deskthority

All right: my stuff arrived! Thanks for the chocolate, 7bit. And this little PCB is mighty tasty too. So small! I'll get to work on this tomorrow.

If anyone has words of advice before I get on with it, tell me! Guess I should go over it with a continuity tester before soldering anything.

This might be the right place to ask....I really want to make a compact symmetrical stagger keyboard. Along the lines of suka's hyper mini or Geekhack's bpiphany Sym Stagger board .

My ideal would be like this last one, but 60% like. So only the main block: the three rows with the alfa keys, the bottom row with all the modifiers and the top row with the numers & symbols. No F-keys, no arrows, no number block. This leaves me with 65 keys.

What would be the fastest way to make this board? I would solder the switches onto a PCB, no plate. Would I have to design the PCB myself, or do you guys know of existing designs that I could use/ alter etc.

I thought this is related to the Hyper Micro, if not, please put it in the right subforum, mod! Thanks.

7bit wrote: BTW:
Does anybody know a plate manufacturer here in Europe?

Czarek can do it. He made 2 alu plates for me that were really nice.
Another alternative is acrylic, at this size 1.5mm should work fine, or go with 5mm Korean style I found a fablab here in Romania so I don't think it's a problem to find one in Germany.

The fastest way would be to get a plate cut or have it 3D-printed and then hand-wiring the switches. Unless of course you can base your design on a pre-existing PCB. But the physical layout for a single plate is much easier to design and most probably more appropriate for a prototype.

Case design can then be done at a latter stage like you can see at my HyperNano with a retrofit mahagony frame

@suka - thanks. I will open a newe thread, in order not to derail this one.

So I got a proto PCB as well, and am quite clueless as to what to put on it Is there some kind of part list + what legend they have on the PCB? I guess I could take it from there. If it's "same parts, and some legend conventions as usual", I'll need to get more experienced first as I never got my FaceU PCB and it's the first thing I'd soldier from scratch

You need:
- Teensy 2.0
- legs for the Teensy ( 12x1 or 20x1)
- diodes (1N4148)
- switches (CherryMX)

In fact the same stuff as for the Phantom:
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Phantom_ins ... lectronics


You don't need a plate or case, but some bubble wrap or foam rubber to put underneath,
to avoid scratches in the table!

Cool, thanks for the details, and happy new year to all while I'm at it

Now I need to get my hands on a soldering iron and get started (yes, I'm that from very far )

pietergen wrote: What would be the fastest way to make this board? I would solder the switches onto a PCB, no plate. Would I have to design the PCB myself, or do you guys know of existing designs that I could use/ alter etc.

I thought this is related to the Hyper Micro, if not, please put it in the right subforum, mod! Thanks.

I made the PCB for this keyboard quite a while back now. My beta testers have been a bit slow on producing code for it this far.. I wrote a firmware for it myself, but that only handles the keys. There is also 21 or so LEDs on different keys. The whole thing uses serial communication, both for reading the keys and lighting the LEDs. It fits the Poker case.
I just don't seem to have a photo of the PCB anywhere =P Here is an old render. Top and bottom.

Wow, that looks nice! You could even fit arrow keys in the bottom right corner, right?

That's too cool, I'd totally get one. Keep us updated dude.

All these setups should be in the final version of the PCB. I don't think it is possible to put three 1 unit keys in the bottom right corner.. The shift key splits into two independent keys, if I remember correctly at the moment.
The gap in the home row can be shifted one position to the left to support a more conventional layout. There are two sets of space bar row configurations to suit the different gap placements. (I think I also added support for the regular Filco style space bar row with a 6.25 unit space bar.)

Many, but not all switch locations are compatible with PCB mount pins. The stabilizer PCB mount holes needs to be drilled depending on the chosen layout. They interfere too much to all be drilled.

The ICs are nine 165-PISO shift registers http://www.ti.com/product/sn74hc165
and one TLC5947 LED driver http://www.ti.com/product/TLC5947
In addition to that a micro controller is needed to drive the whole thing. The Teensy fits into the Poker case under the PCB. Some wiring is then required to hook everything up. I made a mess on the one I built, but I will clean that up once everything is set, hot melt gluing the Teensy into place.

