New SMD Model F controllers available

ntv242ver2

27 Nov 2020, 12:04

Hi everyone!!

Just want to take this opportunity to thank a lot of DT members in here who has helped me tremendously.
I have an F XT with a dead brain, so i was looking around for a way to do a brain transpant for it. Thanks heaven that i stumbled across this thread and have met wonderful people here.

Thank you drakcruix for sending me the new controller
Thank you KM for holding my hand on cutting the old pcb and soldering in the new wires
And special thank to andrei for pretty much holding my hand soldering in the new controller and working his magic to make this controller works with F XT

Needless to say, this thank you post is composed entirely on the revived F Xt of mine!!!!

Image

I do a pretty whack job of organizing the wires and everything, but the keyboard works now that all it matters at the moment, i will look into fixing the length of the wires later and fit everything in a case properly.

Once again, thank you all very much.

User avatar
matt3o
-[°_°]-

27 Nov 2020, 12:31

before ordering a new PCB, do darkcruix or pandrew have one spare I could buy?

pandrew

28 Nov 2020, 17:30

@matt3o I have a few, but I wasn't really planning on selling them. Talk to DT discord user Jacobalbertus1#5416 aka !A_Mallard, he's selling them. But he's in the US. darkcruix is in Europe, and I don't know if he has any left to spare, but best to message him directly, and ask.

rhaberkorn

16 Feb 2021, 00:02

ntv242ver2 wrote:
27 Nov 2020, 12:04
I do a pretty whack job of organizing the wires and everything, but the keyboard works now that all it matters at the moment, i will look into fixing the length of the wires later and fit everything in a case properly.
Unfortunately, my XT is not with me right now. But I'll also have to fix or replace my controller.
I don't quite understand, why it is necessary to completely cut off the original PCB/controller. Isn't it possible to cut the traces from the matrix lines to the rest of the PCB with a scalpel?
And even if this is not possible, I could still desolder the original PCB's ICs. With a custom TH-xwhatit, I might solder the replacement board via pin headers onto the old PCB - or use male-female pin headers to build a removable board. Or maybe I'm missing something.

pandrew

16 Feb 2021, 08:39

You are correct, it's not necessary to cut the PCB. You could just cut the traces on the PCB or you could just de-solder all parts that connect to the columns / rows. Both of these imply that you trace out all connections to rows and columns and you are 100% sure that you have disconnected all of them from any original component.

I can't comment on how easy it will be to find space for such a combination in the case of the XT.

About using pin headers, the pins are not really arranged in a very regular fashion. So you'd have to make a custom version of one of the xwhatsit-like boards, that would have the same arrangement of pins. Also keep in mind, I don't know the diameter of those holes, there's a very good chance that those via holes to which we are soldering wires today, will not be able to take a pin header, and then you will have to drill a bigger hole, but you can't just drill through the existing hole, because you'll destroy the existing via, and soldering is gonna be a nightmare. You would have to solve that problem somehow if you want to use pinheaders.

rhaberkorn

16 Feb 2021, 11:33

pandrew wrote:
16 Feb 2021, 08:39
About using pin headers, the pins are not really arranged in a very regular fashion. So you'd have to make a custom version of one of the xwhatsit-like boards, that would have the same arrangement of pins. Also keep in mind, I don't know the diameter of those holes, there's a very good chance that those via holes to which we are soldering wires today, will not be able to take a pin header, and then you will have to drill a bigger hole, but you can't just drill through the existing hole, because you'll destroy the existing via, and soldering is gonna be a nightmare. You would have to solve that problem somehow if you want to use pinheaders.
The ICs mounted to the original PCB look fairly standard 2.54mm-spaced, so it should definitely be possible to solder pin headers to them once they are removed. I will check once I'm reunited with my board.
Regarding the connections to xwhatsit: Of course, that would be non-standard. But I'm not going to do any SMD soldering and I'm not going to pay huge sums for some prebuilt controller PCB which does not seem to be sold anyway. And I could just as well solder the TH-xwhatsit components to a prototyping PCB along with some pin headers in the exact required spacing.
It's not going to be a trivial mod, so I will first make absolutely sure that I cannot save the original controller.
Mine is not completely dead but sometimes - when you least expect it - spits out random characters. So quite possibly, swapping out the capacitors will already help.

Btw. perhaps somebody knows exactly which capacitors are used on the original XT PCB (the newer variant of the two). That could save me some time. Unfortunately, the kbdbabel schematics aren't very precise. This kind of information (and schematics) would also be appreciated for the Model F Technical Reference which is a bit sparse on the XT-side of things. This question is popping up again and again. For the XT, there is an increased interest in fixing the original controller since it will never be as "easy" as for the other model Fs to install an xwhatsit.

