Author Topic: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard  (Read 154898 times)

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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #50 on: Sun, 06 March 2016, 15:45:28 »
So, finally got around to completing the schematics. There were a few issues with the previously uploaded wireless schematic. Mainly the source and drain of the FETs were the wrong way. Also, I've upgraded the ICs for power management, they should now support the full 500mA on battery even with two measly AA batteries thought they won't last long (:lol:) and charge Lithium based batteries at 1A current.

I've also implemented a jumper to enable/disable the charger. If you intend to use Alkaline or Ni based batteries, you need to charge them externally, this is because for the use case I think Li based batteries are better suited and thus charging circuit is implemented on board. For Ni batteries I'd have to implement a different circuit (Which is more complex than the Li one) and having both on board doesn't make sense.

Now, a lot has changed since the original design, so here are the features:
1. Split design using one MCU and an IO expander
2. Connection to PC only on left side
3. Wireless possibility with UART Bluetooth module
4. 18 RGB LEDs on bottom for glow
5. All switches have backlight LED, each with it's own resistor and not individually controllable
6. 3 Indicator + CapsLock LED
7. Possibility to add a buzzer
8. Possibility to add a PS/2 trackpoint to either halves.

Here are the schematics in PNG, PDF is attached.





I would really appreciate is some knowledgeable people can have a good look at the schematic and point out any things to correct/improve.

Offline regack

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #51 on: Mon, 07 March 2016, 09:26:41 »
MOZ, I think you know more than I do at this point - reading the work you've done and thought you've put into this.  I'm still making toys :p , you've got something really amazing here.  I'm curious, however, why you moved AT90 to the left side, isn't that the smaller PCB?  It doesn't really matter, just wondering.  Will there be space in the Left side case to fit optional BT & LiPo?  Just thinking out loud. 

Just a few minor thoughts:
  • I believe R24 should be a 33 Ohm resistor on the Din line for the WS2812b LEDs.
  • related to that, with the halves split, I wonder if there should be another 33 Ohm on the Din for the right half.   The WS2811 sheet actually has them on every IC (but they don't seem to be necessary) - just thinking with the split, it might help smooth out the data signal.
  • I really like that the Planck PCB includes a small SMT indicator LED so you know the microcontroller is running - I'm adding that to the bottom of every project at this point, it's a great feature - it's also easily disabled by just removing the LED or resistor - I'm assuming the other LEDs are for caps & layer indicators
  • Even though you've thought of everything, it might be nice to break out some of those extra pins Just In Case


Offline mrbishop

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #52 on: Mon, 07 March 2016, 12:09:24 »
i'm in awe of your awesomeness Moz

when i grow up i want to be able to make pcb's like you ;)  :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #53 on: Mon, 07 March 2016, 12:18:06 »
MOZ, I think you know more than I do at this point - reading the work you've done and thought you've put into this.  I'm still making toys :p , you've got something really amazing here.  I'm curious, however, why you moved AT90 to the left side, isn't that the smaller PCB?  It doesn't really matter, just wondering.  Will there be space in the Left side case to fit optional BT & LiPo?  Just thinking out loud. 

Just a few minor thoughts:
  • I believe R24 should be a 33 Ohm resistor on the Din line for the WS2812b LEDs.
  • related to that, with the halves split, I wonder if there should be another 33 Ohm on the Din for the right half.   The WS2811 sheet actually has them on every IC (but they don't seem to be necessary) - just thinking with the split, it might help smooth out the data signal.
  • I really like that the Planck PCB includes a small SMT indicator LED so you know the microcontroller is running - I'm adding that to the bottom of every project at this point, it's a great feature - it's also easily disabled by just removing the LED or resistor - I'm assuming the other LEDs are for caps & layer indicators
  • Even though you've thought of everything, it might be nice to break out some of those extra pins Just In Case



Thanks for the compliment Regack, it means a lot coming from you. I mentioned a little earlier in the thread that I will have two extra rows width of space on the left side of the left PCB to add symmetry to the design. I wanted to utilise this extra space, thus I implemented the extra features.

