Help: Encoders don't fit through the top plate

[InvisibleFunction]

Kind of issue? Bug / Assembly / HELP!_

Which Board? Original

Which Board Revision? 2.0

What steps have you taken

• [x] I have searched the Issues page
• [x] I have read the documentation

What is the issue? My encoders don't fit through the top plate. It appears the hole is exactly the size of the encoders. I've tried some aliexpress encoders and some real Alps encoders. Are there some that are known to fit?

My reading suggested that filing the hole could release nasty stuff that I don't want to breathe.

[josefadamcik]

Sadly, I don't have any part number or something. Mine were always sourced from Aliexpress. But I didn't have to file anything (neither for PCB FR4 nor for Acrylic) for version 2.

But technically it is possible the tolerance is not enough and the experience might vary based on the manufacturer / process of the the top plate. In that case filing might be your only option, sorry. I would use mask and do it outside if I was worried.

I am just wondering if I should make the cutout a bit bigger. You are the first person telling me about this issue so I don't know if it's rare or people just don't report it.

Few questions if you are interested in trying to nail the problem down, but they will not help me to solve the issue for you, just for the others in the future:

• What was your PCB (assuming the top plate is PCB) manufacturer?
• Is the board the regular v2 version? Or RGB?
• If you still have link to aliexpress and part number for the alps encoders I would appreciate them as well.
• If you have some way how to precisely measure the size of the cutout (slide calipers) and know how to do that the measurings would be awesome.
• Do the encoders fit through the hole when they are not attached. I am trying to narrow down if the hole is actually small or just shifted a bit when the switches are in place.

[hacktivateit]

this also happened to me, filing the PCB while spilling water over it solved the problem (the dust gets wet and does not spread through the air), V2 pcb from jlcpcb

[InvisibleFunction]

• PBC manufacturer was jlcpcb • regular V2 • Don't have a link to the aliexpress ones, but Alps part no is EC11E15244G1

• I own calipers, but I may not know how to use them, here are some numbers I came up with (two sets of numbers for each measurement because left half/right half): • PCB holes: 11.56mm x 11.89 mm & 11.57mm x 11.82mm (Wider than tall) • Ali encoder: 11.86mm x 12.01mm & 11.81mm x 11.91mm (wider than tall) • Alps encoder: 11.72mm x 12.02mm & 11.79mm x 12.05mm (ditto) • They do not fit through the holes at any time.

Here's some Alps encoder data: https://tech.alpsalpine.com/prod/e/pdf/encoder/incremental/ec11/ec11.pdf I think it says that they should measure 11.7mm x 12mm

I found this reddit post about someone filing the top plate, but I think this is you?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/jotdkj/sofle_v2/gc4yw18

[josefadamcik]

I found this reddit post about someone filing the top plate, but I think this is you?

https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/jotdkj/sofle_v2/gc4yw18

LOL, you are right, I completely forgot about this. Memory is unreliable beast. This is true, I had to file for the first V2 prototype. But I did make the cutout bigger before releasing V2 to public so the currently available design was supposed to be fine.

Nevertheless, thanks for all the details, I'll update the design and make it larger a bit mor so it doesn't happen to some other people

I am sorry you had to run into such trouble!

[InvisibleFunction]

I talked to the person who ordered the boards that I have and he said that they might have been "dev" boards, but I am not familiar enough with the project history to really know what that means. The top plates do say "v2.0" without any indication of them being a release candidate or beta or anything. If it would be helpful to further identify the boards I have please let me know, otherwise I will just file these down.

Thanks!

[josefadamcik]

@InvisibleFunction I did check the design and your dimensions. Based on all the information it does look you ended up with the WIP version that had the holes ridiculously small. I don't say there can't be problems with the current design, it's always hard to say since the final process and tolerances are always gonna be specific to the manufacturer. But I decided I am not gonna change the design at the moment.

Thaks for all the information!