geekhack

geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => DIY Discussions ARCHIVE => Topic started by: chimera15 on Wed, 16 June 2010, 22:33:43

Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 16 June 2010, 22:33:43
Since I completed the wireless minitouch hack a while ago, I haven't been using the igo wireless board I made, and I could never really stand it because it didn't have at least 4 rows of keys,  it only had 3 letter rows which I could never get used to.  I decided to retask it after I got some spare blues into another hhkb mechanical hack.  I also had a spare set of typewriter keys from my siig minitouch pcb which was left over from the wireless minitouch.

I just finished the wiring on it:

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4708245128_0751ca209f_b.jpg)

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4708245030_01a3cb5c54_b.jpg)

With the other hhkb Japanese board hack.  I tried rit dying these keys, but after several months of typing you can see the bad wear of the keys on that board.  

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4023/4707601719_49c94ebfed_b.jpg)


I'd really like to get these boards looking nice, but for now they're functional.
Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: unicomp on Thu, 17 June 2010, 06:20:12
This looks very interesting. Are there any images of the boards whilst in progress? How were the switches attached to the metal?
Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 June 2010, 06:37:25
Quote from: unicomp;193960
This looks very interesting. Are there any images of the boards whilst in progress? How were the switches attached to the metal?

I think there's probably in progress photos of my first hhkb mod.  If not, maybe the wireless igo one, and definitely the steampunk compact which used a similar method, although I didn't have to trace the matrix on that one.  The igo was the worst, and my first rewiring of a matrix, cause its matrix was jacked up after I pried up the keys, so it was a total puzzle.

Alps switches can be held by the plate alone, cause they snap into place.  A touch of glue can be used on the top or bottom of the switch if you want them a little more secure which won't ruin the switch if you have to pull it.

Check out these threads:
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7903&do=comments&highlight=wireless+hack&do=comments&page=2 (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7903&do=comments&highlight=wireless+hack&do=comments&page=2)

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7866&&do=comments&highlight=wireless+hack (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7866&&do=comments&highlight=wireless+hack)

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7665&do=comments&highlight=igo&do=comments&page=3 (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:7665&do=comments&highlight=igo&do=comments&page=3)
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=6313&do=comments&highlight=steampunk+compact (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=6313&do=comments&highlight=steampunk+compact)

This is my flickr photostream that has most of the pictures I've posted on Geekhack on it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38587203@N06/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/38587203@N06/)
Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: unicomp on Thu, 17 June 2010, 07:04:56
Is there any reason other than typing preference as to the use of Alps? I would like to try to replicate something similar using Cherry blue switches and am trying to assess how hard it would be to do.
Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 June 2010, 07:10:42
I haven't tried to do anything with cherry's. I only own one cherry board mx, the scorpius m10, and haven't really been adventurous enough to tear it apart since I sort of like it the way it is.  The key is if the switches are secure enough in just a mounting plate, with the terminals exposed.  

The plates for these two came from model f type boards like the dc-2014, and zenith.  Both older xt boards, which I cut down to size, and got cheap off ebay, under $40, and used the switches from as well.  The original top one is all blue alps, which I was always really happy with.  The new one is complicated whites.  Both feel really great to type on, so I'm really happy with both of them.  


Basically both of these are made up from parts from 2 or 3 different donor boards with the hhkb lite chips driving them with rewired matrix's.

If the cherry switches can be mounted to a plate solidly, with exposed terminals, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to copy an existing matrix with wires just like I've done here.  Ripster and a few others gave me the idea, specifically the redo of the matrix's with his n52 hack, as well as lessons on how matrix's work.  He might be able to help you more, since his n52 hack was also cherries.  I know he had a lot of trouble mounting them perfectly because he didn't have a plate.

  If you do go for it the important part to remember is to number all the lead wires and switches really well, cause it can become quite a mess and confusing.  I usually have a couple misswires or faults since it's hundreds of solder points, and easy to mess up 1 or two, that I have to go back and trace with a multimeter.  This time I found a tiny short cause by stray solder between wire 14 and 15 underneath the board that was causing double keypresses of like o and p anytime either the o or p key was pressed.  It was a total pain to track down.
Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: chimera15 on Fri, 18 June 2010, 07:55:42
The typewriter keys elevated the typing surface above normal keys so I needed to do something to bring the shift, enter, backspace ect keys up to their level.   I know brass contains lead, wonder if it's poisonous to type on for long periods of time. lol

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4711776382_48e67579b7_b.jpg)
Title: Current state of my hhkb lite mechanical mods
Post by: Hydron on Fri, 18 June 2010, 20:36:52
Brass is actually copper and zinc, so rest easy!