Dev Log 01 (22/07/26)

Research stage and learning process

• Currently getting the basics down

What did i do?

• Learnt basics of HTML like how its the structure of the website and tells the browser what each thing is and where it goes, e.g that piece of text is a heading and goes there.
• Understood that HTML is made up of Tags that open and close and the functions of tags like or and headings like –> and such, also learnt some tages are self closing.

What will i do next?

• I will continue to study the basics and figure out how every bit of code works in html as i understand from previous experiences that you will need a solid understanding of the basics to move on to other stuff.

Note: I use ai to explain and help me study.

Ring Gear and Handle
I spent some time making the carrier pins for each layer of planets and the ring gear. My gears are set up in a 64/16/32 ratio (Ring, Planet, Sun). I’m going to layer 3 of these stages together to achieve a total reduction ratio of 8:1
The carrier pins are set up on my sun gear. I have designed small raised sections to prevent excessive plastic-on-plastic rubbing, these raised sections also give lubericant a place to sit, reducing overall friction which is critcal for a backdriven gearbox like this.
From experience, a little bit of friction at the very end stages will result in a very large effect, often making the system completely undrivable. This is because the 8:1 total reduction ratio means for example 3N of friction in the last stage will translate to 24N of additional force needed to start spinning
The ring gear is split to allow the herringbone gears to actually be assembled. (I’m not letting my lack of DFA getting the better of me again!)
Next I will work on a handle and gearbox lock mechanism, if i have time i may start on overall housing design and/or propellers

Dev Log 15 (21/07/26)

What have I done:

• Finished Aesthetics, added a Voronoi patterned geometry on the OLED cover, i experimented with adding a full Voronoi pattern across the top faces but that just looked messy and based on the feedback i gotten from friend and other people i have decided that its better to only have the OLED cover with the pattern.
• Added TPU feet to the casing as based on my experience with 3d printing, 3d printed objects tend to slide really easily on smooth surfaces like tables so yeah… will be printed separately from the case and glued on.

What will I do next?

• Well I guess its time to start to refine the BOM and Github stuff and get the PCB to be manufactured…. thats going to be a pain….
• Start work on firmware, need to research what to do and how to do it.

Thats my devblog today, thanks for reading.

Dev Log 14 (20/07/26)

Will post full dev log later, but short summary:

• Completed snap lock system just need to work on aesthetics and then im done.

Dev Log 13 (20/07/26)

Sooooo its finally starting to come into shape, think im done with the case? nahhh its a still a freaking ugly box, just wait to see what im going to do… (check my pfp for hints).

What have I done?

• Completed the cover for the OLED driver.
• Designed a slot system to secure the OLED to the case. (Totally did not overthink this…)
• Designed Rotary encoder knobs that i will 3D print, added the texturing to it for more grip.

What I still need to do to complete the case?

• Need to add in the snap lock system (ughh i can feel that this part is going to be annoying, probably need to 3D print a prototype to test before I can get it right)

Anyways thats my dev blog for today, thanks for reading.

Dev Log 12 (19/07/26)

What are the main things I done:

• Worked on OLED placement (so annoying due to the sizing requirements cause i really wanted this transparent OLED that looks really cool but it came with a driver board so i had create mounting space for it, ik i could have integrated it into the board itself but that will cause more failure points and for a macropad its not worth it so yeah)
• Edited PCB OLED driver board mounting holes to accommodate the OLED placement (another really frustrating part cause i had to revert and redo stuff…)

What Is there still to do for the case?

• Complete OLED mounting on the case.
• Add the snap lock system

Dev Log 11 (18/07/26)
Alr yeah took a 10 day break but back at it again, had to make changes to my PCB cause i didnt know about settings design constrains so some of my clearances were wrong…. butttt I work on the casing today and got the hardest part of the casing done, man i was stuck on this part forever…. i swear the longest part of designing smth is thinking of ideas over and over again… *screaming internally, like i spent so so so so long trying to figure out how to add in a plate to support the MX switches while using no screws and allowing room for the OLED and its driver board… Turns out i was OVERTHINKING…. and the solution was so simple, just create a hole for it and design a cool looking lid to cover it.
–––––––––– What did I learn? —————––
Dont overthink stuff.
———————What will i do next time?–––––––
Work on the case, should be done within a couple of hours, and its not going to a plain box…

Will post full dev log later on today, just need to log time

Dev log 10 (10/07/26)
I lost 3hrs of time….. :(((((
but oh well, at least im progressing, so heres what i did.
———————— What have I done ————————
I have started work and completed the main parts of the lower half of the case, i decided to add a 5 degree slant to the case for ergonomics and made a slot for the USB slot, my goal for the case is to not use screws so i designed a type of insert for the PCB mounting holes as shown in the picture.
————————What have I learnt—————— I noticed some boards have a plate for their MX switches to support them and I have done research of snap lock profiles and how they work so i can implement that into my case.

Dev Log 9 (08/07/26)
———————Quick summary–––––––––––
Finished 3D model of the PCB, didnt really learn much today apart from the orientation of a RGB led (SK smth mini-e) is defined by a chamfered notch. Will move onto designing the case now.

