Margo's Mods

[flac.head]

woah, can't wait to get my hands on that Dox, looks great man good job!

Edit:

Got my Dox back yesterday, Margo did a great job and everything is working great! Would definitely recommend his services

[margo baggins]

woah, can't wait to get my hands on that Dox, looks great man good job!

Edit:

Got my Dox back yesterday, Margo did a great job and everything is working great! Would definitely recommend his services

Glad it got back safely and you are happy

[shrapneL]

I loved building my dox. It's a fun project

[margo baggins]

I loved building my dox. It's a fun project

I've never built one for myself

I have never built myself any boards from scratch...PITY ME!

[shrapneL]

I loved building my dox. It's a fun project

I've never built one for myself

I have never built myself any boards from scratch...PITY ME!

That's so sad margo! Someone needs to donate you a keyboard to build for yourself!

[katushkin]

Just got my WASD through today after four months of waiting (nothing to do with Margo!) and it is amazing. The clears feel incredible, it looks amazing, and there is nothing to show it's been changed at all!

I want to say that Margo is a really friendly guy, with quick responses and was able to change everything I wanted at a moments notice.

Would be my first point of call for any mods/build ever. 11/10.

<3

[margo baggins]

Just got my WASD through today after four months of waiting (nothing to do with Margo!) and it is amazing. The clears feel incredible, it looks amazing, and there is nothing to show it's been changed at all!

I want to say that Margo is a really friendly guy, with quick responses and was able to change everything I wanted at a moments notice.

Would be my first point of call for any mods/build ever. 11/10.

<3

Thanks bro! Glad that saga is over (not dealing with you, the WASD saga hehe).

Thanks for the kind words.

[margo baggins]

FINALLY some more projects



This guy is going to have a custom board (eventually, need case)

Have a monitor to replace all the caps on too, but I am waiting for those to arrive.

[berserkfan]

I loved building my dox. It's a fun project

I've never built one for myself

I have never built myself any boards from scratch...PITY ME!

Am amazed, Margo! I would have thought pcbs were your daily bread and lube your daily butter...

Btw after we talked, I wanted to send you my stuff for modding, but I delayed because I was trying to make my own jailhouse blues. And didn't succeed.

I'm still figuring out what I really want to do with my stuff. You know, whether to do ergo clears, ghetto greens, or something.

But I promise you, I'll send you once I figure things out! And you'll get that Tg3 to play with and the WYSE keycaps and all that! i really do want my stuff to get modded by your expert hands; better than things fall apart in my less-than-expert hands...

[mashby]

I really enjoy following this thread and seeing your work Margo -- which is really nice BTW. 

[pichu23]

FINALLY some more projects

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This guy is going to have a custom board (eventually, need case)

Have a monitor to replace all the caps on too, but I am waiting for those to arrive.

what pcb is this ?  ;D

[margo baggins]

FINALLY some more projects

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This guy is going to have a custom board (eventually, need case)

Have a monitor to replace all the caps on too, but I am waiting for those to arrive.

what pcb is this ?  ;D

A.87 ps2avr, have done one - but waiting on diodes and resistors. Not started mine yet

[margo baggins]

Soldered up my A.87 - this time without breaking the Atmega32



Except that brought it's own problems - in that the spare Atmega's I have have zero firmware on them, and the one I broke, was preflashed.

because i'm a nerd I have an arduido, prototyping wire and sil sockets laying about

Soldered sil sockets to ISP2



Arduido time! While the arduino does ship with a sketch for ISP, it took me AGES to work out some of the variables for my uno



Arduino getting it's flash on, it's handy having the TX RX LEDs on the board



SIL sockets with proto wire



these are the commands I used:

wake it up:

avrdude -c avrisp -P com3 -p atmega32 -U hfuse:w:0xD0:m -U lfuse:w:0x0F:m -b 19200

Backup hex from atmega32:

avrdude -p atmega32 -P com3 -c avrisp -b 19200 -U flash:r:backup.hex:i

Flash hex:

avrdude -p atmega32 -P com3 -c avrisp -b 19200 -U flash:w:backup.hex:i

Those commands might be a bit different for you depending on your set up and what you are using as an isp - took me ages to get a value for -b that worked.

