11/9/2025 - Setup the basics for the keyboard schematic

I got the basics set up. so i have all 108 switches (subject to change) layed out and connected to the Pico. i have gotten most of the way on setting up the IO exstention board i just need to figure out where the ground pin on the symbol is and it is finished. i also have the models for all the symbols but the diodes assigned. i am going with a hybrid hot swap base so i can swap between MX Kalih and Choc switches with out much hassle.

12/4/2025 - Finnished the schematic.

finished making the schematic for the keyboard. the fun part was adding the 108 LEDs plus figuring out if i had the correct pins connected to the i2c exspander i was using.

12/5/2025 11 AM - Made the BOM

Finished finding all the parts i will need. turned out the the first hotswap sockets i found even though they where ~$3.40 a pack sense they came in packs of ten they would have been ~$50 of the total price after looking on amazon for some i found a pack of 110 for $12.99.

12/5/2025 10 PM - Laying out the PCB

I started working on laying out the PCB. i made a layout using keyboard layout editor witch i am using to position my keys. I am also wanting each row and colom on the keyboard to match the place in the keyboard (so the function keys are row one and so forth) so i needed to redo my grid on the schematic side witch i am still working on. I also found stablizers that i might end up using that will depend if i can find a kit that will work for cheaper.

12/7/2025 11 AM - layed out the key switches

i got the switches layout out on both the PCB and the schematic. i was having the schematic side layout out the same to make the traces look better. still looking for a footprint for the stabilizers.

12/7/2025 9 PM - changed matrix layout

After i finished doing the 21x6 matrix i realized that i don't have enough GPIO pins to do that so i had to go down to a 19x6 matrix. then i was making sure that i had the correct footpints for the key switches to make sure the spaceing was correct. i looked through like 6 libraries before i realised i had grabed the keyswitch footprint library from the plugin and content manager witch works but it it doesnt have the stablizers mounting holes i need to use a pcb mount screwd in stablizer so that is what i am going to work on tomorrow is the tablizer mounting holes.

12/23/2025 - mostly routed the pcb

spent a little while figuring out the best way to make my matrix fit on the pi or split it so the colums are on the pico and the rows are on the i2c expander. i ended up switching to a 10x11 matrix (10 col x 11 row) witch fit on the pico with out any issues. i have also dropped the rgb because i am planning on using a 2x4x8 and osb to make the case so the rgb probably wouldn't be viable any ways and it makes routing easier because i dont have to worry about routing the power and data for the leds around the traces for the rows and columns.

12/24/2025 - did some BOM optimiting

i did some BOM optimizing with help from ChatGPT (which wasn't much help) so i think now my bom is as optimized as i can make it unless i want to switch to a 3d printed case. it turns out that i only need one pull up resister because the internal pullups in the MCP23017 work according to the i2c standard.

12/29/2025 - Made the case

i made the case for the keyboard i am planning on doing a Plateless Mount style keyboard that uses the foam sandwich method to keep the keyboard from moving around. doing a plateless mount wasn't originally my plan, hence the pins to hold the top plate in place on the case design, but i didn't want to deal with editing the plate dxf from ai03 plate generator to make it work with my design. like the case for my 8-bit pc it was split in half and each half is the same just needing to be printed twice and rotated 180 degrees.

Now i just need to fit my git repo currently most of the stuff is under git-lfs and try to cut down on costs on my BOM.

1/4/2026 - started reroutingthe pcb and BOM optimazation

rerouting the pcb to not use hotswap sockets to save on cost. I also dropped purchasing the rotary encoders, oled, and i2c expanders for the time being for the same reasion so for the time being i am only going to get the keyswitches and stabs. i am still over budget but not as much as it was before.

1/5/2026 - Finished routing the PCB

Routed the PCB. i ended up just completely redoing it because i was switching to a 5 pin switch footprint and the one i was doing was a different footprint library then the rest of the footprints and it had swapped the row and col holes and i didn't really think to much about it until i had switched all of the 1.25u+ footprints over and i couldn't use the undo button. I ended up reverting to the last time i had saved witch was before i had routed all the traces. I switched to the same library as all the 1u switches but changed to the PCB footprint instead of the plate footprint which was only a 3 pin switch footprint. Any was i am at the point of editing the case to fit the pcb again because i expanded the pcb up to get all of the col traces to fit nicely.

1/8/2026 - Setup the firmware

Got the firmware for the stuff that is going to be included to start with working and will add more features like the encoders and oled display once i can afford to order them myself.

1/17/2026 - updated bom to be cheaper

i found cheaper key switches and stabilizers on aliexpress i guess i just didn't look hard enough the first few times i looked. i am not going to get the diodes or pico from aliexpress becasue i would rather pay a bit more for the pico and know that i am getting the correct thing and the diodes are cheaper through digi key becasue the highest amount of the diodes i could find on aliexpress as 100 so even with the shipping for digi key it will still be cheaper.

1/30/2026 - update readme

Added build instructions to the readme. They are simple but should get tbe job done. I dont know what else my readme might need at this point. Words hi.

2/17/2026 - did some research on case design

Did some research on case design by which i mean asked if my current design will work on the r/mechanicalkeyboaeds subreddit. The response was it will work but it could be better. I dont care enough about designing a better case for it at the moment because most likly i will be using a cardboard case untill decide to make a good case for it or i can buy a case that fits my keyboard. So unless i need to i'm going to stick with my current case design.

Link to reddit comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/s/nkDasGzuxI

3/5/2026 - start work on a better case for my keyboard

started working on making a case for my keyboard in FreeCAD (if i need to learn cad software then i at least want to learn an opensource cad software). havent gotten very far but i have at least figgured out what workflow i want to use.

3/7/2026 1 PM - got pretty far on the case

I restarted the case from the ground up sense i know more what i was doing sense i started watches and mostly following along on a FreeCAD turrial series. the hardest part was placing the standoffs because i was having an issue with the line snaping to the x-axis on the line i was using as my refrince point to add the position contraints for the standoffs. which made me either figure out how to stop that from happening or sense the standoff holes on the pcb where close to the middle of the pcb anyways i just moved them to be in the center so i could use the line that was snapping into position anyways.

3/7/2026 4 PM - finished building the case

finnished placing the inner holes for the heat set inserts and added the cutout for the micro-usb port on the pico. i originoly was just guessing were the cutout needed to go baised on the mesurements from my PCB but that ended up to be to far down and to the right of where it needed to go so i brougt the 3d model of my pcb into freecad and edited the location of the cutout to fit.