12/15/2025 8 PM - Researched the parts needed, KB Layouts, doing the schematic

Starting time 8:04PM 12/15/25
End 8:41 PM 12/15/25

Basically decided i am going to do a:
88-Key 80% Switch Layout
Sk6812 Minis for the backlighting
Esp-32 for the microcontroller, benefit is the Bluetooth capabilities
USB-C 3.x or smth cause leds have high current draw

12/15/2025 9 PM - a LOT of research, found the switches i am going to use

Start: 8:43
End 9:44

Settled on the CPG151101D01 from HanElectricity as the switches

Researched a CRAP ton more and made out the general layout for the switiches i want, about 6 by 16ish (-10 switches) so about 86 Keys, about 24ish channels. I have 2x 16 Gpio extender things rn so that means about 12 gpio pins that i can use for other stuff like a rotary encoder or a screen. Most likley going to use it for a rotary encoder, or something else.

12/16/2025 - Worked on the schematic

Start: ~5:30 PM
End: 6:30PM

Work:
Almost done with power rail schematic, usb c port is all wired up. ESP-32 is nearly all wired up, working on the i2c expanders next. Will finish the esp-32 part soon as well...

12/18/2025 11:18 PM - Finished Logic Side & redid bc easyeda didnt save automatic

Start 10:20ish
End: 11:20ish
I lost almost every bit of my progress. I thought that easyeda would autosave so it deleted my progress. Anyway, in the process of doing this all over again i realized i wired up the enable and boot button wrong... Anyway i'm almost finished with the "logic" side of this. made sure to save it this time ahhashdashahsdhasdhasdhashd

12/18/2025 11:39 PM - Finished key Column Schematic part

11:20
11:37

I used the diodes for the columns as well for the anti ghosting. Basically i did the schematic for the keys, ill do the rows tmrw, gonna go sleep

12/19/2025 10:36 AM - Finished the key wiring for schematic

Start: 10:18
End: 10:35

I essentially finished the schematic wiring for the columns and mapped all the rows and columns to their respective gpios on the i2c expanders.

12/19/2025 10:48 AM - Working on the led array

Start: 10:35
End: 10:46
Basically I set up the array of leds, started work on the power distribution system for them as well as the data things. Will finish when i get home.

12/19/2025 2:15 PM - Finished Schematic (Haven't run through ERC yet)

~1:10 start
2:13 End

Pretty much finished the whole schematic, running it through erc next. Also need to do the rotary encoder but after thats done, moving onto the actual pcb part. IE the layout and the routing... lets see how that goes.

12/19/2025 2:33 PM - Schematic Finishing Touches

start 2:13
end: 2:32

Worked on fixing some things in the drc as well as added a rotary encoder, will try to switch to pcb asap. might have to swap out the specific usb device for smth else.

12/19/2025 7:29 PM - Working on the pcb now, looking at keyboard key spacing

start: 6:55pm
end: 7:29pm

Got the DRC to be "All Clear!"

Working in PCB editor right now and looking at the exact key spacings and layout for the keyboard. This is going to be by far the hardest part.

12/19/2025 7:49 PM - Working on the key layout again

7:29
7:49
Working on adding onto each switch's silkscreen layer with the 1u thing. Will make it so that there are also the different sized keys as well like the space bar and enter key.

12/20/2025 2 AM - PCB Key layout done

Start: 11:30pm
End: 2:01AM
Finished the PCB Key layout. Correct spacing and all, with a roughly 80% layout but condensed on the right side. took HELLA time to do ts correctly, next laying out the other stuff, like the diodes, the leds, and all the other components

12/20/2025 2 PM - Working on PCB & Battery/Power system

start: 12:54 PM
End 2:24 PM

Did a lot of changes especially to the power system, now including a battery and a whole battery charging cuircuit thing. And also did a lot regarding PCB key placement as well as the general layout. Also had a hefty conversation on #bluprint-support about wheter or not to use 5pin switches

12/20/2025 3:26 PM - Layout Work (Mostly Done Now)

2:24 - 3:26
Did the layout for EVERY SINGLE DIODE AND LED. Was a terribly tedious task especially since the net labels were all arround the place due to the fact that the switches had swapped arround.

12/20/2025 3:54 PM - Working on Routing

3:26 - 3:53

Did the ground pour now working on routing the components. Doing switches first. Done with the rows, moving on to the columns and then the logic/led/power side!

12/20/2025 4 PM - Finished Switch Routing

3:53 - 4:18
Finished the rows and columns, essentially finishing the routing for the switches. Next the leds, then the logic and then finishing touches before cadding and final producting.

12/20/2025 7:02 PM - Finished routing every single led

5:30pm
7:00pm

JUST finished wiring every.single.led :cryin: yea it was a hell of a pain as well but finally done. Next Logic side, then pcb should be done!

12/20/2025 7:59 PM - Routing Logic and Power Part 1.

7:00pm - 7:56PM

Working on logic level now, routed every row and column to their respective pin, did a differential pair for the usb-c data lines. now finishing off the logic and base power level routing. will be done sooooon

12/20/2025 8:37 PM - Pt.2 & Finished Routing everything (pre drc)

7:56 - 8:35

Done with routing logic and power. In fact, done routing everything! It should be good to go once i run drc, but for now everything is routed and set!