[AGmurdercore]

Soldered up my A.87 - this time without breaking the Atmega32

Show Image

Except that brought it's own problems - in that the spare Atmega's I have have zero firmware on them, and the one I broke, was preflashed.

because i'm a nerd I have an arduido, prototyping wire and sil sockets laying about

Soldered sil sockets to ISP2

Show Image

Arduido time! While the arduino does ship with a sketch for ISP, it took me AGES to work out some of the variables for my uno

Show Image

Arduino getting it's flash on, it's handy having the TX RX LEDs on the board

Show Image

SIL sockets with proto wire

Show Image

these are the commands I used:

wake it up:

avrdude -c avrisp -P com3 -p atmega32 -U hfuse:w:0xD0:m -U lfuse:w:0x0F:m -b 19200

Backup hex from atmega32:

avrdude -p atmega32 -P com3 -c avrisp -b 19200 -U flash:r:backup.hex:i

Flash hex:

avrdude -p atmega32 -P com3 -c avrisp -b 19200 -U flash:w:backup.hex:i

Those commands might be a bit different for you depending on your set up and what you are using as an isp - took me ages to get a value for -b that worked.

You are insane i am jelly of your skills!

[margo baggins]

Soldered up my A.87 - this time without breaking the Atmega32

Show Image

Except that brought it's own problems - in that the spare Atmega's I have have zero firmware on them, and the one I broke, was preflashed.

because i'm a nerd I have an arduido, prototyping wire and sil sockets laying about

Soldered sil sockets to ISP2

Show Image

Arduido time! While the arduino does ship with a sketch for ISP, it took me AGES to work out some of the variables for my uno

Show Image

Arduino getting it's flash on, it's handy having the TX RX LEDs on the board

Show Image

SIL sockets with proto wire

Show Image

these are the commands I used:

wake it up:

avrdude -c avrisp -P com3 -p atmega32 -U hfuse:w:0xD0:m -U lfuse:w:0x0F:m -b 19200

Backup hex from atmega32:

avrdude -p atmega32 -P com3 -c avrisp -b 19200 -U flash:r:backup.hex:i

Flash hex:

avrdude -p atmega32 -P com3 -c avrisp -b 19200 -U flash:w:backup.hex:i

Those commands might be a bit different for you depending on your set up and what you are using as an isp - took me ages to get a value for -b that worked.

You are insane i am jelly of your skills!

I only have mild skills :) but thanks!

[margo baggins]

I have finally done it latest firmware, on my A.87 pcb with my own custom keymap. Pretty chuffed as I have been trying to get this working for about the last 6 days in the evenings after work.

So, I gave up trying to make sense of all the websites and translations about using bootloaders and holding down Q when you plug it in etc. etc. etc. as it was doing my head in that it wasn't working.

So - I went here and downloaded the latest firmware (I have spent a long time in and about this site the last week) http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwinkeyless.kr%2Fentry%2Fps2avrU-firmware-%25EB%25B0%258F-utility

That downloads a bunch of files - Keymain_NKRO.hex is the firmware, keymap_part(a87_V03)(a87U)(mxminiU)(a87UEX).hex is the keymap part - I then loaded the keymap part into this: http://boot.winkeyless.kr/bootMapper/ (thanks pasph lifesaver!) - I messed about with the layout and came up with a quick keymap (it's worth noting on that link, the "apps" key is "fn" (i think)) and then downloaded a new keymap.hex file.

I then opened up the keymain_NKRO.hex in notepad++ as it displays the hex information - here is where the magic happens..

Open your new keymap.hex in notepad++ also, and copy it all



And then go back to your keymain_NKRO.hex



Paste your keymap hex data where indicated in the above picture - then save this file as a new hex file.

Then flash it to your keyboard:

avrdude -c avrisp -P com3 -p atmega32 -U hfuse:w:0xD0:m -U lfuse:w:0x0F:m -b 19200

avrdude -c avrisp -P com3 -p atmega32 -U flash:w:margo.hex:i -b 19200

then excited go short all the switch sites with tweezers and test key input in aquakeytest

[margo baggins]

I loved building my dox. It's a fun project

I've never built one for myself

I have never built myself any boards from scratch...PITY ME!

