Author Topic: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)  (Read 6940 times)

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Offline BasicallyGod

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[Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« on: Sat, 11 November 2017, 18:02:41 »


What and Why?

I'm aiming to produce a 50% (52 key) keyboard using parts from an Apple Standard Keyboard with the medium ass enter (M0116). Why this keyboard? I managed to pick one up for a steal and I really wanted to learn KiCad, great excuse right? The layout is going to be weird but the aim is to have a board that is almost 40% width while maintain the original layout of the M0116.
Why not just make a 60% board? Well thats too easy, initially I was going to create a 40% but I had to sacrifice too much (profile and stagger) to get there, I am interested if anyone else has any ideas on how to do it. If anyone wants to take on the challenge heres my KLE for the M0116, any help is welcome!





Seven Ps

This is my filthy M0116, the poor thing was yellowed and covered in god knows what. The case had a lot of marks on it, I have absolutely no idea where this keyboard has spent the last 20-30 years but it was full of wasps...but the key caps were pristine and the switches were in useable order but I knew a lot of work needed to be put into them to get them back to their former glory. As you can see I got some dirty Orange alps, I will be committing a horrific act against alps and I'll be click modding them, I love the tactility but I also love audible feedback the answer is clear. The hope is to use the latching alps as well for my function layer but we'll see how the pans out, might be a pain to use? The previous owner(s?) seem to have attacked the apple logo with a sharp object, all they had to do was take the case apart and pop it off from the back, alas this is the situation I find myself in. I was hoping to use this in the case design but now the hope is to either get my hands on a replacement or have something akin to an enamel pin made up.



Getting the case off of the M0116 is super easy, two screws and the bezel pops right off. Pulling the key caps off was a little nerve racking as I've seen the horror stories of Alps stems stuck in Alps sliders </3. I cleaned the back of the PCB with distilled water and a tooth brush, I left the plate looking like it does because I wanted as little to do with it as possible. De-soldering was done with with solder wick, no idea how people use the solder suckers I've never had any luck with them. All in this took about 3 hours, lots of long breaks were had, tedious work  :rolleyes:



Taking apart Alps switches is beautifully simple, cleaning them not so much. Sliders and housings go straight into a bath of warm water and dish soap to soak for a while and the switchplate and leaf spring get sorted into bags to be dealt with later. Once the housings and sliders had been soaked I scrubbed them with a toothbrush, the sliders were the grimiest and went from feeling rough to smooth in a single wash, quite an improvement! When it came to drying them I didn't really want to individually dry each so I went to leave them in the sun, sadly the British autumn isn't exactly helpful when it comes to providing sun...the little streak of sun that I did get had a habit of running away so I spent an afternoon sun chasing.



Next came the click mod. I'm not 100% on how the community feels about this mod but if this isn't for you now is the time to look away. I bent all of the leaves off of the leaf springs, Chyrosran recommended to take all of them off and from testing I have to agree. I ended up using forceps because thats what I had at hand, actually worked really well ;D It was slow work but it was worth it, I even ended up with a bunch of silver fish scales! When taking apart the switches I ended up with 2 white switchplates, I found it interesting that the only switchplates with any real corrosion on were the white switchplates  :rolleyes: obviously this is a coincidence but an interesting observation!



Like I said, I initially was looking at the possibility of a 40% board but it required having almost all of the modifier keys be on the wrong row, turns out the apple profile is a lot less forgiving than I thought it would be. You might also notice that the top row is shifted too far to the left and that makes WASD very awkward, if I wasn't a gamer I might have been willing to look past that but I just couldn't make it work. Since I was short on time when I did this I only had an oppurtunity to wash the keys but over the next few days I got round to cleaning the switches and it was quite an endeavour. I also took this opportunity to trim the moulding marks off of the key caps, some of them were huge!



Reassembling the switches was an endeavour, there are quite a few parts and there are quite a few switches to put back together. I started with nice neat rows, slider goes into the top housing and the click leaf follows soon after. All the click leaves had been bent back to give them their tactility back, quite a few had been squished almost flat, god knows what had happened to them in their previous lives. As you can see I got gradually less organized until when it came to putting the bottom part of the housing on I just had a pile of switches scattered across the table. I did one last check of the switches and sorted out some stragglers that refused to click properly and then bagged them all up for safety along with the key caps.


My precious!



PCB design hell



So this is my proposed design, this is what I am building my PCB/Case/Plate around, its a 52 key compact layout. Not a whole lot of punctuation but since I'm used to them being on layers that won't be an issue. Caps lock will be the function layer key, still deciding whether it will be the latching Alps or not.



