The TKL RGB keyboard: doable?

[Drest]

I am in the initial phases of designing a fully addressable RGB TKL keyboard.

Ok, more like "I am in deep water trying to understand if it is possible and which components to use"

Atm the only thing that seems set are the switches, cherry MX rgb, mainly cos they have clear top and milky bottom, they are somewhat cheap and easily available. Anche the diodes, but i mean, those are pretty easy to find.
The leds are more complicated. From my understanding, the WS2812 doesn't fit with the switch (even cutting part of it, i think the space is around 3mm and this led is 5x5, so i'd have to have a hole on the PCB and have those mounted under it. Would that work?
Another issue i'm trying to clear is driving and powering up those. Can i do a fully 88 TKL iso keyboard AND drive the leds with the same teensy 3.2? Do i need to get a 3.5 and the OctoWS2811 (this last one might be mandatory...maybe?).
On the power consumption, iirc they are rated for max 60mA each, meaning more than 5A of current total at max brightness. Does this mean i'll have to have an external power source for them? I don't think USB can give more than 2A, so i either drop the full matrix or change led - correct?
Any suggestions on this?

Forgive me if i ask dumb questions, i must admit i am a bit over my head with this project - but i WANT to make it.

[devoi]

Rather than using WS daisy-chained LEDs, I recommend using some of the chips from ISSI - specifically, the 31FL37XX series (http://www.issi.com/US/product-analog-fxled-driver.shtml). These use i2c, and I believe it's the same that zeal and wilba use. Since these don't all have to be on at once (using flickering), you won't need some external power source. Also, keep in mind that cherry isn't your only option when it comes to SMD LED switches. If you wanted to use those WS LEDs, I don't believe power would be an issue if you connected over USB-C, but I'm not too sure about that.

[TalkingTree]

IBNobody used SK6812 LEDs for his project.

[Drest]

Thank you both! i'll take a look!

edit: oh wow, talkingtree, you just gave me basically everything ' _ '

[TalkingTree]

oh wow, talkingtree, you just gave me basically everything ' _ '

IBNobody did, not me. He posted that in a thread that I can't find anymore. Know that you need an external power source to light up your LEDs.

[Drest]

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=86243.msg2315401

That's the topic i think you were talking about. This is amazing, i'll just have to tinker around a bit to make it ISO and it's ready!

[TalkingTree]

Precisely, good find.
ISO conversion shouldn't be hard, just remember to rotate the enter key 90° to allow the usage of Costar stabilizers and, if you need them, predispose the mounting holes for the cherry PCB-mounted stabilizers.