Fahrstuhl's 60% ISO keyboard project

[fahrstuhl]

So I found out I needed a small, portable keyboard which supports both USB and Bluetooth.
This combination doesn't really seem to exist, so I looked into building one myself and eagerly got myself a Teensy3 and a RN42 Bluetooth module (which doesn't support the BT_HID protocol, as I found out yesterday -_-)

If I got this right, a keyboard might need the following components:

A controller
I picked a Teensy3 because I've read the Teensys were widely used as keyboard controllers. I didn't really consider the different CPUs, so I've probably locked myself out of using the tmk_keyboard firmware. I did spend my saturday programming a controller software with the PJRC libraries, though, so I have got a working controller and a reinvented wheel.

A physical layout
I've recently converted to the Neo layout, which has both numpad and navigation block conveniently reachable on a 60% layout. I'll need a SysRq key and an extra Fn layer for F1-F10.
This seemed like a good idea:


A case and plate
This one looked pretty cool, I'm currently trying to adapt the plate to my layout. I haven't found a free, working CAD software for Linux that's able to read and edit dwg files, though o_O"
There are some companies offering laser cutting and at least one hacker space with a laser cutter in Berlin so at least that's not a problem.

Switches and stabilizers
I've tried keyboards with Cherry MX Brown switches at work and they felt a bit too light, so I wanted to get MX Clear switches (plate mounted because I don't have a pcb). Maybe I'm looking in all the wrong places but I don't seem to find a distributor based in Germany or even Europe who sells products from a big German company to German customers -_-

A matrix and diodes
Which I'll handwire.

A working BT module
Well, the most recent RN42 firmware supports both SPP and HID but I can't find modules loaded with it, so I'll probably get an older one with the HID-only firmware. Not that I need the SPP capabilities but I kinda like to be on the most recent firmware :D

Keycaps
Um, I haven't really thought or read about keycaps, yet... Black, unlabeled? Any shops in Europe stocking acceptable keycaps that fit Cherry switches?

Did I forget anything? Any advice? Any readily available 60% ISO keyboards I've overlooked?

[gnubag]

gh60 if you can get hold of a pcb/plate

teensy 2 is totally sufficient for a project like this.

also the case you liked is open source there is a dxg file at the bottom attached

[jdcarpe]

Also, QCAD community edition is available for Linux. It's free, you just have to compile from source.

[The_Beast]

Try 7bit at Desktority for switches

[fahrstuhl]

gh60 if you can get hold of a pcb/plate

I don't think I can reasonably get a populated GH60 pcb; laser cutting an acrylic plate and handwiring the switches seems easier.

teensy 2 is totally sufficient for a project like this.

Yeah, but the Teensy3 was a bit cheaper and I didn't know of an existing keyboard controller firmware at the time I ordered :D

also the case you liked is open source there is a dxg file at the bottom attached

Also, QCAD community edition is available for Linux. It's free, you just have to compile from source.

There seem to be some GPL licensing problems with free CAD software and the only free dwg library :-/ I'll try again later.

Try 7bit at Desktority for switches

I will, thanks for the tip!

[metalliqaz]

The free version of qcad is deprecated.  Now LibreCAD.

[MOZ]

This is interesting.

I can mod the plate for you if required.

[fahrstuhl]

This is interesting.

I can mod the plate for you if required.

You would? Thanks, that would be awesome, I've never used CAD software before and am kind of lost :D
Is the layout picture I uploaded enough or do you need more information?
The internal spacer plates don't have an order, right? I could just switch the "Bottom Spacer Plate" with the "Top Spacer Plate"? I think I'll have to mount the Teensy3 pretty close to the bottom to have enough room for the wiring.
How far is the opening for the USB port from the side? The port from the Teensy3 is 5mm from the pcb edges.

[MOZ]

This is interesting.

I can mod the plate for you if required.

You would? Thanks, that would be awesome, I've never used CAD software before and am kind of lost
Is the layout picture I uploaded enough or do you need more information?
The internal spacer plates don't have an order, right? I could just switch the "Bottom Spacer Plate" with the "Top Spacer Plate"? I think I'll have to mount the Teensy3 pretty close to the bottom to have enough room for the wiring.
How far is the opening for the USB port from the side? The port from the Teensy3 is 5mm from the pcb edges.

