You want them to be carving out molds and pouring in plastic for keycaps, then stamping our brass springs to insert into keyboard bodies they 3D printed?
I guess the point I'm making is that 'scratch' is a pretty subjective line. I felt that the article qualified. When someone makes a cake from scratch I am ok if they use pre-milled flour and store bought eggs. I would be a bit annoyed if they started with a mix and called it "scratch."
I agree with your perspective here and also think this qualifies as "from scratch." Would it still be "from scratch" if they bought all the components they used in this write-up as one kit?
A really good question. There used to be a company called Frostline you could buy a down jacket kit from, you did all the sewing and stuffing of down but the pieces were pre-cut and all materials were supplied.
I think in the 'things' space there is the notion of 'kit built' versus 'scratch built'.
It gets even a bit murkier when you think about wood working. Over the years I've built a number of things where the "plans" were in a magazine or an article and bought all of the wood, cut it to size, and assembled it "from scratch." but I didn't actually design it.
What I like about the keyboard article is that he designs the enclosure, provides his own wiring, and keyboard scanning software/firmware. So for me that qualifies as "scratch."
I don't think of this article as a 'from scratch', given that there's recognisable prefab parts in it, but at the same time, that doesn't diminish its worth.
Perhaps put another way: prefab keys can only be keys; cakemix can only become cake; sheet aluminium could become anything; milled flour could become anything. 'From scratch' is making something from generic materials, to me.
I guess the point I'm making is that 'scratch' is a pretty subjective line. I felt that the article qualified. When someone makes a cake from scratch I am ok if they use pre-milled flour and store bought eggs. I would be a bit annoyed if they started with a mix and called it "scratch."