- For R24, 330 ohm ohm is what I read in almost all applications using SparkFun/Adafruit/Arduino devices as well as the resistance sold by most eBay sellers. I'm guessing one 330 on the line coming from the MCU is enough rather than one 33 ohm on each Din->Dout.
- Good point, I should probably add one, will do so.
- I have 3 layer indicator, 1 CapsLock indicator that will be top facing. Besides this I'll be having two more SMD LEDs on the bottom for charging status and also will add one more for BT status. LEDI1 will also be used to signify that the MCU is in bootload mode. I guess I'll throw in one more on the bottom and to reduce the total current draw, I'll recommend slightly higher value resistors.
- Extra I/O pins is going to happen, I just haven't put it in the schematic as I want to first layout all the necessary components and tracks; and space permitting, I'll probably breakout as many of those extra pins as possible.


Just to give an update, I looked into the HM-10 BT module which is quite cheap and should be implementable if there is space on the PCB, so you can mount the HM-10 module directly on the board.

Now if we put the HM-10 on the board, we introduce a 3.3V regulator, and then I though, if we are going to do that, we might as well use it, so another wild idea, microSD card, should be great for those that travel with their board. You can store files, portable apps, etc on the microSD. Still have to look into speeds and other aspects, but just a line of though. Adding hardware support is not going to be hard, it's the software side I foresee myself struggling with.
« Last Edit: Mon, 07 March 2016, 13:04:57 by MOZ »

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #54 on: Fri, 11 March 2016, 13:32:48 »
I'm currently looking at putting in a current-control switching IC to control the current on the LED, this should eliminate the waste of power via the current control resistors and reduce the number of resistors and free up some PCB space as well. With all the different modules, and also battery operation, it is important to make the design as power efficient as possible and stay under the 500mA limit for the USB port.

Something I'm struggling with is power management, how to determine how much current the charger will draw up when charging the battery. Should I include a FET based switch to turn off the LEDs when the charger is charging the internal battery?

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #55 on: Sat, 12 March 2016, 15:20:25 »
I think I've got the charging and current usage figured. Currently I'm looking at setting around 125mA for the RGB LEDs, 175mA for the backlight and the rest for MCU and other items. When the battery is being charged, all the LEDs except the indicator LEDs will be turned off. To do this I will use the STAT1 signal from the MCP73833 (Charger IC), which goes goes low only when charging. This signal will be connected to an interrupt line on the MCU, so that as soon as the status changes, I can read the status of the STAT1 and if low turn off the PWM signal for the backlight LEDs and the data signal for the WS2812B LEDs; when the battery gets charged, the STAT1 will change again and an interrupt will force the MCU to check the status again and begin the LED signals. In this mode, the maximum current the battery can be charged at will be 300mA, which really isn't very fast granted the maximum 500mA from the USB isn't much in any case.

This brings me to the new roadblock, I'd like to improve the possible current that can be used for charging the battery. To do this I'd need to detect the USB host port type, so that if the user wants they can connect the board to a dedicated USB charger which should allow drawing up to 1.5mA of current, which is enough for charging the battery. All the ICs I've seen that can do this are BGA or QFN type, which are not hand solder friendly at all, suggestions?

One way is to get rid of the possible microSD card support and use 400mA for LEDs and charger and let it be that way. However even then, 400mA isn't much. And if I'm going to do wireless, I'd rather do it properly.

Offline mrbishop

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #56 on: Tue, 15 March 2016, 10:51:27 »
the more i read on this the more i need to get my circuit board milling sorted out on my CNC.

thanks MOZ
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #57 on: Tue, 15 March 2016, 12:39:50 »
Thanks!

----------------------------------------------------------

On the electronics design,
-- I'm set on dropping the microSD support, it is going to be a an issue on many levels, power level, speed, etc.