I will order a 2nd prototype series this week.


If you want one, please pm this to user CherryMX:

HYPER/MICRO/P1
your e-mail address
ADDRESS
your shipping address


I will soon have controllers and diodes available:

Anyone else want to post some pictures? I'm thinking of ordering a prototype and I want to see results so that I can plan a layout!

I need to pick a layout too. Unfortunately, someone's buggered off with the good iPad and the only camera I have to hand is the ten year old Canon in all its ISO400 glory. Tricky to get good detail with it this time of year, but I must try for my own purposes too!

There's no time for perfectionism - give us your grittiest, most horrible phone pictures!

My phone doesn't even have a camera. You'll have to slum it with my SLR.

Wait, what, no iPhone?

Correct. Too expensive. I have to concentrate my fire on the important things. iPhones, like all phones, obsolesce so quickly they're not worth hundreds of pounds a pop. I'd have to pony up every few years. Plain can't cover it. Not until I can splurge like apparently everyone can afford to these days… or we all settle on a slower upgrade cycle. Fat chance!

True, better spend the money on keyboards that last you a whole life long!
I was just a little disappointed that you as a known Apple user don't have an iPhone. I'm not a fan of Apples iPhone, but I don't hate them either; I have to say most of them look and feel fantastic.

The couple of years I've been seriously into mech keyboards, I've probably spent about half what an iPhone would have cost me. And I would have to be considering replacing it by now!

Thank goodness keyboards are a cheap hobby. (Or they are for me. I'm not exactly up there with HaaTa…) I simply couldn't do them otherwise.

I don't mind paying top dollar for Apple's gear. My Retina MacBook Pro was not cheap, and neither is the 5K iMac I've been obsessing about since they came out. But Macs last donkeys years. My first one, a 2003 12" PowerBook, still runs perfectly; and would still be useful for more than trips down memory lane if the internet only agreed to stop using JavaScript so heavily it pleads for mercy! I fully expect to get 5-8 solid years out of my 15 inch Pro. But the iPad 1 that I was given for free by a friend is closer to my PowerBook in usefulness these days, stranded at 2011's iOS 5 and with nary an app that still runs on it.

Mobile is still advancing by leaps and bounds. I shouldn't wish for it to slow down to the pace of desktop innovation, but my wallet is waiting for that day!

Does anybody know a plate manufacturer, here in Europe?


I've asked this already and got one answer, but I would prefer a shop that I can pay in EUR.


Extra points for those who find one that is able to bend the sides of the plate!

http://fabtools.de/ was recommended to me a while ago, but I don't remember where, also I've never used them. I plan to get a plate made by them sometime. I don't know the payment methods they offer.

I know http://fab.fritzing.org/fritzing-fab but i think they are to expensive.

7bit wrote: Does anybody know a plate manufacturer, here in Europe?


I've asked this already and got one answer, but I would prefer a shop that I can pay in EUR.


Extra points for those who find one that is able to bend the sides of the plate!

I ordered at Laserteile4you before, but I don't think they can bend anything. Can't hurt to ask though.
http://www.laserteile4you.de/

Nuum wrote: http://fabtools.de/ was recommended to me a while ago, but I don't remember where, also I've never used them. I plan to get a plate made by them sometime. I don't know the payment methods they offer.

Their website looks strange and I can't find any information about their abilities.

If I remember correctly I got an email and they are about to launch a new design haha.
This is what it looks like once you register and log in.

ne0phyte wrote: If I remember correctly I got an email and they are about to launch a new design haha.
This is what it looks like once you register and log in.

No, I did not mean that webisite!

ne0phyte wrote: I ordered at Laserteile4you before, but I don't think they can bend anything. Can't hurt to ask though.
http://www.laserteile4you.de/

This looks good!


Just have to see if I can generate DXF-files.


edit:
So the HyperMicro plate prototypes will be here in 4 weeks and 2 days!

7bit use the one I told you, they can also bend.