• Keyboard 3.0

    Stefan Köhler • 01/30/2021 at 16:47 • 0 comments

    ...sometimes I got distracted... ;-) 

    In this case I was very intrigued by the keyboard design from garak (Bernd). He posted some pictures in Manoels project and I started the redesign in Fusion. After I was already in the middle he was so kind to share his construction files and additional tips for the build. Thx a lot Bernd!!  

    So I started the build and today I saw the keyboard working for the first time.. It took some time since (payed) work kicked in... 

    Here are some impressions:

    And finally:

    (Due to my  (non existing) solder skills its not stable yet and I‘m still searching for loose contacts  (Wackelkontakte)

    Next step will be the matrix perfboard for the keyboard and fitting the new unit in the DSKY.

  • Keyboard 2.0

    Stefan Köhler • 12/31/2020 at 09:51 • 0 comments

    Exact for the end of the year the keyboard is now functional and is connected with the Raspi. 

    It was a learning journey about serial connection and a looong bugfixing with the physical keyboard. Turns out that my soldering skills need improvement (actually non existent ;-) ) , the understanding of the pins on the arduino micro needed some research. On the way ‚ I have built a new keyboard, messed it up (cols and rows), only to use to first version in the end.

    During the „frustration time“ I worked on key cap prototypes:

    VERB: Font Gorton, original key cap with simple inlay, acryl colour - clear visible frame, letters not separated enough, colour is sinking in

    NOUN: Font Open Gorton, shorter key cap with overlapping inlay, acryl colour - colour is sinking in

    KEYREL: Font Open Gorton, original key cap with printed letter inlay (white) filled with black sugro - not bad, but not enough contrast

    „9“ : Font Open Gorton, original key cap with simple inlay, filled with white sugro - a little bit on the „bold“ side but if I solve this in Fusion360 this could be the solution for „non-backlight“ keyboards.

    Next step: connect the display with the Raspi 

  • Keyboard v1.0 and v1.1

    Stefan Köhler • 12/25/2020 at 11:03 • 0 comments

    Merry X-Mas y‘all!

    For the first time the front of the DSKY is closed. I‘ve finished Keyboard v1.0. Althrough I‘m not completely happy it‘s a step ;-) 

    ...some sanding needed but I‘m pretty sure that it will not be the last version...

    First attempt was to create an „inlay“ for the keycaps provided by Manoel. For this I used the the font Gorton, converted the text  in Inkscape in a path and included it as *.svg than in Fusion360. Than filled the text in the inlay with acyl colour.

    Since this left me with a clearly visible frame from the keycap, I designed my own (the top section 1mm shorter) and used the space for an inlay which is covering the complete surface, also this time I used the font OpenGorton which I think better match the original:

    Comparision betreen the designs

    Shortcomings: The fonts for the ciphers are too big. The acyl colour is sinking in. I‘ve ordered some sugro to give it a try.

    Since I (...and I saw Manoel found it also ;-) ) stumbled over a video in youtube from Patrick Rigney I‘m very intrigued by his keycap design since it would also allow backlighting. Maybe I‘ll try to go that way...

  • First entry after a while in the project. What happend so far:

    Stefan Köhler • 12/16/2020 at 11:48 • 0 comments

    I found Manoel daSilvas project and I was asking myself if I could rebuild it as a complete newbee. (and I mean it: everything is new to me!) 

    So I started with the programming part. Tried to make the the virtualAGC work on an raspi.. OK, no success so far, but I got some experiences in coding in VisiualStudiocode. Then I tried my luck with dsky_keyboard_arduino and dsky_display (2 messages while compiling) . Still no success but I‘m learning and will get there. First litte step forward: I was able to put the layout on the NextionDisplay... Now we‘re talking :-)

    Meanwhile my 3D printer (Ender5) has arrived and I started to print the parts.

    Soldered the keyboard matrix

    Finished 3D parts except for the Backhousing

    Assembled the HW with heatsink brass threads

    Since the gaps between the housing and the display- und the indicator case came out quite big in my printing I have re-designed them from the scratch. Fusion360 (for the first time) : This lets me appreciate Manoels efforts to create all the files from the drawings even more. Now they are not original any more but they fit neatly. 

    Designed and printed a stand for the DSKY

    WIP : Soldering the perfboards for the indicators

    WIP : combining the raspi with the arduinos (with testcode)

    ...also I‘m thinking of ways to design keycaps.. I know I‘m not the first one ;-)