Used kbfirmware to help plan the pin out before I started the PCB, helped get my head around the matrix in KiCad. The guide on the deskthority wiki as well as Ruiqimaos excellent guide god knows if what I have produced so far is any good but very early stages! As ever any help is appreciated, curently trying to decide between using device like a teensy/promicro or trying to solder an atmega32u4 onto a PCB  :confused:




« Last Edit: Sun, 12 November 2017, 06:51:21 by BasicallyGod »

Offline BasicallyGod

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 11 November 2017, 18:03:35 »
Things to do:
    • Start/Finish PCB design Rev1 is done as of 15/11/17
    • Start/Finish plate design
    • Start/Finish case design
    • Setup QMK environment Sorted in a Fedora instance (Windows is a pain)
    • Choose between teensy or atmega on board All atmega all day.
    • Find somewhere to have case/plate/PCB produced
      Find time and money to do all of the above[/li]

Update 17/11/17

PCB has been sent off to PCBway and is currently being fabricated as I type this, hopefully everything turns out well, it has been checked over a hundred times so fingers crossed. Glad I learnt how to do it, obviously this is revision 1 so it can be polished further but as a proof of concept I am happy with what I have produced. All components for a single board have been procured, digikey is unbelievably fast, shame their postage to the UK is insane, definitely makes sense for bulk orders though. I went with the atmega onboard, opted for the 10x10 atmega32u4, its a little overkill for my application but leaves room for expansion. Next up design wise is a plate (need to figure out stabiliser mounts) and a case which is a whole 'nother story.

Next update will most likely be when I recieve the PCBs, lets hope they work!


Update 27/11/17

PCBs are here! And as I already knew I messed up the bottom row, accidentally aligned it to the Tab row not the Control row, oh well easy fix! Atmega and all assorted tiny components were soldered onto one of the board to test and it works perfectly, I do however think the corrected board might be Teensy based, much easier for anyone interested in this board to create themselves.




Project will most likely be on hiatus until January due to other projects/work but I'll endeavour to keep working on it and any updates will of course be posted here.
« Last Edit: Mon, 27 November 2017, 08:44:03 by BasicallyGod »

Offline TalkingTree

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 12 November 2017, 06:42:11 »
Nice, I like it.
You can have your PCB produced at EasyEDA for they are the cheapest around and they can ship with DHL. You don't have to design your PCB with their tool but it's quite good nonetheless.
You can also have your plate cut in China. I used Hek's and was satisfied with the result.

Side note: Your images are thumbnails, you might wanna doublecheck.
My opensource projects: GH80-3000, TOAD, XMMX. Classified: stuff

Offline BasicallyGod

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 12 November 2017, 06:55:31 »
You can have your PCB produced at EasyEDA for they are the cheapest around and they can ship with DHL. You don't have to design your PCB with their tool but it's quite good nonetheless.
You can also have your plate cut in China. I used Hek's and was satisfied with the result.

Hadn't seen EasyEDA in my searches but they seem perfect, I'm leaning towards having a plate cut here in the UK but I'll definitely contact them for a quote, thanks!

Offline _haru

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 12 November 2017, 07:49:39 »
This is very interesting, following!
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Offline _rubik

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 12 November 2017, 08:23:56 »
My M0116 has been sitting in a box now for quite a while, and I've been debating on what to do with it. Maybe build the adapter... or this?? I'll be watching to see how this turns out.
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Offline BasicallyGod

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 12 November 2017, 08:43:21 »
My M0116 has been sitting in a box now for quite a while, and I've been debating on what to do with it. Maybe build the adapter... or this?? I'll be watching to see how this turns out.

Given the lack of M0116s on the internet I figured this might me the case, it is an odd layout and its no AEK(II) but it definitely deserves some love!

This is very interesting, following!

Thanks!


Offline BasicallyGod

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #7 on: Fri, 17 November 2017, 17:30:26 »
Update 17/11/17

PCB has been sent off to PCBway and is currently being fabricated as I type this, hopefully everything turns out well, it has been checked over a hundred times so fingers crossed. Glad I learnt how to do it, obviously this is revision 1 so it can be polished further but as a proof of concept I am happy with what I have produced. All components for a single board have been procured, digikey is unbelievably fast, shame their postage to the UK is insane, definitely makes sense for bulk orders though. I went with the atmega onboard, opted for the 10x10 atmega32u4, its a little overkill for my application but leaves room for expansion. Next up design wise is a plate (need to figure out stabiliser mounts) and a case which is a whole 'nother story.

