My awesome macropad!

I’m finally and hopefully done with macropad. I set up the qmk and struggled a lot through it. I kept getting warnings and errors but i got it fixed. I also uploaded everything to github. I had to zip some folders but they contained a lot of files. Overall I enjoyed the process even though it took me a really long time.

Started the firmware. I downloaded QMK firmware but was a little confused on what to type. I figured out that I had to type it line by line instead of copying and pasting the entire code on the QMK firmware website.

I finally finished the case!! After I trimmed the sides of the case to fit the Seeed XIAO RP2040, I also made the holes for the screws larger to fit the head inserts. I also made some corners around the sub c socket so that it would not wiggle around when I plug it in. I made the around the usb c socket larger to have enough space to fit the head of the cable around the usb c since the socket does not hang at the edge of the case. I also cut out the holes for the switches using the plate model and cut out the oled display space as well as some extra space underneath it to fit the other parts around the oled that are going to be inside the case. In the end I also curved the edges of the case and socket. I had some trouble figuring out how to use fusion but I’m slowly getting the hang of it. Over all I’m pretty pleased with how the case looks!! I also made sure that the 5mm heat inserts would fit and have some extra space left.

I remodeled the case because the measurements were incorrect. I moved the U1 on Kicad a little outside of the pcb because since the case’s thickness is 10mm on each side, the U1 would be too far inside the case. Although I moved it, it’s still not quite right so I will have to make the walls less thick. I had some trouble building the walls and the holes because I couldn’t figure out the margins but I got it to work my manually measuring the distances. I also placed the pcb, oled displace and switch to check where the wall of the case should end and how tall the plate/cover of the case should be.

I had misplaced the U1 in the pcb so I had to move it in order for the start of the usb socket to be at the edge of the pcb. After I moved the U1 I had to rewire some wires in the pcb and afterwards I ran the test and everything was fine. I saved the file and then I saved the pcb as gerber file to check how it looks on jlcpcb. I then moved onto Fusion and started the case. I created a base after I measured the size of the pcb on kicad and made another rectangle 3 mm larger on each size. I then extruded the larger triangle and moved the pcb step file and the lcd onto the case and checked if it fits.

Connected the wires to the switches and the U1 in the pcb. Had some trouble with placing the the components in a position where all the wires could be connected. Then once I was done with both sides of the pcb, both the red and blue wires, I moved on to the DRC and checked for any errors. I had to change the shape of the pads from oval to circle and make them smaller on the U1, which is the MOUDLE-SEEEDUINO-XIAO, because they were touching the wires and that was an error. Another error I ran into was the wires being too close to components on the switches so i had to move them and make them slimmer because they were 0.2mm away from the components. I had an issue with pad 3 of the U1 and pad 2 of the 6th switch being extremely close so once I moved U1 I had to reconnect some of the wires again.

After working for 2 hours, the app randomly closed down so I lost all progress. I had to reorganize the layout of the pcb and took this opportunity to change some things around and how it will look. Also made some space in the corner for an oled screen. Tried to connected the wires on the pcb but couldnt get the placements right so i deleted the wires I already have and will retry.

Downloaded the kicad files and uploading them. Had some difficulty with finding the files and organizing the keyboard switches.