes. The finish was exactly what I was going after.

While I don’t think this case would be that practical or popular if made at mass-scale, ever since making it I have really enjoyed using it and my keyboard and trackpad are kept very protected.

I had never made a physical product before and I was surprised by how nice the case turned out to be. ME203 really demystified the world of physical products for me. My biggest takeaway is that making high quality products, while expensive and time-consuming, is completely possible and fun.