geekhack Community > Keyboards
Simple Questions, Simple Answers (FAQ in the OP)
Morbii:
I’m new to the hobby and was wondering if there’s a place to find out what is and isn’t safe to stick in a keyboard?
I’ve seen videos with masking tape on the literal PCB / on chips, cotton balls, foams, etc. Is plastic safe (like bubble wrap)? Are there any unsafe items that might seem like a good idea, etc.
More importantly physical safety and fire safety, but electronics safety too.
user 18:
--- Quote from: Morbii on Fri, 02 September 2022, 17:06:13 ---I’m new to the hobby and was wondering if there’s a place to find out what is and isn’t safe to stick in a keyboard?
I’ve seen videos with masking tape on the literal PCB / on chips, cotton balls, foams, etc. Is plastic safe (like bubble wrap)? Are there any unsafe items that might seem like a good idea, etc.
More importantly physical safety and fire safety, but electronics safety too.
--- End quote ---
The biggest electronics/fire safety risk would be introducing a conductive material that causes a short circuit. Most of these tapes, foams, plastics, etc. that you see used for sound/vibration damping are non-conductive materials.
Usually the electronic components of a keyboard don't generate a ton of heat when operating normally, but it might in principle be possible to generate enough heat with a well-insulated controller or powerful LED to cause some trouble as well. Any component that consumes power (essentially any chip or discrete circuit element such as a diode/LED or resistor) should have some allowance made for cooling, although this could be as little as putting it in thermal contact with the PCB, and assuming heat will transfer into the copper ground plane.
In terms of physical safety, all the normal standards would apply, I guess. Don't ingest lube, try not to inhale flux vapour, don't hold the soldering iron too close to the tip, watch out for sharp edges on machined parts.
If you can post a bit more about what you're trying to accomplish, someone might be able to offer more specific advice.
Morbii:
Thank you! I think that's a good head start for me just in terms of some basics.
The thing that triggered this question is that I'm going to start trying to modify a high profile Drop CTRL to see what I can do with it. I realize that there probably won't be too much I can do with it due to its limitations (plate mount stabs, integrated plate, no daughterboard or gaskets, no foam, wild pinging sounds, not a lot of room to maneuver in the case, etc), but I think it will be a good start just to play around. I've already replaced the stabs with everglides, lubed them with 205g0 and the wire with grease, and used the Holee mod (no clips to snip). Sounds better than it did, but I want to try to fiddle around a bit inside the case too.
I'm a fast learner, so beyond that I'm just trying to throw myself into the hobby in whichever ways I can. I recently picked up my first soldering iron and some DIY kits, but I want to focus on a few more basics before I dive fully in, and probably want to either take a soldering class or find a good tutorial (I ordered a Hakko FX888 station). I also have several boards to play with, from GMMK Pros, to Keychrons, some much more mainstream boards, and a Bubble 75 (with two PCBs, one solderable and one not - an end goal will be soldering the Bubble75 PCB when I am at least a little skilled at it).
My biggest issue was wondering about conductivity and which materials were/weren't safe. I never would have thought of taping up a whole side of a PCB with masking tape, but I saw it in a video from someone that appeared very knowledgeable, so it invited questions.
user 18:
Sounds awesome! Fortunately, keyswitches are just about the easiest thing in the world to solder -- large through-hole components that tend to stay in place even before soldering (either with PCB-mount legs, or from being held by a plate).
If you're looking at tape, keep in mind that most tapes will leave residue if used over long periods of time. You could also take a look around at what types of foam various other keyboards or kits have used, to get an idea for what's popular.
Coreda:
Is anyone familiar with QMK firmware configs that could let me know whether there's a modifier key that can be mapped like the 'Pn' key on the Poker, where only the keys pressed while that modifier is held down activate their secondary layer function (instead of toggling a secondary layer across the entire board)?
On the Poker this allows for those Pn-held keys to be simultaneously used along with the default layer's keys.
I'd assume this is totally possible but just wanted some confirmation.
Looking at config.qmk.fm is either 'MO' or 'OSL' the correct modifier I'd be looking for?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version