Don
I've used a Steelseries Merc Stealth keyboard for about 10 years. Over this time my muscle memory has become so ingrained that I can't game with any other layout other than the gamepad on the left of the keyboard. No problem. Get a keyboard you like and keep with it I figured. This was fine until it started to die.
Steelseries don't make it any more and there's nothing on the market that has a similar layout with as many buttons. I tried the Orbweaver (too few buttons), Wolf Claw (bad ergonamics), and various no-name Chinese boards, none of which hit the mark. I had pretty much resigned myself to having to drop a couple of hundered pounds on another one from an auction site. Then my mate pointed me in the direction of a project he was undertaking to build his own custom keyboard. He figured it would be pretty straightforward to make a gamepad in the same layout as the Stealth using machanical switches. I was on it like a shot.
To be honest, my mate deserves all the credit for this. He did all the research for his own project so most of the groundwork was done. I just needed to design my own layout, cut the case pieces, choose the switches and keycaps, solder it together, write my own firmware and I'm done.
So, to start with I tried to create the Stealth's layout. I used http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com and once I worked out how to use the program, I was away.
I then needed to shoose some switches. I settled on Gateron Blues due to their nice clicky feel and low price (20p each)
Once this was done I took the output of the editor and popped it in to another website: http://builder.swillkb.com which draws the CAD DXF files for you. Now I had my case plans:
Sent that lot to the laser cutter with 3mm acrylic and soon had my case ready to accept switches.
I used some hot glue to hold the switches in place. It easily picks off but provides a pretty strong mount. If I had been using metal as my top panel then it was be unnecessary as the switches would just clip in.
Next to the wiring. Following this guide: https://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/brownfox-step-by-step-t6050.html I bought some 1N4148 diodes and set about soldering. Please excuse my rubbish soldering skills. It aint pretty but it does the job:
Next up was the firmware. I suck at coding. I can follow a piece of code in a few languages reasonably well and I can shell-script my way out of my own job but I'd never tried this sort of thing before. It wasn't that difficult to be honest.
I started with this code base: https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard and got to editing. Once I worked out how the layout worked and how the Teensy addressed it's IOs it was fairly simple. Took me about 5 goes to get it to compile due to typos and various syntax errors on my part but after a while I got it done and flashed on to the Teensy. Aaaand. IT WORKED! YAY!
Bolted it all together, popped the keycaps on and we're done:
Materials used and approximate costs:
32 x Gateron Blues (20p each) = £6.40p
4 x A4 sheets of 3mm acrylic (£2.98 each) = £11.92p
32 x 1N4148 diodes (pack of 50) = £1.98p
1 x Teensy 2.0++ = £12.99p
1 x Mini-USB cable = £2.00p
1 x Set of double-shot keys = £8.89p
1 x Set of Zinc WSAD keys = £4.59p
Wire, solder, etc.
Total: £48.77
Steelseries don't make it any more and there's nothing on the market that has a similar layout with as many buttons. I tried the Orbweaver (too few buttons), Wolf Claw (bad ergonamics), and various no-name Chinese boards, none of which hit the mark. I had pretty much resigned myself to having to drop a couple of hundered pounds on another one from an auction site. Then my mate pointed me in the direction of a project he was undertaking to build his own custom keyboard. He figured it would be pretty straightforward to make a gamepad in the same layout as the Stealth using machanical switches. I was on it like a shot.
To be honest, my mate deserves all the credit for this. He did all the research for his own project so most of the groundwork was done. I just needed to design my own layout, cut the case pieces, choose the switches and keycaps, solder it together, write my own firmware and I'm done.
So, to start with I tried to create the Stealth's layout. I used http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com and once I worked out how to use the program, I was away.
I then needed to shoose some switches. I settled on Gateron Blues due to their nice clicky feel and low price (20p each)
Once this was done I took the output of the editor and popped it in to another website: http://builder.swillkb.com which draws the CAD DXF files for you. Now I had my case plans:
Sent that lot to the laser cutter with 3mm acrylic and soon had my case ready to accept switches.
I used some hot glue to hold the switches in place. It easily picks off but provides a pretty strong mount. If I had been using metal as my top panel then it was be unnecessary as the switches would just clip in.
Next to the wiring. Following this guide: https://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/brownfox-step-by-step-t6050.html I bought some 1N4148 diodes and set about soldering. Please excuse my rubbish soldering skills. It aint pretty but it does the job:
Next up was the firmware. I suck at coding. I can follow a piece of code in a few languages reasonably well and I can shell-script my way out of my own job but I'd never tried this sort of thing before. It wasn't that difficult to be honest.
I started with this code base: https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard and got to editing. Once I worked out how the layout worked and how the Teensy addressed it's IOs it was fairly simple. Took me about 5 goes to get it to compile due to typos and various syntax errors on my part but after a while I got it done and flashed on to the Teensy. Aaaand. IT WORKED! YAY!
Bolted it all together, popped the keycaps on and we're done:
Materials used and approximate costs:
32 x Gateron Blues (20p each) = £6.40p
4 x A4 sheets of 3mm acrylic (£2.98 each) = £11.92p
32 x 1N4148 diodes (pack of 50) = £1.98p
1 x Teensy 2.0++ = £12.99p
1 x Mini-USB cable = £2.00p
1 x Set of double-shot keys = £8.89p
1 x Set of Zinc WSAD keys = £4.59p
Wire, solder, etc.
Total: £48.77
. I was getting replacement keys from the manufacturer until they ran out, then I scavenge my old boards for remains, but now the end is near. I'm attempting to make my own as illustrated by Rilot (thank BTW for the instructions), but I'm know engineer ...
anyone figure out a simpler way?