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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: The Illuminati on Fri, 06 December 2013, 21:50:13

Title: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: The Illuminati on Fri, 06 December 2013, 21:50:13
I want it to last 50 million button strokes,have macros and binds,be backlit,have a gaming mode on/off switch,and the ability to disable certain keys and easily move keys around.
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: inteli722 on Fri, 06 December 2013, 22:02:03
Quote from: The Illuminati on Fri, 06 December 2013, 21:50:13
I want it to last 50 million button strokes,have macros and binds,be backlit,have a gaming mode on/off switch,and the ability to disable certain keys and easily move keys around.

Bullets, bro.

Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: The Illuminati on Fri, 06 December 2013, 22:09:58
But exactly what should I buy and how do I put it together?I'm new to this.
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: inteli722 on Fri, 06 December 2013, 22:20:20
Quote from: The Illuminati on Fri, 06 December 2013, 22:09:58
But exactly what should I buy and how do I put it together?I'm new to this.

You don't need to put it together. What you should do for a gaming board is this:

What you are thinking you need to do is completely unnecessary and requires you know how to design a PCB. Building a keyboard from scratch is rather difficult and time consuming, even if you just buy a PCB someone else designed.
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: Aer Fixus on Fri, 06 December 2013, 22:43:48
Building a keyboard from scratch is a really tough thing to do and will cost you much more time and money than finding an existing keyboard that fits your needs and using it.

That said, some things you may need for building your own keyboard:
X number of Cherry/ALPS switches. The most popular switch is Cherry and is the one that supports LEDs.
X number of [Color] LEDs.
X number of diodes.
X number of keycaps.
Where X is the amount of keys you have in your custom layout.
Circuit board, home made or custom ordered.
Program to create the circuit board layout.
Teensy or other programmable keyboard controller.
Case, home molded/made depending on material or custom ordered.
USB cable.
Soldering iron and associated bits.
Time.
Programming skill so you can program the controller and the macros and the gaming mode toggling.
Extra parts for when you mess up a little.

-or-

Find a keyboard that suits your needs with all the features that you want. Ducky seems to be a good place to start looking.

[Edit: If you really want to go through with this, it is possible given the desire, time, money, etc and GeekHack can surely help along the way. It looks daunting, but it will become your love when you are done.]
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: regack on Sat, 07 December 2013, 12:39:55
As others have already said, there are some pretty good options already out there, probably makes sense to just buy an existing one that meets most of your requirements. 

If you really want to build something, however, I'd suggest starting a bit smaller and build just a gaming keypad instead.  I find I don't really need more than 20-30 immediate access keys, with maybe another 15 occasional keys shifted to a function layer.  Makes for a much easier project to start with.
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: MKULTRA on Sat, 07 December 2013, 12:52:55
Quote from: Aer Fixus on Fri, 06 December 2013, 22:43:48
Building a keyboard from scratch is a really tough thing to do and will cost you much more time and money than finding an existing keyboard that fits your needs and using it.

That said, some things you may need for building your own keyboard:
X number of Cherry/ALPS switches. The most popular switch is Cherry and is the one that supports LEDs.
X number of [Color] LEDs.
X number of diodes.
X number of keycaps.
Where X is the amount of keys you have in your custom layout.
Circuit board, home made or custom ordered.
Program to create the circuit board layout.
Teensy or other programmable keyboard controller.
Case, home molded/made depending on material or custom ordered.
USB cable.
Soldering iron and associated bits.
Time.
Programming skill so you can program the controller and the macros and the gaming mode toggling.
Extra parts for when you mess up a little.

-or-

Find a keyboard that suits your needs with all the features that you want. Ducky seems to be a good place to start looking.

[Edit: If you really want to go through with this, it is possible given the desire, time, money, etc and GeekHack can surely help along the way. It looks daunting, but it will become your love when you are done.]
Eh it doesn't really have to be that hard.  Most customs these days are coming with Diode's pre-soldered.  Controllers are almost always already on the board (bar Phantom and a few others). 

You're making it sound a whole lot harder than it actually is.  The first time I ever soldered was on my A.87.
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: Aer Fixus on Sat, 07 December 2013, 14:35:42
Quote from: MKULTRA on Sat, 07 December 2013, 12:52:55
Eh it doesn't really have to be that hard.  Most customs these days are coming with Diode's pre-soldered.  Controllers are almost always already on the board (bar Phantom and a few others). 

You're making it sound a whole lot harder than it actually is.  The first time I ever soldered was on my A.87.
I interpreted it as he wanted to make his own completely original keyboard, not ordering parts from a kit and assembling it himself. Getting a kit is a lot easier and is an option I completely forgot to mention.
Title: Re: How do I make a mechanical keyboard for gaming?
Post by: Oobly on Sun, 08 December 2013, 12:34:41
I agree with inteli722:

Buy a Ducky Shine 3.
Install Autohotkey software.
Set up macros and switch whichever keys you want.