No need to bend the legs, no need to do wire stripping. I did this in 30 minutes casually... I guess the full halve will take around 1 hour
What’s your approach to stripping the enamel from the wire?
this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
41 points (97.7% liked)
ErgoMechKeyboards
5836 readers
1 users here now
Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
Rules
Keep it ergo
Posts must be of/about keyboards that have a clear delineation between the left and right halves of the keyboard, column stagger, or both. This includes one-handed (one half doesn't exist, what clearer delineation is that!?)
i.e. no regular non-split¹ row-stagger and no non-split¹ ortholinear²
¹ split meaning a separation of the halves, whether fixed in place or entirely separate, both are fine.
² ortholinear meaning keys layed out in a grid
No Spam
No excessive posting/"shilling" for commercial purposes. Vendors are permitted to promote their products/services but keep it to a minimum and use the [vendor] flair. Posts that appear to be marketing without being transparent about it will be removed.
No Buy/Sell/Trade
This subreddit is not a marketplace, please post on r/mechmarket or other relevant marketplace.
Some useful links
- EMK wiki
- Split keyboard compare tool
- Compare keycap profiles Looking for another set of keycaps - check this site to compare the different keycap profiles https://www.keycaps.info/
- Keymap database A database with all kinds of keymap layouts - some of them fits ergo keyboards - get inspired https://keymapdb.com/
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
a soldering iron at 360 degree celcius
Minimelf <3
The only case I’ve ever seen where they make sense!
Is that using magnet wire to run the matrix? That small of guage seems like it will potentially break with some shock force (dropping a keyboard from a few centimeters on a wooden desk or something). Or is there a backplate supporting it?
yeah, they are quite delicate. I wanted to use thicker ones but it is hard to get thick magnet wires. I never tried dropping them so idk, I guess making them less tensioned would help a bit
It one does look thin. The smallest I’d go is 28awg.
Good to know, it looks very clean!
The diodes seem to be flying!
Practically, I guess assume you hold the diode to the pin, solder it, bring the wire to the diode and solder it. How do you hold the diode, the iron and the solder at the same time?
My guess is you pre tin the switch pin, get a blob of solder on your iron and have the diode in tweezers at the ready then put it all together. It only needs a small bead of solder (and flux).
yes this is how I did it!
Right! I can see how it would be fast then. “Just” tin all the pins, and when all the pins are tinned have your solder in a fixed position and then move your iron from solder to pin, stick the diode, and repeat. Cool!
The real secret is flux. As usual. Flux will always help.
I soldered on things yesterday doing this, but not tinning the pins first. I fluxed them instead. Then I just picked up solder on the iron tip, used that.
I don't have much experience, so maybe this is too slobby, but for now, things are in place and connected.
wondering if it is faster for you?
Good question!