-- To have better power efficiency, I'm currently exploring running the AT90USB1286 at 3.3V, 8Mhz. Of all the modules, the two that could probably create an issue are WS2812B backlighting and trackpoint. Trackpoint will basically run off 5V with a 3.3V->5V logic level shifter. Regarding the RGB LEDs, the spec sheet says VDD has to be 3.5V minimum, and signal 0.7*VDD; I'm goignt o see if it can be run off 3.3V. According to some online research a small number (20 LEDs is small I think :/) of LEDs should run fine. I'm waiting for the MCP1825 3.3V regulator to arrive, so that I can test out the 3.3V operation.

-- Also throwing in support for a rotary encoder (This should be relatively simple me guesses) that should be usable for changing volume, backlight brightness, and RGB colors.

-- Looks like adding support for a wall charger via the same microUSB connection used for interfacing with the computer will only be doable via a QFN package, and in that case should be pretty trivial.



On the firmware side,
-- Got LUFA Mass Storage bootloader on the Teensy++ 2.0. Working fine.
-- Got Easy AVR to work fine with the complete matrix wired to the Teensy directly, not via an I/O expander. Shows up in the UI, firmware builds and loads successfully. Have to say, metalliqaz has done a wonderful job on making it super-easy to add custom boards with the USB AVR chips.
« Last Edit: Tue, 15 March 2016, 12:47:34 by MOZ »

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #58 on: Fri, 18 March 2016, 07:43:54 »
Received the IO expander and 3.3V regulator for the Teensy yesterday.

Soldered the regulator and surprisingly it is still running, although this is technically overclocking/undervolting as I'm running the MCU at 16Mhz on 3.3V. Will test it at 8Mhz and report.

Soldered the SSOP MCP23018 package on a spare GHPad PCB I had lying around. Man this was 0.65 pitch and was a pain to solder, I missed the trick with using ample amounts of flush, but once I did, it soldered in well.

Offline harlw

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #59 on: Sat, 19 March 2016, 23:20:33 »
Jeez Moz, any chance this board will come in under $600 by the time you're done? ;D

Also, do you plan to add circuitry to utilize the battery as a range extender for electric vehicles? I have a prius kit with 300g lubed and stickered shifter knob coming in the mail soon.
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Offline lootbag

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #60 on: Sun, 20 March 2016, 01:19:02 »
Been following this build really closely and hoping it comes to fruition, so my 60-65% split board dream can come true soon.
Keep up the hard work!

Offline KitWasHere

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #61 on: Sun, 20 March 2016, 15:51:10 »
I was actually just kicking around the idea of making a split 60% after seeing the Vergo Type T. Might just use what you've done already to give my project a head start.

Have you looked into the two halves being wireless from each other? Especially now that you're already adding lipo's to the mix. That was one feature I really want on my build, I have a few "HC-05" bluetooth modules on order to test if they would be fast enough. I would rather the two halves be wireless of each other and the keyboard itself be wired to the PC but that's just my preference.

Awesome work so far, this is going to be a really cool keyboard

Offline lootbag

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #62 on: Sun, 20 March 2016, 22:56:34 »
Wireless halves would be amazing!
Too bad I am not much help with regards to programming and a lot of the technicalities on the design.
Would be happy volunteer to attempt an aluminum CNC'd case once the PCB is finalized.
I have decent experience in 3D CAD/modeling and links to CNC factories in Shenzhen/China since I am located in Hong Kong.

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #63 on: Mon, 21 March 2016, 08:58:37 »
Also, do you plan to add circuitry to utilize the battery as a range extender for electric vehicles? I have a prius kit with 300g lubed and stickered shifter knob coming in the mail soon.

LOLed too hard at that. Maybe ;)


I was actually just kicking around the idea of making a split 60% after seeing the Vergo Type T. Might just use what you've done already to give my project a head start.

