11/11/2025 - Made the PCB, Code, and Case

Sorry for the one journal, I was originally making this as a Hackpad so I didn't have journaling abilities.

I originally created the schematic with all the traces going directly from each key individually to a GPIO, which I quickly realized was not going to work for all 28 keys I needed. Domain helped me figure out how to use tags in Kicad to "matrix" them into columns and rows to allow you to put a lot more on a board, but I still ended up having to move from a XIAO to a Pico to get the extra GPIO slots that I needed. Kai Pereira then helped me fix all my problems, which were few, the only big issue was that when I moved my neopixels down I accidentally drew another trace right through one of them which would have messed up the entire PCB.

When I first began my schematic I was using the XIAO RP2040 chip because it was small and I had lots of experience with it, but as I was dealing with so many buttons I had to switch to the Raspberry Pi Pico for the extra GPIO slots. I should have routed all the switches on the right of the PCB in the schematic to the right GPIO slots, but as this was the first keyboard I had created I made the mistake of wiring it all onto the left side, which made routing much harder. I should have just redone the schematic, but it passes all DMC checks ( except for the silkscreen overlap thats always there ) Kai Pereira was a huge help with this:

I had a bunch of experience with Fusion 360 already so the case was pretty easy. I based it off of the keyboard design I have where the base PCB is visible with just keys on top of it and a case on the bottom and for it to come up partly on the sides. To create it I created a schematic with the full diameter of the keyboard so roughly ≈200mm by ≈75mm. I did run into an issue because I created the sides in the same schematic as the bottom of it, and I forgot how to extrude each one separately so I ended up just creating two schematics and joining them for the sides and bottom of the case. To add text I created a brand new schematic over where I wanted it to be and just used Fusion360's built in text tool, and then in the editor I used the cut tool to place it about 2-3mm into the floor of the case. For production I am planning on just 3d printing it myself:

11/18/2025 - Created 3D Render

I created a 3d render of all the parts together, with the PCB, keycaps, switches, and case.

I had issues figuring out how to get the PCB file from Kicad to Fusion360, but I found all I had to do was upload it into a folder in Fusion360 and then I could right click and press import into current project.

11/26/2025 - Reviewer info

For any future reviewers information as I seem to answer the same questions a lot:

1. PCBWAY is much cheaper for larger boards them JLCPCB. In this case by about $50.
2. The RP Pico is cheaper then the XIAO ( it's only $4 ) and it works just as well while allowing space for future upgrades like LED'S.
3. There is purposely no top-plate as it was based off of the ANNE PRO 2, which does not use one. I like the look much better.