\section{Oiling Case}
Be sure to get all the wood dust off the pieces before you go on. Open
-up the wax/oil mixture. Dip your brush in and start spreading it over
+up the wax/oil mixture. Apply some to the brush and start spreading it over
one side of each case piece. The color of the wood will darken as it
absorbs the oil. Try to ensure it's spread evenly. Be more generous
with the oil on the outer exposed surfaces.
Once one side of each piece is finished, you'll need to lay them out
for a half hour or so to let them dry. Once one side is dry, repeat
-the process on the other side. After you've finished all the soldering
+the process on the other side. After you've finished the construction
you can come back and add another few coats to the outermost surfaces
for a smoother texture. Once it's dried for a while, wipe the excess
off. While you're waiting, you can start soldering the diodes and
If you've never soldered before, there are plenty of good
introductions online.\footnote{This one from Adafruit is great:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-soldering/tools}
-Coat the tip of the iron thinly with some solder before you start. The
-key is to use the iron to heat the joint for a second or two, then
-bring in a dab of the solder and let it melt and stick to the
-component and the circuit board pad.
+Coat the tip of the hot iron thinly with some solder before you
+start. The key is to use the iron to heat both parts of the joint for
+a second or two, then bring in a dab of the solder and let it melt and
+stick to the component and the circuit board pad.
\vspace{1em}
Take five diodes at a time and bend them into a U shape. Place them
into the diode holes next to each switch slot on the reverse side of
the board. Each diode has a black band on it; the band should be
-pointing to the bottom of the circuit board, toward the arrow on the
-board. Bend the legs of the diodes outwards to hold them in place,
-then flip the board over and solder them in place.
+pointing to the bottom of the circuit board, toward each diode's arrow
+on the printed side of the board. Once all five are in, bend the legs
+of the diodes outwards to hold them in place, then flip the board over
+and solder them in place.
\vspace{1em}
\noindent\makebox[\textwidth]{%
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{diodes.jpg}}
\vspace{1em}
-Once they're soldered, trim the diode legs with wire
-cutters. (This step should be done with protective eye covering.) Keep
-the diode legs; they will be needed in the next step.
+Once they're soldered, trim the diode legs with wire cutters. Hold
+onto the diode leg as you trim it to keep it from flying across
+the room. Keep the diode legs; they will be needed in the next
+step. Repeat until each diode position is filled.
\section{Controller}
\vspace{1em}
+If the controller came in a pink bag with its own header pins, you may
+be tempted to use them to connect the controller to the circuit
+board. Don't do this--they are too big and will prevent the case from
+closing when you're done.
+
+\vspace{1em}
+
Take six trimmed diode legs and stick them into the top six pins on
the right-hand side of the controller by melting the pre-filled
solder. Solder one into the pin labeled ``GND'' as well. Put one in
the controller. The solder should fill the hole completely without
spilling over to adjacent holes, and the legs should be secure. Also
check that all the diodes are facing the correct direction with the
-black band on the bottom side. Once the switches are in place, the
-controller will be pinned between the switch plate and the circuit
-board, making it difficult to make further changes to the controller.
+black band pointing to the bottom of the board. Once the switches are
+in place, the controller will be pinned between the switch plate and
+the circuit board, making it difficult to make further changes to the
+controller.
\section{Switches}
-\noindent\makebox[\textwidth]{%
- \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{switch-corners.jpg}}
-
-\vspace{1em}
-
Next take four switches and place each switch in a corner of the
switch plate. Put the switch plate face-down on the table with the
pins sticking up. Carefully fit the circuit board over the protruding
If your kit has five linear switches (non-tactile, usually red) place
those in the modifier positions next and solder them in. These all go
-on the bottom row: SW3:3, SW5:0, SW6:0, SW8:3, and SW9:3. Then proceed
-with the rest of the switches. The switches should pin the switch
-plate to the circuit board.
+on the bottom row: SW3:3, SW5:0, SW6:0, SW8:3, and SW9:3. Fill in the
+rest of the bottom row with your primary switch type, and then fill in
+the leftmost column as well.
\vspace{1em}
\noindent\makebox[\textwidth]{%
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{switches.jpg}}
\vspace{1em}
-\section{Wrapping up}
+\section{Firmware}
+
+You now have enough switches installed to test every pin on the
+microcontroller. Installing the firmware will allow you to spot
+mistakes before the board is fully completed. Once all the switches
+are in place it's a lot of work to go back and fix connections on the
+microcontroller, but at this point it can be done by only removing a
+handful of switches.
+
+\vspace{1em}
Plug in the USB micro cable into the controller, and plug the other
side into your computer. Get a copy of the
``The quick, brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.'' and hitting the
other few keys which aren't hit by that phrase.
-\vspace{1em}
+\section{Wrapping Up}
If there's a misbehaving switch, it's often caused by a cold
-joint. Reflow the solder on both contacts of the switch and the
-diode. If an entire row or column is out, it's probably the connection
-to the controller. You can follow the traces for the columns back
-to the middle, but the rows on the back of the board are obscured when
-the keyboard is assembled. The bottom four pins on the left correspond
-to the four rows, top to bottom. Reflowing the pin's solder for the
-affected row or column is usually enough to get it working.
+joint. Reflow the solder on both contacts of the switch and the diode
+first; if that doesn't fix it, it may be the connection to the
+controller. You can follow the traces for the columns back to the
+middle, but the rows on the back of the board are obscured when the
+keyboard is assembled. The bottom four pins on the left correspond to
+the four rows, top to bottom. Reflowing the controller pin's solder
+for the affected row or column is usually enough to get it
+working. First try the exposed solder on the big circuit board; if that
+doesn't fix it you may need to desolder some switches to get to the
+pins on the controller itself.
+
+\vspace{1em}
+
+If all the switches are registering key presses on your computer,
+finish soldering the rest of the switches in.
\vspace{1em}
consider giving the outer case another coat or two of wax and allowing
it to dry. Then close the case by placing the switch plate on top of
the spacer and bottom plate, placing the top plate on it, and screwing
-it together with the nuts on top. If the rubber feet don't stay on
-with the provided adhesive, white glue may be needed to secure them.
+it together with the nuts on top. If the controller was not attached
+close enough to the circuit board, it may be necessary to sand down
+the USB connector in order to close the case. If the rubber feet don't
+stay on with the provided adhesive, white glue may be needed to secure
+them.
\vspace{1em}
\vspace{1em}
-Congratulations. Enjoy your new keyboard.
+Congratulations. Enjoy your new keyboard. It will take a considerable
+adjustment period to get used to it, but it should result in much more
+comfortable and effective typing. Also remember that you're encouraged
+to customize the layout to make it truly your own.
+
+\vspace{1em}
+
+Happy typing!
%% \noindent\makebox[\textwidth]{%
%% \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{finished.jpg}}
projects / atreides.git / blobdiff