Yet another vendor hands its users the real files
NuPhy has opened a GitHub account, NuPhyLab, and filled it with official 3D printable accessories and design files for its keyboards. This happened about two weeks ago at the time of writing.
That makes NuPhy the fourth hardware brand this year to hand production files to its own users. Keychron put their entire keyboard and mouse design library on GitHub in April. Noctua followed with their fan lineup at the end of that month. Valve released shell files for the new Steam Controller in May. And now NuPhy.
What is in the repos
There are two repositories. The first, NuPhy-3D-Printable-Accessories, covers add-ons for two keyboards so far.
For the Kick75 you get a high profile and a low profile knob, a magnetic cover, a phone stand, a rounded corner piece, a silicone strip and the switch plate. Most of these come as .3mf files, which means they are sliced and ready to print. The magnetic cover ships as a STEP file instead.
Here is the Kick75 phone stand straight from the repo, loaded in Bambu Studio. No conversion, no cleanup, just open and slice.
The Kick75 phone stand opened in Bambu Studio, ready for the X1 Carbon. / Screenshot: Bambu Studio
For the Node series, in both high profile and low profile versions, the files are STEP models for a charging stand, a storage box, a pen holder, a blind box display stand, a building brick display base, a themed keycap display base and a few decorative parts. Including a small radio-shaped decoration. Because of course.
The second repo, NuPhy-Wrist-Rest, is the more useful one if you want to make something that fits. It has STEP files and six-view technical drawings for eleven wrist rests, covering the Air60 HE, Air75 HE, Air96, Field75, Gem80, Halo65 and Halo75, Halo96, Kick75, Node, Nos75 and WH80. Real dimensions, real CAD, straight from NuPhy.
NuPhy is not releasing the keyboards themselves, but accessories. Keychron released the cases, plates and full assemblies. NuPhy has released the stuff that sits next to and under the keyboard. Still, NuPhy has said it plans to keep adding to the repos.
Same license shape as the others
The terms will look familiar if you read the Keychron or Valve stories. Personal and non-commercial use only. You can print the files, modify them, and share your modified versions for free as long as NuPhy is credited.
You cannot sell prints, charge for printing, or use the files to make a third party accessory you then sell.
“Commercial use of both the original files and any modified versions is strictly prohibited.” NuPhy, from the wrist rest repository README
Right to repair, one GitHub repo at a time
I called it a trend back in April, and I am happy to be proven right. Four brands (that I know of), four categories, same instinct: trust your users with the real files.
This is right to repair in practice. Companies putting the measurements online so you can fix, replace or improve the thing you already bought. I really like this trend. Fix a wrist rest that breaks, a knob that goes missing, a stand that does not exist yet. You print it.
