this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards

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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards

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[PCB Review Request] A choc-spaced 56 key wireless build (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by dnl to c/ergomechkeyboards
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Hey everyone!

I jumped into the ergomech rabbit hole sometime last year and after using a sofle as my daily driver since then, I now decided it's time to build my own "thing". After going through endless revisions to figure out what I actually want, and trying to learn how to trace PCBs, this is what I have come up with: A choc-spaced 56 keys wireless build with a scrollwheel and some staggering.

It's a reversible PCB. To make this work with single pin hole for both sides, I used jumpers for pins that can not be set in software (VCC, GND, RST). For rows/columns, I plan to do a different mapping in software to not have a jumper for every single pin.

All files including the kicad_pcb and ergogen config are available and open source at github: https://github.com/dnlbauer/splitkeyboard .

However, this is the first thing I ever designed. Therefore, I was hoping if you guys could have a look at the PCB before I get it etched and point out if there are any obvious errors?

Of course, I am also happy about any feedback in general. :)

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[–] Skree 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'll give things a look over. First thought, you ground poured, but didn't link any of it together with vias. That would be helpful in ensuring good ground return paths.

[–] Skree 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah just some vias for return to ground; everything looks reasonably fine from a quick overview. You have space, and cross talk really isn't a concern, but more padding between signal traces could be helpful in some of the closer areas. Though all of that is minimal in concern.

[–] dnl 2 points 1 year ago

I just kept the default value (I think its 0.2mm) between traces. I could probably double it at some points where multiple traces are bundled though. Thanks for the hint!

[–] dnl 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

thanks for the imput. Do you mean I should just place some random vias to connect both sides of the ground plane? To be honest, I dont understand exactly what this ground plane is used for since none of the traces actually connect to it. Is it merely for shielding against signal noise?

[–] Skree 2 points 1 year ago

I'm no electrical engineer. But I was informed that having the return to ground close to all data connections is a good thing from a EMI and signaling perspective. I often put ground vias near all my rows and column pads.

[–] iZRBQEcWVXNdnPtTV 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you in the Absolem Discord? They can probably help you confirm everything looking right.

[–] dnl 1 points 1 year ago

good idea!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Interesting design. Wish I could produce something that works for me.

I'm not a designer or engineer.

Only error I noticed is the "." at the end of your url

https://github.com/dnlbauer/splitkeyboard.<- leads to 404.

[–] dnl 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

fixed the domain. thanks for pointing that out!

If you are interested in the design process, I can highly recommend the tutorial series by FlatFootFox here. It was a great resource for me to get started. https://flatfootfox.com/ergogen-introduction/

[–] tubbytwins 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hi, this looks interesting to me. I will happily take a look at this for you. Do you have the KiCad schematic file as well (with file extension ".kicad_sch")?

[–] dnl 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey, unfortunately erdogen, which I used to generate the starting point for the pcb does not generate a schematic file. It only generates the PCB and ratsnest for the footprints. So I dont have one. I think I could create one though. Mind telling me what this is used for and why one should have one?

[–] tubbytwins 1 points 1 year ago

It's mostly useful for reference. If I open up both the PCB file and the schematic file, clicking on one element of the PCB will highlight the same item in the schematic, so I can double-check connections.

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