Have done a good amount this past week – Finally received the 2mm pitch ribbon cables so decided to test the boards……
…Aaand, something wasn’t correct – lots of keys jumbled up.
So, had to spend an hour or two diagnosing!…and to do that I knocked up a quick spreadsheet to cross reference. I had a similar problem with my C64 Mini, so suspected it was simple ‘swapped pins’ – But was worried as to how I goofed it up….
| TESTED | SHOULD BE | ACTUALLY IS | |||
| KEYB | NEXT | ROW | COL | ROW | COL |
| INV | |||||
| TRUE | |||||
| 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 8 | 4 | 3 | |||
| 9 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| DEL | DEL | ||||
| GRPH | |||||
| Q | T | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| W | R | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| E | 2 | 3 | |||
| R | W | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| T | Q | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Y | P | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| U | O | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| I | 5 | 3 | |||
| O | U | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| P | Y | 5 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| ENT | H | 7 | 1 | 7 | 5 |
| EXT | |||||
| EDIT | “ | ||||
| A | G | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| S | F | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| D | 3 | 3 | |||
| F | S | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| G | A | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| H | 7 | 5 | |||
| J | L | 7 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| K | 7 | 3 | |||
| L | J | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| Z | C | 6 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| X | 6 | 3 | |||
| C | Z | 6 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| B | SPACE | 6 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| N | 8 | 4 | |||
| M | 8 | 3 | |||
| CAPS | V | 6 | 1 | ||
| SYMB | NEXT | ||||
| ; | , | 5 | 6 | ||
| “ | . | 5 | 7 | ||
| LEFT | LEFT | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| RIGHT | RIGHT | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| SPC | B | 8 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| DOWN | DOWN | 8 | 7 | ||
| UP | MENU |
Turns out that one of the schematics I’d used had Columns 4 & 2 swapped. AND Columns 1&5…
Which should have been obvious from just testing keys 1-5 (as they’re on the same columns as numbered!)….at least i’ll know when testing other keyboards!
Easy fix – i’ll just cut the ribbon cables for the prototypes, and correct the schematics.
anyways, onto the pics!
Silky smooth, straight off the printer!
Many prototypes later - this one had too many supports….
Needs some tweaks to the cleaning methodology!
The keyboard in black above looks a little ‘yucky’ – I’m not too worried about that as I fixed the sticky residue / inconsistent cleaning issue long ago with the C64Mini, no need to spend ages (and lots of IPA) at this prototype stage. I’m more worried about the subtle difference / decrease in legibility of the lettering from right to left, I’m hoping it’s a simple bed levelling ‘thing’, or I may be approaching the limits of what this printer can do.
I use Lychee Slicer to slice the keycaps – BUT, there’s no real easy way of iterating designs like this, would be nice if there were a ‘grid’ command to add supports, or a ‘copy / paste’ command if you’ve tens of identical keys.
Lychee supports! – soooo many supports that take soooo much time!
After iteration 4 of printing, I had a brainwave! – why not just add supports directly in the CAD
Supports directly in CAD
Soooo many supports! – BUT, copy/paste dozens of times….
The result………an almost perfect support removal!
Nearly perfect supports removal!
There’s been significant tweaking to the keycaps and a quite significant breakthrough that really makes manufacturing these keyboards easier, and, ironically, totally fixes the problem I had with the Amiga wonky keys.
I know i’m slow on the A500 Mini and C64 Mini keyboards…BUT as always, if you’re struggling to crack a problem, the best way is to step back for a bit. I can fix so much more stuff on the other keyboard designs now!
Will update more on the design process another time, too busy tweaking!
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