Have you looked into the two halves being wireless from each other? Especially now that you're already adding lipo's to the mix. That was one feature I really want on my build, I have a few "HC-05" bluetooth modules on order to test if they would be fast enough. I would rather the two halves be wireless of each other and the keyboard itself be wired to the PC but that's just my preference.
Sure by all means, I'm working on testing certain parts out and then should have my schematics complete, at which point, I'll be uploading them to GitHub, and you are more than welcome to use that as a base to start your project. I did in fact look into making the two halves wireless, the primary reason I did not go with that was programming. From my understanding, the best way would have been using the Bluetooth module on the slave half to read the matrix as well and then send the keystrokes via BT to the master half and that can communicate with the PC. Issue here is, I've got no prior in embedded programming and would just hit a roadblock when it came to programming for the BT module. Hence I let this go.


Would be happy volunteer to attempt an aluminum CNC'd case once the PCB is finalized.
I have decent experience in 3D CAD/modeling and links to CNC factories in Shenzhen/China since I am located in Hong Kong.
I would very much appreciate your help if you can design an aluminum housing for this once the PCB design is finished. As I had mentioned earlier as well, I am infact looking for someone to help me out with the 3D CAD modelling of the case, as I have never touched that aspect of keyboard designing. Thanks!

Offline mrbishop

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #64 on: Mon, 21 March 2016, 10:31:31 »
Also, do you plan to add circuitry to utilize the battery as a range extender for electric vehicles? I have a prius kit with 300g lubed and stickered shifter knob coming in the mail soon.

LOLed too hard at that. Maybe ;)


I was actually just kicking around the idea of making a split 60% after seeing the Vergo Type T. Might just use what you've done already to give my project a head start.

Have you looked into the two halves being wireless from each other? Especially now that you're already adding lipo's to the mix. That was one feature I really want on my build, I have a few "HC-05" bluetooth modules on order to test if they would be fast enough. I would rather the two halves be wireless of each other and the keyboard itself be wired to the PC but that's just my preference.
Sure by all means, I'm working on testing certain parts out and then should have my schematics complete, at which point, I'll be uploading them to GitHub, and you are more than welcome to use that as a base to start your project. I did in fact look into making the two halves wireless, the primary reason I did not go with that was programming. From my understanding, the best way would have been using the Bluetooth module on the slave half to read the matrix as well and then send the keystrokes via BT to the master half and that can communicate with the PC. Issue here is, I've got no prior in embedded programming and would just hit a roadblock when it came to programming for the BT module. Hence I let this go.


Would be happy volunteer to attempt an aluminum CNC'd case once the PCB is finalized.
I have decent experience in 3D CAD/modeling and links to CNC factories in Shenzhen/China since I am located in Hong Kong.
I would very much appreciate your help if you can design an aluminum housing for this once the PCB design is finished. As I had mentioned earlier as well, I am infact looking for someone to help me out with the 3D CAD modelling of the case, as I have never touched that aspect of keyboard designing. Thanks!

i'll also volunteer services in 3D design. and i have a small CNC as well.
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #65 on: Mon, 21 March 2016, 10:51:33 »
Thanks!

Offline mrbishop

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #66 on: Mon, 21 March 2016, 11:39:39 »
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Offline KitWasHere

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #67 on: Mon, 21 March 2016, 16:24:24 »
Sure by all means, I'm working on testing certain parts out and then should have my schematics complete, at which point, I'll be uploading them to GitHub, and you are more than welcome to use that as a base to start your project. I did in fact look into making the two halves wireless, the primary reason I did not go with that was programming. From my understanding, the best way would have been using the Bluetooth module on the slave half to read the matrix as well and then send the keystrokes via BT to the master half and that can communicate with the PC. Issue here is, I've got no prior in embedded programming and would just hit a roadblock when it came to programming for the BT module. Hence I let this go.

My HC-05's haven't arrived yet but from what I can tell, they would act as a serial port from one side to the other, i.e., their would be a uC in each half of the board communicating through the BT modules, no programming the actual module itself needed. I think it's just a few AT commands at startup to get the two to link to each other, then it should just be the two AVR's or whatever talking through a serial port. Could be a much less feature rich uC on the "slave" side of the board as well, just has to scan a matrix and drive the leds. One kind of big downside to this is having to program the keyboard twice, once on each half.

