Price Breakdown (in CAD):

Item
Cost

2x EC11 Rotary Encoders (Detents Removed)
1.80

1x Knockoff Arduino Pro Micro
5.00

7x Gateron Brown Switches
~2.00

2x Rotary Encoder Knobs (or 3D print if you have 3D Printer)
1.00

7x Cherry Keycaps (Any can work, suggest at least 2.0u)
Free

2x Plywood Scraps, Wires
Free

M2 Standoffs with M2 Screws
Basically Free

Total:
CA$9.80 (US$6.90)

Setbacks

• Original laser cutting outline assumed using stablizers, but the wood was too thick so its still in there
• EC11 has resolution of 20ppr, compared to the usual 600ppr from the original controllers
• It uses normal keyboard keycaps, compared to Sanwas with a larger area to press.
• Knobs are not as large, 3D printing the normal size can solve this (I had a 3D printed knob cover but I lost the file)

Materials

Material Names

2x Pieces of plywood

7x M2 PCB standoffs

7x M2 Screws

Hardware

2x EC11 Rotary Encoders (Detents removed, see below for details)

2x Rotary Encoder knobs

7x Gateron Brown Mechanical Keyswitches

7x 2.25u Keycaps (3D print them if needed)

1x Arduino Pro Micro Clone

7x 1N4148 Diodes

Soldering Iron with Solder

Laser Cutter (Or get it cut from somewhere)

Software

QMK Toolbox
QMK CLI

Video Demo

Youtube Link

Build Log

If you’d like to build this, follow a tutorial on how to wire and flash a keyboard with QMK. The keymap is included in the repo.
The two pieces were sandwiched by countersinking screws and using the M2 standoffs and screws to assemble them togther. The pieces of wood was laser cut using a Trotec 3000.

Removing Detents:

To turn the detented rotation into a smooth optical-encoder like movement, take apart the encoder as shown in the image and remove the small metal ball that causes the detents. Reassemble and check to make sure the encoder still works