I was initially excited about my Keychron V6 keyboard, I was looking forward to a thockier keyboard and wanted the customizability with qmk. The V6 seemed like a good match. But after unboxing it, I realized that the south-facing LEDs weren’t ideal. I had just purchased Razer PBT keycaps, which I loved, but they didn’t work at all with the LEDs and the escaping light underneath just blinded me.

I tried to make the setup work with custom keycaps from fkcaps (https://fkcaps.com/custom/5ELZPQ). While they were cool, they weren’t the same as double-shot PBT keys. The setup wasn’t ideal but I just stuck with it.

When I saw a YouTube video about building a keyboard with KiCad, I was inspired to try it myself. I used an ATmega32U, because I thought it would be easier to integrate, but it did have it’s challenges: limited I/O meant I had to sacrifice the layout switch, and my matrix is best described as “tortuous”. Despite a few errors on my PCB (a group of LEDs were not connected and I completely missed the holes for a stabilizer), the final PCB works amazingly well.

I’ve added a few photos below showcasing my setup before PCB assembly. You can see the light issues under the keys and how the laser etching from fkcaps isn’t very durable.

before the pcb swap

fkcaps key detail

after transplant—

  • Reven@lemmy.worldOP
    4·
    11 hours ago

    Yes, I got it made at jlcpcb. It’s a big board, so it wasn’t as cheap as a small prototype board. But not unreasonable. A good price per board, but a bit of a waste because I now have 4 more that I will never use.

    • wjrii@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 hours ago

      I now have 4 more that I will never use.

      Sounds to me like it’s time to get two more MCUs, some standoffs, and some rubber feet, and make a pair of barebones boards, LOL. JLCPCB is pretty nice. I did an extremely simple custom design that was literally just traces and vias, and got 5 PCBs for under USD30.

        • wjrii@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          4 hours ago

          Thanks! I’ve tweaked the layout a tiny bit since those pics, but I’ve been using it a lot and it’s worked really well. Current project is to retrofit a little baby solenoid onto one of my fully hand-wired boards with tactile switches. Not exactly true IBM “KERCHUNK-THUNK!” but should add a pointless and fun audio feedback to a board I just don’t use that much otherwise.

          But seriously… if there is a switch type you’ve been meaning to try, or some weird QMK ideas, add a plate from Keychron and (maybe?) the hotswap sockets, and you’ve got a perfectly legitimate build style.