wireless minihack ver 2

[chimera15]

Since I've finished my ultimate keyboard, a converted Japanese hhk2 lite with blue alps, I'm pretty super happy with it, and have just about my fill of keyboards.  However, there's one step left to go..a wireless full function compact mechanical keyboard.

This is going to be my next and maybe final project, based on this board:



I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with it yet.  I basically want a wireless siig minitouch, but don't really want to pull apart a fully functional siig to do it.  I'd also like it to have real alps or some good quality switches, which I'm out of since I made my last hack.

I was also thinking that maybe it would be neat to make it like a  blue cherry board, since I've never had an mx cherry, and as far as I know other than the deck boards which are ridiculously expensive there are no cherry mx's in this format.  

 Anyway, I'd be open to any suggestions.  The big difference between this board and my previous ones is that it will have function keys, so I can't just chop apart an old model f type alps board like I've done in the past.

[ricercar]

I look at that PCB and think of Cherry MY switches. They are mechanical, press a copper contact down. But then that PCB seems to be tiny; how much space is there center to center on those contact pads?

[chimera15]

I look at that PCB and think of Cherry MY switches. They are mechanical, press a copper contact down. But then that PCB seems to be tiny; how much space is there center to center on those contact pads?

That won't matter, I'm going to wire it up like I did with my steampunk mod so it's full sized.



All I need is a self contained mechanical switch and something to hold them in place in a good format.

[chimera15]

I managed to win another siig minitouch.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180436170049&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT


Probably what I'll do is convert this board.  Take out the pcb, and use the switches and the holder/case, and just cram the mini pcb inside with a batterypack running outside mounted on the side or top of the keyboard somewhere.

I'll probably use the siig minitouch pcb to convert the scorpius m10 I have coming to a mini then.

[chimera15]

I finally got the siig from ebay.  Took three weeks to get to me from Canada.  It's got really bad fakes in it that feel really horrible, so I'm going to have to reswitch the whole thing anyway.  This mod should be really awesome.

[chimera15]

Hahaha look what I found when I turned it over.  Bob had this one at one point.  Cool sticker they had, I've gotten a few from him and never seen one with a sticker before.

[chimera15]

This is probably why this one got a sticker.  It looks like Bob replaced 3 switches with real alps on this board.  


Cute little dust bunnies! (giggle)

[chimera15]

Deswitched:
Went real fast, probably less than 15 minutes.



Fit test.  I had high hopes that I could just dump the mini board wireless board in there and there would be enough room, but it looks like I'm going to have to jack the holding plate up a bit in order for it to fit.




Arrangement test:  




They're all real complicated.  I don't have enough blue alps to do the whole board but really like blues.  I'll have to settle for this until I find another cheap donor board to make them all blues.  I hope this weighted arrangement with blues on the home row should work and feel ok.  Since I'm switching to dvorak I hope the slight difference in the spring weight will actually speed me up rather than feel bad.  All the main space, shift, enter, backspace, keys will be blue alps as well.

[itlnstln]

I can't see the pics as they are blocked here at work, but I am thinking you could start by making all the letters blues, then expand out to the modifiers, spacebar, numbers, etc. until you transition the whole 'board.

[chimera15]

So I assume the Blue ALPS are slightly stiffer?

That's the way I feel right now.  There is a fair difference between my pure white complicated alps siig convert, and my full blue alps converted hhk, but I'm not sure if it's just a matter of other factors, like age/use of the switch, caps, or just my imagination or what.  If I'm able to feel the difference between the switches it will be with this board.

It was pointed out in the blue vs white alps thread that one has a couple extra small coils in the spring, so there is a slight small difference there that could produce the small difference in what I'm thinking I'm feeling.

[chimera15]

Pcb fully tinned.  This was one of the parts I was worried about because the pads were so small. Looks good though, double checked every one with a magnifying glass to make sure there are no shorts.

Flux = God

[chimera15]

Pcb fully wired:



Switches all wired up:




Wired into battery pack:




This is where I cross my fingers, fire it up, and hope there are no shorts.  If there are it's going to be difficult to track down since it's a wireless it will just be impossible to pair, I'll have to track down any shorts with a continuity meter which is a major pain.

[chimera15]

So no go the first time.  I turned it on, got the beacon to activate, but couldn't pair it, got to make sure there's no shorts now and nothing miswired, and all the switches on the number row at least are good....  This is going to be a pain.

