10/4/2025 - Making sketches n stuff

wowowowow first (actual) entry of blueprint

Today marks the first journal in my dream keyboard! I have many ideas in mind for blueprint, including a tiny battle bot and a monster can launcher, but i'm lazy and school n stuff so this will do for now

I plan the keyboard to be a 75% layout since I don't want a keyboard that's absolutely massive, but also do want a function bar on top. I also want the keyboard to be spaced kinda like the keeb on the top (in the picture below), but also not waste a bunch of empty space trying to fit microcontrollers, screens, etc.

• tl;dr, layout like 75% keeb but without excessive space on the outside

I also (stole) acquired a ton of screws and standoffs from my robotics class, so I also plan on integrating them into the design.

• My main plan is to somehow integrate the aluminum standoffs into the feet/case of the keeb, with maybe having the top shell or plate be attached with the screws and standoffs
• I'm mainly inspired by Logan Peterson's keyboard which has really clean brass standoffs on the side and some type of clear acrylic

10/6/2025 - Planning Parts (ill do the actual schematic later fr fr)

Today I worked on the schematic for the keyboard.
I mainly want the microcontroller to be a RP2040 Raspberry Pi Pico, since I already used it for my other keyboard projects (check it out and star it now pls). I kinda don't like the green color for it, but I'll try to find a copy of it in a different color on Aliexpress.

Since I'm going with a 75% keyboard, I'll need 82 keys in total. I plan on having two knobs on my keeb, so I'll be replacing one of the keys (top right one that's not del) with a knob, as well as an extra one on the side, bringing up my total to 83.

• i know i said i didn't want extra space on the outside but whatever

I'll also add a screen and (hopefully) some RGB

• I say hopefully since finding the LEDs I want for my keeb (SK6812 mini) on aliexpress with a relatively trustworthy seller will be hard (at least from my experience)
• I could get away with using full size RGB LEDs, but they're gonna be harder to fit on the PCB

10/18/2025 - i did the schematic fr fr

damn i have not worked on this in a long time 💀 (mainly because i foolishly had most of my progress on my school laptop + robotics, its now on the github repo :yay:)

anyways i finished the schematic

Initially I went with a 6x14 matrix for my keys, since it made sense according to my layout, but had to compress it to a 9x10 matrix in order to make space for stuff like knobs, screens, and RGB lighting.

i also renamed the project to brew since i like coffee and whatnot (also a more cozy name)

I plan on adding more RGB lights since I found a really good deal on aliexpress for Sk6812 minis but ill keep this for now

(i have a volunteer opportunity in like 30 minutes as of writing lma

12/2/2025 - Drawing the Schematic

Today I (remade) made the schematic for my keyboard

Since I'm using *84 keys in total for the keyboard, I'll split the matrix into 9 rows and 10 columns. I originally planned for 6 x 14 for ease of wiring and stuff but I ran out of gpio pins :sob:

• (yes i said 83 in the other post I CANT FUCKING COUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

FILLED with global labels..

I also found a seller for the IC used for the usb hub on Aliexpress

• I used the hack club USB hub tutorial to guide my research and parts
• I ended up using and finding a seller for the SL2.1A IC, the 10 microfarard capacitors, and the USB ports :yay:

After some time organizing the schematic (thanks to Oreek on slack for showing me the draw rectangle tool lmao) I finally finished the schematic for the keyboard

i got LAZY and STUPID and now its like 17 days after the last devlog xd

12/15/2025 - Applying Footprints

today in ap stats i added footprints to every part instead of watching my ap classroom videos

lowk just documenting this now so I dont forget in the future

I had to scour the internet for the right footprints and such to fit every component (made especially hard since I can't access aliexpress stores in school)

• I made the diodes the same small footprint as the ones in the Hackpad, since I already have a bunch of those and found a good seller for those awhile back
• I also used a PDF for 10 uf capacitors to find the correct footprint for the USB Hub capacitors, using the 5mm diameter footprint Everything else was relatively simple though. I used the default RGB LED footprint in KiCad for my keyboard, and used footprints I found online for both the OLED and the keyswitches.

