geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: b1gsh4d0w on Thu, 18 March 2021, 20:43:19
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Hey, so I'm new here.
I had a steelseries apex m800, but a few months ago some keys stopped working (not surprised after what that keyboard been through) and because of that now I use my brothers keyboard a CoolerMaster Masterkeys L, but I really don't like it so I was checking some to buy but most of them or are really really expensive or are TKLs whitch i dont like that much so i thought in making one. I really like the style of the Vortex Tab 90M but i would like to make some changes on what it offer so i came up with a list of things i wanted in the keyboard but im having some difficulties find some of the components that i will need, so the list is:
-Be able to use with wire but also without, I would like in 2.4Ghz but im having issuies fiding the MCU that have 2.4Ghz
-A rotary knob or scroll wheel, since I can't find any large scroll wheel and not really to make one myself is probably the knob
-White Backlight
-And lastly one of those small OLED screen of 0.91" to have the battery % or if by cable other infos
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The answer to my question will maybe be obvious,
But your problem isn't just related to some dead switches ?
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2.4ghz will be a separate controller all it's own and I'm not even sure QMK supports that out of the box.
Any knob and such is easy to configure in QMK.
Backlighting, underglow, relatively easy.
The wifi is an issue, but your second issue is the display.
The LCD eats up quite a lot of storage and wanting custom stuff or needing wifi config is also going to eat into that. Honestly though, while LCD sounds neat, it's ultimately a costly aesthetic. I stumbled more on that than anything else on my keyboard. Documentation is severely lacking as is storage space for the code. A bigger board will also have a larger keymap, and layers will further eat into that. While it sounds like that won't take much space, you're right but we're also talking about VERY little space. We aren't talking megs of storage we're talking Kb of storage and every letter counts.
Lastly.. And quite important is budget.
If you have cad skills and a 3d printer you can probably do this for $100. If you want a layer case, double that price. If you want machined aluminum expect around $500. If you have no cad skills and plan on doing it yourself or hiring someone expect to double or quadruple those prices depending on how fickle you are. Add another $100-$300 if you want a PCB instead of hand wiring and again, double that if you hire someone to do it for you or have no experience. And all of this is before you buy screws ($) or pay for anodizing (expect around $100), switches, caps, stabs, lube and any other things you may need (tools, cables, film, springs, etc..).
Expect about a month with 3d printer and up to a full year for machined aluminum before you have a working keyboard in your hands that you're happy with.