Building a keyboard from scratch

Building a
keyboard
from
scratch Jesse Vincent
jesse@fsck.com
http://keyboard.io
@obra / @keyboardio
Wednesday, July 24, 13

My boss
stole my
keyboard

WARNING
WARNING
There are no more cat
pictures in this talk

I couldn’t ﬁnd a
keyboard I wanted

I tried

So, you want to
make a keyboard?

Tools you’ll need

Soldering
Iron
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRC2XU
$5+ ($86)

Wire
cutter
$0.99

Tools you’ll want

Wire
cutter
http://www.adafruit.com/products/147
$7

Solder Sucker
$5

Fine-tipped
tweezers
$4

Wire-wrapping
tool
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006C43VJU
$13

Multimeter
http://www.amazon.com/B000EVYGZA/
$20

Hot Glue
Gun
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009XTPAO
$20

Parts you’ll need

Keyswitches

Cherry MX
Keyswitches
http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/switches/key/mx.htm
$0.80/ea

Key Caps
http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/87-key-cherry-mx-keycap-set.html
$37

Don’t make
your own

26-30AWG
Enamel-insulated
magnet wire
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082CUQEI

Rosin-core
Solder
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DEYEAW
$6

Teensy 2.0
Microcontroller
http://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy.html
$16

Arduino
Pro Micro
is also ok
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11098
$20

WARNING
WARNING
There is no more
Arduino in this talk

MiniUSB
cable
$0

Parts you’ll want

$9
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006C4ABR0
26-30AWG
Kynar-insulated
wire-wrapping
wire

Jumper wires
$7

IN4148
Diodes
$12...for 500
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/1N4148-T/1N4148DICT-ND/160623

Parts you’ll make

The case

Design your own!

14mm square holes

3+ mm apart

Top plate:
1.5 mm thick

I designed
my ﬁrst
keyboards in
OmniGrafﬂe

14mm
14mm
3+mm
3+mm

Prototype
with paper

Use lasers
to cut out
the pieces

Use CAD to
model the
weirder
stuff

openscad
module key(x,y,rotation) {
translate([(x*key_spacing),(y*key_spacing),-0.01]) {
rotate(rotation) key_inner();
}
}
module key_inner() {
union() {
translate([0,0,-3.5]) key_support();
cube(size=[keyswitch_x,keyswitch_y,keyswitch_plate_thickness], center=true);
}
}
module key_support() {
difference() {
cube(size=[key_spacing-2,key_spacing-2,6], center=true);
interior_bevels();
}
}

openscadmodule keyColumn(x,y) {
translate([(x*key_spacing),(y*key_spacing),0]) {
key(0,0);
key(1,0);
key(2,0);
key(3,0);
}
}
module hand() {
rotate([0,0,-9]) keyColumn(0.5,-0.05);
rotate([0,0,-13]) keyColumn(0.1,1.4);
rotate([0,0,-15]) keyColumn(-0.2,2.7);
rotate([0,0,-20]) {
keyColumn(-0.2,4);
keyColumn(0,5);
key(2.2,6);
key(3.2,6);
}
translate([165,24,0]) thumbKeys();
}

What didn’t I mention?

Printed
Circuit Board

You do know
how to design
and etch
PCBs right?

Can you teach me?

Putting it together

Try the keys & keycaps

Start Soldering

Flat pin:
Connect Diode
Square pin:
Connect wire

Wire-wrap the keys in each row

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wire_Wrapping.jpg

Solder the
diodes in
columns

Why Diodes?

Key Ghosting

Credit: @pdcawley

then trim
the terminal
wires

Connect
them in
parallel

Connect
the black
ends to
the keys

Don’t
solder the
diodes to
each other

You want the
wire-wrapping
wire

Solder a wire to
each column

Solder a wire to
each row

Connect those wires to
the microcontroller

Firmware

Install avr-gcc
pjrc.com/teensy/gcc.html

Install
Teensy
Loader
pjrc.com/teensy/loader.html

Conﬁgure some
keyboard ﬁrmware

github.com/humblehacker/keyboard

% vi config.kspec

Install your ﬁrmware

Test your keyboard

(This is why
you want a
multimeter)

My experiences

Mark 1 Keyboard

shell from
ergodox.org

Mark 2 Keyboard

Mark 3 Keyboard

Mark 4
Keyboard

Mark 5
Keyboard

Mark 6
Keyboard

Mark 7 Keyboard

Mark 8
Keyboard

Mark 9 Keyboard

What have I learned?

Hardware is not scary

3D printers are almost there

Iterating on hardware
isn’t much harder than
iterating on software

Patching hardware
is a lot harder

Patching hardware
is a lot more satisfying

Keyboards don’t
have to suck

Make one

...or nine

What’s next?

Figuring out a
mousing solution

Learning about
PCB design

Learning about
contract manufacturing

Learning how to make
a Kickstarter video

Questions?

Thanks!
Jesse Vincent
http://keyboard.io
jesse@fsck.com /@obra

Building a keyboard from scratch

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