I want to show you guys the end result of a small project I recently completed, named Shortcake.
It's a Dell AT101W I found at work (1 of 2) that my boss allowed me to take. The base keyboard is a 104 key keyboard with complicated black Alps (Alps SKCM Black) and a PS/2 interface. I did the following:
- Cleaned all the parts.
- Desoldered the switches.
- Painted the plate red.
- Soldered on Matias tactile switches.
- Installed a Teensy with Soarer's converter to make it programmable with a USB interface.
- Replaced green LEDs with red ones.
The biggest challenge I encountered was desoldering. I was too preoccupied during the process to take pictures, but the original switches were soldered with the legs bent at a 90 degree angle. I used my soldapullt to remove most of the solder and then used some pliers to bend the legs straight. For a few switches I had to heat the joint while bending the legs straight. Three of the pads ended up partially lifted, but nothing over 50% - the switches all work fine.
The second biggest challenge I encountered was painting the plate, although this was mostly due to my own failures. If I did this again, I would be sure to let the paint dry fully before turning it over to paint the other side. I would minimize the surface area in contact with anything else and mask that area if it was already painted. Also I would not have saran wrap underneath it as it melted into the paint while I was doing the clear coat. I had to sand it down and repaint it because of my mistakes. I'm surprised it ended up looking as good as it did (picture below).
I have to say that
Soarer's converter is quite amazing. I had to read through a lot of documentation and forum posts to understand exactly what to do. In retrospect I probably should've just asked for help, but after half a day I was able to successfully program my
usual layout onto it.
Deconstructed.
Additional parts for modding.
PCB, desoldered.
A painted plate. This is the final result after I had to sand it and repaint it due to mistakes (see above).
Installing the converter. I soldered header pins to the Teensy and used hookup wire with connector housing to connect the keyboard to the Teensy.
Strawberry jam plate under the creamy key caps. Yum!
Red LEDs to match!
I'd like to get a little more red on the keyboard via the key caps but it is exceedingly difficult to find Alps caps,
especially for an ANSI 125 layout. I'm hoping when Matias starts
selling his key caps I will have more options
UPDATE (August 21st 2014)One thing I've noticed is that the AT101W doesn't support full NKRO (or even full 3KRO) despite the native PS/2 interface. In particular, LAlt+RAlt+]. Specifics of my layout aside, I find that I have to use the dedicated navigation keys in some cases to access certain shortcuts while coding instead of through my usual navigation function layer.
UPDATE (Oct 8th 2014)I replaced the green LEDs with red ones to match.
