Okay, half an hour with the soldering iron, bending diodes along the way, and I have the first row done. I've done things differently from
Matt3o's guide because my design prevents that:
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Note the slender clearance with the shiny layer at the back — the half-height mezzanine layer — which likely means some pin bending or trimming for that half of the keyboard. I'm attaching my diodes nice and flush with the switch housings to give me leeway on that. I'm about as quick with the iron as Matt, so no plastic was harmed in the process.
But the bigger issue is the screw insets, which keep my case nice and tight, with screws mounted between the switches instead of around the outside. I actually did my soldering with one extra layer still in place, as a guide:
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Obviously I'll have to route the matrix around those insets, with insulated wires like the columns use.
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Working on this is quite amusing with all the internal shiny!
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Those joints are all done and continuity test fine. It's definitely a hand made look building up inside this keyboard!
Shall I work on the other rows today or is there an obvious gotcha that I'm overlooking?
).
Were you able to get shorter screws for the bottom? Would love to see how the threading approach turned out.
