I found a problem, and fixed the problem. When coding, I noticed that I had messed up my matrix, so I went back to my schematic, fixed the schematic, fixed the PCB (thankfully it was easy), and then put the new PCB into the CAD model. Later, I plan on fixing my files and then finishing up the code, and then I should be done! I’ve attached a picture of the fixed schematic to this devlog.
Time for my third devlog. I suppose I should be posting more, but the time tracker keeps bugging and I can’t write after finishing a amount of time. Between now and 4 days ago, I managed to finish up the case, I tackled multiple problems, such as figuring out holes and dimensions for the USB cutout and the rotary encoders and all that. I also made it all white so thats nice, better than that gray. I filleted the corners (I used that a bunch in the past few days), messed with geometry to make my cool little window to view into the Seeeduino module, realized that the window interfered with the keycaps, had to delete the window and make a new one, all fun stuff. The USB cutout was fun to make as a sketch, since I got to mess around with lines and rectangles to fillet the corners to make a rectangle with rounded corners and then realizing I could’ve just made a rectangle and filleted that, but oh well, it’s the joy of learning. I then formatted my files to get them ready for submission, and now I tackle the firmware. Wish me luck. Also Lapse still refuses to connect to Hackatime, I have 16 hours and 11 minutes on Lapse but only 5 hours and 25 minutes on Hackatime?? I hope it fixes itself soon.
It’s been a while since I posted a devlog. I just got a bit busy but I guess it is time to sum up everything in I have done in the past few days! After finishing the guide hackpad, I took it upon myself to build my own custom hackpad (name pending). To begin, I went into Kicad’s schematics editor and created a schematic, using a matrix (thank you Gemini for teaching me what it is). I settled on a 3x3 keyboard with two dials, and after fiddling around with the layout and wiring and footprints and all that fun stuff, I was able to go to the PCB editor. This is where I spent the most amount of time. I spent about a day working through layouts of the LEDs, diodes, switches, and the Seeeduino. After that day, I tackled wiring everything up, and learned about vias. I don’t know what we’d do without them… they’re so helpful. I thought I was all good once I finished wiring things up… until I opened the DRC and ran it to find 500 errors. After changing some of the constraints, and realizing that I should make my 5V wire a bit wider, I managed to get the DRC down to around 100 errors, most of them being clearance errors. I spent a third day just fixing those and getting it down to 9 errors, all of which being simple silkscreen warnings. I also realized that my LEDs were existing in the same place as my switches, so I had to go back and redo ALL of the wiring for those, and then realized I was using the wrong footprint, and then I once more had to go back and redo all the wiring (lots of fun), but once I did that and fixed some issues with Edge.cuts, my PCB was all good to go! Finally we get to today, where I exported my PCB and put it into Fusion360, and drew and extruded the base and walls of the case (standoffs tomorrow).
Also I don’t know why it only says I logged 3 hours, I’ve logged around 8 since my last post…
Fusion360 is very confusing…
I did quite a bit of work today! I started by finishing up my PCB design on Kicad, which was quite fun. I’m looking forward to designing my own PCB. Designing the case on Fusion360 was a bit frustrating, since my only 3D modeling experience was with tinkercad a few years ago. ChatGPT was a big help in helping me understand the softwares. Using what I’ve learned here with the guide and whatnot, I’m excited to build my own custom macropad (maybe with a few dials to spice things up)
