What's on your workbench today?

[d3L7r0n]

Not today, but this weekend I built my Neo70.

Build Summary

The spec I went with was the Retro White with a copper weight and a black badge. I went with the solder PCB and CF plate because I’m one of those weirdos that likes how the look and sound. For switches, I tossed in my Tofu linears as they have been sitting unused for long enough, and they also matched the case pretty well.

The Tofus were a Tecsee switch from a colab between Tofutypes and KNC. Long pole and fully nylon, they came (VERY) lightly lubed from the factory on the spring and leaf contacts. I added some 205 to the slide rails and lightly brushed the leftover 205 over the spring. Film is not needed nor is it recommended.

The switches were sold with the warning that they fit very tight into stiffer plates, and I found this to be mostly true. Luckily, the TX switch puller is wide and sturdy enough to grab the switch and push the clips in enough to clear the plate. From there, I just rock the switch puller from side to side and sort of “lever” the switch past the bottom housing plate clips. Once you feel them loosen, it business as usual. I can’t recommend this switch puller enough. TOTALLY worth the price.

Speaking of price, the Neo70 is punching WAY above it’s class for what it costs. Also, the innovative magnetic PCB connections means that once you have your plate built, assembly is a breeze. Not sure which config you want to go with? It comes with silicone gaskets and a 30A o-ring. It also comes with optional foam (which I chose to only use the bottom case foam sheet) and clip-in stabilizers that actually aren’t too bad.

I decided to use my go-to combo of Cherry clip-ins and Cannonkeys’ black wires because just like this board, the price-to-quality ratio can’t be beat. I just buy the 2U’s in bulk and buy the wires in batches from Cannonkeys. They require very little balancing and I rarely find a wire that isn’t exactly at 90 degrees for the bends. A great option for folks that don’t want to mess with bent, curved, or twisted wires fresh out of the box.

The combination of GS2 on the stab housings and sliders and then Nyogel 767a on the wire has been perfect for me. If I do have any scratch or sluggishness, then I will put some GS3 in the stab’s slider and it’s Nice & Smooth

I chose to go o-ring rather than the silicon standoff gaskets. The o-ring option is only available for the main PCB, but not for the secondary PCB that contains the arrow cluster and nav keys. I had an extra 30A o-ring lying around so I cut it to fit the secondary PCB and plate and only used a few of the silicone gaskets to to act as the case rests for the o-ring and it worked out pretty well.

Magnets not only connect the PCBs to the daughterboard, but also the cover for the arrow and nav portion of the board and the badge on the bottom. It was liberating to not have to pull out my screwdriver once during this build, and the magnets feel like they are the perfect strength to keep everything together while also making disassembly a snap.

Finally, after a year and a half, my GMK Nines set has found it’s Forever Home. The colors match PERFECTLY and really complete the theme of this build. The icing on the cake was how perfectly they paired with the switches and the plate to make a board that I have absolutely fallen in live with. QK has done it again with their Neo line, and the fact that you can get it starting at $100 ($130 shipped to US) is absolutely insane.

My PC Envoy is getting a much needed break, as this is going to be my main for quite a while I feel.

[fanf]

Finished this PCB layout and sent it off to JLCPCB for manufacturing.

It’s called keybird42 because it has 84 keys total, is 21 keys wide, and the PCB is 420mm wide. (The PCB actually has positions for 86 switches but the case will cover two of them to make an inverted T arrow cluster.)

The matrix uses every available GPIO pin broken out by the Waveshare RP2040-Tiny. It is triple-folded: 7 groups of 3 keys in each row (7 * 3 = 21), except for the bottom row which has only 7 keys. So, 4 * 3 + 1 = 13 rows and 7 cols makes 20 GPIO pins. (Only 5 unused positions!)

On the back of the board, the 20 rows + cols of the matrix are laid out as 4 horizontal buses of 5 tracks each. Most of the buses have 3 rows and 2 columns, except the bottom one which has 4 rows and 1 column. It’s designed to look pretty when lifted out of the case. The front of the board has all the wiggly vertical traces that will usually be covered up.

There are two MCU footprints. One is for an Waveshare RP2040-Tiny, which I like better than ProMicro clones because it has a USB-C daughterboard. The other is more speculative: it’s for a 0.5mm 40 way FPC connector which I want to try out as a way of offloading the MCU with a smaller connector.

[wjrii]

Looks like you found your symmetrical design! Can’t wait to see what it ends up looking like.

