Devlog #5: Setting up Github, finalizing!

I want to move towards more ambitious projects once this is done. I’ve just completed the adjustments to the files, the firmware, everything!

Accomplishment of the day:

I set up my first ever github repo! I used the resources provided by Stardance to learn Readme files and organization. I’m so glad I discovered Hack Club along with this program.

This project has been really fun, very interesting, educational, and definitely a creative output for myself.

I struggled a bit, putting all the files into the main section of the repo, before realizing that I can’t move them, and must reupload as well as delete them one by one. But at the end of the day, I’m happy I’ve progressed. If you’d have told me I’d be doing any of this just one month ago, I wouldn’t have believed you!

Thank you so very much for this opportunity! I hope everyone likes my MarPad!

GitHub link!

Demo Link!

Devlog #4: Some setbacks, and solving them!

Today I had one main goal: To finalize the casing for my MarPad.

I wanted to ensure that:

1. The PCB would fit in the case (Important!!)
2. The holes for each component are correctly placed
3. The design was well reminiscent of Apollo era NASA mission control desks.

So what happened?

• it turns out, my measurements inside KiCad were slightly off, which led to my measurements in Fusion360 to also have been off.
• I felt the design was slightly empty, to fix: I added two main changes. The first was a panel on the top left (as seen in old photos) with the name of the Ford company in charge of aerospace. The second was a panel with screw heads.

About that problem:

I downloaded the PCB from KiCad as a STEP file, and then imported into the CAD software for my case. Once I lined up the PCB with the case, I realized that the position of the pins on the Rotary Encoder weren’t aligned with the holes in the PCB. I didn’t worry, and moved the PCB accordingly, before realizing now it was out of place within the case.

I caught on before making many changes, and realized I had to fix the positions of the entirety of the top half of the casing, the plate.

And so, I did: I went to the sketches and moved the holes in the plate accordingly, making minute adjustments (Some even fractions of a mm) which fixed the issue. It took me a while (Most of which seems to not be synced to Stardance) but I got it working and I’m really proud.

All in all, I’ve made good progress and worked towards a unique design I love.

Devlog #3: Customizing the MarPad v1

Didn’t have too much time in this sitting so I decided to find a model for the keycaps and put them into the CAD design. I used some colors from a photo of the old Apollo 11 mission control desks. I want the buttons to look like and also be named like the NASA mission control desks (e.g. the buttons can be named “launch” “booster” or “voice control” etc.). It was a fun process, but not a long one.

Devlog #2! On my MarPad v1

Only about an hour and a half today, turns out we had plans… nevertheless! I was able to do some fun work on my MarPad v1 and I’m quite proud of it.

Today my accomplishments were:

1. Making minor adjustments to the Casing
2. Learning to adjust movements precisely in KiCad
3. Designing and customizing my Casing (this was fun!)

What was the inspiration?

Well, as you can see, there is a clear color palette and theme behind my HackPad design. That is, of course, the Apollo 11 mission control desks! The Color Scheme is ripped straight out of the 60s, and I loved the “Flight Director” name-triangular prism, thus I added it to the design.

Enough nerding out over old NASA desks, I did learn some cool tricks on CAD today, which I am proud of. For example, I learnt how to change what gets selected when I do a box select. Or, another example, how to emboss text or designs. (Very nice!)

That’s it for today! I hope to continue swiftly and steadily, and am looking forward to more design ideas for this case.

Setting up the MarPad (“Marcel” Pad V1):

Today was a good chunk of work. I worked on the following things:

1. Brainstorming (what will it look like, what components do I need?)
2. Creating the Schematic, and Ensuring the PCB was correct and organized.
3. Setting up QMK and the firmware for the HackPad
4. Creating the base case.

These were the three main things I completed.
I’d have to say that the most challenging part was the QMK setup, as I am still learning all of the processes involved with CAD, CS, and coding overall. I’m on a Mac, and decided to go the HomeBrew route.

Inspiration: I have to give credits to MrKillerShaunBa and Matyas604. Both of their GitHub repos had incredibly useful information to guide me (I mainly used the images as reference and guessed how to DIY it!). Many thanks to both of you!

https://github.com/MrKillerShaunBa/BajajPad/tree/main
https://github.com/Matyas604/Matyas-s-Hackpad/blob/main/Assets/Case.png

Lastly, I finally got my Hackatime working, so this is my first DevLog here, thanks to all the people in #Hackpad in slack who helped me out!

(edit: someone helped me learn markdown formatting! :) )

I designed and made a rough draft of the lamp in Fusion 360. I noticed that my units are incorrect, which can be solved easily. This will be done by the next log, where I will convert units. No matter, I like the direction this is headed. Additionally, I think that the shape is also easy to print, as it is stable. I enjoyed this practice with Fusion and look forward to having it in real life.