Macro pad project, Finally finished!

[DanielOh]

Past few weeks, I started to build a macro pad, from scratch, and today, I got the result for that, I finished making my 5 by 7 macro pad, all working properly!

[nevin]

congrats! looks great.

[DanielOh]

I wanna try full keyboard next time..

[nevin]

with hand wiring, the possibilities are literally endless, make a plate to your hearts desire and you're golden. hand wiring really makes sense for layouts that are not readily available in PCB form or vintage boards that you're converting to a modern protocol & keymap/s. a lot of the early ergo designs were strictly hand wire.

if you're currently using a 60% and want to try something different, do a split ortho board (at least 5x6s, dual 5x7 grid will give you a no compromise layout with a full "normal" top row) this is literally a game changer and probably one of the easiest transitions into ortho. i wonder how i dealt with other setups before. so much nicer, especially if you occasionally suffer from rsi.

[DanielOh]

I’m planning to make Planck ortho for my next project, or something Planck ish one...   But split orthos looks so cool, I really need to consider that.

Ps. Keycaps are damn expensive, maybe I can my same keycaps from KBDfans(35cents for each, pbt, sda ) and I can dye it to some other colors..... So expensive...

[nevin]

if you're going to go ortho, go split. getting the space between the two halves is well worth it. if you're going the plank route (no number row), look at the lets split or keeb.io Levinson. keeb.io has a plethora of great pcb kits that won't make your wallet cry.

also, you don't have to go with dsa (or similar uniform profile) style caps either, most (especially smaller otho's) can use a standard 104 keyset without issue (blank or otherwise). i don't use any dsa (uniform profile) caps.

actually, here's a pic of my viterbi with a set of red rosewill/tai-hao caps on it. just as an example, and this is 2x (5x7) grids (with mods on left half) and only 2 caps in the wrong row/profile.


it currently has blank dark grey (alpha) & blank red (num & mods) caps on it

my favorite cheap blank caps are the thick PBT ones form NPKC or YMDK which can be found many places. you could even get a white set & dye them whatever colors you wanted.

[nevin]

This just came across my email today. Massdrop just dropped 2 different ortholinear sets, dsa or xda profile, 104 caps for $20

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/npkc-blank-pbt-keycaps-for-ortholinear-keyboards

[Sintpinty]

Past few weeks, I started to build a macro pad, from scratch, and today, I got the result for that, I finished making my 5 by 7 macro pad, all working properly!

Awesome!