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DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

arstechnica.com

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Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#51

Post by tapland »

adrianN wrote: post #7

>Fans of Hall-effect mechanical switches note that they should last longer than traditional mechanical switches since they don't rely on metallic contact, which can result in degradation. Has anyone ever typed so much on a keyboard that the switches wore out? Aren't they good for literally millions of actuations?

I've seen keys fail after heavy use, but so far all of them have been the solder joints connecting the switch to the circuit board giving up.

Mouse switches on the other hand...

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#52

Post by rr888 »

323 wrote: post #26

At this rate, soon each switch will have a programmable controller inside, and you'll have drivers adjusting them as you type. Thought idea: predict what key you are about to press next, and make the ones around it stiffer so you are less likely to press them by mistake.

It actually makes sense to measure a linear scale of pressure instead of a single click, with a smart driver that knows if its a key you typically hit hard or gently eg d (index finger) vs z(little finger).

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#53

Post by avnigo »

323 wrote: post #26

At this rate, soon each switch will have a programmable controller inside, and you'll have drivers adjusting them as you type. Thought idea: predict what key you are about to press next, and make the ones around it stiffer so you are less likely to press them by mistake.

The iPhone keyboard actually does something similar by dynamically expanding tap zones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPmVKyhyl9U

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#54

Post by mannykannot »

dotancohen wrote: post #30
323 wrote: post #26

At this rate, soon each switch will have a programmable controller inside, and you'll have drivers adjusting them as you type. Thought idea: predict what key you are about to press next, and make the ones around it stiffer so you are less likely to press them by mistake.

> Thought idea: predict what key you are about to press next, and make the ones around it stiffer so you are less likely to press them by mistake. If the bottom magnet were an electromagnet, then in fact one could make the keypress stiffer. As it stands, this project only changes the actuation point, but not the stiffness curve. That said, I would love the feature that you mention. It could possibly introduce a new f…

With an electromagnet, you could take that control of feel far enough give it a buckling-spring ‘click’ feel.

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#55

Post by simplyinfinity »

blibble wrote: post #10

steelseries apex pro keyboards have these sensors they're great if you use the same keyboard for gaming and actual work (beware though: linux support is non-existent, although you can control the keyboard entirely without the shitty steelseries software)

I've been using the apex pro TKL variant for 3-4 years now, it's an amazing keyboard! Would recommend it!

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#56

Post by Majromax »

highduc wrote: post #23

seems like wasted potential by not reading the sensors with an ADC. you could have analog keys this way, which opens up a whole new world.

For a macro pad, maybe. For a full-sized keyboard, that would be a lot of ADC channels. Looking at Digikey, ADC chips seem to be about $0.50 per input in bulk, and that would add a lot of BOM cost to the keyboard.

You might be able to do better if you instead feed the Hall output into a sample-and-hold filter constructed out of a much cheaper op-amp. I suspect that would be an interesting engineering challenge.

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#58

Post by userbinator »

adrianN wrote: post #7

>Fans of Hall-effect mechanical switches note that they should last longer than traditional mechanical switches since they don't rely on metallic contact, which can result in degradation. Has anyone ever typed so much on a keyboard that the switches wore out? Aren't they good for literally millions of actuations?

I think it has more to do with how hard some people type, rather than how much; I've never worn out keyswitches but heard of plenty of others who did. Yet I've definitely typed more than several megabytes of text.

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#59

Post by londons_explore »

Majromax wrote: post #46
londons_explore wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably the spring mechanism wearing out - the actual electrical part is still working properly.

That's also the part that isn't worn out under this hall effect approach; the keys are magnetically levitated.

Unfortunately a magnetic approach alone won't easily give a suitable force Vs displacement curve for a keyboard. The affirmative 'clunk' feeling as a key goes down isn't easy to replicate with fixed magnets

Re: DIY mechanical keyboard switch lets you set its actuation point

#60

Post by Karliss »

highduc wrote: post #23

seems like wasted potential by not reading the sensors with an ADC. you could have analog keys this way, which opens up a whole new world.

I assume you are referring to the part where article says that (hall effect sensor) "output being used to trigger MOSFETs". I have no idea where that came from, but in the schemeatics and code I looked at hall effect output was read using ADC like you would expect. Otherwise how else would you change the actuation point? You could digitise it by comparing it against adjustment pot with a discrete comparator IC, but that seems like 80% of hassle with 20% of functionality. Sample keypad in the linked repository doesn't do that. Either I am looking at different repository or Arstechnica writer blindly copied from the hackaday article, and hackaday writer was half asleep while reading schematic so wrote complete nonsense.
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