Keyboard mod with toggle switch.

new numa hey · 15 Jun 2015 at 20:51

Hey guys.
Haven't posted here in a long time and my CM Storm quickfire TK is running out of warranty soon.

Sooooo I wanted to try a "simple" and easy mod. Since you guys know your switches and hardware I thought I'd come here.

Here is a toggle switch. I wanted to replace JUST the caps lock key with it. Yes its very impractical but its just a test. The difference is obvious, one is an actual on and off switch and the other is a push button (Cherry MX). Is there any way I could program the caps lock to make it and on off key instead of a push button function?

I wasn't sure on where to post this so I just dumped it in general.

Thanks.

ExRayTed · 16 Jun 2015 at 17:48

It's possible. The flight sim crowd have been doing stuff like this for years.

Here's a link you may find interesting link

ttaskmaster · 16 Jun 2015 at 18:24

I'd have thought blanking off the CAPS LOCK key and wiring this into one of the normal CAPS keys would be fairly straightforward.
I'd guess the right key would be more convenient, based only on how I personally type.

That way, ON would be the same as holding the key down and OFF would be... well, not holding it, really!

ExRayTed · 16 Jun 2015 at 19:17

The thing is the switch would need to be converted to a momentary switch - you'd want to avoid holding a caps-lock key down.

jpod · 16 Jun 2015 at 20:13

Interesting, so you toggle caps on, and then caps off?

Is that important for flight sims? The other way of emulating a keyboard is to use i-pac and related software - I used it to make my MAME arcade controllers.

So what's this for? Just curious.

new numa hey · 17 Jun 2015 at 09:56

Thanks a lot ExRayTed. The link makes sense but it seems like too much circuitry for one switch and would be a hassle to put it back in the keyboard but it's understandable.

I thought the same thing at first Taskmaster, I was convinced it would work straight away but then realised it would constantly press the caps lock switch. Which would just turn it on and off until I switched it back.

ttaskmaster · 17 Jun 2015 at 11:43

new numa hey said:
I thought the same thing at first Taskmaster, I was convinced it would work straight away but then realised it would constantly press the caps lock switch. Which would just turn it on and off until I switched it back.

Sorry, I think I mis-typed.
Take off the Caps Lock key altogether. Ignore it. Pretend it doesn't exist.

I meant to say, wire this into a Shift key.
That way ON will be holding Shift down and flicking to OFF will release the Shift key. Same effect as toggling Caps Lock on/off, but without the behaviour of the key.

new numa hey · 17 Jun 2015 at 13:39

ttaskmaster said:
I meant to say, wire this into a Shift key.

Well now I feel stupid

. That's perfect in every way especially when using Photoshop it would work like a charm.

When I get some spare time I'll start working on it.

Thank you very much all.

ttaskmaster · 17 Jun 2015 at 15:12

new numa hey said:
Well now I feel stupid .

Why do you feel stupid? It was my mistake!!!

new numa hey · 17 Jun 2015 at 15:21

ttaskmaster said:
Why do you feel stupid? It was my mistake!!!

It's something so obvious that I should have thought of before.
I might end up changing both shift keys now. I'll do the right one first and see how it goes.
If I like it and its not too much hassle, I'll change the left as well.

Thanks again.

Hotwired · 17 Jun 2015 at 15:32

Tape down your shift key and see how using PS goes for you before modding anything.

Might be unintended consequences of holding shift.

new numa hey · 17 Jun 2015 at 15:37

Hotwired said:
Tape down your shift key and see how using PS goes for you before modding anything.

You're right, there are times where holding down shift for no reason in PS can cause errors but sometimes I only have to "shift" around images and resize them. That's when I can see it becoming handy.

ttaskmaster · 17 Jun 2015 at 16:03

new numa hey said:
I might end up changing both shift keys now.

No no no..... Only change ONE Shift key:
A) This might not work at all, so best to retain functionality in at least one key.
B) This might work great, but you still may want the Momentary feature of a normal Shift key for other uses. It will really S-L-O-W your typing down if you need to keep flipping a toggle switch Every Time You want To Capitalise Something And You Will Eventually Get Very Annoyed...
C) Why would you need both keys done, anyway?

new numa hey · 17 Jun 2015 at 16:33

ttaskmaster said:
No no no..... Only change ONE Shift key:
A) This might not work at all, so best to retain functionality in at least one key.
B) This might work great, but you still may want the Momentary feature of a normal Shift key for other uses. It will really S-L-O-W your typing down if you need to keep flipping a toggle switch Every Time You want To Capitalise Something And You Will Eventually Get Very Annoyed...
C) Why would you need both keys done, anyway?

Thats exactly why I said I'll do the right key first since I never use it. If it messes up then no harm is done.
True with B I might just do the right one now.
And I wanted both keys done simply cause it would match each other and look symmetrical. No practical use to it.

ttaskmaster · 17 Jun 2015 at 16:43

I thought you'd be mounting the switch somewhere off to one side where there's some empty space, like above the Function keys or something.