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Post by spannernick on Jun 18, 2021 12:05:54 GMT
I done some tests on my keys and used Tipex... , it's not that bad.... on some of the keys I put to much on so you have to be careful because it can go everywhere.
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Post by Bleugh on Jul 2, 2021 18:11:44 GMT
I done some tests on my keys and used Tipex... , it's not that bad.... on some of the keys I put to much on so you have to be careful because it can go everywhere. View AttachmentLooks good
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ender
Creatures
Posts: 39
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Post by ender on Aug 21, 2021 8:34:08 GMT
I have a new workflow for using the original keycaps with less work and much better precision: I used the little stem caps I designed earlier, and instead of creating a mold and then cutting up they keycap plates before gluing, I glued them in place as they were using JB Weld, to get a strong bond and a very long hardening time, so I had plenty of time to get them in the right position.
With the little caps in place they become removable, so after that I could just remove the two parts from the PCB and separate the keys afterwards. To separate them, I sanded the bottom down a bit, and then just cut them loose with a scalpel, which worked really well.
So this yielded removable keycaps that fit perfectly, with much less work and no need for a gypsum mold.
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Post by Bleugh on Sept 4, 2021 14:35:47 GMT
I have a new workflow for using the original keycaps with less work and much better precision: I used the little stem caps I designed earlier, and instead of creating a mold and then cutting up they keycap plates before gluing, I glued them in place as they were using JB Weld, to get a strong bond and a very long hardening time, so I had plenty of time to get them in the right position. With the little caps in place they become removable, so after that I could just remove the two parts from the PCB and separate the keys afterwards. To separate them, I sanded the bottom down a bit, and then just cut them loose with a scalpel, which worked really well. So this yielded removable keycaps that fit perfectly, with much less work and no need for a gypsum mold. Sounds Superb :-) be sure to post pictures so I can put 'em up on the blog
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Post by Bleugh on Sept 4, 2021 14:42:03 GMT
Hi All, New firmware is available - I've done a significant refactoring of the QMK code used in the keyboard - the Keymap is now almost perfect.... There's still one or two things it won't do, but, Right now, if you use UK as the keyboard layout in the mini, it should work perfectly. Any and ALL feedback is appreciated, if something's not quite right, let me know. I've making the underlying code, schematics public, only the gerbers and keycap STL's won't be public until I exhaust stock of the PCB's and 'cheap' components i've hoarded, likley another 12-24 months yet just to clear out about 6 bajillion diodes and 2 bajillion switches I've posted the new HEX file on the blog, there's quite a few tools that will upload the file, I've found QMK Toolbox and 'auto flash' to work brilliantly, hold space and B on most keyboards whilst shorting the reset jumper, on newer ones, you are supposed to only need to hold CTRL whilst booting, BUT, I'm still figuring that out - Mashing most keys around that area, including CTRL, SPACE and Shift whilst shorting reset seems to bring it into arduino update mode.
I'll make that much more elegant as soon as I figure it out :-) The big boys mechanical keyboards have a nice procedure, can't for the life of me figure out why it's not quite as elegant (yet) on the Mini!
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Post by c64stuff on Sept 4, 2021 15:35:49 GMT
This is so cool. I hope you're planning on doing a kit for the A500 too. Also, since there's a slew of cheap C64 minis out there right now it might be a great seller to offer selling the C64 mini already with the keyboard done. Many didn't buy it because of no working keyboard and they'd probably jump at the chance if they could get one with the keyboard being real. If I were you I'd also send a kit to 8 bit guy. Seems like the perfect project video for him as he has at least two minis judging by his prior reviews.
Soon as I'm back to work I'll be buying one of your kits. Recovering from an accident at the moment.
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Post by Bleugh on Sept 5, 2021 11:53:26 GMT
This is so cool. I hope you're planning on doing a kit for the A500 too. Also, since there's a slew of cheap C64 minis out there right now it might be a great seller to offer selling the C64 mini already with the keyboard done. Many didn't buy it because of no working keyboard and they'd probably jump at the chance if they could get one with the keyboard being real. If I were you I'd also send a kit to 8 bit guy. Seems like the perfect project video for him as he has at least two minis judging by his prior reviews. Soon as I'm back to work I'll be buying one of your kits. Recovering from an accident at the moment. :-) thanks for the compliment!, I have been keeping an eye out to buy up cheap mini's and sell them ready modded! I'm about to list one on eBay as soon as it's finished!...I'm curious how much it would fetch as adding the keyboard represents over 4 hours of work (maybe 7-8 total if i do the keycap colouring) in the evening or weekend which would put the sell price over the original RRP if I pay myself minimum wage I do plan on trying to do an A500 version, i've invested weeks of time learning the QMK firmware to try to go over the 81 key limit that the Arduino 32u4 offers the other possibility is a Raspberry pi Pico / RP2040 as it has many many more IO/s, i'm in the process of setting up a dev environment for the pico and a custom C64 mini board for testing the development, fun! Hope you recover from your accident soon
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Post by Bleugh on May 7, 2022 8:47:09 GMT
anyone in the UK can pick up a Mini from Game for just £29.99! that's cheaper than my upgrade kit :-P
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Post by jiepiewie on Aug 21, 2022 10:15:13 GMT
Is this somewhere for sale? Or are there other keyboard-mods for the C64-mini? I would love to get a working keyboard on my mini!
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Post by c64stuff on Aug 21, 2022 12:32:47 GMT
For a video and step by step on this kit check out RetroRecipies channel.He probably has a link posted in the video description.
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Post by crashdelta on Jan 12, 2023 6:32:42 GMT
Interested
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