Next update will most likely be when I recieve the PCBs, lets hope they work!
« Last Edit: Fri, 17 November 2017, 17:32:00 by BasicallyGod »

Offline TalkingTree

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 18 November 2017, 03:23:38 »
I went with the atmega onboard, opted for the 10x10 atmega32u4
Friendly suggestion: Get yourself some flux. It makes the soldering job ridiculously easy.
My opensource projects: GH80-3000, TOAD, XMMX. Classified: stuff

Offline Yoe

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 23 November 2017, 04:16:13 »
Update 17/11/17

PCB has been sent off to PCBway and is currently being fabricated as I type this, hopefully everything turns out well, it has been checked over a hundred times so fingers crossed. Glad I learnt how to do it, obviously this is revision 1 so it can be polished further but as a proof of concept I am happy with what I have produced. All components for a single board have been procured, digikey is unbelievably fast, shame their postage to the UK is insane, definitely makes sense for bulk orders though. I went with the atmega onboard, opted for the 10x10 atmega32u4, its a little overkill for my application but leaves room for expansion. Next up design wise is a plate (need to figure out stabiliser mounts) and a case which is a whole 'nother story.

Next update will most likely be when I recieve the PCBs, lets hope they work!

Maybe this CAD file I made can be helpful... https://geekhack.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=76738.0;attach=116214

Also, check out this thread: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=76738.msg1923659#msg1923659

And the  KLE layout... http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/ed2b000384294c5367ac

Have fun! :)

Offline BasicallyGod

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 27 November 2017, 08:44:37 »
Update 27/11/17

PCBs are here! And as I already knew I messed up the bottom row, accidentally aligned it to the Tab row not the Control row, oh well easy fix! Atmega and all assorted tiny components were soldered onto one of the board to test and it works perfectly, I do however think the corrected board might be Teensy based, much easier for anyone interested in this board to create themselves.




Project will most likely be on hiatus until January due to other projects/work but I'll endeavour to keep working on it and any updates will of course be posted here.

Offline TalkingTree

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #11 on: Mon, 27 November 2017, 08:49:25 »
That looks promising. Will you show more of the PCB?
My opensource projects: GH80-3000, TOAD, XMMX. Classified: stuff

Offline _haru

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #12 on: Mon, 27 November 2017, 16:03:36 »
Update 27/11/17

PCBs are here! And as I already knew I messed up the bottom row, accidentally aligned it to the Tab row not the Control row, oh well easy fix! Atmega and all assorted tiny components were soldered onto one of the board to test and it works perfectly, I do however think the corrected board might be Teensy based, much easier for anyone interested in this board to create themselves.

Show Image

Show Image


Project will most likely be on hiatus until January due to other projects/work but I'll endeavour to keep working on it and any updates will of course be posted here.

Very nice!

Don't make it for a Teensy - use an Arduino Pro micro. Much, much cheaper.
AMJ60 - 45g MX White | GH60 Rev. C - Ghost Gateron Blacks | DFK101 - Alps SKCM Cream | Filco Majestouch 2 TKL - 62g Vintage MX Ergo Clear

Offline BasicallyGod

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #13 on: Mon, 27 November 2017, 17:46:19 »
Will you show more of the PCB?

Yeah can do, what did you want to see? Currently I've stolen the atmega and a 10k resistor for another project but I can show everything else as it is.

Don't make it for a Teensy - use an Arduino Pro micro. Much, much cheaper.

Been using bothe the micro and the teensy extensively over the last few days, either is possible but I much prefer the mini usb port. You're right though the Pro micro is significantly less expensive

Offline _haru

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #14 on: Mon, 27 November 2017, 22:06:52 »
Been using bothe the micro and the teensy extensively over the last few days, either is possible but I much prefer the mini usb port. You're right though the Pro micro is significantly less expensive

I definitely agree with you - Micro USB is pretty trash for regular keyboards. What you can do though, is to create a micro USB pigtail (take a cable with a male micro USB port on one end and cut the other end of, then strip the plastic off) and put holes for a through-hole Mini USB connector, with pads to wire the pigtail into. Then all you have to do is plug the pigtail into the Pro Micro, and you have the best of both worlds!

Also, the diodes are through hole, right?
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Offline TalkingTree

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #15 on: Tue, 28 November 2017, 03:29:13 »
Will you show more of the PCB?

what did you want to see?
Everything. I like custom projects and I'm curious about the layout and all.
My opensource projects: GH80-3000, TOAD, XMMX. Classified: stuff

Offline _rubik

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Re: [Project] ASK50 - A 50% Apple Standard Keyboard (M0116)
« Reply #16 on: Sun, 03 December 2017, 13:58:16 »
Will you show more of the PCB?

what did you want to see?
Everything. I like custom projects and I'm curious about the layout and all.

Im personally curious about the PCB design process. I'm sure there are resources out their for this, but I thought I'd get your take.
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