Made a Cherry MX numpad

[Tuomas]

Hey guys.
I lurk alot here, but haven't really had anything worth posting so far. Until now that is.

Short version:
check what I just made!


Long version:
I bought my first mechanical KB almost a year ago, a Filco Ninja Majestouch 2 Tenkeyless (Brown switches), and I pretty much fell in love with it immediately when I got it. I bought the tenkeyless version because I like to have the numpad on the left side (I'm left handed), a regular numpad is useless. Now, I could have just bought the Filco tenkeypad, but that's not how I roll. I'm very much into electronics and DIY, so I figured it would be a worthy goal to build my own.

I bought a relatively cheap Cherry keyboard (blue switches) from someone around here a couple of months after getting my Filco, for the purposes of disassembling it. I started dismantling it quite soon after getting it, but before I got very far, I put the project on hold for some reason. After more than 6 months, last week I finally got around to actually going forward with the project.

I looked at the original Cherry keyboard for the numpad layout and designed my own board (using KiCAD). I used a USB-capable Atmel AVR as the microcontroller (at90usb162) and I got the initial design finished the same day. I'm currently studying at a University where I've got access to a circuit mill, so I used it to mill the board the next day, then soldered and programmed it. Code was the easy part, LUFA usb library for AVRs is such an easy thing to use.

I've now used it for over a week and it works very nicely.

More info on my website: http://tuomasnylund.fi/drupal6/content/usb-cherry-mx-numpad
All the code and pcb designs are on my github: https://github.com/tuomasnylund

Now, it's not over yet!

I started improving the PCB design abit after some time of using the numpad.
 - Rounded the PCB corners
 - Moved the switches abit more up, to move them closer to the center of board
 - Slightly wider, now evenly sized at 100mm*80mm
 - Hid the programming header under the PCB
 - Made provisions for the numlock being lit by LED underneath (if I get one of those fancy keycaps with a window in them)

I'll probably not mill the new version, but get it made in China with soldermask and silkscreen. I'm also looking at maybe getting some acrylic lasercut for a case of some sort, but we'll see about that. I'm thinking of ordering something in the following weeks. Or maybe I'll just leave the project alone for 6 months again. You never know.

In any case, comments, questions, suggestions, anything like that, are always welcome.

I'll also try to post updates to this topic if I get further with this whole thing.

[The_Beast]

WOW super nice


Do you know how much the total cost of the project was? Why didn't you just buy a number pad (unless you like DIY )?

[sth]

this is great! i want to make one any chance you would consider making more of the PCBs and selling a kit? i dont have access to the equipment.

[hashbaz]

Welcome to GH sir.  Epic first post.

Where can I get that sweet looking Jupiter wallpaper you have?

[alaricljs]

At a guess:  http://www.wallpapervortex.com/wallpaper-16902_planet_jupiter_jupiters_great_red_spo.html

[Tuomas]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Do you know how much the total cost of the project was?

The main cost was the original keybord I dismantled for the switches and can't remember how much I paid for it. 30eur maybe? PCB was essentially free and the other components I had already (component value ~6eur).

Why didn't you just buy a number pad (unless you like DIY )?

I like DIY . No other reason really.

this is great! i want to make one any chance you would consider making more of the PCBs and selling a kit? i dont have access to the equipment.

I've considered that. I have to order multiple PCBs from China if I want one for myself anyways. I could easily sell a couple of PCBs with surface mount components already soldered and programmed. You'd just have to get switches and keycaps yourself and solder those (maybe an LED too) to get a working numpad.
A kit with keycaps, switches and maybe some lasercut acrylic included might require a bit more effort than I'm willing to put into this right now. I'll order a couple of PCBs first, maybe some lasercutting aswell. I might revisit a more ambitious kit after that, if there is interest.

Where can I get that sweet looking Jupiter wallpaper you have?

At a guess:  http://www.wallpapervortex.com/wallpaper-16902_planet_jupiter_jupiters_great_red_spo.html

Pretty much right. It's a mosaic of pictures of Jupiter taken by Voyager 1 back in 1979. Not sure if I cropped the original mosaic myself, or just downloaded a readymade crop.

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

Very few people who start their first post with something as awesome as this.

But ...

http://www.amazon.com/DSI-Left-Handed-Keyboard-Black-KB-DS-8861XPU-B-V2/dp/B0009S52X8
http://www.dsi-keyboards.com/dsi-black-usb-left-handed-keyboard-kb-8861xpu-b-v2.aspx
http://www.ergogeek.com/left-handed-cherry-mx-blue-mechanical-keyboard-usb--ps-2-black.html

[SmallFry]

Cool stuff! Did you write all the code yourself or did you modify some code that was already out there?

Also, you may want to add some rubber feet and/or add some weight to it to help if it slides around.

[TheProfosist]

Want one but you think you could change up the layout a bit? I think i have some ideas.

[sth]

this is great! i want to make one any chance you would consider making more of the PCBs and selling a kit? i dont have access to the equipment.

