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| RGB SVT hotswap |
This is the part 3, further improvements to the keyboard. As I was designing the keyboard, the biggest hurdle for consumer is soldering as not everyone have a soldering iron and tools at home.
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| Kailh hotswaps |
With this reason, I decided to move away from a soldering solution to a hotswap solution using Kailh hotswap PCB socket. As I have already design the top PCB plates for holding the switches, I just need to change the footprint to a hotswap only. I also moved the diode to the bottom layer for easier soldering or repairs.
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| Kailh PCB Socket |
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| PCB with Kailh hotswap soldered |
For this version, I will most likely sell them pre-soldered and qmk firmware flashed instead of in a kit form, so the customer can get add switches only without any soldering needed.
Extra RGB LEDs
Another "extra" feature, if you look closely at the end of the WS2812B LED RGB strip, you can actually add more RGB LED and extend it beyond the keyboard.
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| Extend WS2812 RGB |
Just solder a wire to the middle DATA pin and extend the RGB strip outside of the keyboard. Just make sure you supply enough 5V power if the WS2812 RGB strip is very long.
For the firmware side, the following need to be change to reflect the number of RGB LEDs installed.
#define RGBLED_NUM 4
Change this number to the additional number of LED you added to the end of the RGB strip.
Final keyboard picture with Kailh PCB hotswap sockets with top support plates on acrylic enclosure.
Summary Links
- Kailh hotswap PCB socket
- WS2812B LED
- Part 1 https://arduino-for-beginners.blogspot.com/2020/11/building-4x4-mechanical-keyboard-with.html
- Part 2 https://arduino-for-beginners.blogspot.com/2020/12/qmk-flashing-and-coding-svt-rgb-4x4.html
- Part 4 https://arduino-for-beginners.blogspot.com/2021/06/per-key-rgb-for-svt-rgb-dumbpad.html
