Newbies like me am still confused about the controller part. Which strand of the ribbon cable goes to which hole on the Teensy?
Thanks for the detailed write up, will be immensely useful for noobs like me.
If I do hand wire, I would really like to still have the ability to remove the switch tops, so I'd probably go for a plate that allows that. Would that mean I should go for a thicker material?
If I do hand wire, I would really like to still have the ability to remove the switch tops, so I'd probably go for a plate that allows that. Would that mean I should go for a thicker material?
Switch top removal just requires the right cutout, it doesn't really have to do with material thickness.
http://builder.swillkb.com/
You'll want to choose the cutout for MX{_t:3} That one allows for switch opening.
It's pretty. Anyway there is an easier way for people who do not want to bother so much with plastic insulation stripping. They can use enameled (magnet) wire. Use a wire with a diameter of about 0.15 mm. Set your iron to about 400 °C. The thinner the wire the lower iron temperature can be used. The hot solder will burn away the enamel. No need to play with insulation stripping.
It is often possible to use a bare wire without insulation in one direction (e.g. for rows) and an enameled wire in the other direction (e.g. columns). That makes the job easier/quicker.
Two examples of this approach are attached.
Vise grip
The trick for the rows and columns comes from a very useful tool, the vise grip. This wonderful little tool makes it super easy to create gaps in wire insulation in the middle of the wire. It takes a little bit of measuring to get the length of insulation right (you don’t have to be crazy exact - I tend to just line the wire up with landmarks on the tool like the screw protector) but once you get in the rhythm of it you can quickly form your wire’s insulation. Remember that the insulation is being pushed, not removed, so you’ll want to remove some excess along the edges of the wire to give room for the gaps in the middle.
Your other option is to try to use a razor or normal wire stripper to create the cuts, or burn away insulation with the soldering iron. The former is tricky and time consuming, and the latter is additionally smelly and dirty. You can also try using many small pieces of wire but you add a lot of tricky soldering work and it won’t look as clean. A vise grip is $20 on Amazon and well worth it.
Keep in mind that using a vise grip is much easier with solid core wire than stranded wire. Stranded wire in general is much harder to work with.
The little knob on the head of the vise grip can adjust how thick of wire you're stripping. If it's not stripping easily or is cutting the wire rather than stripping try adjusting this knob.
It's pretty. Anyway there is an easier way for people who do not want to bother so much with plastic insulation stripping. They can use enameled (magnet) wire. Use a wire with a diameter of about 0.15 mm. Set your iron to about 400 °C. The thinner the wire the lower iron temperature can be used. The hot solder will burn away the enamel. No need to play with insulation stripping.
It is often possible to use a bare wire without insulation in one direction (e.g. for rows) and an enameled wire in the other direction (e.g. columns). That makes the job easier/quicker.
Two examples of this approach are attached.
Very true! You can also burn the insulation on most normal wire at the cost of potentially looking worse, as long as you have a fume flume, though at that point it's much more effort than just using the stripper.
Also, while it's totally possible to use uninsulated wire for either the rows or the cols it can lead to issues down the line. This is exacerbated when using the enamel wire, since one slip with the iron and you can ruin a wire already done.
That's because I kinda necro'd it. :-[
Lovely guide. Thanks so much for teaching us.
I am thinking of hand wiring a contoured keyboard by 3D printing the plate to hold the switches. Do you know of any builds that have gone in this direction?
Thanks!