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tshort / dactyl-keyboard

Dactyl-ManuForm, a parameterized ergonomic keyboard
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
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General design / building discussion #2

Open tshort opened 7 years ago

tshort commented 7 years ago

goes here...

DurekuRyuu commented 6 years ago

@Nebukadneza That looks pretty nice, i'll post pictures once i build mine, gotta see if i can get some bottom plates cut at work.

impaktor commented 5 years ago

616E 4P4C

The dactyl-manuform model has a hole for a RJ9 connector, e.g. 616E 4P4C RJ9 female telephone connector adapter (shown in image above), and for a USB connector, but if I'm to interpret the previous comments in this thread, it's not modelled with any specific female connector in mind? Or just the URBEST 20Pcs Straight Soldering Mini USB A Type Female Port Plug Jack Socket Connector?

There's also Panel Mount Extension USB Cable - Micro B Male to Micro B Female which seems interesting.

As using the USB-connector to the pro micro directly will likely break, after using it a short while, does anyone have a other good ideas, as to how to get a nice case-mounted USB-port?

image and url's after discussion on #geekhack with @Nebukadneza

tim-tx commented 5 years ago

Finally printed one, 5x7, in ABS. Switches snap in for a snug fit. Added an extra index finger column rather than a pinky column. Looking forward to typing on this. img_0026 heic img_0027 heic

impaktor commented 5 years ago

As other's mentioned above, there's no good USB-female for case mounting. This is a problem as the female USB on the Arduino is very brittle and tend to break off the board.

This makes me think the best way is to have some other <thing>-to-usb cable.

How about where <thing> is RS-232 / DB9 (or RJ9?) case mounted female + RS-232-to-usb cable, which I think would be sturdy enough to relieve the stress on the arduino connector.

s-l500 s-l5001

VinnyCordeiro commented 5 years ago

I'd use one of these instead.

impaktor commented 5 years ago

@VinnyCordeiro thanks, I've seen that before, but I don't understand how it's a case mount, when it doesn't have a flat surface to be in contact against the case?

It's really mind-boggling that there's no good casemounted USB-females.

EDIT For posterity when above URL goes dead, the product is called: "CY 50cm Mini USB 5Pin Male to Female Panel Mount Type Extension Adapter Cable with Screws"

arqubusier commented 5 years ago

@impaktor I'm working on a modified version that will have special holders for these usb breakout boards https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12700, and https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9966. For the cable between the halves I will use usb a on the left (the half with the mcu) and usb b on the right. For the cable between the left half and the PC I will use usb b on the left half.

I have already modeled these holders in the clojure code, and printed them, but I have not yet incorporated them and tested them in the full keyboard. However I will most likely be done with it the coming week. You can follow my changes here if you are interested: https://github.com/arqubusier/dactyl-keyboard.

tim-tx commented 5 years ago

This is what mine looks like. The USB connector is just glued to the case. img_0060 img_0061

impaktor commented 5 years ago

That's some very nice wiring. @tim-tx I hope you don't mind if I could pick your brain a bit:

  1. Does the case mounted USB connector stick firmly in the case, or did you glue-gun that like you did with the wires?

  2. The way I see it, the USB-connector hole in the case/model is missing the "inner plastic extrusions" for something like a USB Type A Female PCB Mount Socket Plug Connector to grab on to, in order to lock it into place.

  3. Those jumper wires that are connected to the arduino-pins seem very handy, I assume it's this one? https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10366 I also assume the wires are not long enough to do the matrix wiring, so you solder in the matrix wires later to these?

  4. I see you're using some kind of special USB connector to break out the wires from the connection to the arduino. My plan was to just take a normal USB-micro and cut off the A-plugg. Advice?

tim-tx commented 5 years ago

  1. The gob of glue on the wires was just to keep things immobile as I was doing the wiring. There is actually a small border of epoxy where the connector protrudes into the interior of the case. I think I read epoxy + metal is iffy, but it seems to be quite rigid.

  2. Do you mean something for those little prongs on the connector to grab? The connectors I got don't have those prongs, everything is glued. You wouldn't be able to fit the connector you linked into the hole.

  3. I used some jumper cables like that one you linked, inspired by the wiring here: https://github.com/20lives/Dactyl-Manuform Since I printed a 5x7 model, I also got some 40 pin jumper cables (e.g. amazon) peeled of a ribbon of 5 and 7 wires and got a pack of headers with multiple widths (e.g. amazon) so all the wires would connect at once to the mcu. Yes the matrix wiring was done separately without the jumper cables, and then the jumper cable ends were soldered to convenient nodes in the matrix.

  4. I think that would be fine. I went from the case connector to Dupont header female, then Dupont header male to a USB micro connector. Not necessarily the most efficient, I don't remember why I did it like that.

The other thing I might suggest is to put USB connectors on both hands to make the flashing a little easier. I filled in the connector hole on one half before I realized I needed to flash the microcontrollers separately. This means I have to unplug the USB micro cable on the left hand and connect the arduino to the computer separately.

ataquino commented 4 years ago

Hey @tim-tx, how did you manage to add another index finger column, instead of a pinky one?

tim-tx commented 4 years ago

Hi @ataquino, I think I saved that setup here: https://github.com/tim-tx/Dactyl-Manuform/tree/ergodox

lecler-i commented 4 years ago

Hey, just discovered your awesome keb, it rocks !

I was thinking about trying to make the thumb cluster an other par, that could be attached to the main body (to be able to create custom modules like trackball, joystick or whatever)

Did anyone tried to do the following modifications ? I will start working on this soon but if you know any fork with even a start on this feature, it could help me greatly :)

tim-tx commented 4 years ago

@lecler-i There's a nice fork of this project here: https://github.com/veikman/dactyl-keyboard I don't think it's broken up into separate chunks like you suggest, but there's a significant restructuring of the code which may interest you.

MRAAGH commented 4 years ago

Loving these designs, and I'm planning to make one! I just wanted to ask about one detail: the generated designs have brims sticking out on the underside of every switch hole, like this: Screenshot_2020-04-03_21-29-33 I don't see any purpose in the lining, since this is hidden in the underside. It makes the model trickier and riskier to print, though. What I was expecting instead is something like this: Screenshot_2020-04-03_21-28-26 I did that manually this time by merging nearby vertices, but this also changed the shapes of the square holes and switches aren't going to fit. Could you point me to the section in the generator where I would be able to fix this?

MRAAGH commented 4 years ago

By trying out various settings, I eventually found out that plate-thickness is the one I want to change. Thank you for making named parameters for all these things! ^.^

Margneon commented 2 years ago

I wanted to hardwire the two halves together but I am not familliar with the layout of the RJ9 connector which of the cables do I have to connect?

Margneon commented 2 years ago

nevermind I found it after a lot of research.

https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/tree/master/keyboards/lets_split

MRAAGH commented 2 years ago

@Margneon You're wiring both sides. As long as your connector pinout is the same on both sides, the connection is going to work. Good luck! ^.^