Recently, I came to know about a group buy for a custom 65% keyboard, the Space65 by Gray Studio. It’s a very beautifully finished keyboard, with a number of details that make the keyboard stand out from the crowd.

One of those details that I found interesting is the recessed chamfer at the back of the keyboard. Since I’m learning Fusion360 to design and 3D print my own cases with, I wanted to try remaking this feature.

The bottom of the Space65 keyboard by Gray Studio.



Remaking the recessed chamfer in Fusion360

We have a quite detailed reference to work with. For this step-by-step tutorial, let’s make a simple case and work from there.

The case

Start by making a sketch. Draw a Center Rectangle and make it 120mm wide and 60mm deep.

You can make a sketch by viewing the Origin (click on the light bulb in the menu to the left), and right clicking the yellow XZ plane in the middle. You can then choose “Create Sketch” from the context menu that will pop up.

In order to replicate the case, I chose to apply a Fillet to the case edges. While you can apply a fillet in the 3D view, it won’t be the same as when you apply it in the drawing. Doing it in 2D allows the chamfer we apply later to maintain an even width around the corners.

The Sketch tools contain a lot of helpful features. You can also search for features by pressing S and typing the feature you’re looking for, in this case “Fillet”.

Next, we Extrude the case, making a Body. I chose to make it 12mm high.

If your object will be symmetrical in the vertical axis as well, it can help to set the direction to Symmetric. Using features like Mirror will then be easier since you can pick the default planes to mirror to.

Recessed chamfer

Next, pick one of the short sides, right click it and choose Create Sketch. I’ve drawn three lines: One from the top edge of the case where the fillet from earlier starts to the corner; another line that extends to the bottom; and a line connecting the two.

Apply the Equal relationship to two of the lines, securing it in place and making sure that the oblique line sits at an angle of 45°.

There are multiple ways to make a triangle like this. It’s likely that your way of doing it will be different: be sure to experiment and find ways to make it work for you.

Next, Extrude the triangle. To let it start within the case instead of at the triangle, pick a negative Offset of -20mm. I then chose a Distance of 25mm.

If you don’t see the triangle, be sure to check if it’s visible by looking at the light bulbs to the left. The light bulbs for both Sketches and the Recessed Chamfer sketch need to be on for the triangle we made to show up.

Apply the chamfer

Next, apply a Chamfer to the edges of the case. I chose a distance of 1mm.

It is a good idea to define these parameters so it’ll be easier to change them. You can do so with the Change Parameters window, under the Modify menu. You can also get to it by typing S followed by “Change Parameters”.

Smoothing the recessed edges with a Draft

Now we need to smooth the edges of the recessed chamfer. To do that, we can use the Draft feature.

Hovering your mouse cursor above a menu item can sometimes pop up an helpful image and some explanation. If you’re new to Fusion, be sure to spend some time doing this for features that look interesting to you.

First, we need to choose the plane that we’ll draft along. We’ll choose the plane that was created by the extrude from earlier.

The plane to Draft from will often be connected to all the faces you want to Draft from.

Then we need to choose the faces to Draft. You may hold the Control key to perform a multiple-selection. Select the two faces that are perpendicular to the plane we just selected.

You may need to adjust your viewing angle to select the other face to Draft. Hold Shift and the middle mouse button, then drag around to rotate the view.

Last, pick an angle to Draft with. I picked a high angle of 70°, making the transition smoother.

You can select angles of up to but not including 90°. Be sure to try out some angles to see what you like.

Smoothing the case edges

I like to apply a small Fillet to all case edges to make it a bit more friendly to handle. Select all edges dragging a rectangle over the entire model, then pick a low fillet value. I chose for a value of 0.25mm.

You can also hold Control and select edges manually if you don’t want to select all of the edges.

End result

For the render, I applied an ABS material and chose a teal colour for it. It highlights the faces cleanly.

A render is a good way to get a high-definition image of your object.

With these steps, you can now apply a recessed chamfer to your designs as well! I’m glad with how it turned out.