Rubber Dome Gateway 7000985 ALPS Plate mod

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abrahamstechnology

12 Feb 2020, 02:42

I made an ALPS plate for the Gateway 7000985 rubber dome keyboard. This keyboard has a flat removable barrelplate so the internals can be modified with ease. I will work on a PCB next.
Image

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ZedTheMan

13 Feb 2020, 06:08

Huh. What's that plate made of?

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abrahamstechnology

13 Feb 2020, 13:39

FR-4 I got made with JLCPCB, I made the plate dxf file with swills and imported it into EasyEDA to make a PCB that shape.
There were two holes I drilled manually and I actually got them pretty accurate. I will drill more for standoffs to attach to the top case as this will be a top-mount board.

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abrahamstechnology

13 Feb 2020, 15:11

The multimedia controls will be functional too, I will be gluing microswitches in place under the buttons. then wiring them to the microcontroller.

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swampangel

13 Feb 2020, 15:45

abrahamstechnology wrote:
13 Feb 2020, 15:11
The multimedia controls will be functional too, I will be gluing microswitches in place under the buttons. then wiring them to the microcontroller.
I was wondering about that. Is that why you picked this case?

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abrahamstechnology

13 Feb 2020, 16:34

I was looking through Goodwill when I found this, the switching mechanism was pretty awful and mushy KeyTronic rubber domes, however I noticed the barrelplate was a separate piece and wasn't curved like some rubber dome boards with separate barrelplates, so I figured it would be fairly easy to make a mechanical interior. These boards are fairly common on Ebay as well, plus there aren't many Alps boards around with media keys so this would be fairly unique.

The only thing a bit weird about this board is the profile of the case, probably similar to that of an AEKII with an insanely tall f-key row. The original keycaps had longer stems to compensate, so I'll probably 3D print stem adapters or something.

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