Am amazed, Margo! I would have thought pcbs were your daily bread and lube your daily butter...

Btw after we talked, I wanted to send you my stuff for modding, but I delayed because I was trying to make my own jailhouse blues. And didn't succeed.

I'm still figuring out what I really want to do with my stuff. You know, whether to do ergo clears, ghetto greens, or something.

But I promise you, I'll send you once I figure things out! And you'll get that Tg3 to play with and the WYSE keycaps and all that! i really do want my stuff to get modded by your expert hands; better than things fall apart in my less-than-expert hands...

I really enjoy following this thread and seeing your work Margo -- which is really nice BTW. 

Somehow I never saw these posts until today

Beserkfan thanks hehe, but your stuff is now in the post to me 

Thanks for your nice words mashby

Ordered Purple case for my A.87 - can't wait !

[margo baggins]

GK's A87 is done





And cleaned:



Need to flash new firmware, but first need to refine keymap a little bit, then need to do another couple of electrical tests. I've continuity tested the controller already, need to just check over the diodes and the resistors. Look fine though.

My pcb has only the controller and associated hardware soldered, need to do the diodes and  the resistors. Fun fun!

[pichu23]

GK's A87 is done

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And cleaned:

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Need to flash new firmware, but first need to refine keymap a little bit, then need to do another couple of electrical tests. I've continuity tested the controller already, need to just check over the diodes and the resistors. Look fine though.

My pcb has only the controller and associated hardware soldered, need to do the diodes and  the resistors. Fun fun!

Wow, the white pcb looks really good.
May I ask what did you use to clean it tho ?  ;D

[margo baggins]

Wow, the white pcb looks really good.
May I ask what did you use to clean it tho ? 

 

[pichu23]

Wow, the white pcb looks really good.
May I ask what did you use to clean it tho ? 

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 :thumb:

Ah alright. Do you think 99% isopropyl alcohol will cut it ?
or it's a bad idea. Cause I'll doing some soldering on my own and my pcb is white.  ;)

[Photekq]

Ah alright. Do you think 99% isopropyl alcohol will cut it ?
or it's a bad idea. Cause I'll doing some soldering on my own and my pcb is white. 

IPA doesn't do much against the flux in the solder that I'm sending you.

[margo baggins]

Yeah I never had much luck with IPA. In the above picture, the bright spark stuff is rubbish, that doesn't really clean flux residue, the stuff on the right in the green and white can is really good and was only about £7 I think. I have barely used any of the can and I've cleaned loads of boards with it.

[mashby]

Yeah I never had much luck with IPA. In the above picture, the bright spark stuff is rubbish, that doesn't really clean flux residue, the stuff on the right in the green and white can is really good and was only about £7 I think. I have barely used any of the can and I've cleaned loads of boards with it.

Looks like that product is limited to the UK, but I'm curious how you use it. How is it applied and removed?

[margo baggins]

Looks like that product is limited to the UK, but I'm curious how you use it. How is it applied and removed?

It is apparently (though, not strictly true) "residue-less" - but, I have found that it definitely does leave a residue. Pressing the top releases some of the (pretty potent) solvents out through the brush, and I then just scrub it with the little brush, that does detach. It makes that horrible yellow flux residue vanish pretty quickly, I then scrub over the board with the little brush while still applying the solvent to keep the PCB "wet" - I only let it dry out once it's cleaned (at least, as clean as I can get it) - the solvent evaporates pretty quickly. Then I give it a good wash down with a kim wipe and some plain old water. I do need some better brushes though for cleaning PCBs, the one that comes on that solvent has very large bristles and isn't very good at cleaning right down the edge of 0805 size components and is much worse on smaller compoents (0603 etc) - I have seen some fibre glass bristle brushes that I think I am going to pick up soon.

I have found if I am useing no-clean tack flux, that doesn't really leave a residue after soldering, that it tends to break this down but spread the sticky residue over the board a little bit, this is then cleaned entirely by the water + kim wipe as the no-clean flux is water soluble.

