2/10/2026 - Finished the case and the code

I had some trouble with the code because it wasn't working, but I finally got it working. I modified a lot of the original casing, adding a couple of things first something on the bottom to hide the screws, and I covered the ESP32 because the hole looked bad.

2/21/2026 - Description of the macropad construction

I was asked to describe a bit more about the construction of my macropad, so I'll explain a little more about how this project came about. I started by following the Hackpad tutorial, installing KiCad and Fusion 360. Following the tutorial was easy, and since I needed to add something, I decided to add a small OLED screen and an encoder. I started making the PCB, but I hadn't noticed the 100x100mm maximum size. Originally, I used a 0.96-inch screen, which was square and not the right size. I modified it to the correct size, although a large part of the macropad ended up completely blank. I decided to put a picture of a chihuahua there to represent my pet (may he rest in peace, as he passed away a few days before I finished my macropad). I also designed my case for the PCB and decided to round the corners. Also, after I finished soldering all the components, I printed the case using only the two filament colors I had, which were black and yellow. The problem was that the top of the case wasn't perfectly aligned, so I sanded it down and it turned out fine. That was the whole process it took me to make my macropad.

2/22/2026 - Detailed journal

Schematic:
I started with the design of my schematic; I hardly changed the schematic itself, I just made the mistake of confusing the screen, but that wasn’t a big problem, it just needed to be changed. In the end, I went with a design of six buttons, an OLED screen, and an encoder. I wanted to add some LEDs, but in the end I didn’t add them because I didn’t have any pins left. This was my finished schematic.

PCB DESIGN:
After finishing my schematic design, I started with my PCB. I did modify this one multiple times. These were some of my first designs, considering that I had gotten the wrong screen:


I didn't realize how much I liked this last design, but I hadn't seen the 100x100mm maximum limit, so I had to discard that design. I thought about other designs and ended up with this one:

This design looked extremely good with the square screen, but when I uploaded my design, they told me that the screen I used was the wrong one, so I had to discard that design and change the screen to a smaller one. It didn't look as good anymore, but I still liked the design.

Now that I have my PCB design and schematic finished, it was time for me to learn how to use Fusion to create the case for my PCB.

Case design:
I started with the design of my case, which was simple thanks to the tutorial, to be honest. I only had to change the top part once to add space to be able to access the XIAO, although in the end I covered it again because I felt it looked aesthetically bad. When I was working on the interior part, I didn’t take tolerances into account, so I had to sand it, and when the PCB went in, it was so tight that I couldn’t remove the PCB. The top part had an issue because I didn’t size it perfectly, so I had to sand it as well, but in the end, the whole case design turned out perfect, I just added the bottom part to make it look nice. This is my first design:

This is my final design:

Building of the macropad:
The construction of my macropad was relatively simple. My PCB was brought by a family member from the United States, and I waited almost a month for the components. Once I had all the components, I started soldering. To be honest, I don't have photos of the soldering process, but it wasn't that complicated. This was my PCB without the components:

Here is a picture of some of the parts of my Macropad:


I decided to use nuts at the bottom to keep the top part attached to the bottom part. At first, I tried using the inserts, but they didn't stick very well and came off, so I tried the nuts and they fit perfectly. I also put on one of the free stickers that Hack Club gave me.

Code:
Honestly, there's not much science to the code, it's just the code that was made with AI since I don't know much about programming in Python. It took me a long time even with AI, and I also didn't know what to put on the screen. I wanted to put Bongo Cat, but it didn't look that good, so I decided to just put the last macro you used. Maybe in the future, I’ll add a layer system that shows which layer you’re using, but that’s for later.

Finished Macropad:
This is my finished macropad, I feel proud of having accomplished it since it was something completely new to me. I feel that in the future I could make another macropad, even better than this one, which is very good. Here are some photos of how it looks: