[COMPLETED] Laser Cut Prototyping mini-GB

mtl

28 Sep 2013, 18:52

matt3o wrote:If the layer you need to drill is aluminum, despair not! You can drill it like butter. So I wouldn't consider that a big mistake at all!

Keep us posted with the progress of you great project.

PS: remember to insulate the base!
Ok. I will try to drill it then. :) Good point about the base. The fasteners will provide a small air gap but I'll find an insulator to put in there just in case.

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Muirium
µ

28 Sep 2013, 20:53

Good idea and a good looking project MTL. I have access to a pillar drill that could do the job you need in a few seconds, but I'm up here in Scotland…

Modding those switches will be particularly interesting. Pics when you do!

Zifle

28 Sep 2013, 21:40

I have some pictures up here: http://imgur.com/a/8J3Ej

I got the base threaded, and everything fits together nicely! Now it's just a matter of putting it together ...

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Muirium
µ

28 Sep 2013, 21:50

Nice photography!
Image
Some caps on top of that, and I reckon it's site banner worthy. Our custom boards are due a spot up there in fact.

Now to clean up all this mess and get to work on mine!

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matt3o
-[°_°]-

29 Sep 2013, 08:46

Zifle wrote:I have some pictures up here: http://imgur.com/a/8J3Ej

I got the base threaded, and everything fits together nicely! Now it's just a matter of putting it together ...
really a great job Zifle! I didn't think it was possible to thread and line up all holes. Congrats!

It came up incredibly well.

mtl

30 Sep 2013, 02:25

Some updates.. I cleaned the grey goop off the top aluminum plate. It all came off but I managed to add some scratches to the surface in the process. What the hell.. it gives the keyboard more character. :P

Cutting the switches around the trackpoint took some time and care but thankfully it all fit together in the end. The B key needs the trackpoint for support now. I think it will hold up.
cut-switches.jpeg
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Here's a picture of the top with the switches in place. I should probably explain the color scheme in a separate post because there's some craziness going on there. All switches were stickered and lubed. This will be my first kbd with stickers, so I haven't a clue if they make any sort of difference.
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Here's the view from below. After I get some more screws in the mail I will begin wiring up the matrix. :-D
before-wiring.jpeg
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Here are the 3 lock keys. There will be 3 in-key LEDs and 3 not-in-key LEDs which will show through the holes in the top plate. I hope to make it configurable as to which LEDs light up, depending on if I have key caps with windows on (e.g., the commando set when that arrives :) )
led-legs.jpeg
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The LEDs are 2x5x5 mm RGB. They fit in the switches with a little dremeling and a little bending of the legs:
bent-led.jpeg
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matt3o
-[°_°]-

30 Sep 2013, 08:31

great progress, mtl!

I'm particularly interested in the RGB LED part, do you have enough pins on the teensy to handle the matrix + all the RGB LEDs? or do you use another controller?

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Muirium
µ

30 Sep 2013, 09:34

That's a Teensy++ under the space bar, if I'm not mistaken!

A lot more actual hacking and elbow grease going into this one than I dare to try for myself. Those RGB LEDs are indeed a fine addition. What Dremmellng was necessary to fit them in, MTL, along with the pin coercion?

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matt3o
-[°_°]-

30 Sep 2013, 13:05

Muirium wrote:That's a Teensy++ under the space bar, if I'm not mistaken!
with 3 contacts per LED it's easy to fall short in pins :)

mtl

30 Sep 2013, 13:51

Ah, good question! I'm going to try to use one of these. A couple LEDs can be driven by the Teensy but I think 4 of them must be driven via the extra controller (since yes, even the Teensy ++ hasn't enough I/O pins), which is addressable over the i2c bus.

Image

I will take some better pics of the modified MX switches to show the dremeling. BTW, if anyone is interested in trying some of these LEDs, I had to order 100 so there are plenty of extras.

matt3o, what do you call that blue plastic you used on Brown Fox? Is it adhesive? I tried searching for it but don't know what to call it.

