It looks great! How much were the total costs? I'm considering building something similar
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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ErgoMechKeyboards
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Ergonomic, split and other weird keyboards
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I'm in Australia so this will be in AUD with Australian shipping.
I got the PCB's from JLPCB for $23.85
The keycaps diodes microcrontroller switches etc came to $50.17 total. I just used the ones linked in the github, as well as probably knockoff holy pandas and a knockoff soya milk set? They were both super cheap hahah.
So that's $73.22 AUD total, so a bit less than $50 USD!
https://github.com/tompi/cheapino
I've done some soldering in the past but never built a keyboard or anything like this. I was quite nervous but it was quite easy! Hardest part was making sure the switches were straight, but following the build guides tips I managed to do that pretty well (better on the right half then the left half I tried first hahaha.) Highly recommend this keyboard and project.
Really happy with the end result, I plan on building a Charybdis nano or Flow36 in the future to replace my trackball mouse but this is a great first step.
Wow, that's way less expensive then I thought! Seems like a fun project as well!
Thank you so much for all the info. This project is really compelling to me, so I might end up building something similar :)
Yeah crazy cheap, if you’re in Australia I’ve got 3 spare pcbs (JLPCB has a minimum order of 5) I’d be happy to send them to you with my spare rotary encoder and diodes
Thank you for the offer, that's very very kind of you! I'll have to pass though, as I live on the opposite side of the world. But I can give you a suggestion: If they are collecting dust anyway, you could use them yourself for a cool little macropad and bind whatever you want to them. Could be a nice gift for friends/family as well :)
WOW! This one came out so pretty! Cheapino has to be one my favourite design in past months or even years. I love that keeb.
I love this lil’ thing.
The simplicity of it is absolutely fantastic.
Looks amazing and I am just checking who else in our local Munich group wants to build it. It's on my list. Thx for sharing.
Looks great. Nice color choice.
Now I built one... Trying to figure out qmk now, first time...
Yeah it was my first time with QMK as well. You can try emailing the creator they are really nice.
You need to you need to use git to clone his branch of QMK then follow GMKs instructions to make the build enviroment. Once you have that setup run the make command. Then to flash the firmware you hold down the boot button while plugging in the keyboard. Just drag the uf2 file into the microcontrollers drive that shows up.
Ok, that already helps - I know uf2 files and now to get them over from kmk. But need to work on making it create that u2f file :-)
Let me know if you run into any more issues. Also make post we all want to see new builds :)
Gorgeous awesome work. Bookmarked that for later for sure.