I was initially excited about my Keychron V6 keyboard, I was looking forward to a thockier keyboard and wanted the customizability with qmk. The V6 seemed like a good match. But after unboxing it, I realized that the south-facing LEDs weren’t ideal. I had just purchased Razer PBT keycaps, which I loved, but they didn’t work at all with the LEDs and the escaping light underneath just blinded me.
I tried to make the setup work with custom keycaps from fkcaps (https://fkcaps.com/custom/5ELZPQ). While they were cool, they weren’t the same as double-shot PBT keys. The setup wasn’t ideal but I just stuck with it.
When I saw a YouTube video about building a keyboard with KiCad, I was inspired to try it myself. I used an ATmega32U, because I thought it would be easier to integrate, but it did have it’s challenges: limited I/O meant I had to sacrifice the layout switch, and my matrix is best described as “tortuous”. Despite a few errors on my PCB (a group of LEDs were not connected and I completely missed the holes for a stabilizer), the final PCB works amazingly well.
I’ve added a few photos below showcasing my setup before PCB assembly. You can see the light issues under the keys and how the laser etching from fkcaps isn’t very durable.
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Wait, how did you have the physical PCB? 3d Printed?
There are a number of relatively inexpensive PCB fabrication services available online, that is if all the YouTube sponsorship ads forced in to every channel I watch are to be believed.
Yes, I got it made at jlcpcb. It’s a big board, so it wasn’t as cheap as a small prototype board. But not unreasonable. A good price per board, but a bit of a waste because I now have 4 more that I will never use.
I now have 4 more that I will never use.
Sounds to me like it’s time to get two more MCUs, some standoffs, and some rubber feet, and make a pair of barebones boards, LOL. JLCPCB is pretty nice. I did an extremely simple custom design that was literally just traces and vias, and got 5 PCBs for under USD30.
That’s a nice board!
Thanks! I’ve tweaked the layout a tiny bit since those pics, but I’ve been using it a lot and it’s worked really well. Current project is to retrofit a little baby solenoid onto one of my fully hand-wired boards with tactile switches. Not exactly true IBM “KERCHUNK-THUNK!” but should add a pointless and fun audio feedback to a board I just don’t use that much otherwise.
But seriously… if there is a switch type you’ve been meaning to try, or some weird QMK ideas, add a plate from Keychron and (maybe?) the hotswap sockets, and you’ve got a perfectly legitimate build style.
There are services like https://jlcpcb.com/ that fab one-off PCB’s surprisingly cheaply.
Super cool! Great job. That’s the one thing that bothers me about their boards. Maybe I’ll give this a shot too
It was a fun process, much recommended. I’ve got an extra 4 pcbs that require a few bodge wires if you’ve got a V6. :D
Any chance you’d release these files? I might wanna try this too. I miss my shine through keys.
Yes, I want to, just haven’t gotten around to put it all together yet. But it’s on my to do list.
Awesome thanks!!! I’ve really wanted to do this and this would help me learn this way more than on my own.
I got a V5 and feel like I got tricked by the “backlit” thing not meaning shinethrough
South facing fits “Cherry profile” keycaps better, as well as old-school caps with shine-through lock indicators. Would be a bummer if you were expecting full shinethrough though.
It’s my first mechanical and I was just hoping to be able to read the keys in the dark
Yeah, the LEDs on my Q6 are the only thing I don’t like about it. I don’t use it in the dark much, but I’ve gotten used to the shine through letters on laptops, so I wish it was the same.
What about the matrix, “Japanese” duplex or something?