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matt3o
-[°_°]-

30 Sep 2013, 14:06

mtl wrote:matt3o, what do you call that blue plastic you used on Brown Fox? Is it adhesive? I tried searching for it but don't know what to call it.
I believe it's simple adhesive vinyl film, they sell it in rolls usually, they are often used in home decor too. Before using it I verified that it was not conducting electricity with a multimeter.

mtl

30 Sep 2013, 15:36

Great. Thank you.

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Muirium
µ

30 Sep 2013, 15:38

Cherry (almost) compatible RGB LEDs? Consider me interested!

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Muirium
µ

30 Sep 2013, 17:05

Finally got back to my desk again. Let's look inside this custom keyboard construction kit Matt3o sent me…
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Carefully packaged. The components are labelled too:
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Um, okay.

The first thing I did was pop two of the included bolts through the whole stack to give it a feel. And add my mx greens, and some caps…
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I've a few replacements ordered from 7bit (more row 1 caps, including Escape, and more 1.25 mods) and neither shift nor return is perfect in the currently available SA anyway. But it's close enough…
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Shiny!

I'd really better get this thing together for real. It's an awesome, heavy, tight little keyboard. Just how I like them!

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matt3o
-[°_°]-

30 Sep 2013, 17:24

what a wonderful piece, Muirium! I think that low profile DSA caps will look even better on the Shiny Fox :P

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Muirium
µ

30 Sep 2013, 17:30

Perhaps they will. I'll enjoy trying both once the DSA Dolch set arrives. They will have the advantage of a perfectly sized return and shift.

MX greens feel good with this board. They soften the hard steel beneath. I think I'll try some o-rings too, if you'll order some up along with the stabs.

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matt3o
-[°_°]-

30 Sep 2013, 17:37

Muirium wrote:I think I'll try some o-rings too, if you'll order some up along with the stabs.
I'm certainly going to get some.

I'd like to test the greens on the steel plate. Hope we will meet when I'll come to Scotland :)

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Muirium
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30 Sep 2013, 18:23

Sure thing. I might even have figured out how to make the whole thing RGB LED backlit by then! I know how much you love backlights! (Not.)

mtl

01 Oct 2013, 01:07

Wow! Looks great! :D

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Muirium
µ

01 Oct 2013, 11:39

Those fancy caps hide a multitude of sins. I've a lot of work to do.

Zifle

03 Oct 2013, 00:30

That shiny plate looks awesome oO!

I've added a couple of pictures to my album, I've finished soldering up the board itself (and it works!), and just need to get the usb plug soldered on the end, and it's complete!

http://imgur.com/a/8J3Ej#8jRfmWc

mtl

03 Oct 2013, 02:03

Excellent progress, Zifle! How did you thread the bottom layer? That looks like the way to go. :-)
Muirium wrote:What Dremmellng was necessary to fit them in, MTL, along with the pin coercion?
I filed away the red area, which makes for more than enough room. I'll try to get some closer pics of the switch with LED in it.
switch-top.png
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Edit: To reduce the amount of spam I've been posting I have shamelessly copied Zifle and posted pics to imgur. There are some new ones up there. I got the brass inserts in the mail finally and screwed some of the layers together:
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bottom-corner.jpeg
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Also I've begun wiring the matrix. It is painstaking work and I've been going really slow (one row of diodes per night):
top-rows.jpeg
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matt3o
-[°_°]-

03 Oct 2013, 08:43

Zifle wrote:I've added a couple of pictures to my album, I've finished soldering up the board itself (and it works!), and just need to get the usb plug soldered on the end, and it's complete!

http://imgur.com/a/8J3Ej#8jRfmWc
Zifle, you did are a really great job. Congrats! It looks very professionally done. IMHO you just have to file the laser cutting left over on the sides (there's a little dent on the front I think).
mtl wrote:Edit: To reduce the amount of spam I've been posting I have shamelessly copied Zifle and posted pics to imgur. There are some new ones up there.
You guys are good :) I'm happy "my" cuts ended up in such skillful hands!

