Peripherals Mechanical Keyboards

Double posting time!
Question to all you master modders!:
I've put my sprit board toghether! All the LEDs work perfectly, and they keys all worked perfectly until I changed the angle of some of the switches to make the stabilizers (Cherry) work properly. Now when I press some keys it starts spamming keys e.g.,
when I press W: wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2wsx2w etc etc...

and i: i]k

any ideas what the issue might be? I've tried re flashing the firmware and I'm guessing it's now a PCB short I just have no idea which part of the board to start looking for it on!

Thanks, Fuus

 

You shouldn't have to change the angle of the switches to make the stabs work, I've never done a spirit, but I can't imagine that being the case because that doesn't make sense!

have you checked all your solder points? if your in a metal case are you shorting against the case? Check your switch solders are not shorting to smd pads close by for example.

This morning the postman woke me up with my hhkb blanks, so I gave my hhkb a facelift



I'm also playing keyboards today:

 

I know I shouldn't have started fiddling, alas if I hadn't done it the mod keys would've stayed stuck down... Yeah I only did the firmware on the off chance.

I've done a visual check and I can't see anything obvious, it's not in a case yet either so I'm safe there maybe I'm blind...

EDIT: At least the LEDs work

 

Nice looking board so far Fuus! What caps are going on it?

 

Got a blank set of Ivan's dark PBT ordered! Until they arrive it may well be my shoddy stock filco caps or my light set of PBT.

 

Nice board Fuus, ergo clears?
High Five on Ivan's dark PBT!

You know how I feel about this one.
Shoot me a PM with your new address btw, I will send you a small present soon.

Jolonnar (A.k.a. Noko's leatherworks) informed me that she will be able to start on a custom designed wrist rest, matching the Orion.

 

Just clears at the moment! Agreed, Ivan's PBT is awesome stuff.

 

Is that a diode polarity thing?

 

Well I've check all the diodes with the multi meter they're all as should be in both directions. Rather frustrating!

 

Mass Buy: Tex-yoda Any one in on this? Pretty cool 60% in alu case with control nipple build in. Just have to solder each key yourself.

 

Its been a while since I gave keyboard a lot of though. The question that has been itching me is: Is it possible to silence a Mech key completely? Both the down (easy) and the return? Thinking about it I guess the best switches would be ones that actuate in the middle and due to wanting as quite as possible I guess Browns would be the way to go. What do the KB Gurus say?

 

Diodes would make nothing happen - they only let current through in one direction, if your diode is the wrong way round then pressing a switch will do nothing.

Fuus - are you absolutely sure you have got some stabs on upside down or something? I find it really odd that you've had to mount the switches funny to make the stabs work properly. That's not a common thing - I've not had to do that on any of the boards I have built .

I really like the tex yoda, I just can't afford one!

 

fuus - it strikes me as a likely short - as mentioned above, it may well be a blob of solder (even a small one) that is making contact where it shouldn't. Time to deploy that magnifying glass!

 

Me too ;(

 

The stabs are absolutely fine actually, first time around as I was soldering the switches I pressed them all in quite hard so as to get a flush fit with the plate. When I did this with the stabilized keys they were often wonky as the plate only supported them on the top side so they 'sunk' at the bottom, I fixed it by simply heating up the legs and adjusting as needed. That make sense?

How difficult is it to damage traces on the top layer of the keyboard? Do you need to hold your iron on them for many seconds?

Yeah, I think you're probably right Jinq, I'll get a magnifying glass out and desolder the switches I moved again this weekend to check I cleaned up properly under them!

Fingers crossed it will eventually spring into life

Thanks for the help guys!

 

ahhh I get what you mean, there is no plate bit at the front to hold the switch I thought, you had done something strange with the stabs

Hmm, its quite hard to damage traces just with the heat of the iron, scratching motions over the pcb with the iron (from like slipping or whatever) can take out the traces though.

Take the switches off that are causing the problem off, then when they are still off check your key registers on the computer to make sure you've isolated/got rid of the problem by taking them off, then you definitely know its something to do with those switches/solder points for the switches.

 

The normal behaviour for damaged traces is keys not working at all though isn't it? It's got to be a short I reckon.

 

This man speaks the truth.

 

Can't wait to collect my Ducky from the Post Office today! (I got it sent straight to my local one, as I wouldn't be home when it'd arrive and this means I get it earlier! ) Time to say i've finally joined the club..