12/26/2025 - lock in time (designing PCB)

merry christmas :3
anyways time to lock in

Today I added some more RGB lights to my keyboard schematic and started work on actually laying out the footprints for the PCB

• I used the KiCad plugin kicad-kbplacer to help with this process, since I want a staggered keyboard layout and can easily make it through keyboard layout editor After some fiddling with the editor, I got this layout for my keyboard

I threw in the .json file into the plugin, but couldn't really figure out how to work the diodes and the encoders, so I just had it generate the layout and left the diodes, routing, and everything else to my own

12/27/2025 - lock in time part 2 (designing pcb)

published the last journal in case if i forgot

I fiddled with the layout tool at keyboard layout editor a bit in order to fit the rest of the components (microcontroller, screen, etc.) in a way that looked good to me

• I ended up staggering the 4 macro keys vertically instead of horizontally, since it looks cooler to me and provides more space for the microcontroller

after I got the keys all laid out, I manually placed each diode in place under each key and then got to work on the rest of the components
the microcontroller was pretty easy, but the usb hub was significantly more tedious

• for some reason i couldn't find the array tool which would've made laying out the usb connectors easier, so I had to manually space them out with KiCad's X/Y system
• (trust me I spent a LOT of time looking for the array tool)

after that, I put down the RGB lighting. I knew I had to be wise with my lights since I had only so many and their relatively large size (I'm reusing 5050 size rgb leds from an old Highway project), so I decided on lighting up the USB hub, function bar, and the space/lower portion of the keyboard.

• learning from previous builds, I placed the RGB lights in a loop, similar to how the schematic is structured in order to make routing easier
• I also considered and avoided where stabilizers would go on the PCB, in order to prevent me from placing RGB right below them
• speaking of stabilizers i also threw them in

I plan on having the PCB be mounted with a plate (top-mount specifically)

having a top-mount keyboard like this allows me to 3D print a custom plate, which with my white filament should allow me to diffuse the RGB lights facing upwards

• having a plate also allows me to get a better and more consistent sound across the keys

I also added a quick edge cut to the PCB, allowing me to get my first 3D model of the PCB

• HELP I FORGOT THE KEY AND KNOB MODELS 💔

12/28/2025 - ROUTING 💔

yeah this devlog is all about routing

I chose a 9x10 matrix for this keyboard, which inevitably ended up biting me in the ass since my keyboard is most definitely NOT a 9x10 layout

• although having a 9x10 matrix allowed me to fit everything I wanted into the GPIO limit of the Raspberry Pi Pico (like screens and knobs), this made wiring a pain

the rows were relatively easy, but the columns were the main thing I was fearing

• this is mainly because I was using the KiCad plugin to automatically generate my layout with my .json file, which ended up scrambling ALL of my columns (remember the 9x10 matrix ordeal)

if clarification is needed, please refer to the constellation of rat lines below:

but anyways i finished the routing

• I had to use like a million vias to manage to thread everything together but WE SHOULD BE FIIINE
• I used the usb hub tutorial to guide my routing for the USB hub, since the hub is technically it's own subsystem of the PCB
• this meant isolating it from the rest of the copper fill (+3.3v and GND)
• I also used chunkier wires to connect the USB hub (due to the tutorial and the use of 5V power in the system

after this I did the copper fill for both 3.3V and GND, and ran into more problems (yay)

• this was done since I didn't want to mess with any more routing for the LEDs (and also i like the look of it)
• these were just a matter of connecting islands together with vias, but was tedious none the less
• I often had to find myself checking with the Design Rules Checker to look for any missing connections, since near the end of the routing all of the rat lines blended in with the back copper wires > this is also the part where I realized that cmd + B removed any copper fill!)

