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j6n43

Background

This document will outline the process I went through in building my very own pcb keyboard from scratch. Naturally, after designing a hand-wired keyboard, I wanted to jump into designing keyboard pcbs. During the handwiring process I was closely following many of Joe Scotto's resources, however, I was itching to make this keyboard and he hadn't released any resources in terms of pcb design yet. I decided to just jump in and try to learn things myself.

Parts & Cost

Part Cost (CAD)
RPi Pico 12.95
Diodes 14.68
Soldering Kit
Switches (KTT Kang V3) 25.87
Kaihl Hotswap Sockets 17.29
Keycaps
jlcpcb order (x5) 38.07
Total Cost (WIP) 56.11

Worklog

Update 2023/07/19
Made a new layout, inspired by existing Alice layout, keeping the small form factor of a 40% keyboard.

Update 2023/07/20
Working on designing schematic in KiCad. Added a custom logo screen to pcb.


https://res.cloudinary.com/drwjkxxud/image/upload/v1721610632/unnamed_kpsktc.png
https://res.cloudinary.com/drwjkxxud/image/upload/v1721610632/unnamed_kpsktc.png

Finished pcb design

Update 2023/07/23
Placed my pcb order with jlcpcb

Media