x0x, keyboard stuff

Time for some photos with this project! I didn’t bother documenting the PCB assembly, as there really isn’t anything worthwhile there. Just place the components and solder away.

For the the keyboard buttons, I chose to go with recycled ones from Series 92 by EAO. These are industrial grade buttons, so despite being used they’re still very good for home use and will certainly last a long time. As I happen to have plenty of used buttons of this type in black and white (and with PCBs for switches), I figured I could do a black and white “piano” keyboard with them. Maybe even paint the top panel in a similar fashion :).

With these buttons, it’s also possible to install 3mm LEDs inside the button shaft, thus making the top panel appear less crowded. For these, extra through holes had to be drilled to the PCB..

Extra holes (the countersunk ones) for the button LEDs on one of the keyboard PCBs.

To avoid making short-circuits to the bottom layer (GND) of the PCB with the LEDs, I widened the through-holes from the surface of the PCB with a countersunk drill bit.

As the keyboard switches have to be installed to a separate PCB, I decided to make the keyboard and x0x PCBs detachable. This was implemented with recycled floppy ribbon cables that I cut roughly to match the button spacing on the x0x PCB.

Floppy cables cut to varying length.

.. weird looking cables, but once installed:

Cables installed to the x0x mainboard.

Once completed, the connectors on the keyboard side should align horizontally (hopefully lower overall profile) with the connectors on the mainboard.