to isolate the USB hub circuit, I realized that you can just use a different GND variant in the schematic to separate the different grounds

• (i used the GND1 symbol in this case)

• this allowed me to comfortably place the ground fill on the top layer, with all of the USB hub power routing since I knew they were separated from each other automatically
• ^ initially I had the ground fill on the bottom layer and 3.3V on the top, but I swapped them around which made routing them MUCH easier

I then figured out how to add 3D models to my components all at once (possibly saving me like 30 minutes of pure struggle individually doing each of them)

• I did this by finding the footprints I used in my PCB, tracing them back into the footprint manager in KiCad, then uploading and updating the 3D models for each footprint that was missing a model
• thanks reddit

now time for silkscreen art! :DDDD

1/4/2026 - yay silkscreen!!!!

yay silkscreen!! I love drawin and putting random stuff on my keyboard!!!

but first, new edge cuts

I did this since:

• it makes drawing on the PCB much easier on Figma since I can crop a frame around it and add art from there (plus it also makes drawing PCB bordering much easier)
• it also looks much cleaner compared to the previous one

anyways time for silkscreen art n stuff

• I first added on an outline to the board for aesthetics. I was pretty lazy tbh with the usb hub portion so I just excluded it from the outline (along with the pads for the raspberry pi pico), and then threw on a cool slashed lines effect onto the ends
• turns out you can hold shift to snap lines drawn in figma to specific angles! made drawing the outline much easier ngl

• I then repeated this onto the other side of the board

• after that, I added my own lil' logo from #fusering into the corner of the board where there was an awkward empty space
• learning from my hacker card project, I made the graphic as a F.Mask, which should expose the copper underneath the solder mask, making the logo look shiny in the final product

I then focused on the main part of the board

• I took inspiration from other keyboard PCBs i found on the internet with cool large text on them and made a text graphic with the keyboard's name on it
• I bounced around a couple of fonts to choose from, considering doing all caps with a sans-serif font like Helvetica and such, but I chose this specific font since I feel like it matches the rounded/minimalist vibe of the keyboard PCB as of now

the board looked a lil' empty in my opinion even after the text, so I went back into figma to draw up something

• I initially tried drawing a coffee cup or a glass coffee maker, but I had trouble fitting it into the minimalist/clean vibe of the keyboard
• eventually I added on "75" to the end in a different font in figma, since I noticed many other keyboards having their name include their size (JD40, Keycool 84, etc.)
• making the "75" in a different font adds a bunch of contrast to the already existing font (since tbh it was kinda an afterthought), and tbh it looks cool to me
• to do this, I added an outline to the E and W to erase from the numbers, used outline stroke, then deleted the area I wanted
• since the new 75 was now covering up some components, I went back in figma and made special holes to expose the footprints for easier assembly (and less annoying DRC warnings)

near the empty space below the raspberry pi, I put some extra graphics about me and hack club

• fun fact: the X comes from a free font I found somewhere on instagram as part of a sale! its called Y1Vectura
• another fun fact: the :3 comes from my previous submissions to #bauble and #solder

for the back, I grabbed the Blueprint logo off of the github found here and threw it into a photo editor to color everything black other than the hack club text, and pasted it onto the back

• I plan on adding more goofy shit to the backside since the front is already kinda the "formal" and "official" side
• ^ i say "I plan" since its like 1 am rn lmao

1/19/2026 - lil extra silkscreen

adding a tiny little more silkscreen cuz im at an overnight field trip and its midnight

recently I've been doing a redesign/rebranding of our robotics team 550F, and lowk wanted to include it onto my keyboard PCB so on the back it goes

also im putting my both of my friend's kitties onto the back (say hi to winston and remi)

after throwing in some inside jokes n stuff, i made this:

i'll possibly add some more art to the backside, but i wanna focus on getting the CAD done rn