Dev log 8 (07/07/26)
––––––––––PCB Tracing Complete–––––––––––
PCB tracing complete, in my opinion its the best part of PCB design but yeah. I know I could have routed the 5V line to the right of the board but by the time I realized that I would have needed to redo large sections of the board, so I will keep that in mind if I ever want to make a version 2.
———————– What I learnt ——————
You can create a trace at any angle from a vias on a pcb, keep sensitive signal lines away from 5V and 3.3V lines, Minimize the interruptions of the ground plane to allow an uninterrupted ground path etc… 5V trace thickness : 0.5mm 3.3V trace thickness 0.3mm signal trace thickness : 0.25mm, when routing power to components it is ideal to split the power in parallel than in series as it allows the voltage across branches to be the same (basic physics).
———————–What will I do next? ——————
I will move on to casing design once I ensured my PCB can function, I can ensure that by asking around communities like discord or slack.

Ill post full dev log later on today

Dev log 7 ( 06/07/26 )
—————Just a quick summary this time–––––––
Worked on PCB layout, decided to place the diodes and local decoupling capacitors for the RGB leds and Switches on the underside of the board to save space. Always learning as per usual, key highlight that I learned today that you cant manufacture asymmetrical layered boards due to PCB manufacturing methods *not going to go into detail, basically in a nutshell you cant make boards with an odd number of layers.
—————––What will I do next———————–
I should finally actually start work on tracing, idk why its taking so long….

PCB traces dev log 6 ( 05/07/26 )
Unfortunately i lost 5 hours of time cause the tab linking the lookout time lapse accidentally got closed on my last session.

—————–– What have I done ––––––––––
Completed pcb component placement.
Started work on tracing.
Replaced the original RGBs with SK6812MINI‑E cause these LEDs have a cutout in the PCB allowing them to sit flush and not take up any space on the surface layer allowing room for the cherry mx switches (need to find the footprint online, i used something called component search engine to find the footprint) .
Added mounting holes for the OLED driver board and PCB placement.
Added a ground plane.
Studied PCB tracing and component placement order.
Helped more ppl with their hackpad schematic/pcb on slack.
––––––––––– What have I learnt ——————
Component placement order, placing the components that define the PCB onto the board, (not going to go into details, cant be bothered, its 1am lol)
What routes i should trace first.
How to make edges curved in Ki Cad PCB design (pcb looks nicer).
Learnt that every RGB LED needs a individual decoupling capacitor, learnt that the GPIO expander should have 2 capacitors.
––––––––––––––What i will do next ––––––––––
Complete traces on PCB.
Start work on the casing, i wana make it look cool, should be smth like my Raspberry pi cases (check my pfp)
Share the knowledge I learnt if someone needs or wants it.

Dev log 4 (03/07/2026)
—————–What i learnt today—————–
Pins on the Xiao Microcontroller like Tx for serial communications what do A and D stand for (digital, analogue) and how I2C works like addresses and how multiple components share the same line.
How to assign footprints in KiCad.
MLCC capacitors (learnt the name and their existence lol)
–––––––– What i have done —————––
Completed the schematic, fully refined it, added a GPIO extender.
Refined component BOM
Helped some people with their schematic today>
––––––––What will i do next?—————–
Will refine the BOM more, amazon is kinda expensive, maybe aliexpress?? *any suggestions?
Start research and work on PCB, by research i mean using AI and websites to understand what im doing, NOTE: I only use AI to understand and learn things so i dont have to use it again/dependent on it to do stuff. I will also take a look at how people layout their BOM so i can learn how to write a good BOM cause the current one i have is kinda sketch *i think

Completing component BOM + refining schematic
Fixed some problems with my schematic. Added a GPIO expander for rotary encoders, did some research about the components im using such as how to wire the Expander or which type of capacitor im using e.g electrolytic or ceramic.

Dev Log 02 01/07/26
Schematic complete:

———––What I have done?–––––––

Completed the schematic.

Reduced the number or rotary encoders from 3 to 1 because I ran out of GPIO pins.

Sorta learnt how components such as rotary encoders work, like how the MCU pin detects the digital input (low) from the rotary encoder as it turns and how the WS2812B -2020 are meant to be wired, (led for back lit keys).

Learnt about decoupling capacitors and how they work by providing current when power supply cant handle it.

—– What will I do next? —–
I will move onto tracing the schematic to turn it into a PCB, but first I will ask for feedback from places like discord to ensure my schematic is ok. Or if anyone sees this, please provide feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.

01/07/26
First ever project involving a PCB.

Worked on selecting the parts I would use for the macro pad to set constraints for dimensions and made a simple sketch in CAD to visualize the layout.

I wanted a macro pad with 9 keys, 3 rotary encoders, and a OLED to display stats like cpu temps / usage, RAM usage etc….

I had trouble finding a OLED with the correct dimensions that suited my project as aliexpress or amazon dont really specify dimensions but i found a supplier called waveshare that provided the information i needed and a suitable OLED.

Based on my research I will be using a keyboard matrix with diodes to prevent ghost keys, i will be also adding RGB lights to enhance aesthetic appeal.