[wjrii]

Case painted, stabs lubed with silicone faucet grease and installed, “Faux-ly Pandas” installed, and first couple of rows soldered up. My local big box had some by-the-foot stranded power cable where the strands are basically 24ga bus wire, so that plus some heat shrink should serve pretty well and allow for slightly more compact hand-wiring.

[fanf]

At the moment I am planning a case with alternating layers of acrylic and POM which has its own kind of symmetry. (I should probably update that diagram so there are separate boxes for the components and the 0.5mm clearance; at the moment it looks a lot tighter than it actually is!)

The top view will have some gentle curves. I need to rework that sketch so it knows about the final PCB outline, decide where the fasteners will go, and make up my mind about the side accent panels.

I was playing with ideas for 3D printing a case with round front and rear edges but I was getting stuck on some of the details. Maybe I’ll get back to that later.

[Neprawda]

Usually it’s always like this. I have a YouTube subscription for hobby keyboards.

And after watching new videos. I want to immediately, even if I don’t have the strength, to make something. Usually it is already known in advance to make something, the problem is to find the energy and time.

Summary

I decided to install new keycaps.
They are PBT, so it’s important to me and I’m more interested in how they will be on tactile switches with an aluminum plate.

These are blue PBT ArmorSuit官方直营店
They are well made fonts. Nice color.
They have many flowers. But they are very cheap. The plastic feels cheap. The roughness is also weak. And I don’t like the sound they have on tactile switches. Wrong sound. Here is 21kb or domikey pbt or other thick pbt 1.8 that I have. They sound very good on tactile switches. The same PBT sound you are waiting for.
And here he is different. It’s not a bad sound, but not what I wanted. I feel good on the rulers.

It was the easiest thing))
Then I sat until 2 am).

Yes, I bought a second board and plate. BUT I completely forgot that I also need foam.

I decided to do it on TX ap v3. New with screws.
And for the test, one more Gateron v2

Keygeek Raspberry Switches

PP plate. Very soft, just soft like cheese. It’s hard to insert switches even with foam. Each one must be manually adjusted to make a latch on the switch.

FBB暂停营业键帽PBT

These keycaps sound and feel almost like Wuque keycaps. I initially thought that spaces and other shift characters could be difficult. Since their casting and shape are not at all the same as usual. They are empty inside.
But everything is fine. Smooth, simple, good pressure. Just a loud high-pitched sound like a pbt from a Wuque.

Summary

*

A tough game for many hours. Under the name why there is an empty sound inside.)

I changed the switches. There were 4mm pig switch.
Installed new STRAWBERRY CAKE LINEAR SWITCH 3.6
Then there were games of why and how and why I need this.

The case out of the box has high resonances.
And also a slightly empty sound in the middle.
I removed the noise insulation from the bottom, yes, but for some reason removing the foam helps)
I made “The force break mod” but with nuances. Usually it is done where the screws are tightened. Here the screws are made in such a way that the mod will not help. You need to glue the mod onto the top cover of the case in 10 places. You can knock like I did in the video to understand where to do it.
And there is also a feature of the design itself. The original Spring from Ovlab has special round dampers that must be placed on the silicone gasket on which the plate is held. To remove the possibility of touching the body of the top cover. But Vika stole the design. They also stole the internal structure. But they don’t even know that these round dampers are there.
You need to make them yourself somehow. I just made thick hard foam rubber in the form of a circle.

But this, as it turned out, is not all.
There is also a feature of the location of the sandwich itself.
It touches inside the case and when pressed it produces a ringing or humming sound.

And there is also a feature if you use another sandwich not from WEIKAV.

This is not a tool that will help you do everything perfectly.
These are purely my observations. Which you can take to do with your wishes)

[fanf]

oops

the 1u RFUN is not supposed to be aligned with the 1.25u RCTRL of course it is too late to cancel the order

the lesson is, i shoulda used the footprints with the keycap outlines

[wjrii]

Oof. 1.25u on the RFUN won’t be too bad, and the gap won’t affect usability at all or looks too much. Tracking down 1.5u shift might be rough, but some particularly large sets might have one.

[fanf]

Trouble is, the shift footprint is no longer centred between the fn and ? so if I use a 1.5u shift there will be a 0.125 gap between ? and shift, and room for a 1u fn and another 0.125 gap. Yuck.