This is just speculation until I get the modules, but that is what I can tell from my 10 minutes of research before buying a couple to just try it out.

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #68 on: Thu, 24 March 2016, 08:47:14 »
Hah, finally was able to wrap my head around the wireless, charging, and other aspects that had to be looked into. I think at this point, I can start to move into PCB design.  The whole system is now running at 3.3V, only the trackpoint would require logic level shifting as most PS/2 trackpoints run at 5V logic.

I tested the WS2812B LEDs and they work fine at 3.3V, I got 32 of them running at full brightness with peak current of 160mA. I now have  Teensy++ running at 8Mhz@3.3V with no problem, I am able to load EasyAVR assembled firmware and use it successfully as well as program the Teensy using Arduino IDE to run a string of RGB LEDs. Now to move onto implementing the various features in firmware.

I'll also be adapting this project to a 10-key pad to reduce prototyping costs and hopefully have something usable from the prototyping. Project will be name SAM Pad after the Sundstrand Adding Machine.

Here are the latest schematics (Please ask me lots of questions, so I can pickup as many corrections as possible):


« Last Edit: Thu, 24 March 2016, 08:54:51 by MOZ »

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #69 on: Thu, 31 March 2016, 07:02:06 »
Small update, I've been discussing some finer points with phosphorglow on DT and there were a few minor changes to be made to the schematic, which have now been done.

To be able to test the various things, I've developed a numpad, https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=80949

I've been working on EasyAVR and have added a neat feature to it, directly programming the keyboard from EasyAVR, no need to download another tool like FLIP or Teensy. Everything is packaged and ready to use in EasyAVR. You can test this on my fork here: https://github.com/mohitg11/EasyAVR. Check the help for more information.  I've started to add support for RGB (WS2812B) LEDs, I've got the firmware running a static LED string with defined colors, but this has to be compiled, not directly configurable from EasyAVR; that is the next step. I'll then move onto adding fancy features like running rainbow, breathing, etc.

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #70 on: Wed, 20 April 2016, 15:54:55 »
This is relevant here too:

Working on a project at work, it struck me that I had complicated this and the TS65 project too much and had strayed away from the initial idea. I was also working on the cases for both of them over the weekend and realised the TS65 looked rather ugly with the extra bare space on the left side. The final straw was that I've been flooded with a lot of work IRL and I need a split design board to use for the long hours at work now that I've sold my Ergodox.

What this all means, is I'll be toning down both the project. For the SAMPad it only means removing the 3.3V regulator. For the TS65, I'll not be implementing wireless and rotary encoder (As there is no place for it). RGB LEDs, buzzer and trackpoint extension will stay.

Following this line of thought, I've updated the GitHub repo for SAMPad to Rev 0.4 with the changes implemented. I also pushed Rev 0.3 before I pushed 0.4, so it's up there for anyone to explore.

Offline harlw

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #71 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 07:22:01 »
This is relevant here too:

Working on a project at work, it struck me that I had complicated this and the TS65 project too much and had strayed away from the initial idea. I was also working on the cases for both of them over the weekend and realised the TS65 looked rather ugly with the extra bare space on the left side. The final straw was that I've been flooded with a lot of work IRL and I need a split design board to use for the long hours at work now that I've sold my Ergodox.

What this all means, is I'll be toning down both the project. For the SAMPad it only means removing the 3.3V regulator. For the TS65, I'll not be implementing wireless and rotary encoder (As there is no place for it). RGB LEDs, buzzer and trackpoint extension will stay.

Following this line of thought, I've updated the GitHub repo for SAMPad to Rev 0.4 with the changes implemented. I also pushed Rev 0.3 before I pushed 0.4, so it's up there for anyone to explore.
Cutting back the scope to maintain the vision and integrity of the project? That's a rock star designer/developer right there my friends. I can't wait for the group buy Moz.