The directions on the can are just to spray, scrub, forget - but I no likey the residue that they claim doesn't happen

[margo baggins]

Filled my own solder paste syringe today as I've found a supplier for paste in larger quantities, the top syringe is what I have been using, the bottom one is the one I filled this evening, and has cost me just over a quarter the price of the top one, and it's quite a lot bigger. I can just about do this cheaply enough to sell prefilled syringes but I don't know if there is demand for it as I don't know how many people are soldering SMD on air! I'm happy I've found a much cheaper source, is 63/37 blend, real joy to use as well.

[berserkfan]

Filled my own solder paste syringe today as I've found a supplier for paste in larger quantities, the top syringe is what I have been using, the bottom one is the one I filled this evening, and has cost me just over a quarter the price of the top one, and it's quite a lot bigger. I can just about do this cheaply enough to sell prefilled syringes but I don't know if there is demand for it as I don't know how many people are soldering SMD on air! I'm happy I've found a much cheaper source, is 63/37 blend, real joy to use as well.

don't understand a word of what you're saying and I still can't tell the dif between SMD and flux. But whatever, heh, thanks to you I've started watching UK ebay auctions because I can always buy and send you something to mod!

[ShriekBob]

I think Mr Baggins just got my project in the post   I'm so excited

[margo baggins]

don't understand a word of what you're saying and I still can't tell the dif between SMD and flux. But whatever, heh, thanks to you I've started watching UK ebay auctions because I can always buy and send you something to mod!

 

I think Mr Baggins just got my project in the post   I'm so excited

I'll get some pics up when it's done/beingdone/etc 

[margo baggins]

JaccoW -





surprise:

[BunnyLake]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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great work sir

looking fresh

[riotonthebay]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

[BunnyLake]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

i think the surprise is that he hoodwinked some of my switch stickers haha

[JaccoW]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

i think the surprise is that he hoodwinked some of my switch stickers haha

Thanks Margon! SkiData Clears look great on there... Maybe I will just slip the keypad keys on there.

Hey Bunny, if that's the case I have a sheet of Techkeys orange and green stickers and some red ones from GON. We can swap some if you want. ;)

[margo baggins]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

i think the surprise is that he hoodwinked some of my switch stickers haha

No hoodwinking :P they my ones :D

Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

You win the prize :) I realised that after I took the picture hehe

[BunnyLake]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

i think the surprise is that he hoodwinked some of my switch stickers haha

No hoodwinking :P they my ones :D

Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

You win the prize :) I realised that after I took the picture hehe

i picked you up an alps 60% pcb sir

[AGmurdercore]

i picked you up an alps 60% pcb sir

I want to see this pls :O

[margo baggins]

JaccoW -

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surprise:

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Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

i think the surprise is that he hoodwinked some of my switch stickers haha

No hoodwinking :P they my ones :D

Is the surprise that the numpad is now upside down?!?!

You win the prize :) I realised that after I took the picture hehe

i picked you up an alps 60% pcb sir

bah you hero!

[quest_for_silence]

Hi margo.
 
I'd like that you modded my CM QuickFire Tk Stealth, installing full led: can we talk about it? Maybe by PM?
 
In case, did you ever do such a mod on a Stealth/Ninja/any-kb-with-blank-caps?
I'm asking you so, as I'm looking for pics to evaluate the final result with not so backlit friendly keycaps, as the Stealth ones are (or I expect they are).
 
Thanks in advance and best regards!

[margo baggins]

Hi margo.
 
I'd like that you modded my CM QuickFire Tk Stealth, installing full led: can we talk about it? Maybe by PM?
 
In case, did you ever do such a mod on a Stealth/Ninja/any-kb-with-blank-caps?
I'm asking you so, as I'm looking for pics to evaluate the final result with not so backlit friendly keycaps, as the Stealth ones are (or I expect they are).
 
Thanks in advance and best regards!