12/20/2025 8:39 PM - Post-DRC update

YESSS, everything came back with 0 errors. anyways what next is to see how much it will cost do pcba, then model the case in fusion 360, then compile the github repo

12/20/2025 11 PM - Finished up some stuff in the pcb and started the Case Model

start 10:00PM

Did a lot of fixing when it comes to small issues and inconvinences for the pcb. Turns out pcba is too expensive so looking into some cost cutting measures... working on the cad model now

12/21/2025 12 PM - Put the Diodes on the back of the pcb

Start : 11:17am
End: 11:59am

Sooo it turns out that i cant put the diodes and the led on the top of the pcb in the footprint of the switches. The problem is that i have to reroute everything now. Anyway done with the diodes, next the leds!

12/21/2025 5 PM - Flipped over and re routed every single led

This took a crazy ammount of time because i had to individaully flip over and re route every single one of the 96 leds. After that there were a lot of copper fill areas without gnd so i had to fill those in and fix those connections. Finally done tho

12/21/2025 9 PM - Worked on the case

Worked a bunch on the CAD model for the case, need to add holes for the screws maybe, and then split it all in half bc its too big to print in one big piece

12/21/2025 11 PM - Cad part 2

Did some more cad. Was planning on making a bump on the back for an incline but decided against it because of the difficulty in printing and remembering about all the supports that would need.
Oh yea, also changed arround the measurements a lot to get the minimum width with battery in mind

12/24/2025 7 PM - finished the cad model

Pretty much redid the whole thing but with propper measurements and did the screws for the top part and body. I also added a slot for the covering thing for the battery compartment, where its like a slit where you put a rectangular prism in.

12/24/2025 10 PM - Worked on pricing, BOM, and started making my own caps.

I've been looking at pricing a lot rn and this is most definitely going to go over budget so I am switching this to tier 2 (LOW tier 2). My keycaps are also going to be custom mainly because my dumb ahh decided to use pretty custom widths for the keys. In effect however, the pcb became cheaper because it was smaller than the it otherwise would have been. Planning to 3d print the custom keycaps, and one thing that i really need to look out for is shipping prices for the 3d printed parts which will likely go to arround 20ish hence why i chose to switch to tier 2. anyways going to finish my handmade custom caps soon, looking at cherry mx style which reflects my switches.

12/25/2025 - Finished the first (model) keycap

I made the 1 u keycap, made it super minimalist and unique, looks amazing, its a "top-only" design meaning that only the top part of the keycap exists (ie no walls), the benefit of this is the fact that the rgb will shine through really well and due to its curved underside and slightly concave design, it is meant to reflect light off, enabling more diffusion for the light and giving it a really cool looking underglow of sorts. I spent a hella long time perfecting the dimensions and the clearance as well as making it look insane (3d printed support torture but still)

Just look at this:

12/26/2025 1 PM - Working on extending the keycaps for the bigger keycaps

As the title states, i am working on extending the keycaps to accomadate for the larger keys, also i am almost done with the first row, finished all the 1u caps, now onto the wider ones such as this 1.25 u one

12/26/2025 2 PM - Finished the keycaps

Finished modeling the keycaps. looks a bit chopped with it looking like some pieces arent connected but trust, everything is connected and good! I will work on the final "assembled" look and submit for review!

12/27/2025 12 AM - Did the assembly part 1

Did a lot of work regarding the modeling of the assembely and had to do a CRAP ton because i realized that since i changed my pcb a bit, it affected the size of the case greatly. also decided to have the case raised to a height of 26mm from the original one of just 17mm. I also had to edit the plate. One thing that took a hell of a lot of time was the pcb stuff because i have never used a pcb in fusion before and never imported anything, that combined with the fact that the 3d models for the switches were missing and because i had to manually do that made just the pcb part take about an hour. After that since my laptop kept on crashing due to the hundreds of 3d models that made up the pcb component, it lead me to have a misserable time with the "fixing the case according to the new measurements of the pcb" time as well and I am still not done with that!

12/27/2025 1:38 AM - Assembly part 2

Finished the "body" part of the assembled part, now i just need to add the keycaps in and I should be done! Yea... so close to finishing, (its 1:38 AM here rn)

12/27/2025 1:46 AM - Did the first key... this is torture

Yea so the first key itself took 6 minutes and i have like 85 keys left to align perfectly, so it might take me like 8 hours lmao. nah fr tho, i can do probably 1 hour for just this.

12/28/2025 1 PM - Finished the assembly (part 4)

Finished aligning every...single...one of the 86ish keys. It took hella time because of the tedious nature that the task ensued. Also had to change the widths of some of the keys in order to fit properly. Therefore making it so that it took longer than expected. finally finished tho, gonna fix the print file accordingly as well, and then submit for design review

12/28/2025 3 PM - Prepping for submission

Finished the BOM with more accurate information, worked on the github repo and finished that as well as the readme in preparation for submitting for design review. Did a lot of other stuff as well in order to prep.

Github repo:
https://github.com/shinkensen/Xenon-KB/tree/main

Here is the google drive project folder for everything bom and screenshot related: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_GYV8TD-opU9jGdwIyMG7L0oK-KXUA7e?usp=sharing