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Offline Bromono

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #72 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 08:15:55 »
You have been putting in work son.

looking good

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #73 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 09:17:22 »
I like this a lot, if an aluminum case could be made for it I would be all over it
I have absolutely no idea how to use 3D CAD tools, if someone would like to, they are more than welcome to, all the required files are on GitHub.
-----------------------------------------------

Finally the layered acrylic case design is done, here is a snapshot of the SVG file (Uploaded to GitHub)
Show Image


As usual suggestions, critics, questions welcome. :)

i'm in the process of simplifying another split keyboard case for CNC machining to reduce the number of layers / complexity of assembly and give an over all different look to cases such as these. if you dont mind i may give this a look as well and see what i can come up with. open source designs of course. if i get anywhere with it i'll link to a share and github repo for it.  :thumb:

love the split keyboard idea. looks great!
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #74 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 13:39:49 »
Cutting back the scope to maintain the vision and integrity of the project? That's a rock star designer/developer right there my friends. I can't wait for the group buy Moz.


i'm in the process of simplifying another split keyboard case for CNC machining to reduce the number of layers / complexity of assembly and give an over all different look to cases such as these. if you dont mind i may give this a look as well and see what i can come up with. open source designs of course. if i get anywhere with it i'll link to a share and github repo for it.  :thumb:

love the split keyboard idea. looks great!

I've redone the case for the SAMPad, will be posting it soon. What I've gone with is a top and bottom piece of 3mm acrylic or 1.5mm alu/steel with a middle portion of 8mm or 10mm acrylic piece.

What's different is that there will be an optional 2mm matte acrylic diffuser piece that will sit inside the thicker middle piece, just above the bottom piece. There will be some cutouts for the thicker parts such as USB, reset switch, buzzer etc on this piece. The layer will serve the purpose of diffusing the light to the edges without having a semi-transparent bottom (Which many don't like).

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #75 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 13:48:48 »
Cutting back the scope to maintain the vision and integrity of the project? That's a rock star designer/developer right there my friends. I can't wait for the group buy Moz.
Show Image


i'm in the process of simplifying another split keyboard case for CNC machining to reduce the number of layers / complexity of assembly and give an over all different look to cases such as these. if you dont mind i may give this a look as well and see what i can come up with. open source designs of course. if i get anywhere with it i'll link to a share and github repo for it.  :thumb:

love the split keyboard idea. looks great!

I've redone the case for the SAMPad, will be posting it soon. What I've gone with is a top and bottom piece of 3mm acrylic or 1.5mm alu/steel with a middle portion of 8mm or 10mm acrylic piece.

What's different is that there will be an optional 2mm matte acrylic diffuser piece that will sit inside the thicker middle piece, just above the bottom piece. There will be some cutouts for the thicker parts such as USB, reset switch, buzzer etc on this piece. The layer will serve the purpose of diffusing the light to the edges without having a semi-transparent bottom (Which many don't like).

cool i'll be looking forward to checking that out.

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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #76 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 14:01:52 »
Oh, forgot to mention, you can make whatever case you want. Once I have the PCB finalised, you can use the PCB outline to make whatever case you want, no need to ask for permission, it's open source for this reason :P

Offline mrbishop

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #77 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 14:15:14 »
Oh, forgot to mention, you can make whatever case you want. Once I have the PCB finalised, you can use the PCB outline to make whatever case you want, no need to ask for permission, it's open source for this reason :P

well yeah but its nice to have the creator's blessing :P
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Offline decker

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #78 on: Thu, 21 April 2016, 16:03:03 »
Just to send my encouragements, there are so many things I like in this project !

Thanks for the 65%
Thanks for the ISO support
Thanks for the multiple bottom row (arrows !!!!)
Thanks for the full key programing

Offline harlw

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #79 on: Fri, 22 April 2016, 01:21:07 »


Cutting back the scope to maintain the vision and integrity of the project? That's a rock star designer/developer right there my friends. I can't wait for the group buy Moz.
Show Image



Lol, I was serious... I debated and even edited it to sound less sarcastic. Can't wait duder.

