Desoldering, Mill-Maxing, and Why You Might Want to Learn Both
Thanks to StoryboardTech’s fantastic article, you finally learned how to solder! Or at least, you’re committed to learning. So, what’s next? Well, if you’re brave enough, why not learn how to desolder as well? And when you feel confident with that, how about Mill-Max? You don’t necessarily have to know or learn how to solder before learning how to desolder or Mill-max, but in my opinion, getting comfortable with soldering is a great step towards learning how to do the other two, and if you know how to solder, you can practice desoldering and mill-maxing to your heart’s content since you’ll already have the tools from learning how to solder! Well, at least most of the tools. Let’s start off with the good ol’ disclaimer section first, however. Disclaimer These are my own opinions and my own thoughts, and if I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that we all do things in slightly different ways. Whether it be deadlifting, desoldering, Mill-Maxing or even baking...
Jan 13, 2025
Default Hotkeys
Fn + Page Up: Home Fn + Page Down: End Encoder Knob
Press: Mute Rotate counter clockwise: Volume down Rotate clockwise: Volume up Keyboard Option Keys
Fn + N: Toggle keyboard 6KRO/NKRO (Default state 6KRO). Flashing
Fn + Backspace (hold for half a second and release): Put keyboard into firmware flashing mode (also referred to as “reseting the keyboard”) Key Swaps
Fn + Left Control + O: Swap Alt and GUI/Command Fn + Left Control + \: Swap Left Control and Caps Lock LED Keys
Fn + Q: LED - Toggle LED sections (keys + edge, keys only, edge only, all off) Fn + W: LED - Increase brightness Fn + Shift + W: LED - Decrease brightness Fn + S: LED - Decrease brightness Fn + Shift + S: LED - Increase brightness Fn + E: LED - Increase scrolling speed (for animated modes) Fn + Shift + E: LED - Decrease scrolling speed (for animated modes) Fn + D: LED - Decrease scrolling speed (for animated modes) Fn + Shift + D: LED - Increase scrolling speed (for animated modes) Fn + R: LED - Increase hue value (for modes that support it) Fn + Shift + R: LED - Decrease hue value (for modes that support it) Fn + F: LED - Decrease hue value (for modes that support it) Fn + Shift + F: LED - Increase hue value (for modes that support it) Fn + T: LED - Increase saturation (for modes that support it) Fn + Shift + T: LED - Decrease saturation (for modes that support it) Fn + G: LED - Decrease saturation (for modes that support it) Fn + Shift + G: LED - Increase saturation (for modes that support it) Fn + A: LED - Change to next RGB mode Fn + Shift + A: LED - Change to previous RGB mode Fn + Z: LED - Change to solid color mode Fn + X: LED - Change to breathing solid color mode Fn + C: LED - Change to rainbow wave mode Fn + V: LED - Change to rainbow pinwheel mode Fn + Left Control + 1: LED - Set all LEDs to red. This change is not saved when keyboard is unplugged. Fn + Left Control + 2: LED - Set all LEDs to green. This change is not saved when keyboard is unplugged. Fn + Left Control + 3: LED - Set all LEDs to blue. This change is not saved when keyboard is unplugged. Fn + Left Control + 4: LED - Set all LEDs to white. This change is not saved when keyboard is unplugged. Keyboard Memory
Fn + Space: Clear keyboard settings. This will reset LED settings, key swaps, and 6KRO/NKRO.
Build Notes
Firmware, Source Files All four of the following firmware files are now available directly in the Drop Keyboard Configurator app (see "Flashing Your SENSE75").
Flashing Your SENSE75
With Drop Keyboard Configurator app (Windows, Mac)
- Download the latest release of the Drop Keyboard Configurator app:
- Windows: https://dro.ps/keyboard-configurator-windows
- Mac: https://dro.ps/keyboard-configurator-mac
- Launch the Drop Keyboard Configurator.
On the "Flash Firmware" screen, choose "Drop SENSE75".With QMK Toolbox (Windows, Mac)
From Command-Line Terminal (Linux, Windows, Mac) For Linux instructions, see QMK's documentation for flashing from the command-line terminal.
Configuring Your SENSE75 With Drop Keyboard Configurator
Overview
- If you have not already downloaded the Drop Keyboard Configurator app, you can download it here:
- Windows: https://dro.ps/keyboard-configurator-windows
- Mac: https://dro.ps/keyboard-configurator-mac
- Launch the Drop Keyboard Configurator.
- In order to use the Drop Keyboard Configurator app to configure your SENSE75, your SENSE75 must be running "QMK XAP" firmware. See "Flashing Your SENSE75" section above.
Go to the "Configure Keyboard" screen. If you SENSE75 is connected and running QMK XAP firmware, you will see it listed.Click "Configure". You should see an overview of your SENSE75's current configuration.
Before you can make changes, you must unlock your SENSE75 by clicking the "Unlock" button and then acknowledging the unlock by pressing the ESC key on your SENSE75. You should see the banner turn green. This unlock is required for security reasons.
Keymap Configuration The Drop Keyboard Configurator allows you to change your SENSE75's keymap on a per-layer basis and on a per-key basis.
- If you have not already unlocked your SENSE75, unlock it using the steps from the "Overview" section above.
On the right side of each layer under "Current Keymap", you will see two buttons: "Change" and "Customize".- The "Change" button allows you to replace the whole layer's keymap with one of the presets or a keymap layer that you have saved previously. The Drop Keyboard Configurator currently has presets for Windows, Mac, and LED/media controls. This is a quick way to switch between Windows and Mac keymaps.
The "Customize" button takes you to another screen where you can change your keymap on a per-key basis. This screen will look familiar to you if you have used other keyboard configurators before.Lighting Configuration By default, your SENSE75 will show the same global lighting effects on all layers. With the default keymap, you can change the global lighting parameters like which effect is running (the RGB "mode") and hue/saturation/value/speed (not all modes are affected by all values). With the Drop Keyboard Configurator, you can choose a specific lighting effect to show when each layer is active, overriding the global lighting effect. If you'd like to do so, follow the these steps:
- If you have not already unlocked your SENSE75, unlock it using the steps from the "Overview" section above.
Check the "Override global lighting" checkbox for the desired layer.Click the "Customize" button below to go to the "Customize Lighting" screen. There are a lot of lighting effects, so be sure to scroll down to see them all.
Configuring Your SENSE75 With VIA
Configuring Your SENSE75 With Vial