Author Topic: 4 Square - My First (almost) Legit 4x4 Keypad PCB  (Read 5104 times)

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Offline The Gambler

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  • Your resident osu! player, destroyer of keyboards.
4 Square - My First (almost) Legit 4x4 Keypad PCB
« on: Sat, 06 October 2018, 01:06:05 »
Decided to try my hand at creating a PCB for a mechanical keypad. Here's the result of at least a month of work. Created everything from the footprint all the way to the final board. Happy to verify everything works as expected.

Basically a 4x4 Pro Micro Keypad arranged in a diode matrix, accompanied with backlighting that is also arranged in a matrix. Unused pins such as VCC, RAW, TX, etc. are broken out into empty header sockets.

Basically open pins that can be used for RGB underglow.

To-do list:
- Re-orient placement of the Pro Micro so that LEDs face away from user, not towards them (probably a V2 thing)
- Adapt TMK for this keypad
- Post project files on Github

Possible V2 upgrades:
- Pure RGB lighting, both backlight and underglow
- ALPS version

Made with help from:
- Sparkfun's EAGLE Guide: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/using-eagle-schematic/all
- Autodesk's Footprint tutorial: https://www.autodesk.com/products/eagle/blog/library-basics-part-1-creating-first-package-autodesk-eagle/
- ruiqimao's keypad guide: https://github.com/ruiqimao/keyboard-pcb-guide
- Cherry MX datasheets: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Components/Switches/MX%20Series.pdf
« Last Edit: Mon, 08 October 2018, 01:30:35 by The Gambler »
DIY LFKeyboards VA68M ALPS
Gherkin ALPS
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Too many osu! keypads

Logitech G203/ Zowie ZA12

Offline mike-y

  • Posts: 75
  • Location: California, USA
Re: 4 Square - My First (almost) Legit 4x4 Keypad PCB
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 08 October 2018, 00:07:05 »
Nice.  I keep going back to the tutorial for making a pcb, but never quite finished.. The lighting is a nice touch on that.

Offline The Gambler

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  • Posts: 20
  • Your resident osu! player, destroyer of keyboards.
Re: 4 Square - My First (almost) Legit 4x4 Keypad PCB
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 08 October 2018, 01:02:19 »
The keypad was designed in EAGLE, so ruiqimao's guide only partly applies here. Not to mention almost every part here is through-hole, since I lack tools to perform any type of SMD work.

I also need to review how to adapt TMK onto my keypad. The keypad is running on an Arduino sketch right now, which verifies the circuit's functionality but lacks quite a bit of features.

EDIT: I added the guides I used up top so feel free to review them.
« Last Edit: Mon, 08 October 2018, 01:15:10 by The Gambler »
DIY LFKeyboards VA68M ALPS
Gherkin ALPS
DIY MF68 Clears (di0ib's PCB)
Too many osu! keypads

Logitech G203/ Zowie ZA12

Offline The Gambler

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 20
  • Your resident osu! player, destroyer of keyboards.
Re: 4 Square - My First (almost) Legit 4x4 Keypad PCB
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 24 October 2018, 22:08:50 »
AAAARRRRRRRRRR. GGEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. BBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DIY LFKeyboards VA68M ALPS
Gherkin ALPS
DIY MF68 Clears (di0ib's PCB)
Too many osu! keypads

Logitech G203/ Zowie ZA12