It works!

(i)Pad Devlog #7

I did it! I did a thing!

Behold, my creation.

Anyway, yeah, this is it. In all its glory. It took quite a lot of time to write the firmware but I finally got one I’m happy with.

It has 4 layers:

• Base: Playback things, also open Spotify
• Layer 1: A bunch of function keys
• Layer 2: Opening task manager and other stuff that may be useful
• Layer 3: Resizing windows and stuff.

The OLED display

It just displays the current layer. Also a small box that bounces around.

The LEDs

The first LED indicates the layer. The rest of them play a wave animation every time a key is pressed.

CAD designing

The knob was quite annoying to print because of tolerances and stuff but after 4 attempts it works now. Fusion360 was really laggy while designing the knob for some reason.

I also finally figured out why the plate wasn’t working, I fixed that now. Took me ages.

Soldering

Turns out soldering wasn’t that difficult. I made plenty of mistakes but it worked in the end.

(i)Pad Devlog #6

It was in fact not the final design.

While creating the CAD model, I forgot to account for the pin headers that would go between the OLED screen and the PCB. I tried desperately to fix clearance issues and I think I now have a solution that works (kinda)

It still collides with the screen a bit but i can bend the screen back. I hope that’s fine. I cannot figure out where the heck the screen is hitting the plate.

I had to reprint the plate 3 times and it still only semi-works.

Devlog #5: Final design finished (I hope)

Finally finished my own Macropad!

What is included:

• 8 keys
• one rotary encoder
• one OLED display
• 6 LEDs

Took me 13 hours in total and I am very happy with the result. I can hopefully get this approved and shipped.

I learned a lot about designing a PCB and how electronics work. KiCAD was really confusing at first but I figured it out.

Devlog #4: Starting my final design

This is supposed to become my last design.

I added 8 LEDs in total as well as an OLED screen.
The LED wiring was really cramped, I hope I can fix that somehow. Everything else went really well.

The design is not yet finished, I still have to change the PCB a bit, finish the shell and create the firmware.

Devlog #3: Remade my design and added some stuff

I realized that I may have messed up the case. I decided to completely remake my Hackpad.

I also added some things:

• Rotary encoder
• Two LEDs
• Sandwich mount

Things I struggled with:

• the firmware (I spent half an hour trying to fix an error and realized I was editing the wrong file)
• making the assembly in Fusion

I got the hang of KiCAD and am able to smoothly produce designs. I learned some new things about KiCAD along the way.

Took too long for my liking though…

Devlog #2: Finally finished a design

Made my own case, PCB and firmware

I finished my second Hackpad. It took quite some time. Getting the hang of KiCAD was pretty difficult.

What I learned:

• turning the PCB into a 3d model
• Building a case for the Hackpad
• Creating firmware using QMK

If anyone could review this and give me some feedback (first time doing this) it would be greatly appreciated :D

Edit: What I just realized:

I designed the case the wrong way, so I’ll have to redesign it. (I didn’t know what I was doing and made a plateless mount)

Devlog #1: First Hackpad (getting the hang of it)

This is my first devlog (and project) ever :D

I decided to start with the Hackpad as it seemed the most interesting. I had some knowledge in Fusion360 so it was pretty useful.

Took me longer than I would like, but I got through the guide.
I’m still kind of confused witht he KiCAD software, so that needs working on.

I learned a lot about how GitHub works (first time as well) and creating PCB’s.

A very fun first hour, hope I can create some more Macropads in the future