The layout you posted is enough. AS for ordering, there is no fix order, I have those layers in that order for the GH60, which has the mini-usb mounted on the underneath of the PCB, in your case, you might have to switch the bottom and top spacer. I'll get you the dimensions for the usb cutout in a while

[MOZ]

Attached is the plate for your layput

[agodinhost]

gh60 if you can get hold of a pcb/plate

teensy 2 is totally sufficient for a project like this.

also the case you liked is open source there is a dxg file at the bottom attached

agree.
+1 Teensy 2.0 (unless you do need something more advanced - even thought I would suggest you to stay with the Teensy)

[fahrstuhl]

Attached is the plate for your layput

Nice, the case cutout has arrived already! I had ordered it at formulor on tuesday (17th) evening and got it today! Now I'm just waiting for the switches to arrive, then it's assembling time. Thanks for your help, MOZ!
Attached are some pictures of the case.

[MOZ]

Nice, how did the design come out?

You got bolts and nuts to put it together?

[agodinhost]

I don't like the color but it seems awesome!!!
congrats man!

[fahrstuhl]

Nice, how did the design come out?

You got bolts and nuts to put it together?

Everything looks good, the measurements seem correct, too but I'll know for sure when the switches arrive.
I don't have nuts and bolts, yet, I'll pay our local hardware store a visit next week.

I don't like the color but it seems awesome!!!
congrats man!

Hehe, apparently I'm stupid... The green tint was just protective foil >.<
Attached is a picture of the case in its true beauty.

[MOZ]

I liked the turquoise color

[fahrstuhl]

My switches have arrived! While they do fit the plate, they don't "clip" in because the 3mm plate is too thick. The switches need a 1.5mm plate.
Any advice? Getting a thinner plate is rather expensive (~25€ in 1.5mm wood? I don't know if that's strong enough. ~40€ in 1.6mm acrylic, which might be too thick still, although the switches have 0.1mm tolerance according to the specs), so I thought I could drill or mill a small slit 1.5mm from the top of the plate into every keysocket (which would be 126 slits o_o). On the other hand, drilling acrylic according to google seems to be a rather delicate process, I don't know if I'm equipped for that.
They do come out quite easily, so I don't think just leaving it that way is such a good idea.

[jdcarpe]

My switches have arrived! While they do fit the plate, they don't "clip" in because the 3mm plate is too thick. The switches need a 1.5mm plate.
Any advice? Getting a thinner plate is rather expensive (~25€ in 1.5mm wood? I don't know if that's strong enough. ~40€ in 1.6mm acrylic, which might be too thick still, although the switches have 0.1mm tolerance according to the specs), so I thought I could drill or mill a small slit 1.5mm from the top of the plate into every keysocket (which would be 126 slits o_o). On the other hand, drilling acrylic according to google seems to be a rather delicate process, I don't know if I'm equipped for that.
They do come out quite easily, so I don't think just leaving it that way is such a good idea.

If you're not using a PCB, you can always glue them to the plate using hot melt glue. Otherwise, a metal plate is recommended, thickness being 0.060"

[MOZ]

Acrylic is not stiff enough, thus you want something stronger like aluminum or steel.


JD, I had an idea, how about getting the area that the switches latch on to etched, I'm considering getting a small piece with a switch and and a stab cutout and some area around it etched to reduce thickness in that area to 1.5mm. Can you help me identify the exact areas that need to be etched to fit switches, costar stabs and cherry stabs. We might hit gold here

[fahrstuhl]

My switches have arrived! While they do fit the plate, they don't "clip" in because the 3mm plate is too thick. The switches need a 1.5mm plate.
Any advice? Getting a thinner plate is rather expensive (~25€ in 1.5mm wood? I don't know if that's strong enough. ~40€ in 1.6mm acrylic, which might be too thick still, although the switches have 0.1mm tolerance according to the specs), so I thought I could drill or mill a small slit 1.5mm from the top of the plate into every keysocket (which would be 126 slits o_o). On the other hand, drilling acrylic according to google seems to be a rather delicate process, I don't know if I'm equipped for that.
They do come out quite easily, so I don't think just leaving it that way is such a good idea.

If you're not using a PCB, you can always glue them to the plate using hot melt glue. Otherwise, a metal plate is recommended, thickness being 0.060"

That's another idea, although I wont be able to separate them afterwards. Not that I can think of a reason to do that, but still.

