so i'm new to the keyboard enthusiast scene, and have decided to jump head first and build one for my first "custom" keyboard.
After a lot of looking and reading i decided to go with the phantom PCB mainly because of its easy availability, while also being easy to find.
The only reason i hesitated with the choice was because i was not sure if i wanted a back-lit board. after thinking about it, i barely look at my keyboard while typing anyways. Also being my first one to build i thought i would keep it a little bare.
After looking at different cases that the Phantom fit into i decided i definitely wanted an aluminum (or any metal) case for sure. i just really like metal over plastic in many of my other hobbies despite it being heavier it always seems more rugged and less flimsy than the plastics.
so with all that in mind the only readily available aluminum cases i could find (for any of the PCBs) was the TEX case for the Phantom board. this was the biggest factor into leading me towards my decision of the Phantom set up.
Keep in mind i am one of those people who thought the Razer Blackwidow Chroma was the best keyboard ever.
(i know i know, shame me if you must.) that is until getting my hands on Cherry MX keys and really appreciating some of the custom builds i have seen through forums such as this one.
Well on to the pics and some of the steps of my experience with building my first keyboard from the PCB up.
I ordered the PCB kit from mechanicalkeyboards.com, added the aluminum plate, and some switches, but did not get the aluminum case at the same because will i thought it would take me a week or so to put all of this together and because will i'm married and yall know what that extra 150$ can get you into.
i also ordered some stickers, lube, and some keycaps that will be in next week some time. my original plan was to lube and sticker the switches before installing them, get everything working then order the case and keycaps. but once the saw the box on the doorstep i could not be stopped, So next week when the stickers come in i will take the tops off of all the switches and lube and sticker them and then i will close it all up in a case.
My PCB came in, Came exactly as described and as i expected
Started putting in the diodes and clipping them for soldering, after i set all the diodes in(before soldering them) i put a piece of cardboard over the top of them and taped the board to the PCB sandwiching the diodes between the PCB and board. This let me easily turn the board around and move it around the desk as needed without having to worry about anything falling out.
I then mounted the Teensy board.I used a pair of tweezers and keyboardtester.com to test each key, it all tested out perfectly. even though you can see the plate and a couple switches in the picture, this was a later picture. after i installed the teensy board i spent about an hour or 2 messing with the programming and getting familiar with its software as it is the first time i have ever used it. I ended up using the firmware from Bathroom Epiphanies' AVR-Keyboard github page. as recommended by the deskthority guide i was following made by someones name i cannot find but thank very much for taking the time to make it. I did play around with one of the other firmware options it mentioned "Easy AVR USB" i think in the future i will play with this and make a more custom layout to fit what i want. and please excuse the ugly solder joints, i do solder a lot at work however i could not take my time with this as i felt an overwhelming anxiety to go fast which is why this went much quicker than i thought it would.
I then added the stabilizers and a few of the switches in order to line the plate up with the PCB.(i did trim 2 of the tabs off of the Cherry stabilizers as some people recomemded, i have no idea if this is necessary or not)
added more switches careful to line them up properly.
and then the rest!
I had 2 small problems. the first one was one of my cherry red switches had a bent pin. instead of just bending it into position i swapped the guts with an extra MX green switch i had .
after soldering all of the switches to the board i then plugged it in and crossed my fingers. i used the keyboard test website again and everything worked great except for my F1 key. I did fiddle with the insides a bit and got it to work, but i ended up unsoldering it and swapping it out with a different one just in case.after that i was 100% functional.
I am very satisfied with how it turned out so far. i have ordered the aluminum TEX case and will be stickering and lubing as soon as the parts come in. then i will close it all up in the case. can say enough words at how great this community is at giving information and helping newbies as myself. i hope to do more builds in the future. in the mean time i will be cleaning the flux off the board so it looks a little prettier.
The only concern i have that i was going to ask about is i did mount the teensy board touching the PCB with nothing in between them
. is this going to be a problem, should i unsolder it and and put something between them or just let it go? it all is working fine.
thank you guys for all of the help and let me know if i should change something around or if yall have any recommendations.
Austin
