43m 8s logged

GacroPad, The Macro Pad That Doesn’t Suck

You’ll choke on how bad the name is. It’s awful. As they say, good product, awful name.

This is the first devlog of the GacroPad, the macro pad that works the way you want it to.

GacroPad is a macro pad that is (supposed) to look beautiful, clean, and fits in well with whatever setup you have. It is comprised of an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1, some key switches that are clicky AF, keycaps that do NOT look like hot garbage, and a clean OLED for… something.

That “something” still needs to be determined. GacroPad is a HEAVY work in progress. Absolutely NOTHING will be final, and everything WILL be changed in the near future. Well, maybe some things.

Here are some things that will NOT be changed:

The current micro-controller. The ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 is honestly the best choice. However, when we take into consideration of the Raspberry Pi Pico, QMK firmware also comes in. This can make the GacroPad a whole lot simpler, but the WROOM (let’s just call it that) seems a lot more capable.
The switches. Tacky blue switches are funny lol. Of course, they’re a good solution, but not exactly the best. We can switch them at any time, but for now, let’s stick to what we have.

That’s mostly it! The shell however, is a topic that will be discussed later. What we DO know:

It’s gonna be 3D printed. If you don’t have one, the 3MFs and STLs will be publicly available, so you can easily go to a place to get it 3D printed.
- If you DO have a 3D printer, the whole thing is going to be relatively tiny. I will provide the appropriate 3MFs for both Bambu and Creality printers. I mainly use a Creality K2, and having a Bambu file go into Creality is going to cause a lot of configs to go blank in the slicer + color data might be missing. I will also provide a generic 3MF file from OrcaSlicer.
PETG will be the main filament. PLA is okay, but I HIGHLY suggest PETG, since PETG is the big boy stuff.
This case will be multi-color. I will try my absolute best to make a case that is done in parts so people with a printer that only takes in one color at a time/don’t have a multi-material system, but there is no guarantee. Having it in one piece is optimal, and better executed as well.
- Most people nowadays usually have an AMS/CFS to go along with their Bambu/Creality printers, and I have never encountered someone who genuinely owns an Ender printer. I will most likely not do it in parts, just for the sake of time.

What would you consider the project completion to be as of now, and do you like cats?

I would say around 15%, since it’s somewhat there, but not far enough. We have a lot of work to do, and if you would like to help, it would be gladly appreciated (as in helping me with my horrible skills at making a PCB)! And yes, I do like cats. Mrrrp~!

That’s it! That’s the GacroPad! Or, what it will be in the future. If you would like to help, please do! Attached below is a timelapse of my KiCad session and the KiCad sketch below (incomplete), if you’re wondering what the hell those things are.