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World's Worst Macropad

  • 2 Devlogs
  • 1 Total hours

First (kinda?) devlog, so excuse the minimal info - I'm fairly new to programming, but very familiar with CAD, so I decided to begin with one of the Hackclub sample projects to get acquainted. I thought the macropad would be a great start...with a little twist. I'm certain someone has done this already, but I wanted to make a macropad with really useless, stupid shortcuts/ does exactly what you don't want it to do. I'm considering having one shortcut be "run all programs" - (would really value advice on how to do that), but I'm trying to think of ideas for the other buttons. The current script is AI generated (just to get a sense of what I might like it to do) - I decided to try a "close all tabs" function, but I feel like that's a bit too useful. If you have any worse ideas - design or program wise - please make sure to send them my way!

Open comments for this post

49m 39s logged

Finished routing my PCB and creating my case today! (Sort of)

I ran into a lot of trouble with the KiCAD components because I am just getting used to the software. While laying out the PCB, I noticed that many of the pads were appearing as “disconnected,” and my investigation into this issue definately set me back. I initially thought there was an issue with the footprint itself, only to find that

A. My switches were wayyy too close - I didn’t notice they were overlapping

B. KiCad was identifying pins that were not connected in the schematic. The footprint was functioning correctly-the software was simply indicating that certain GPIO pins had not been assigned to any net

Besides re-learning to read instructions carefully and actually reference the diagrams before jumping into any work, I fell victim to the finicky nature of CAD-based software once again - (didn’t know it could still haunt me in circuit design/firmware.

Beyond the electrical component, I was finally able to drift back into my domain - 3D design - as I worked on my case. I decided to be adventurous and neglect the warning on the macropad guide by using Onshape instead of Fusion since I’m more familiar with the software. Long story short, I had to scrap the first file completely and start over 😒. I literally had ONE job…

This is what I have after about an hour of drawing a box. I’m excited to delve into other macropad designs to see how I can make mine worse!

Finished routing my PCB and creating my case today! (Sort of)

I ran into a lot of trouble with the KiCAD components because I am just getting used to the software. While laying out the PCB, I noticed that many of the pads were appearing as “disconnected,” and my investigation into this issue definately set me back. I initially thought there was an issue with the footprint itself, only to find that

A. My switches were wayyy too close - I didn’t notice they were overlapping

B. KiCad was identifying pins that were not connected in the schematic. The footprint was functioning correctly-the software was simply indicating that certain GPIO pins had not been assigned to any net

Besides re-learning to read instructions carefully and actually reference the diagrams before jumping into any work, I fell victim to the finicky nature of CAD-based software once again - (didn’t know it could still haunt me in circuit design/firmware.

Beyond the electrical component, I was finally able to drift back into my domain - 3D design - as I worked on my case. I decided to be adventurous and neglect the warning on the macropad guide by using Onshape instead of Fusion since I’m more familiar with the software. Long story short, I had to scrap the first file completely and start over 😒. I literally had ONE job…

This is what I have after about an hour of drawing a box. I’m excited to delve into other macropad designs to see how I can make mine worse!

Replying to @Lana

0
48
Open comments for this post

18m 53s logged

PCB configuration - new to KiCAD software, so getting this done took longer than it should’ve. Through-holes are appearing as unconnected, and I’m trying to figure out what went wrong. Thoughts?

PCB configuration - new to KiCAD software, so getting this done took longer than it should’ve. Through-holes are appearing as unconnected, and I’m trying to figure out what went wrong. Thoughts?

Replying to @Lana

0
54

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