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Offline decker

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #80 on: Fri, 22 April 2016, 07:48:01 »
I understood it as serious.
But I'm on the outside and find the project awesome.
I suppose he was having "creator's doubts"
« Last Edit: Sat, 23 April 2016, 10:32:08 by decker »

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #81 on: Sun, 24 April 2016, 11:09:12 »
cool i'll be looking forward to checking that out.

You can check the layer stack here: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=80949.msg2150882#msg2150882

I've got no clue on how to get this in a 3D software so you'll have to bare with the text description. :/

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #82 on: Tue, 26 April 2016, 08:23:13 »
Phew, I'm finally done with rev 0.6, which is also the third time I've rerouted the whole PCB. I was able to retain the rotary encoder as I needed extra space above the top row because of the large USB 3.0 receptacle.

Will clean up the files and upload to GitHub this weekend. I also intend to place the order for 5 PCBs with PCBWay for the TS65 and SAMPad.

There is no wireless support. I have however, broken out the TX/RX pins for those that really want to convert it to a BT device without adding native support. Power consumption hasn't been optimized to run off battery. This is not "advertised" as a BT device, it is however BT convertible. Personally, I believe if BT has to be added, it should be done properly, ie. power consumption optimised for at the very least of one week's worth of battery, if not at least a month. Having two MCU's, an AVR based one for the scanning and USB communication and another one for BT is redundant, better to have one MCU do all of it (Some GHers have started working on this). Perhaps if there is a good open-source project based around this idea, I would look at redesigning the board for BT around it, but right now, there's none.

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #83 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 11:11:11 »
Phew, I'm finally done with rev 0.6, which is also the third time I've rerouted the whole PCB. I was able to retain the rotary encoder as I needed extra space above the top row because of the large USB 3.0 receptacle.

Will clean up the files and upload to GitHub this weekend. I also intend to place the order for 5 PCBs with PCBWay for the TS65 and SAMPad.

There is no wireless support. I have however, broken out the TX/RX pins for those that really want to convert it to a BT device without adding native support. Power consumption hasn't been optimized to run off battery. This is not "advertised" as a BT device, it is however BT convertible. Personally, I believe if BT has to be added, it should be done properly, ie. power consumption optimised for at the very least of one week's worth of battery, if not at least a month. Having two MCU's, an AVR based one for the scanning and USB communication and another one for BT is redundant, better to have one MCU do all of it (Some GHers have started working on this). Perhaps if there is a good open-source project based around this idea, I would look at redesigning the board for BT around it, but right now, there's none.

you are a beast Sir.

also... i need this in my life... can't wait for the GB ... i hope there will be a GB  :))
at least for the pcb ;)
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #84 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 11:32:21 »
Updated the OP with current project status. Also added TS65AVR repo to GitHub with the latest (Rev 0.6) of the PCB and the case as well.

PCB Render:



This is what it should look like when assembled. The only minor thing, I'm not too thrilled about tis the position of the indicator LEDs. The reason for the current positioning is the space to the left of the LEDs has the footprint for the encoder. I did a quick test, and second set of LEDs should fit in that position, so you can have it in two different ways depending on whether you are using the rotary encoder or not.



This is the design for the case:

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #85 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 11:34:55 »
might be my end game keyboard...... so pretty !

« Last Edit: Thu, 28 April 2016, 11:39:03 by mrbishop »
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #86 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 12:58:16 »
Pretty much endgame for me..... I think

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #87 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 13:04:32 »
Pretty much endgame for me..... I think

not sure if my machine can cut this out but i'll be damned if i'm not going to try :D

no idea where to go to get a pcb printed but the more i research the more expensive its looking :/

also will you be able to provide a BOM(bill of materials) for this if its not already on the GitHub?
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #88 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 13:40:14 »
BOM will be uploaded soon. Regarding the PCB, expect a PM ;)

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #89 on: Thu, 28 April 2016, 13:40:57 »
BOM will be uploaded soon. Regarding the PCB, expect a PM ;)

sweet! you are the man!
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #90 on: Mon, 02 May 2016, 15:13:01 »
Updated the PCB so that there are two positions for the three indicator LEDs. This is what it should look like without the rotary encoder installed.