2/22/2026 - pcb redesign (?)

yeah so turns out the pcb was a tiny bit too wide for my plate + case
anyways research time

most other keeb PCBs I found online are usually really small compared to mine, with their PCB edges being nearly on the edge of the keys themselves

• this allows them to reach that slick thin edge around the keyboard keys
• I want to achieve this thin edge as well in my end product, but would also mean a total redesign of the silkscreen art and pcb edge cuts

while I was doomscrolling in bed for like 2 hours straight I came across a really slick looking low-profile keyboard by WORK LOUDER

• this is specificaly their Nomad E 2, and while it costs like $350, its design reminded me a lot of my design
• the video also contained a bunch of over variants for this keyboard, and most notably had a small little space on top the keyboard
• initially in this project I wanted to eliminate the amount of empty space around the keyboard, but this specific design managed to make it look real clean, which I now want to implement into my keeb

however doing that would most likely mean redoing ALL of the routing and outlines
so for assurance I made a copy of the current keyboard and started working

3/13/2026 - the redesign

19 days until blueprint ends wooooo
i've been working on this on and off for a while, but my progress has been pretty unorganized so i'll try to recap

anyways time to finish this thing

• I started first with routing the USB hub
• I did this since everything else from the keyboard pretty much had to wrap around it, so i'd probably be better to get this out of the way first

• I slimmed up the trace width by a hair (0.8mm to 0.5mm), since it allows me to compact it by a bunch and clean up the traces

• after that i did the routing for the keys

• I wired the rows first since they were the easiest to tackle, planning to place the wiring for the rows on the top copper layer and the columns on the bottom copper layer

• I tried my best to keep the routing orderly but the geometry of ts genuinely pmo(but hey the rows look cool)

featuring the via texan interchange!

during school i also started work on the case
I used ai03's plate generator and the JSON for my keyboard to generate me an SVG for my plate

• after a couple of tweaks in Fusion, I matched up the SVG to my new keyboard layout

• due to me changing around the positions of keys n stuff i had to adjust some of the hole placements
• the SVG automatically came as all fixed, so I had to manually add constraints and dimension the holes (thus why you see a cluster of tangent constraints n shi)

there's much more i'll do later but i just wanna get this out rn its been like 3 weeks :sob:

3/14/2026 - finished routing + SILKSCREEN!!!!!!!

today I finished routing the PCB and redid the silkscreen for the keyboard
(also happy pi day! :D)

• the new placements of the leds definitely made it easier to set up the ground fill lol

in addition to the new ground fill, I decided to add slots for potential screws to fit inside in preparation for the plate

• I did this since the top part of the keyboard was kinda looking chunky + I wanted to minimize space between the outer edge of the case and the usb ports
• this was also when I realized kicad measures holes by radius and not by diameter (accidentally made 9mm wide slots)
• they're a bit off center since my fat components are in the way

after this, I started work on the silkscreen art again

• thankfully not much changed with the silkscreen, just some minor resizing with the border and new placements for all my references n stuff
  
  I also kinda realized how mid my previous silkscreen on the back was kinda mid lowk

• now that i have time in spring break, i can devote time into a proper back now

• I took inspiration from people stickerbombing things (namely the hack club magazine) and decided to mash together different memorabilia of different projects/graphics I've done

to get some of the graphics I had to go back into Fusion and create drawings from my models in order to get accurate PDF vector files of them, which i converted into SVGs for figma

• I used this technique on the sculk shrieker project, my tuna bauble, and the biblically accurate angel in all im actually really happy on how this turned out :D having everything overlap and cover each other makes the collage feel more complete rather than just lazily pasting on images from my computer

complete list:

1. tuna (solder ysws)
2. Flavortown (robotics team, not to be confused with the ysws lol)
3. h card thing (highway/undercity, from cheap suits hacker card)
4. computer (sprig)
5. darter darter (irl Hack Club)
6. geg tech (personal brand)
7. biblically accurate keyboard (highway)
8. tuna can (bauble ysws)
9. irl sculk shrieker (highway)
10. nikki's art server (friend commission)
11. engipad (highway)

