ErgoDox Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboard Kit Discussions | Drop

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ErgoDox Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboard Kit

Mech Keys

FULL DISCUSSION

Lagomorph

Mar 27, 2014

Successful Ergodox build here! It was my first time soldering, so to anyone who is considering getting one but is hesitant: trust me, if I could do it, you can do it. Two things, though – use a temperature-controlled iron with a fine tip, and make sure you keep the tip tinned. It will take a good amount of time, so budget accordingly. I think mine took about 6 hours total.
If you have a multimeter (you probably should; you can get a cheap one for $25 and they come in handy for all kinds of things), it's useful to check your diode connections as you make them (after I finished a row, I flipped the PCB over and checked the pads on the opposite side)
A few things about how Massdrop is awesome: spare parts AND the Teensy riser was already soldered on! I got what looks like 2 dozen extra diodes, 2 or 3 extra resistors, 1 extra ceramic capacitor, at least 1 extra LED (I forget if it was 1 or 2), 2 extra Cherry switches, and 1 extra keycap!
I'll be keeping these spares in a little baggy in case I need to fix something in the future.
The most frustrating part was actually cutting the USB cable open with an Xacto knife. Took forever, and I'm actually surprised that I didn't cut myself, since I was tired by that point.
As one YouTube comment points out, you don't HAVE to strip the USB wires before feeding them through the holes in the PCB. You can feed them in with their covers and then solder away, which should melt away the plastic in the process. HOWEVER, I'm not sure if this is "good form" or if it makes the solder joints less likely to work properly (i.e. potentially having bits of melted plastic somewhere in the joint). All I can tell you is that I used "extra" solder to account for this possibility, and it worked first try.
One last word on the Ergodox (since this is turning into a blog post): it takes some getting used to. At least for me, the vertically aligned keys felt very weird. I usually type at 80 WPM and clocked myself at 25 the first time I tried typing on the Ergodox. You get used to it pretty quickly, so don't get too frustrated at first.
Many thanks to Massdrop for the great work and for having patience with a lot of us picky, discriminating technology dorks. I feel like if you can provide good customer service for this demographic (and in my mind you have), you're probably prepared for any other customers you pick up in the future.

Mar 27, 2014