If I have to build a custom TH-xwhatsit, I will of course inform you about the results and try to document it as best as possible. If I successfully manage to swap out the capacitors, I will also share this information.

HughF

03 Mar 2021, 11:39

Hi everyone, I have started work on a F122 restoration (I found it in my pile of computer stuff, along with 5 more Model M's) and I wondered if anyone in the UK or Europe has a completed PCB available? Not a problem if not, I will get some made, but I thought I would ask first. Hugh

HughF

12 Mar 2021, 09:59

No-one? Cool... I will order some. I'll post up on here when they are available, happy to ship the ones I don't need within europe.

User avatar
Muirium
µ

12 Mar 2021, 10:23

Think I've got an Xwhatsit controller spare.

HughF

31 Mar 2021, 17:35

Muirium wrote:
12 Mar 2021, 10:23
Think I've got an Xwhatsit controller spare.
How much?

User avatar
Redmaus
Gotta start somewhere

31 Mar 2021, 17:37

I have some in US, but if international shipping is a nono then I'd go with Muirium

HughF

31 Mar 2021, 17:50

Redmaus wrote:
31 Mar 2021, 17:37
I have some in US, but if international shipping is a nono then I'd go with Muirium
International shipping is no issue for me, we're outside of Europe now so it's the same wherever it comes from. Could you give me a price for a PCB shipped to postal code DT2 8BF?

HughF

13 Apr 2021, 17:24

I've ordered a run of 5 assembled PCBs from JLC. If anyone needs any, just let me know, I will probably have 3 spare.

User avatar
darkcruix

20 Jun 2021, 19:19

I am in the process of restoring a Bigfoot (which is similar to the F XT).
While I am working on cleaning it up, I am planning to modify it with the xwhatsit.
It is a permanent and half-destructive modification and I wanted to let them out of the manual initially. I now realize that there aren't many other options when either your initial controller is dead, or if you have a Bigfoot with 15 pin connector (I know, you can make it work, but I just love QMK too much).
Spoiler:
Hopefully the traces are the same on the Bigfoot as on the XT ...
IMG_1555.jpeg
IMG_1555.jpeg (168.29 KiB) Viewed 6017 times

What I wanted to say is ... I will add a section to the hardware manual for those modifications, but would need someone to verify it in the end for the XT.

Thoughts on having a "point of no return" description in it? I will mention that it is only advised when the original controller is not working anymore.

User avatar
mmm

01 Jul 2022, 23:11

I'm typing this on my F122 using the controller you have provided the design for. They didn't have the resistor for R9,R10,R11,R12,R13,R14,R15,R16 in stock. I opted to go for the one with 0.25w (TyoHM RMC1206100K1%N) instead of 1w, and it's working so far - also with running a 9v solenoid, though I haven't tried for extended periods.

Out of curiosity, how come there are no R6/R7/R8 resistors currently though the pads are there? Is this an artifact from a previous iteration?

Thanks for providing this design!

On a side note, the stock monitor pages are currently down.
pandrew wrote:
30 Sep 2020, 12:34
Stock monitor pages:
[*] "Standard" SMD Model F controller: http://purdea.ro/mon/bom.php?bid=1
[*] "Kishaver-class" SMD Model F controller: http://purdea.ro/mon/bom.php?bid=2

pandrew

08 Aug 2022, 06:10

mmm wrote:
01 Jul 2022, 23:11
I'm typing this on my F122 using the controller you have provided the design for. They didn't have the resistor for R9,R10,R11,R12,R13,R14,R15,R16 in stock. I opted to go for the one with 0.25w (TyoHM RMC1206100K1%N) instead of 1w, and it's working so far - also with running a 9v solenoid, though I haven't tried for extended periods.
Nice! Btw, I have fixed the bom about a week ago, so anyone wants to order, can do so without jumping though hoops of replacing components. (assuming they haven't already gone out of stock, let's hope not :) )
mmm wrote:
01 Jul 2022, 23:11
Out of curiosity, how come there are no R6/R7/R8 resistors currently though the pads are there? Is this an artifact from a previous iteration?
The idea was to potentially use these for versioning, and automated detection for future board versions, but not sure if gonna use it like that. For now they don't matter.
mmm wrote:
01 Jul 2022, 23:11
On a side note, the stock monitor pages are currently down.
Not gonna have time to fix these for now, sorry.

Ellipse

31 Aug 2022, 00:04

As an update I have ordered 20 of the pandrew 3178/122/AT/Unsaver controllers (version 1 from the OP) plus the same number of USB C 5V pro micros - please PM me if you need any. They are now in stock.

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