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geekhack Community => geekhack Media => Topic started by: neuronbasher on Sat, 24 May 2014, 01:10:34
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I'm new here, having been mostly lurking over the last couple of months, but I wanted to share my new Ergodox build and hope that it encourages someone who is on the fence about whether they can build it to give it a shot. I had done some soldering 20+ years ago, but this is by far the most extensive soldering work I've ever done. I'm pleased to report that after a couple of nights of work, my Ergodox worked on the first try! If I can do it, you can do it.
Thanks to everyone on Geekhack who has posted encouragement and guidance over the years. In particular, the Soldering thread was invaluable. The many pictures of all of the amazing projects people here have built was incredibly motivating.
Here's just a few pics:
Whee, look what showed up in the mail from Massdrop!
[attach=1]
Progress after the first night. I got my work area setup and soldered the first 15 surface mount diodes, I actually spent a couple hours practicing on a surface mount practice kit I found on Amazon before diving into the Ergodox. I was happy I did, it was a complete writeoff but it let me get comfortable with the tools.
[attach=2]
It's alive! First full test! I did some basic tests with just a few keys soldered on to verify the Teensy worked, the I/O expander worked, and so on.
[attach=3]
Keycaps! I had to improvise here and order some temporary caps earlier in the week because the Massdrop kit shipped earlier than expected and my caps from the Granite groupbuy aren't here yet.
[attach=4]
One last shot, inside the belly of the beast. If I can do it, you can do it.
[attach=5]
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Welcome to Geekhack!
Very nicely done - and working on the first try? Excellence :)
The case is neat too.
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Congrats! I just got my kit yesterday and just been looking it over. I can't wait to get it up and running.
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Your soldering job is really pretty. I'm impressed.
I'm cursed, every 3rd solder I do I screw up :(
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Your soldering job is really pretty. I'm impressed.
I'm cursed, every 3rd solder I do I screw up :(
Stick with it, you'll get it!
The things that I think worked well for me to make it come out well:
1. I used 63/37 solder. That stuff is magical.
2. I used a lighted magnifier with 3x magnification. My eyesight is on the bad side of mediocre and that really let me see what I was doing. I also used it to inspect every joint and touch up the ones that looked dodgy.
3. I experimented with various temperatures on the iron until I found one that let me make the joint quickly. I think I wound up using 320C for the diodes, then 370C for everything else except for the keycaps. I cranked it way up to like 420C for those since there was more mass the heat up and they went super fast.
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Welcome! Extremely nice keyboard you've got there. I've always wanted an Ergo Dox myself, but I never pulled the trigger. Not a big fan of learning new layouts, but I love how it looks.