241 lines
11 KiB
Org Mode
241 lines
11 KiB
Org Mode
* Preparation and Cost
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Get all the parts / raw material:
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- For the 3D printing there are two options:
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1. Filament, which is the basis for 3D printing. Luckily I could print at my work-place
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which reduced the cost from 210€ to 70€. The kind of filament you need depends on the 3D
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printer you have available.
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2. Buy the printout of adareth's model at shapeways for 210€ over here
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http://www.shapeways.com/designer/adereth/creations
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- Decide on the switches
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- If you are going to invest a whole lot of time and money for a custom keyboard instead of
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buying one for 10€ I'd recommend to use your favorite switch-type. To make a
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well-informed decision I bought a switch-tester for this from massdrop and decided on
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Cherry MX Whites. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/varmilo-switch-tester-with-anodized-case
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- I ordered 70 Cherry MX Whites from here:
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https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=847
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- Decide on the key caps
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- On the glamour-Shot you can see the 1976 keycap set, it used to be sold over here:
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http://pimpmykeyboard.com/sa-1976-keycap-set/ but the link is dead right now. You could
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try this link: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/nineteenseventysix-sa-keycap-set but it is a
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massdrop which is way different from usual online-stores. If you find a site that sells
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these make sure you get the right amount and type of keys according to the layout
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- I got the "TKL Base Set + TKL Modifier" from over here:
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http://pimpmykeyboard.com/dsa-pbt-abs-blank-keycap-sets/ but I'm still two long keys
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short, I will have to order those specifically and I have a bunch of keys I don't use
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left-over.
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- The USB-Cable that connects the keyboard to your computer
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- It's an USB 2.0 to USB Mini-B cable, make sure you get one that is 2 meters long, it
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really makes handling the keyboard so much more comfortable
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- https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00NH11N5A/
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- The main controller (right half)
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- A Teensy 2.0, I got that one from here: https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy.html
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- The chip, connectors and cable to give life to the left half
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- TRRS cable and jacks
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- Got my TRRS cable from here: http://www.digikey.de/product-search/de?keywords=839-1257-ND
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- Got my TRRS jacks from here: http://www.digikey.de/product-search/de?keywords=CP-43514-ND
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- MCP23018 16 bit IO Expander
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- Got mine from here: http://www.digikey.de/product-search/de?keywords=MCP23018-E%2FSP-ND
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What I spend on my keyboard (should give you a rough estimate for your build):
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| item | cost |
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|-----------------------------------+------|
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| filament | 70 |
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| switch-tester | 30 |
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| key-caps | 70 |
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| teensy 2.0 | 30 |
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| switches | 60 |
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| usb cable | 10 |
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| IO Expander, TRRS jacks and cable | 30 |
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|-----------------------------------+------|
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| overall cost | 300 |
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#+TBLFM: @9$2=vsum(@2$2..@8$2)
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My choices / advantages:
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- Using the soldering iron at the uni-workshop for free
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- 76 Diodes for free
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- Soldering wire and copper for free
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- All the resistors used for free (5 resistors are used)
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- Several files for working out the rough edges of the 3D-printout
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Depending on what you have available you might spend more or less money than me, 300€ however
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is a good rough estimate.
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After all the parts have arrived it is safe to move on to the next section.
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* Wiring
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It is assumed that you have printed the casing successfully.
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1) Plug the switches into the Casing, no glue is needed, the casing provides the perfect fit.
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2) Put the keycaps on the switches
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- Note that in the pictures here some of the long keys on the thumb-part are too short,
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that's why it doesnt look symmetrical
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[[file:application-of-switches-and-caps.jpg]]
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Now going further on in the guide there are two options
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1. The first option is to print flexible PCBs. The advantage is that you save alot of wiring
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business, everything looks rather clean and you dont have to worry about your cables being too
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thick such that the casing doesnt close. However if you don't have the means to print out such
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PCBs there is the second option, wiring everything by hand.
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- The guide for this PCB-option is very rough indeed and it doesnt include the firmware
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used. Wiring and firmware play extremely close together, wiring before knowing your
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firmware is like buying a shoe without measuring your feet before. For this option
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information about the exact firmware is not published, this in addition to the fact that
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the pictures in this rough guide are incomplete makes this option extremely
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beginner-unfriendly. Going in blind-sided like this may lead to one of these things:
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1. reprogramming huge parts of the firmware to match your wiring which comes with a ton of
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debugging
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2. rewiring to adapt to what the firmware expects, which may easily double your work here
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- [[Route 1: Dactyl Flexible PCB Rough Guide]]
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2. The second option is to hand-wire everything. For people like me who had never soldered before
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this was great pain and pleasure.
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- Here too firmware and wiring go hand in hand, you pretty much have to have a detailed look
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at the firmware you are using before wiring anything. I provide my modification of the
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"ergodox-firmware" over here: https://github.com/BubblesToTheLimit/ergodox-firmware
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- TODO: Make a successfull pull-request, such that it is available in the official
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ergodox-firmware
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- Some of the steps of this guide may not be described in much detail, but in contrast to
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option one there is a whole lot more of information.