Updated case as well:

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #91 on: Wed, 11 May 2016, 04:54:27 »
BOM updated.

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #92 on: Wed, 11 May 2016, 07:44:27 »
 :thumb:
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Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #93 on: Sat, 21 May 2016, 05:10:51 »
Updated to Rev 0.7. Changes,
-- Changed how the HWBE pin is pulled. Default is pull-down but you can cut the track and then have it pulled-up
-- Changed board outline so that corners are rounded for routing if panelized

I'm waiting for feedback from help-14 (Testing SAMPad, which uses more or less the same circuit) before placing an order for components and PCB.

Offline nateth

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #94 on: Tue, 31 May 2016, 00:44:57 »
Any chance that this would ever result in a group buy? Great job btw.

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #95 on: Tue, 31 May 2016, 03:40:17 »
Update!

Things are moving ahead, I've ordered a batch of 5 PCBs from Easy EDA. BTW, their support is great and they have the best prices online for small orders I'll try to do a proper review of their quality once they arrive, I was impatient and used Express Shipping. Also getting a SS stencil from them. It was cheaper than OSH Stencils.

Parts are also being ordered from Digi-Key (Thanks mrbishop!) and Mouser. Had to order from both as Digi-Key was more expensive and had crazy shipping. Mouser has am office here in India and was cheaper as well cheap shipping using DHL.

I got myself a cheap hot air station of eBay.in to speed-up and ease the process of soldering the boards.Will be using solder paste and hot air for the first time, wish me luck!

Offline joey

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #96 on: Tue, 31 May 2016, 04:25:20 »
Update!

Things are moving ahead, I've ordered a batch of 5 PCBs from Easy EDA. BTW, their support is great and they have the best prices online for small orders I'll try to do a proper review of their quality once they arrive, I was impatient and used Express Shipping. Also getting a SS stencil from them. It was cheaper than OSH Stencils.

Parts are also being ordered from Digi-Key (Thanks mrbishop!) and Mouser. Had to order from both as Digi-Key was more expensive and had crazy shipping. Mouser has am office here in India and was cheaper as well cheap shipping using DHL.

I got myself a cheap hot air station of eBay.in to speed-up and ease the process of soldering the boards.Will be using solder paste and hot air for the first time, wish me luck!
I look forward to the EasyEDA review :thumb:

edit: they also do assembly :eek:
« Last Edit: Tue, 31 May 2016, 04:44:48 by joey »

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #97 on: Tue, 31 May 2016, 05:26:06 »
Yup, this is my first time with them, but they have a a surprisingly decent online EDA (PCB design) tool, fab PCBs, can make SS stencils at prices much lower than elsewhere and also do assembly (Not sure on the minimum order and pricing). Quality based on the photos posted by some of their customers look good, but it's hard to gauge the size of the tracks and vias from the photos. Should have the PCBs in a couple of weeks.

Offline joey

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #98 on: Tue, 31 May 2016, 05:28:25 »
Yup, this is my first time with them, but they have a a surprisingly decent online EDA (PCB design) tool, fab PCBs, can make SS stencils at prices much lower than elsewhere and also do assembly (Not sure on the minimum order and pricing). Quality based on the photos posted by some of their customers look good, but it's hard to gauge the size of the tracks and vias from the photos. Should have the PCBs in a couple of weeks.
I'm actually finding it hard to find reviews or pictures about them.

What is the actual lead time on producing the PCB?

Offline MOZ

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Re: TS65 - The Split 65% Keyboard
« Reply #99 on: Tue, 31 May 2016, 05:35:21 »
Yeah, I couldn't find much reviews as well so I sent them an email, they directed me to this thread, https://easyeda.com/forum/topic/Whos_ordered_PCBs_-L71VduMGY. He gave me a small discount when I enquired about the quality and said 100% refund if the aren't up to the mark.

It's says on the website that they ship in 3-4 days, it's also what I was told by email.