@kryptwire

day 5 (i think)

i also kept on my promise from yesterday and finished up the schematics for the macropad + fixed some errors in my keyboard schematic and am starting the pcb design… is it bad im now thinking about adding LEDs to it..? and opting for hotswap sockets instead??? ahhhhhhhh i keep thinking in circles about all these different features i want but i also need to be realistic i think. ill sleep on it again til next time

picture of the macropad schematic because the keyboard pcb is NOT done rn

day 4… i made good on my promise!!!

i did actually pretty up the schematic :) its now much cleaner and makes a bit more sense to look at. i made the exec decision to just make both halves of the keyboard mirrored, since the only difference between them is literally one key (that i could make good use of mind you!)

however… my brain started dying like 75% of the way. tomorrow im going to do the final sanity check and then see if i can get this design reviewed while i work on the third piece to the set, my macropad! the big hitch is just getting in the wireless functionality with the battery and board, and making 100000% sure i dont do it awfully wrong–but quite frankly im probably overthinking it and its probably ok

setting more promises so that i can hold to deadlines lol, more realistic this time: sanity check the keyb design, start up (and mostly finish since the fundamentals are done with) the macropad! i also want to start up casing design but that might be too ambitious for a school day

anyway enough with the rambly devlogs and its time to rest up for day 5!!!

day 3… yeowch

so i decided i was happy with the key layout and things and got to work on the schematic. ummm… let’s say this is the “make it exist before you make it look pretty” phase. i’m a total newbie to kicad so learning how it flows took quite a bit of time, but i do feel much better with it. my major goal for next session is to finalize the schematic design and make it all come together nicely

currently, the design would require 4 separate PCBs (not incl. the macropad, which would make it 5 total); connecting the minipcb to the main isn’t an issue for me at the moment, but i’m still debating whether i use a wired or wireless connection between the two boards. i think i’m going to opt for wireless, which introduces power draw as an issue…

progress is being made though!! next session i promise promise to bring back a much prettier schematic and (hopefully) be ready to start actually creating the lay out :) my ambition is to have completed the PCB by the end of this week so that i can move on to making the case!

day 2… still getting used to this site lol, apologies if this is jank

i just refined the keyboard design and made an actual key layout. i ended up realizing that there is a lot of functionality missing with only the two split modules, but considering that i have quite small hands, i didnt just want to add more keys to them (compromising the ergonomics which is literally why im making this keyboard)

so, i added a third separate board onto the design! nothing fancy, not particularly ergonomic, just your standard full-size numpad + arrows + misc. function keys, along with an extra knob because i wanted some knob functionality.

the key layout itself looks a little crazy, though i promise i put a lot of thought into it (this entire hour 30 was spent JUST tweaking the key layout…)
im going to sleep on it though, and come back to this when i’ve had some time away to think on it and figure out how to make it a little less sporadic; some of the key placement is “ehh” to me.

if you have any suggestions on placements, questions, etc. please send a comment or anything :) i would love some suggestions!

P.S. i made a lapse for this one under a different project name :( both of the lapse projects are connected to this so it’s no big deal, but idk how to move them lol… ill figure it out eventually

hello!! first day on hackclub, first day of project :)

so, i felt like i should make a post just to seal the deal that i’m actually getting off my butt and doing this project… ive thought about it for a whiiile ever since i thought about mechanical keyboards, but never found it in myself to do it. im gonna challenge myself to finish it before oct. 31st is up!!

anyway. im in drafting phase, but was able to get a pretty solid idea of how i want this to look and function. this is going to be a keyboard made to be as ergonomic as possible, with a split layout + key staggering + a sort of ‘joint’ idea to match the way our thumb is a little below our hand when resting!!

this is such a ramble lol but im very excited!! lets get this bread
(also im so sorry, i put this here to give an idea of my design, but ill be honest… looks kind of crazy)