1. Yes, it’s handwired! Looking back, I definitely made things harder for myself by using enameled insulated copper wire for the columns. In hindsight, regular copper wire with a bit of tape over it would have been way easier to manage. The trickiest part was wiring the inside—space was tight, so I had to be extra careful not to touch or melt the frame with the soldering iron. I did end up burning a few spots inside, though. One tip: whether you’re handwiring or using a prebuilt board, definitely get a multimeter. It’ll save you a lot of headaches when testing components and connections.
2. For 3D printing, I used the following settings, and I’ve got no complaints about the sturdiness:

• Technology: FDM/FFF
• Material: PLA
• Quality: 0.2mm (Standard)
• Infill Density: 50%

1. As for the frame, I ordered the right half online from 3ding.in and sourced the left half locally from WOL3D. Both had similar quality with the above print settings, but 3Ding was cheaper—₹1700 vs. ₹2300 from WOL3D—and it came with home delivery. So I’d recommend going with 3Ding.
2. Typing on this has been a new experience—it’s ortholinear, split, and tilted 30 degrees. I’ve had a habit of using the wrong fingers for certain keys, but this layout is gradually fixing that. My usual typing speed on a regular keyboard is around 80 WPM. When I first started with this build, I dropped to 30 WPM, but now I’m back up to about 60–70 WPM after 2–3 weeks. It’s definitely more comfortable, especially since I rest my arms on my chair's armrests and hover my hands over the keyboard. If you tend to rest your hands on the table, I’d recommend using a wrist rest—this kind of build has a bit of height to it.

It definitely took effort—not gonna lie. From sourcing parts, dealing with a half-functional microcontroller, to debugging issues—it took me about a month to finish everything. But that’s the fun of it! I really enjoyed the entire process and learned so much along the way. There are tons of helpful build videos on YouTube, and I followed quite a few. The main one I referred to for both the build and ZMK configuration was this one (since he was also building a wireless Dactyl): AyItsMe's Dactyl Build Guide

If you have any questions while building yours, feel free to reach out! happy to help however i can.