I've considered that. I have to order multiple PCBs from China if I want one for myself anyways. I could easily sell a couple of PCBs with surface mount components already soldered and programmed. You'd just have to get switches and keycaps yourself and solder those (maybe an LED too) to get a working numpad.
A kit with keycaps, switches and maybe some lasercut acrylic included might require a bit more effort than I'm willing to put into this right now. I'll order a couple of PCBs first, maybe some lasercutting aswell. I might revisit a more ambitious kit after that, if there is interest.

ah but of course - i was speaking mainly of the PCB. i would not need a kit or anything like that, just the board with holes and traces. it WOULD be really cool if it ran off the Teensy which is a very popular uc platform in the KB community.

[TheProfosist]

Yep ive actually been thinking about a teensy run numpad for a while now but havnt put any real time into the thought.

[jeroplane]

This looks really nice! Any plans for a case to put it in?

[Tuomas]

ah but of course - i was speaking mainly of the PCB. i would not need a kit or anything like that, just the board with holes and traces. it WOULD be really cool if it ran off the Teensy which is a very popular uc platform in the KB community.

If I get the PCBs ordered, I could easily sell some bare PCBs for you if you want.

I've got some Teensy 2.0s laying somewhere, but I don't really see a point in using a whole Teensy for this thing. The cost of PCB + parts (switches not included) for my numpad is less than the price of a Teensy. Also it would take more space. The microcontroller I'm using was actually used in the original Teensy 1.0, so most code should work with a simple recompile. I should be able to get a bootloader running on this thing aswell so programming the chip should be as easy as keeping one of the keys depressed while plugging in the USB cable, then running an app on the PC to load new firmware.

Welcome to Geekhack!

Very few people who start their first post with something as awesome as this.

But ...

http://www.amazon.com/DSI-Left-Handed-Keyboard-Black-KB-DS-8861XPU-B-V2/dp/B0009S52X8
http://www.dsi-keyboards.com/dsi-black-usb-left-handed-keyboard-kb-8861xpu-b-v2.aspx
http://www.ergogeek.com/left-handed-cherry-mx-blue-mechanical-keyboard-usb--ps-2-black.html

Thanks. I know about keyboards like that, but they wouldn't have given me an excuse to build my own numpad . Doing things the easy way is boring.

Want one but you think you could change up the layout a bit? I think i have some ideas.

Maybe. What did you have in mind?

Cool stuff! Did you write all the code yourself or did you modify some code that was already out there?

Code is based on the LUFA USB library Keyboard example code. I've used LUFA for more complex stuff than keyboards before, so this was easy.

This looks really nice! Any plans for a case to put it in?

Case is in consideriation. I was thinking of sandwiching the next version PCB between a couple of pieces of lasercut acrylic. No idea how that will go.

[xavierblak]

Very nice. I was considering a project like this recently. Props to you for completing it!

Do you notice any flex with just using the pcb like that with no case? Or is the pcb small enough that it doesn't matter much?

[nullstring]

I really like the look of this. I wonder if we can make a whole keyboard like this. Who needs a case!

[TheProfosist]

Ill post some layout ideas soon but my thinking was something close to the realforce numpad but with 2 additional keys to the left one being space the other shift because i planned to use numrow numbers instead of numpad ones to that you also have access to the symbols

[IvanIvanovich]

I would love a numpad like this, all the commercial MX ones are too large and have extra row of keys on the top. It would be really amazing in the same style of case as Poker in my opinion.

[The_Beast]

I would love a numpad like this, all the commercial MX ones are too large and have extra row of keys on the top. It would be really amazing in the same style of case as Poker in my opinion.

Plus most of them have the 0 and 00 keys instead of just the big 0 key. I'd much rather have the singe 0 key like this pad has.


Plus it looks DIY and cool ^___^

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes that is another good point, much easier with 2units 0. It's pretty hard to find the 00 Cherry doubleshots, only on a couple models.

[The_Beast]

Yes that is another good point, much easier with 2units 0. It's pretty hard to find the 00 Cherry doubleshots, only on a couple models.

I just plain don't like the 0 and 00 key. I find imputing numbers easier with the single 0 key


Plus that's what I've always used so I'm used to it

[TheProfosist]

I was thinking something in the realm of




but better thought out

[neeb]

Wow that's beautiful man. I really wish I had the ability to do things like that lol. I need to start dabbling in DIY stuff more, seems much more rewarding

[thp777]

nice job. im thinking of doing this and using my extra nostromo board for it

[Squiddy]

this is great! i want to make one any chance you would consider making more of the PCBs and selling a kit? i dont have access to the equipment.

I've considered that. I have to order multiple PCBs from China if I want one for myself anyways. I could easily sell a couple of PCBs with surface mount components already soldered and programmed. You'd just have to get switches and keycaps yourself and solder those (maybe an LED too) to get a working numpad.
A kit with keycaps, switches and maybe some lasercut acrylic included might require a bit more effort than I'm willing to put into this right now. I'll order a couple of PCBs first, maybe some lasercutting aswell. I might revisit a more ambitious kit after that, if there is interest.

Make a Kit just needing keycaps, keyswitches and maybe an LED and you've got yourself a buyer right here!

[Sifo]

I'd be +1 for a kit, I have some extra switches laying around.

[TheProfosist]

Would you be willing to design one to my specs?

[Sifo]

Oh :/ right, this never happened yet :s

I still need an MX pad.

[The_Beast]

Oh :/ right, this never happened yet :s

I still need an MX pad.

dis