C64 Mini Keyboard – A little progress

Received my first bag of bits for the keyboard – The non locking switches.

So, here’s the almost final keyboard PCB

 

I’ll probably do it in black and have a good play with the silkscreen

As it was, I needn’t have waited for these to arrive before getting the PCB made.

The pinout wasn’t quite what I’d expected –

The switch is a DPST switch

Double Pole, Single Throw…

I don’t know if the true pin numbers are as per my drawing above –

But, by luck rather than any skill, My DIY component in EasyEDA looked like this

 

My Component had pins 1 and 2 as the switch – the footprint has

• Pin 1 – bottom left
• Pin 2 – bottom middle

Buzzing through with the multimeter shows that the switch is

• Pins 1 and 2 – Normally Open (short out when you push)
• Pins 5 and 6 – Normally Open (short out when you push)
• Pins 3 and 4 – No connection

As a bonus, the switches are as stable as hoped – the square ‘guide’ really reduces wobble – should make for a nicer feel to the keyboard.

I’ll pull the trigger in a couple of days to getting the boards manufactured, I’ll be using JLCPCB as they really are superbly priced and now it’s all ‘final’ I fancy having a go at some artsy silkscreen and maybe work on that ‘Bleugh’ branding…………

Also looking at setting up an etsy or tindie store….doubt there’s the volume, but this along with my spectrum Next Blinkenlights should keep me busy at night 😛