Hello

The TK Stealth - while it does have the holes for LEDs on the pcb, it doesn't have any hardware on the pcb to support LEDs. I have a TK stealth, so I would need to test if just soldering in a resistor and an LED will make it work. I think it might not, but it's worth a try. I won't have any time to do this until the weekend though I don't think, as I have a couple of projects to get finished and posted and a busy week at work! But I will get it done at teh weekend and let you know I did have the pcb out of this board once before to look at this very proposal, but I can't remember what I decided so will have to give it another look.

I prefer solid caps over a backlight, give a sort of under glow that I think is nice.

[quest_for_silence]

I prefer solid caps over a backlight, give a sort of under glow that I think is nice.

 
Dear margo, first of all thanks for your kind answer: I appreciate so much your willingness.

Whether your tries won't be satisfactory, which could the alternatives be? My Tk has the IT layout, and I'm unable to source any compact brown/crystal/green-switch equipped kb with IT layout.
 
At any rate, my primary concern is to somehow improve the keyboard readability at night, as that's mainly what currently I don't like of this keyboard. So, if glowing in the dark will suffice, then I'd be happy with it.

[margo baggins]

Isnt that layout just standard ISO with different legends on the caps? The easiest thing to do would be to buy a backlit TK from anywhere in europe where they sell ISO layout - and then use your IT stealth caps on it, and sell the other board. But the backlight wouldn't make the caps easier to see in the dark really due to the where the legends are and the fact no light will get through the caps.

[berserkfan]

I prefer solid caps over a backlight, give a sort of under glow that I think is nice.

 
Dear margo, first of all thanks for your kind answer: I appreciate so much your willingness.

Whether your tries won't be satisfactory, which could the alternatives be? My Tk has the IT layout, and I'm unable to source any compact brown/crystal/green-switch equipped kb with IT layout.
 
At any rate, my primary concern is to somehow improve the keyboard readability at night, as that's mainly what currently I don't like of this keyboard. So, if glowing in the dark will suffice, then I'd be happy with it.

quest for silence, let me suggest this source so kindly recommended by sonic revolution and Ivan Ivanovich: xkeys

Price isn't great but it's not too exorbitant either, at $5 per 10 keys.

You can make your own legends and stick them under the relegendable cover.

[quest_for_silence]

quest for silence, let me suggest this source so kindly recommended by sonic revolution and Ivan Ivanovich: xkeys

Price isn't great but it's not too exorbitant either, at $5 per 10 keys.

You can make your own legends and stick them under the relegendable cover.

 
Thanks for your advice: just to be sure, are you talking about these ones (it's the only source I found, at about 1$ per key), aren't you?

[ShriekBob]

Yo Margo.

Quick check, was all my stuff present and correct (bar the SMDs we discussed).  Any issues that I need to fix?

[berserkfan]

quest for silence, let me suggest this source so kindly recommended by sonic revolution and Ivan Ivanovich: xkeys

Price isn't great but it's not too exorbitant either, at $5 per 10 keys.

You can make your own legends and stick them under the relegendable cover.

 
Thanks for your advice: just to be sure, are you talking about these ones (it's the only source I found, at about 1$ per key), aren't you?

Whoops. You're in the UK.

Xkeys is a US company. Having talked to them before, they only use FedEx for foreign buyers. That's freaking expensive. You have to get a US friend to proxy. My normal proxy is unavailable now, or I would ask him since I also want to buy some xkeys for myself.

[margo baggins]

Yo Margo.

Quick check, was all my stuff present and correct (bar the SMDs we discussed).  Any issues that I need to fix?

No you're golden bro

I have just been mad busy - I should get it posted on thursday, but then there is massively inconvenient public holidays all weekend, so I don't think you are going to get it before Easter

[margo baggins]

Quick mod!

Swapped ctrl and caps on my work keyboard. destructive mod no turning back haha.

[AGmurdercore]

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Quick mod!

Swapped ctrl and caps on my work keyboard. destructive mod :) no turning back haha.

By looking at the pics i can't quite get what exactly you did to the traces.  Can you enlighten me please? :D

[margo baggins]

I just cut through the traces where indicated above in the orange circles, I then did wire's where I wanted the signal to go

I slipped when I did the first one, top left is why my cut is so long, I did that one first though as there was the most amount of space around it for potential slips, that did happen