When all boards are done it would be nice to make a showcase/gallery of all of them.

Zifle

03 Oct 2013, 14:59

mtl wrote:Excellent progress, Zifle! How did you thread the bottom layer? That looks like the way to go. :-)
Thanks, the threading was done manually, by my dad (while I was watching :twisted: ), like so: Image

It definitely wasn't the easiest task, as Matt3o also warned me about prior to getting the plate cut. It did end up working, however, and I'm very happy with the result.

For the record, my keyboard ended up at 1360g! With a little skill, I should be able to murder someone with it...


I can't wait to see how your project turns out, mtl, I've been interested in a small keyboard with trackpoint and mouse buttons, ever since I saw the [ulr=http://www.guru-board.com/]Mini-guru[/url], so it's awesome to see someone take it all the way!

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Broadmonkey
Fancy Rank

03 Oct 2013, 17:01

Your builds are looking really good, Zifle and mtl.

Zifle, was your sides steel or alu? did you tap all the way through all the plates?

Zifle

03 Oct 2013, 19:04

Broadmonkey wrote:Your builds are looking really good, Zifle and mtl.

Zifle, was your sides steel or alu? did you tap all the way through all the plates?
Thanks! No, just the bottom plate. And yes, the whole case is steel.

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Muirium
µ

04 Oct 2013, 00:09

Some awling later and I have my case all bolted up nice and tight, without its earlier flexing. The alignment is actually pretty super and Matt's ambitious stepped + hidden screw design seems to be flawless! The whole thing's shiny from every angle. Quite distracting while working on it! Sweet.

My Teensies haven't arrived yet, so the hard stuff is all to come. I'll leave the case all bolted up in the meantime to train it to its true shape.

Matteo sent me two Mini USB sockets. One is a bare bones little thing like these:
Image
And the other is a rather handsome one of these:
Image
I like the big one — more shiny! — but I might just stick to the small one, which almost fits the lasered notch already. The big one needs a wider notch and quite a bit of expansion to area around the hole. Depends how the filing goes.

mtl

04 Oct 2013, 04:24

I like that big shiny one. :-D Was looking into one of those as well, but gave up on trying to design the hole for it. Good luck with the filing!

I've updated the imgur photo stream with some new pics. Some of the components were mounted to the bottom layer, including the USB port, and there are close ups of the modified LED switches.

I am procrastinating on the matrix wiring. :roll: Matt3o, did you melt the column wires to expose the solder points? Or is there a better way to strip those areas?

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matt3o
-[°_°]-

04 Oct 2013, 08:48

Muirium wrote:I like the big one — more shiny! — but I might just stick to the small one, which almost fits the lasered notch already. The big one needs a wider notch and quite a bit of expansion to area around the hole. Depends how the filing goes.
Don't give up! The small one is just the "panic" backup solution.
mtl wrote:I am procrastinating on the matrix wiring. :roll: Matt3o, did you melt the column wires to expose the solder points? Or is there a better way to strip those areas?
the best way I could find is with a sharp cutter (a scalpel actually). But I use pretty thick wires. If the plastic is thin I guess you can simply melt it. The alternative is to use 4-5 short wires per column, but it's a longer process imho.

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Muirium
µ

04 Oct 2013, 11:56

A panic backup? I like your thinking. With enough work, I should be able to get the big shiny one in place. Besides, my various Teensy projects always have uses for spare sockets of either size.

Nice galleries, guys. Zifle's got a nice clean steel board all hooked up and ready to go while I'm twiddling my thumbs, waiting on Teensies. I like the slimline outer edge and tight corner screws. And MTL's definitely ahead on the creative lighting side, making me wonder what colours those RGBs are going to shine when in use. I'd certainly like to delve into you of your excess stock from the original 100!

By the way, you guys aren't soldering up your matrices with the keyboard's weight resting on the switches, are you? Matt warned me against that, especially with clicky MX like my greens. The heat can mess up their mechanism pretty quick, when the slider is close.

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