[chimera15]

Despite my precautions I found at least a dozen switches shorted.  This is going to be a pain.

I suppose it could be possible that just one or two are shorted and are affecting the matrix? hmm..

[keyb_gr]

Despite my precautions I found at least a dozen switches shorted.  This is going to be a pain.

I suppose it could be possible that just one or two are shorted and are affecting the matrix? hmm..

Well, the old ghosting problem can definitely inflate the number of closed switches you see... not by orders of magnitude, but definitely more than I'd like when hunting for shorted ones.

[chimera15]

I fixed all the shorts, there were indeed less than I had diagnosed, so one short appeared to affect the others.   Probably around 5-6 shorts.

 I tried it again and was able to pair it.  My first Fox jumped test showed a couple dead switches, but it's connected and working!!!  It's alive! hehe

[chimera15]

One completely functional complicated alps bluetooth siig minitouch! Yay!

It's not quite perfect cause the case can't be screwed together all the way, but it's working!






A lot of the keys are transposed, like the blank key is now the connect/disconnect key.  The right alt and control keys are now page up/page down.  The right shift is the home key, since the mini board doesn't have a function key, it's not exact, but it's really close.

The function key is now a windows key. lol

The bluetooth board seems to be really nice.  It doesn't time out fast like the one I did based on the igo keyboard.  That board seemed like it timed out if I left it sit for a minute which really sucked.

[chimera15]

Hey that's cool.  Congrats!!  I like the heavy duty on/off switch too.  One of my pet peeves is the crappy on/off switches they use today for most consumer devices.

I'd like to hear what you think about the Blue ALPS vs White after you've used it for a while.

Yeah I'm going to do some typing tests on it.  So far I haven't noticed much difference just doing a few quick sentence tests to check function.

[chimera15]

So far I can't tell much difference between the keys, or even my standard complicated alps and this one.  They're pretty much the same. There isn't a huge difference between them like there is on the hhk and my siig.  Probably what I feel as the difference between the hhk hack and the siig has to do more with other factors, like the layout of the old style f type which is slightly different than the siig, or the double shot caps, than the switch itself.  


Did some good 100wpm tests on it.  It's a nice board.  It's basically the same as my other complicated siig accept it's wireless.  No timeout trouble like my igo hack either at all.  I let it sit for 15 minutes, came back to it and it was still good to go.  Awesome board... really happy.

[Input Nirvana]

Wireless! Neat!

Just to clarify so I understand exactly what you did:

You removed the wireless keyboard PCB (and stuff) and wired each switch on the mechanical board to each pad on the wireless PCB. Then crammed the whole mess into the mechanical board case. Right? So you give up any "features/electronics" on the mechanical board, and have all the "features/electronics" from the wireless board. I saw the link to Ebay for the wireless board you posted.

[chimera15]

Wireless! Neat!

Just to clarify so I understand exactly what you did:

You removed the wireless keyboard PCB (and stuff) and wired each switch on the mechanical board to each pad on the wireless PCB. Then crammed the whole mess into the mechanical board case. Right? So you give up any "features/electronics" on the mechanical board, and have all the "features/electronics" from the wireless board. I saw the link to Ebay for the wireless board you posted.

yes.

[Input Nirvana]

Got it. It is easy in a technical/engineering sense. Cool job.

I want to make the Kinesis Contoured Split project wireless, but retain whatever functionality the Kinesis has. Webwits Wireless Wonder Board is definitely over the top (in a good way), so your idea is appealing. But...I just want to add the Bluetooth functionality. Did you consider just using the Bluetooth portion, or is it built directly into the main PCB? That's my guess.

[martinmeijerink]

Nice job!

[InSanCen]

You just know that I am now going to have to do this.

Oh dear... another Keyboard project for the other half to worry about. I think I'll be practically living on my Soldering Iron for a few weeks when I get all the parts together for my 2 planned Mods.

[chimera15]

Got it. It is easy in a technical/engineering sense. Cool job.

I want to make the Kinesis Contoured Split project wireless, but retain whatever functionality the Kinesis has. Webwits Wireless Wonder Board is definitely over the top (in a good way), so your idea is appealing. But...I just want to add the Bluetooth functionality. Did you consider just using the Bluetooth portion, or is it built directly into the main PCB? That's my guess.

Yeah, the wireless/chip parts are on the underside of the pcb, I couldn't imagine pulling it off and using it any any way that would be worthwile...  I'd have to redo the matrix. This was easy because you don't have to trace the matrix.