I'm in the process of building an Atomic (Semi-Standard) keyboard. I've had the plate for awhile, but didn't have the switches to start it. Now that I received a batch of Gaterons, I've set out to hand-wire it.

So far I've wired the rows:



I used the diodes to connect the switches along the rows, and for the 2u keys I just soldered cut-off diode leads to extend the length and make the connections. For the spacebar I used two pieces of wire instead since the length was too long for leads.

Before I start with the columns I wanted to make sure I had the matrix right. This is what I think the matrix should be:



The 2u buttons are connected to the left-most column they're in. The Spacebar is connected to the column where the switch is located (basically the middle). The three switches on the bottom right are connected to their closest columns (which in the case of the right-most switch is the right-most column). Instead of connecting at the bottom of the columns as is shown, I'll probably connect somewhere in the middle, maybe at the second row (which is the only row that is completely made up of 1u keys).

Thoughts?

...or have a nice color-coded diagram. 

Thanks. The columns sound harder to keep "nice" and "clean" but I'm hoping...

I think I'm going to try to manually strip sections of a wire for the column connections. I suspect it will take a few attempts to get the first one right, but by the 15th It'll be easy...

The thing I haven't decided about is how to connect to the Teensy. I'm thinking about adding right-angle headers and connecting to them. I saw someone who did that with breadboard wires (with DuPont connectors) where the female connectors were connected to the right-angle headers, and the male sides were soldered to the columns and rows. It's a little clunky, but it allows the Teensy to be replaced if you want. That might be nice for experimentation.

Very nice. Right now I'm out of solid core wire, so I can't do that, but I'm impressed you pulled that off...

I've finished wiring the columns. I imagine it would have been a little easier with solid core wiring, but as I don't have any at the moment, and it would take me weeks to get, I decided to go with the stranded wire I had on hand. In any case, that's what Jack Humbert sent as part of the 'wiring kit' with the plate.



I also added the brass spacers (before working on the columns), to make sure nothing got in the way. The spacers have heat-shrink tubing around them, although I haven't heated them up yet. I'm not sure it's really necessary. It's just there to prevent the spacers from coming into contact with any wires.

The next stage is to figure out how I'm going to connect to the Teensy. Ideally, I'd like to figure out a way to connect to it without soldering directly to it. That might not be possible do to the extra space necessary to make the wires removable. I think I mentioned I saw someone use right-angle header pins with dupont plugs to keep the teensy removable, although I think that would require sticking the Teensy in the middle of the keyboard.

The ideal location for the Teensy would seem to be under the spacebar, but that means I won't have a lot of room to wire to the side on the bottom. That might mean that the only way to fit the bottom plate to the top plate will be to use larger spacers, or to solder the teensy so it will fit under the spacebar. Until I figure exactly where the Teensy will be, I can't wire the connections to all the columns and rows, so now I guess I need to wait. I have a few parts on their way from China that will give me options to try out, like right-angle pin headers, etc. so until I get that stuff I guess I'm just going to sit and wait (unless I get too impatient and solder everything under the spacebar).

Thanks.

Thanks. And it's actually the first thing I've ever soldered. Of course, until I hook it up to the Teensy we won't know if I did a good job or not. I've tried testing with a multi-meter along the way, but I won't know if it works until it's all hooked up.

I really want the Teensy to be able to be disconnected without desoldering, but I'm not sure what the best way to do that would be without using too much space, and I might just get impatient and solder it all up.

Why do you want to be able to remove the teensy?

Maybe I'll want to use this keyboard to experiment with different micro controllers at some point. Maybe the Teensy might get damaged. Who knows. I like to keep my options open.

Working on crimping the Dupont connectors. It's really a pain, because the connectors are so small, or because my crimping tool isn't very good, or because I'm learning to crimp as I go, or likely a combination of all three reasons...

One character was missing from my code that prevented it from compiling. Thanks to Jack Humbert for figuring out the problem for me.

A few keys seem not to be mapped correctly, so I'll need to review the code again. It seems mostly with the bottom row.

I'm not sure yet if the Dupont connectors were worth the effort. The idea behind them was to allow me flexibility in the future, and as I haven't needed to make changes yet, I don't really know. It was also an experiment to see if I could do it, and in that sense it was worth it.

What do you mean by wire quality?

The Teensy is where it is in the picture, just slightly up so it's flush with the end of the metal plate. The pressure from the screws holding the two plates together via spacers keeps it in place pretty well.

I guess I didn't post my full-write up on my blog to this thread:

http://trauring.org/hand-wiring-a-keyboard/

You might find some useful information there.