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- [[Route 2: Dactyl Hand-Wiring Guide]]
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** Route 1: Dactyl Flexible PCB Rough Guide
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[[workbench.jpg]]
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For now, take a look at the images and try to figure things out, I know that's not great (it's
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better than nothing!)
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*** Making the PCB
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Get two sheets of 6in square Pyralux™. Use the Toner Transfer method to etch the Pyralux sheets as
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you would a usual PCB
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#+BEGIN_QUOTE
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NOTE: If you only have an Inkjet make photocopies of the print out,
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voilà Toner based copies!
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#+END_QUOTE
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[[http://www.instructables.com/id/Toner-transfer-no-soak-high-quality-double-sided/][Here'sa handy toner transfer guide ...]]
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Print these PCB designs out...
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Left hand:
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[[left-hand-pcb-pyralux.png]]
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Right hand:
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[[right-hand-pcb-pyralux.png]]
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When you're done etching, you'll need to carefully cut the pcb into pieces... See the images
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below.
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*** Applying the PCB to the electronical parts
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The thumb cluster pcb for the left hand:
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[[madness.jpg]]
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Solder the MCP like so:
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[[left-hand-mcp-1.jpg]]
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[[left-hand-mcp-2.jpg]]
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Solder the Teensy 2.0 like so:
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[[teensy-1.jpg]]
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Some interesting pull up 10k resistor business here... (TODO add a small diagram and notes)
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[[teensy-2-fuxor-reziztorrs.jpg]]
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Each hand of the keyboard will wire up like so:
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[[right-hand-pcb-1.jpg]]
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Teensy goes here... note the rows soldered to the teensy via the Pyralux:
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[[right-hand-pcb-with-teensy.jpg]]
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Here the left hand:
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[[hotglue-left-hand.jpg]]
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That's all for now, this guide will improve over time! (TODO!)
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** Route 2: Dactyl Hand-Wiring Guide
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*** Step 1: Creating the rows
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Using the copper wire you solder each row together, notice how the thumb-part gets its own
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row. If you take a close look you can see how I did do a messy job soldering, I had to redo
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some of the parts because they weren't soldered properly. Do this for both sides. Which ones
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of the two available pins of each switch you chose for the row doesnt matter, but for it to
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look clean you should decide for either one of them.
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[[file:wiring_create_rows.jpg]]
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[[file:wiring-create-rows-both-sides.jpg]]
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You might want to go ahead and test each one of the 70 switches with a multimeter.
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[[file:wiring-create-rows-testing.jpg]]
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*** Step 2: Create the columns
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The next step is to create the columns by soldering the diodes. There are two options for
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soldering the diodes, all heading towards the switch or all heading away from the
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switch. These two ways are called "row-driven" or "column-driven" and here again it is
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cruciual for the firmware and the actual wiring to be on the same page.
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[[file:diode-diagram-drive-columns.png]]
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[[file:diode-diagram-drive-rows.png]]
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If you want to try and use the "tmk_keyboard" firmware which seems to be also interesting you
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want to wire the diodes in the according way (check whether the tmk_keyboard firmware expects
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a row-driven or a column-driven setup).
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As you can see in these following pictures I went for the "row-driven" setup (visible by the
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direction of the diodes, the black line being towards the key-switches). This first picture
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doesnt show how the 6 thumb-keys are actually individually connected to the 6 main columns,
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but note the small black line on each diode.
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[[file:wiring-create-columns-left.jpg]]
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This second picture shows how the 6 thumb-keys are actually connected to the 6 main columns.
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[[file:wiring-create-columns-right.jpg]]
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How Thumb-keys are wired again depends on the firmware, the following picture shows the wiring
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of the thumb keys more clearly and also the part in the code that reflects this wiring
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(ergodox-firmware/src/keyboard/dactyl/matrix.h).
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[[file:thumb-key-wiring.jpg]]
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*** Step 3: Put the Teensy and the MCP in place
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This next step is to wire the Teensy 2.0 and the MCP 23018 in place.
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Everything necessary for that really is the following circuit diagram
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[[file:circuit-diagram.png]]
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Things to note here:
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- The columns for the MCP go from 0 to 6, the columns for the Teensy go from 7 to D (counting
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in hexadecimal) which makes great sence, since the MCP is left to the Teensy and we read from
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left to right.
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- When debugging this and using the ergodox-firmware, both sides have to be wired completely
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and actually with the TRRS connected, dont expect the keyboard to work before that. The reason being is how
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the ergodox-firmware stops completely if either the Teensy or the MCP weren't initiated
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properly.
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- The LEDs are handy for debugging, definitely go ahead and connect those. When the keyboard
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starts successfully two of the LEDs light up shortly.
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- From the Teensy over to the MCP go exactly 4 connections. The blue, the red and the two green
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ones. This is done using the TRRS jacks and cable.
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- Yes, the connection from B4 to VCC doesnt seem to make any sense, but the B4 port actually
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gets used directly in the ergodox-firmware, so just connect those connections that make no
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sense on first sight and either dont question it or find out why this is necessary by going
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through the firmware in great detail.
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This is how the trrs jacks are wired:
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[[file:trrs-jack.jpg]]
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After you are done you might have the following result:
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[[file:rows-and-columns-connected-to-chips.jpg]]
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Good luck!
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