I’m going to tell myself the corrected boards were twice as expensive, which is still not an outrageous price. And I am taking the opportunity to preen the layout of the wiggly lines on the top of the board, and improve the way it fits in the case.

Live and learn!

[_td]

Workbench for tonight is my Mode65 rebuild. Had it desoldered awhile ago and it’s just been sitting here since, waiting to be rebuilt. White case with the silver mirror back and bottom. Not sure which switch yet, but leaning towards finally putting the Tofus I bought to use. Absolutely no idea which keycap set I will be putting on it, but looking forward to having this board back in the rotation again.

[Neprawda]

Collection 2021-2023.
I’m ready for the new year 2024)

[wjrii]

Yeah, going back I see your point. No sense in designing your own layout only to be stuck with something else. Using the 1.25 Fn key would help, but that final .125u gap between slash and the shrunk down shift would be frustrating.

Might I suggest a switch from thoughtful designs to making garbage boards from hardware store parts and hot glue?

[Deadeye]

Time for a themed build!

I’ve been meaning to assemble a keyboard to use with the consoles in the living room for a while now, and today’s the day.

Build specs:

• CIY GAS67 wired kit
• Included screw-in stabs w/ balancing washers
• Gateron Baby Kangaroo switches
• PolyCaps Code doubleshot PBT keycaps
• MMi artisan “The Original Gaming Console” (OG Xbox)

For a couch keeb, I think the GAS67 is a great option: it’s light and far from precious while still being a pleasure to use.

I’d been using OEM profile pudding caps with this board since it’s got the North-facing RGB, but these long-pole Baby Kangaroo switches bypass any potential interference with shorter profiles - so these PolyCaps fit and perform just fine. My only minor gripe is with the space bar, which for some reason, wants to stick when mounted ʎlʇɔǝɹɹoɔ, but works perfectly as-pictured.

Yes, it glows green as soon as you plug it in.

---

Edit; obligatory:

[pixelpusher]

Finally got a chance to build my Mercury65 today. My group buy board came in November, but he forgot to include a plate. So after waiting a long time, I finally received one in late December. It was an ISO plate.

Sooo, I sent him that one back and just got the ANSI plate today. It came in a large bubble envelope. Yeah. Pretty wicked bent up. But hey, I ain’t a quitter. Got it bent back into shape and built up

Cherry purples with SA recall.

[Rob27shred]

@pixelpusher

Pretty wicked bent up. But hey, I ain’t a quitter. Got it bent back into shape and built up

Where there is a will there is a way! How’s the MX purples? I bought in to the 2nd batch so I’m still waiting on mine.

[pixelpusher]

I like em. My only comparison is an older “pre retool” Mx clear with stock springs. But these sound pretty decent stock in this gasket board. I like the spring weight as well. I never really cared for ergo clears which is why I kept the stock springs in my clears. I really like the funky, heavy stock clears. It’s what makes them so unique.

But these feel nice to me. Probably a bit heavier than some would like, but much more in line with other tactile switches on the market.

I will probably go with something GMK on this board eventually, but I wanted to try out SA Recall. Got it for an incredible price on BFCM sale. I was going to use it on my stainless steel HMKB75 but the alphas are actually kinda light purple. Looked funky. These need to go on white, polycarb, or black. I think black might look best.

[Rob27shred]

Recall does pop on the white! I was tempted by Recall but ended up grabbing Dark Skies & Zooted from NK’s sale. The prices were bonkers on a bunch of sets during that!

[Deadeye]

@pixelpusher

Man, you really have a talent for pairing disparate bits in a way that makes them look meant for each-other.

[pixelpusher]

Disparate? You don’t think the pinto cruising wagon is an obvious choice for a space travel keyboard?

[wjrii]

See that? Pretty clean matrix there (ignore the MCU… my thin gauge solid core has comically thick insulation). Unfortunately, I used too much heat on some very thin heat shrink. Had shorts everywhere because the tubing melted where the columns crossed the rows.

Had to completely redo the columns with a second layer of bulkier heat shrink to fit over the loops and solder, and I’ve still got a few gremlins to hunt down (two or three repeated key presses that migrate up the matrix if I disconnect a switch). It’s enough to make a fella want to take up PCB design.

Edit: Some of the gremlins worked themselves out on their own. By the morning, after resoldering, just a couple of bum keys. One short, and one cold joint that came loose (as opposed to all the other cold joints that are holding, LOL). This one is basically done.