Phantom Custom Keyboard Group Buy (CLOSED)

[bpiphany]

To do things the absolute proper way you should have some support while bending the leads. Inbetween the bend and the component body, not to introduce fractures to the package. You should also cut legs prior to soldering, not to apply any forces to the solder joint while cutting. But this ain't aerospace equipment we are producing. If anything fails the fix isn't further than a screwdriver away.

Different cutting bevels http://www.lindstromtools.com/tools_cut ... n_edge.htm It may only be in my imagination a flusher cut would apply less forces to the joint =P

[gimpster]

Can't you just re-liquefy the solder after trimming and achieve the same thing? Trimming before soldering makes thing a much bigger pain to me.

[bpiphany]

Trim afterwards, it doesn't really matter... Re-melting the solder isn't good either, supposedly =)

[gimpster]

LOL with all these restrictions on how you *should* assemble electronics, it's amazing we can even make a phonecall, much less put a remote-controlled robot on MARS.

Although, on that front, I recall there being a couple of high-profile cases where video cards that went flaky would be "fixed" by throwing them in an oven at a high enough setting to re-flow the solder. I'm sure that's not good practice for the rest of the stuff on the board but I've seen many happy gamers touting its success.

[bpiphany]

I would guess the re-flowing under some BGAs or something wasn't done properly in those cases. Apparently that is a problem from time to time. Not too surprising I guess. They are usually pretty big and should take some time to heat up. And they are kinda hard to inspect for bad solder joints =P If there are no components mounted later on they should all be able to handle a re-flow of the solder, since they were intended for that in the first place. Though some components may suck up some moisture and need to be dried out properly first if I got things correct.

[litster]

the diode legs are soft enough that as long as you bend them close enough, when you push the diode through, the legs will straighten themselves once they are all the way in an touching the PCB. you don't have to bend them individually at exactly 90 degrees. I then bend the legs outward on the other side of the PCB so it stay in place.

[Swede]

Although, on that front, I recall there being a couple of high-profile cases where video cards that went flaky would be "fixed" by throwing them in an oven at a high enough setting to re-flow the solder. I'm sure that's not good practice for the rest of the stuff on the board but I've seen many happy gamers touting its success.

It's not just throwing the stuff in there, you need to clean that thing quite thoroughly, disassemble, and make sure no moisture is on the card.
I've done it a few times with bricked cards. Works sometimes, and sometimes not.

When you have nothing to lose, why not test it

As for the diodes, I just bent the wires and stuck them in the holes, soldered and then cut the wire.
Main problem for me was that the diodes where not fully flush with the PCB, and one diode touched the plate..

Resoldered the really bad ones and problem fixed. No need to be perfect with this, the keyboard is for my own use and if it breaks, I know what to do.

[Half-Saint]

Can I use normal PCB Cherry stabilizers for the Phantom?

[Half-Saint]

the diode legs are soft enough that as long as you bend them close enough, when you push the diode through, the legs will straighten themselves once they are all the way in an touching the PCB. you don't have to bend them individually at exactly 90 degrees. I then bend the legs outward on the other side of the PCB so it stay in place.

Yes but if you don't bend them close enough, they end up bucking and you have a mess

[gimpster]

Can I use normal PCB Cherry stabilizers for the Phantom?

No, there are no holes drilled for PCB-mount stabilizers.

[Half-Saint]

OK there goes my plan...

[litster]

Just made a quick video of how I install my diodes on to a PCB.

[Half-Saint]

OK so will these stabilizers do?

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/ ... rts-1.html

[gimpster]

Yup, those are Costar stabilizers. The plate was made to be compatible with those as well as plate-mount Cherry stabilizers. It's just the PCB that can't support PCB-mount Cherry stabilizers.

EDIT: if you want Cherry stabilizers, you can get the 2x stabilizers and wires from Mouser here:

Mounts: http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDet ... 0-G99-0224
Wires: https://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDe ... -0014-0645

But the MOQ on their spacebar stabilizers are far too high, so you'd need to source that wire from another keyboard or just use a Costar stabilizer for that.

[Half-Saint]

So why exactly is the PCB full of holes? It's like swiss cheese

[gimpster]

LOL I can't answer that one.

[bpiphany]

So why exactly is the PCB full of holes? It's like swiss cheese :)

It was to make sure the switches would open up. I didn't know if you'd need to get in there with something pointy to un-latch them.

[Vierax]

So why exactly is the PCB full of holes? It's like swiss cheese

It's for keeping your mouse near the keyboard

(yes I just get over the step of registration for this)

[agor]

Purchased Multimeter, Diodes, LEDs, Resistors, Stabilizers.
Lets hope it all works in the end

[damorgue]

What resistors did you guys get? Mine were too large and I had to bend the leads to curve back since the resistor was longer than the distance between the holes.

[gimpster]

What resistors did you guys get? Mine were too large and I had to bend the leads to curve back since the resistor was longer than the distance between the holes.

That seems to be common. I've had lots of projects like that.

[HzFaq]

Mine's 95% done now, just need to mod the case a little, glue the female end of the USB cable in place and sort out the alignment on the LEDs. This has been a really fun project, I'm looking forward to getting to work on adding layers to the firmware and adding some personal touches (I'm thinking of modding the plate so I can use an ANSI left shift but I'm probably going to leave it as stock and enjoy it as it is for a while).

I'm also noticing a real difference between plate and PCB mounted clears; they feel much more tactile and heavy when PCB mounted. They're still by far my favourite switch though.

Spoiler:

Thanks again to all who organized this project.

[Half-Saint]

Is it normal that PHANSI space switch is pushed all the way to the right?

Which side did you solder the resistors? Switch-side or underside of the PCB?

Can someone show how to mount costar stabilizers?

Thanks

[HzFaq]

I'm pretty sure my resistors went the same side as the diodes; not out of any kind of convention, just that I was in "the zone" of bending legs and poking things through holes and they just happened to go it that way. Also note that the resistors are longer then the gap left for them so some creative leg-bending is required.

As for the costar stabs, there was a really good post on GH that I followed. Basically, push them as far as you can by hand and then finish them off with a push from a screwdriver. FWIW all of mine clicked once they were seated properly so listen out for that.

Not sure what you mean in your first question though, could you post some pictures maybe?

[Half-Saint]

What I mean is that the hole for the switch is much bigger (wider) than the switch itself.

I'm asking about the costar stabilizers because I don't have them here yet and just by looking at the image, it's not at all logical how those two parts fit together.

The white 'things' look like normal Cherry G81-3000 stabilizers which you can pull out of the keys...

temp.jpg (41.02 KiB) Viewed 5210 times

[HzFaq]

The black bits clip into the plate and are connected by a bent bit of wire. The white inserts go into the cap and are hooked on to the bent bit of wire. It will all make sense when you have them in hand.

Like this?

Spoiler:

I guess it's to allow for different spacebar's to be used (some have odd stem spacings).

[Half-Saint]

OK but am I right about the white inserts being the same as in G81-3xxx boards?

[HzFaq]

No idea, I don't own any G81's, sorry.

[The_Ed]

No.

[Half-Saint]

No.

The ones that I have look the same as above except they're symmetrical while the insert above (upper right) is not.. I'm talking about the part where the wire goes.