[jdcarpe]

Acrylic is not stiff enough, thus you want something stronger like aluminum or steel.


JD, I had an idea, how about getting the area that the switches latch on to etched, I'm considering getting a small piece with a switch and and a stab cutout and some area around it etched to reduce thickness in that area to 1.5mm. Can you help me identify the exact areas that need to be etched to fit switches, costar stabs and cherry stabs. We might hit gold here

I don't know if it's even possible to do that using a laser on acrylic. If you look closely at a GON plate, that's how he reduces the thickness of the 2.0mm aluminum to 1.5mm where the small tabs on the switches latch to the plate. But he is using CNC milling on the aluminum plate.

[MOZ]

Acrylic is not stiff enough, thus you want something stronger like aluminum or steel.


JD, I had an idea, how about getting the area that the switches latch on to etched, I'm considering getting a small piece with a switch and and a stab cutout and some area around it etched to reduce thickness in that area to 1.5mm. Can you help me identify the exact areas that need to be etched to fit switches, costar stabs and cherry stabs. We might hit gold here

I don't know if it's even possible to do that using a laser on acrylic. If you look closely at a GON plate, that's how he reduces the thickness of the 2.0mm aluminum to 1.5mm where the small tabs on the switches latch to the plate. But he is using CNC milling on the aluminum plate.

It is. I just need the positions.

[fahrstuhl]

If you're not using a PCB, you can always glue them to the plate using hot melt glue.

Wow, hot glue did work very well, thanks again for the tip! It's very stable but also peels clean off both the switches and the plate with enough force.
It's not especially pretty but nobody will see that part anyway:


Hey MOZ,
will these stabilizers fit the cutouts on my plate? (Except my plate is still 3mm thick, so I'm just going to hotglue them in, too)

[MOZ]

Yes. They will.

[jdcarpe]

If you're not using a PCB, you can always glue them to the plate using hot melt glue.

Wow, hot glue did work very well, thanks again for the tip! It's very stable but also peels clean off both the switches and the plate with enough force.
It's not especially pretty but nobody will see that part anyway:
(Attachment Link)

Hey MOZ,
will these stabilizers fit the cutouts on my plate? (Except my plate is still 3mm thick, so I'm just going to hotglue them in, too)

Looking great there! Nice work so far.

[tlt]

Looks nice! A clear acrylic case with a clean inside might look good at least for people that like to look inside electronics, you don't have to open it to have a peak.

I wish I had access to a laser cutter, so many things that you can do with it.

[fahrstuhl]

And I'm nearly done!
All that's left to do is replacing the cable with a micro USB socket and trimming some screws. Although I'll probably need a palm rest, too, as it's pretty thick/high (Even though I already took out a layer. Might need to drill a few holes to hide the screwheads…)  There's also not much space left inside even including the missing layer, so I don't know if I'll manage to squeeze in a LiPo battery, a Bluetooth module and a charging circuit :-/

Hand soldering everything was incredibly time consuming, especially because I wired the diodes wrong the first time (In series instead of parallel).

I ripped the keycaps and stabilizers from a used Razr Blackwidow I got on ebay because the layout of my space-bar-row seems to be rather rare and I couldn't find fitting keycaps at a reasonable price. I cut the clips off the stabilizers and hotglued them in because of my 3mm thick plate. I also had to trim them on the inside a little because some keys were scraping against them and often became stuck. The spacebar didn't have a slot for the switch in the right place, so I killed another key and glued its socket in.
(Layout: 1,5u ctrl, 1u winkey, 1,5u alt, 6u space, 1,5 alt gr, 1u winkey, 1u menu, 1,5u ctrl)

MOZ, I couldn't find any rivets that fit the 3mm holes, you might want to widen them to 5mm. The smallest rivets I could find had a circumference of 4.2mm. I used M3 screws in the end.

Attached are some pictures.

Thank you, everybody who has helped me so far, especially MOZ for his awesome open source case!

[esoomenona]

That thing looks great! Congrats on getting it done.

[MOZ]

Looks great. Yeah, I know about the rivets. Problems have been solved. Thanks nonetheless.

[jdcarpe]

Very nice. I love what you have made. Great job!