qHack Development

[Muirium]

How about contacts elsewhere on the PCB, so we can optionally hook them up to microswitches for ourselves? Meanwhile keeping Poker case compatability. Having to mount switches on the same PCB reduces options even for those who want them. A bit of flexibility goes a long way with button ergonomics.

I've got to admit that the mouse side of qHack is a secondary feature to me. And I don't think I'm alone!

[7bit]

Well, mounting them at the underside at about the same sport as on the Miniguru would be possible!


I'm quite sure the keyboard would not come up too high, at least not compared to the keyboard I'm typing right now (Model M 122 keys).


The question is how to access those buttons?

[tlt]

Maybe it's possible to put the buttons in the small spaces to the left and right and have a mechanical arm (I don't know the term) transferring the motion sideways.

[Muirium]

I just mean leave the wiring up to us. Give the buttons some contacts somewhere convenient on the PCB (near the front I presume) and then we can solder wires to them and hook them up in our cases where we choose. All with the benefit of a smaller PCB.

What are you doing for the scrollwheel? A few contacts for that would be good too. (I know nothing about them. I'm guessing you need 3 contacts, for one wheel free to move in both directions.) Don't worry about the implementation details, those are for the users!

[7bit]

There are 2 contacts, that is all. I don't know how to integrate a scroll-wheel into the PCB. Which one?

Should we ever agree upon a specific model, we can design a plate for it.

[Muirium]

Plates are for old men. Let's make PCBs!

[7bit]

Maybe I should continue to construct larger PCBs and .leave this behind until everything has been sttled.


However, I've hoped to get this to life before GH60 ships ...

[tlt]

Don't worry GH60 wont be ready in a while everything is done in serial by different people far away from each other to make the lead times as long as possible. It's like one of those really big hard candies that lasts forever.

[chzel]

It's like one of those really big hard candies that lasts forever.

Ahh..you mean like Round 5?

[7bit]

The difference is:
They could start shipping to people who did not order stabs or ditch them (what are stabilisers good for )

In Round 5, there is almost no complete kit, so shipping part of the orders ahead would not make sense.

[tlt]

Never send a human to do a machine’s job. GH60 is run by humans Round 5 by 7bot

[matt3o]

what is this Round 5 you are all talking about? I thought it was urban legend.

[tlt]

Yes it's just the kind of stuff people make up to scare children.

[7bit]

If you want the switches at the underside (just to make the keyboard a little bit smaller ), I can do it.


But it requires some mechanics underneath the keyboard to access them!

[7bit]

Latest (final) version:

qHACK_PCB_2015-02-14_front.png (1.46 MiB) Viewed 5710 times

qHACK_PCB_2015-02-14_back.png (633.94 KiB) Viewed 5710 times

[Halvar]

WOW, that's a flexible layout.

I have a question, sorry if this has been explained before: how do the LED circuits work? Seems like the square feet of the LEDs are connected to ground, the round feet of the LEDs are connected to the round feet of the resistors, but the square feet of the resistors look like they're connected to nothing? Is there a third layer or how does this work?

[7bit]

You need to wire them to an LED controller, because the Teensy can't handle so many LEDs and LED support was not the main development goal.


LED-support on the PCB is for the 2 top corner keys and the usual Caps Lock position.

[Halvar]

Ah, I see. That should be entirely possible for the 0.02 people that actually want illumination LED support...

[flabbergast]

I couldn't decipher the following from the thread: what are the options for the space bar on the final PCB? In the original webwit's design the space for the two keys was 6u, so how can I split that?

[gogusrl]

what are the news on this ? I'd love to try that layout.

[scottc]

Hey 7bit, what's the news about plates for these?

[KRKS]

I tried to make a mock-up in KLE of the possible layouts, but then I got to the bottom row and decided "**** this I'm out"

And it's not the spacebars, I can make some sense out of those, I'm talking about the keys beside it. Is that really a 1.75u right Alt?(not that I would mind because it's useful to me, but still wtf)

[scottc]

My PCB can fit this:
1.25 1.25 1.25 2.75 0.5 2.75 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25
Ctrl Win Alt Spc WHL BSpc Alt Win Menu Ctrl

Where WHL is the mouse wheel.

[gogusrl]

I still want a pcb.

[idollar]

A question from a lazy guy that do not want to reverse-engineer the board that has received at home ....

Can someone tell me the reason for all these resistors and which resistor shall I use with it ?

[jacobolus]

The resistors are for LEDs. Pick the resistor based on which type of LED you’re using and how bright you want it.

[idollar]

The resistors are for LEDs. Pick the resistor based on which type of LED you’re using and how bright you want it.

Thanks.

Does this also means that the diodes are actually LEDs, and the leds in the matrix are inside the switches ?

[jacobolus]

In your picture, there are places for diodes as part of the switch matrix, labeled "D4" (you want 1N4148 diodes for these; some PCBs have a place to put surface mount diodes, but this one looks like through hole only), as well as places for LEDs which should fit through the diode holes in a Cherry MX switch, below the "S4" labels.

[flabbergast]

Just to recall what what mentioned a few posts above: yes there are holes for LEDs and resistors, but they are not connected to anything on one end; meaning that if you do want to actually use the LEDs somehow, you'd need to wire actual wires from one end of every resistor (namely the square pad) to somewhere.

[idollar]

Understood: I shall use solder diodes in "D" and forget about the rest (I will not set LEDs)

Thanks a lot !