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Author Topic: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad  (Read 6720 times)

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Offline VMboards typeware

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[IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« on: Wed, 06 July 2022, 15:11:30 »
Hello, I'm aqumu of VMboards and after a year of work I'm proud to present the VM35





This board features 35 hotswappable 1U keys, each one of which can be remapped to your liking.
Some of the keys can also be switched to 2U ones to fit every possible setup.
It is equipped with the NRF52840 chip and follows the BLE standard and because of that is able to work for up to two months with five different connection profiles.
All of this leads to it suiting a plethora of different use cases, including pairing two boards to form a single split keyboard.
The sandwich mounted FR4 plate and the acrylic body contributes to the board’s firm typing feel and warm sound.





Features

➤ USB-C connector
➤ 3 layer acrylic body
➤ Sandwich mount
➤ Flat typing angle
➤ 5 pin switch support
➤ Kailh hotswap sockets
➤ Plate mount stabilizer support using additional plates for different layouts
➤ FR4 plates with copper coated holes
➤ ZMK support
➤ BLE support





What's included

➤ Acrylic case parts
➤ PCB
➤ 4 plates (additional layout support)
➤ Battery
➤ Mounting screws
➤ Rubber bumpons
➤ FFC cable
➤ Bottom plate


Layouts





Vendors

TBA


Price

Thanks to simplicity being a core value of the product, this macropad also is more available than any of its peers. The estimated price is $110.


Quantity

Unlimited GB


Updates

Further announcements are going to be made in our Discord server




More renders coming soon!
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 July 2022, 05:56:37 by VMboards typeware »
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Offline nevin

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  • Location: US
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 06 July 2022, 16:54:57 »
interested to know how two of them would work as one keyboard.
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Offline fairypenguin

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  • Location: New York, US
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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 06 July 2022, 19:38:32 »
Quote
35 hotswappable 1U keys, each one of which can be remapped to your liking

The macropad of my DREAMS.
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Offline TekNiq

  • Posts: 13
  • Location: California
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 06 July 2022, 20:16:05 »
Love the idea of a large macropad as it would be super useful for my needs, but the case really is leaving a lot to wish for. A metal CNC'd option would be really great and hidden screws under the case. The weight from the metal case here would help more with such a large macropad to stop from moving around so much, but maybe that was a design decision to keep the cost low.
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Offline brokemember

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 06 July 2022, 21:09:16 »
Quote from: TekNiq on Wed, 06 July 2022, 20:16:05
Love the idea of a large macropad as it would be super useful for my needs, but the case really is leaving a lot to wish for. A metal CNC'd option would be really great and hidden screws under the case. The weight from the metal case here would help more with such a large macropad to stop from moving around so much, but maybe that was a design decision to keep the cost low.

I think it would also have negative impact on the bt signal.
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 06:03:45 »
Quote from: nevin on Wed, 06 July 2022, 16:54:57
interested to know how two of them would work as one keyboard.

Thank you for your inquiry! Both macropads will be flashed with different ZMK firmware files (one for the left half, one for the right half), then connected to each other and then to the end device.
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 July 2022, 15:38:07 by VMboards typeware »
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Offline nevin

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 07:26:45 »
Quote from: VMboards typeware on Thu, 07 July 2022, 06:03:45
Quote from: nevin on Wed, 06 July 2022, 16:54:57
interested to know how two of them would work as one keyboard.
Thank you for your inquiry! Both macropads will be flashed with different ZMK firmware files (one for the left half, one for the right half), then connected to each other and then to the end device.

great. that's what i was hoping for instead of two independent devices that don't "talk" to each other.
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Offline croatoanlp

  • Posts: 28
  • Location: Germany
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 12:21:40 »
If you want to use 2 of these as one split keyboard, the switches would need a different orientation compared to the numpad-like layout. Will this be possible to integrate into one pcb or would you need to choose between different pcbs at checkout?
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Offline nevin

  • Posts: 1646
  • Location: US
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 12:41:36 »
Quote from: croatoanlp on Thu, 07 July 2022, 12:21:40
If you want to use 2 of these as one split keyboard, the switches would need a different orientation compared to the numpad-like layout. Will this be possible to integrate into one pcb or would you need to choose between different pcbs at checkout?

good point.
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Offline Yves W

  • Posts: 3
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 13:56:20 »
Looks sick! Filled in the IC  :)
Would even be cooler if it had the option for a know, but not sure how much impact that'd have on the price.
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #10 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 14:59:45 »
Quote from: croatoanlp on Thu, 07 July 2022, 12:21:40
If you want to use 2 of these as one split keyboard, the switches would need a different orientation compared to the numpad-like layout. Will this be possible to integrate into one pcb or would you need to choose between different pcbs at checkout?