3/16/2026 - entering the cad mines

today i worked on designing the plate and case of the keyboard

• After adding in the slots to the PCB from the previous log, I updated my cad assembly and started work on the plate and case
• I tweaked around the holes in the plate, adding a small offset to each hole to ensure switches can actually fit inside
• I also made the offsets controllable with a parameter (which should save some headache later down the line i hope) After that, I removed parts in the case to open up the USB hub, microcontroller, screen, and leds, then added the holes for the screws to thread through btw i plan on this keyboard to be a sandwich mount (the plate is sandwiched between top and bottom shells)

after doing the plate, I started work on the bottom shell

• this was relatively easy, since I could bounce off the geometry from my plate through the project command
• After a couple tweaks with press pull and adding geometry to the USB hub, I completed the majority of my bottom shell
• to give the keyboard a slight tilt, I extruded the bottom by a bit more then used cut bodies to create an incline

(its late rn and i wanna sleep so im ending it here)

3/20/2026 - finished the top shell

finished the top shell :yay: (got distracted with smp stuff with friends lmao)

Modeling the top shell was surprisingly tedious, especially in how I wanted to approach the microcontroller/screen part of the keyboard

• Although I could've kept that part the same height as everything else, the screen was hard to see when looking at other angles
• it also just looked lazy tbh

I had the idea of lowering that general corner down and tried tackling it by making a "divot" type shape and then using fillets to smoothen everything out

• I ended up scrapping this idea though, since I didn't really like how this turned out + the geometry being a pain to tweak around

I had some trouble coming up with new ideas or shapes, so I looked to other keyboards for inspo

• I considered raising the screen itself by using female headers in place of soldering the screen to the PCB (similar to commercial keyboards have their screen flush to the front cover), though I wasn't really a big fan of spending extra money for headers on aliexpress
• In the end, I went with a "valley" type shape, similar to @SharKingStudios' keyboard for Highway, and applied the valley shape to encapsulate the entire corner of the keyboard

After getting the shape down, I went ahead and did some decoration to the components

• I spammed fillets on sharp corners to make a smoother look, as well as adding decorative corners to the screen (credit again to logan)
• I also went ahead and added a decorative "cover", which includes my keyboard's name, as well as gaps to expose the reset button for easy coding and to expose the cool silkscreen on the raspberry pi (hopefully showing the pico logo on it as well!)
• I also made covers for the encoders, covering up the exposed parts and leaving the shaft open so I can place a 3D printed knob on them
• I left the top bar of the keyboard empty, since I want to slap on some stickers on top + have the LEDs shine through
• And lastly, I placed a simplified version of my logo in the empty bottom right corner

After some tweaks with screw holes and the USB hub, I finally finished the top cover :yay:

3/23/2026 - Started on BOM and made a funky knob

i had nothing to do in class today so heres what i did instead

Today I started work on my BOM and made a quick little knob for my encoders

• I reviewed the required checklist for being reviewed and i did the stuff that i could do rn
• I still need to do firmware and upload my files to GitHub, but I can only do those on my home pc so I'm currently focusing on my BOMm README.md, and smaller Fusion stuff in school

While going through my BOM, I realized that I kinda do need a knob for my encoders

• Although I can buy one off of Aliexpress, it's probably way better to just model it myself due to costs
• Using my really old Highway guide (see here!), I made my knobs in fusion and threw on a knurl using the Coil commands and Circular pattern
• I plan on adding some extra pizazz to the knob in my final renders/versions, but this'll do rn

3/25/2026 - finished BOM and had to revise my usb hub

hello i finished my bill of materials

• Weeks ago I set aside some links for some of the parts I needed from Aliexpress for easy access later on when I got to the BOM
• now im at the bom and i realized that i was working with the wrong type of capacitor the entire time lmao (aliexpress capacitor was 220uF, usb hub needed 220nF)

This led to me swapping out the footprints for my USB hub capacitors for an SMD variant that had the right capacitance on aliexpress

• honestly it wasnt that hard to swap out, just change up the footprints in the schematic file, update, then reroute the already kinda close routing to the new pads
• thanking my past self for organizing my wiring wooooo This does mean that I have to update my github and some parts of my 3d model, but it honestly shouldn't be that big of a deal tbh

3/28/2026 12:03 PM - FIRMWARE!!!!!!

a bit backlogged on journaling but we ball

I finished the firmware to the keyboard using QMK firmware

• I already used this firmware for my previous projects, so it honestly was a matter of copy and pasting old code and referencing the docs
• specifically, i used code from my macropad project since it had working code for LEDs and the oled display

after that I made the keymap for the keyboard

• Initially I had everything set up to type A, but i figured that would be pretty hard to debug so I just threw on all of the keycodes im using into the matrix
• after that, I added some recycled code for the OLED and read the QMK docs to include the encoders

Since i (obviously) dont have the keyboard right now, the firmware in the github is most likely NOT working rn but its a good rough draft for 90% of the functions

3/28/2026 12:17 PM - cool cad rendering n stuff

after the firmware, I only had to update the README.md and sanity check the project left

so lets update the readme with some extra cool renders

• the coloring was fairly easy, with the letters being the only thing somewhat difficult due to fusion being a bum and selecting the entire component instead of a face
• I based the colors off of the keycaps I had selected (brown keys + cream accents), going with a brown and orange color scheme that matches up with the whole coffee theme that my keeb has
• orange is also just my favorite color so yeah

anyways enjoy the following renders

![brew render 4](/user-

3/29/2026 10 AM - the sanity check of doom and despair

got my keeb sanity checked by Person20020 on slack (thanks a ton btw if youre reading this!! :D)

• they told me that my input USB for the usb hub should be changed to either usb c or micro/mini usb, since USB A is typically only used by host devices
• since the usb hub is a slave device, having usb a as the input would most likely not work
• (i also dont have any usb a to usb a cables lmao)

this was actually a pretty easy fix tbh
I dug around for information about usb c and micro usb, and ended up settling on micro usb

• this is bc micro usb is much simpler than usb c, since micro usb has only one orientation while usb c has two extra pins for orientation
• micro usb also seems easier to hand solder due to having less pins compared to usb c

after that, i swapped out the symbol for the input with micro usb in my schematic, updated the footprint, and rewired everything back up

• i initially didnt know what to do about the id pin, but after scrounging around in stack exchange, i learned that i had to leave it unconnected for the usb hub to count as a slave device the smaller micro usb does look a little weird next to the larger usb a ports, but it shows no errors on the drc and should work :D

after that, i had to update the cad model

• i could've technically just left it there, since the usb A hole had tons of space for the micro usb but it looked off and comically silly for a small port
• like the pcb it was also a pretty quick fix

also i redid some renders by increasing exposure so its brighter go look on the github if you wanna see cool shi ok bye

3/29/2026 6 PM - THE SANITY CHECK OF DOOM AND DESPAIR PART 2

AGAIN
(pls dont take this as an insult koji ur actually a life saver lmao)

anyways they found a comically silly mistake in my leds where i swapped around my 3.3V and GND on my schematic

• seeing the 70 errors on my DRC caused me to have a tiny panic attack when i updated my schematic but we push through 🗣️🔥
• I swapped around the ground fill and rerouted the leds so not short circuit (strangely enough after updating the schematic the pcb file still kept the 3.3V routing even though it was connected to gnd)
• after consulting with the DRC for the one millionth time, I managed to route everything up :D

I also had to reroute some ground fill in order to make my corner logo shiny again