Thank you for your interest! We are making sure that the orientation doesn't affect the feel in the majority of use cases. But we are looking into offering different pcb options.
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 July 2022, 15:37:26 by VMboards typeware »
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #11 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 15:36:47 »
Quote from: Yves W on Thu, 07 July 2022, 13:56:20
Looks sick! Filled in the IC  :)
Would even be cooler if it had the option for a know, but not sure how much impact that'd have on the price.

Thank you. The knob itself wouldn't affect the price at all, but we don't see any reasonable way to put it into the design.
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Offline nevin

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  • Location: US
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 07 July 2022, 17:31:57 »
Quote from: VMboards typeware on Thu, 07 July 2022, 14:59:45
Quote from: croatoanlp on Thu, 07 July 2022, 12:21:40
If you want to use 2 of these as one split keyboard, the switches would need a different orientation compared to the numpad-like layout. Will this be possible to integrate into one pcb or would you need to choose between different pcbs at checkout?

Thank you for your interest! We are making sure that the orientation doesn't affect the feel in the majority of use cases. But we are looking into offering different pcb options.

most keycaps will not fit the switches when rotated 90 degrees. i just tried 6 brands/profiles that i could grab easily out of my collection and only one kinda fit.
- so if you are going to offer a split wireless keyboard option, the switch footprints should be rotated so the switches are oriented correctly and you won't have a problem getting keycaps to fit in the correct orientation.
- yes, it would be fine if they were uniform profile blank keycaps but that's the only way rotating the switch 90 degrees would be acceptable.
- if they were uniform profile with legends, the legends would be rotated 90 degrees.
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 July 2022, 17:33:42 by nevin »
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 10 July 2022, 15:13:13 »
Quote from: nevin on Thu, 07 July 2022, 17:31:57
- so if you are going to offer a split wireless keyboard option, the switch footprints should be rotated so the switches are oriented correctly and you won't have a problem getting keycaps to fit in the correct orientation.

We'd like to avoid fragmentation of the product line if possible, but if needed rotating the switch footprints on the PCB isn't an issue.
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Offline nevin

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  • Location: US
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #14 on: Sun, 10 July 2022, 22:22:10 »
can we see what the pcb looks like currently? even if it's just an image from the design program?
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #15 on: Mon, 11 July 2022, 06:07:35 »
Quote from: nevin on Sun, 10 July 2022, 22:22:10
can we see what the pcb looks like currently? even if it's just an image from the design program?

Actually, you can get a lot of info on design process in our Discord server. And there are screenshot sneak peeks as well.
« Last Edit: Mon, 11 July 2022, 06:16:37 by VMboards typeware »
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #16 on: Tue, 12 July 2022, 09:14:29 »
Quote from: nevin on Sun, 10 July 2022, 22:22:10
can we see what the pcb looks like currently? even if it's just an image from the design program?

Well, now the new PCB is finished and you can see it. It's going to be the new version with many new features, such as PCB mount stabilizers, gasket mount and new daughterboard with better routing. More info will be in 2nd IC.





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Offline haengwoonie

  • Posts: 14
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #17 on: Tue, 12 July 2022, 21:26:37 »
Definitely interested and filled out IC! Have been looking for a wireless macropad for a while now, and nice to see it's 35 keys.
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Offline Mcnos

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    • GMK Fuyu
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #18 on: Sat, 16 July 2022, 11:07:52 »
can we get a macro kit from gmk for this
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Offline fairypenguin

  • Posts: 44
  • Location: New York, US
  • zzz
Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #19 on: Wed, 12 October 2022, 13:36:09 »
Any further developments on this?
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Offline VMboards typeware

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Re: [IC] VM35 Wireless Macropad
« Reply #20 on: Sun, 13 November 2022, 12:11:21 »
Quote from: fairypenguin on Wed, 12 October 2022, 13:36:09
Any further developments on this?

Actually yes, we've now polished the design enough to order a prototype and are currently creating a website.
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