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Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

chadaustin.me

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Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#31

Post by alexvoda »

amelius wrote: post #29
murderfs wrote: post #26

> Given tantalum is a rare earth metal, it might be nice to replace it with a ceramic and maybe a 4 Ω resistor in series. I’d love any input here. USB allows for 10uF of capacitance, and you don't seem to have an LDO on your board, so you don't need a minimum amount of ESR to maintain stability. I don't think there's any reason you can't just replace the tantalum with a ceramic? > https://chadaustin.me/images/sculpt/…

> This is shockingly bad. What is so bad about it? I suppose they ordered prototype quality.

Look at the first long trace in the top left sector. It is detached from the board. That is a rather serious manufacturing defect.

Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#32

Post by murderfs »

alexvoda wrote: post #31
amelius wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is shockingly bad. What is so bad about it? I suppose they ordered prototype quality.

Look at the first long trace in the top left sector. It is detached from the board. That is a rather serious manufacturing defect.

The thing that confuses me is that this obviously happened as part of PCB production (there's solder mask under where the trace should be). However, the assembly looks like it was done by hand: tons of solder on D1, and R5 is facing the wrong way. How could you possibly not notice that??

Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#33

Post by amelius »

alexvoda wrote: post #31
amelius wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is shockingly bad. What is so bad about it? I suppose they ordered prototype quality.

Look at the first long trace in the top left sector. It is detached from the board. That is a rather serious manufacturing defect.

Yes, that's bad indeed.

However, I've ordered from PCBWAY quite a lot recently, and I've never experienced anything like this, even on prototyping-quality boards. Also, the solder mask is much thicker (pcbs don't look semi-transparent like this one), and look more professional (I didn't order any assembled boards so I can't say anything about their soldering job). How long ago did the author order these pcbs?

The defect could also be the result of the author trying to fit the pcb into the keyboard.

Anyway, rest assured, on current PCBWAY boards traces are covered under a thick layer of solder mask and it is extremely difficult to remove them from the board (I just tried with a sharp metal tip on an old board).

Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#35

Post by hackerfromthefu »

w4rh4wk5 wrote: post #22

Great work. Something I'd definitely want would I still be using the Sculpt. Like others have mentioned here, the Sculpt suffers from other issues apart from being wireless: My biggest issue is the small, poorly constructed F-keys. Switching to regular sized keys on the Microsoft Surface Ergonomic shows how bad they actually are. Anyway, is there a way we could get Microsoft to build a Sculpt v2 which fixes the short…

Yeah the function keys getting stuck is poor form, but once you notice it a few times it's easy to prevent.

I'm still using it, and the mod I dream about is inserting my kensington trackball into the gap in the middle .. it's the perfect position for it!

Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#37

Post by hellojason »

czechdeveloper wrote: post #19

I loved the keyboard, except longevity (of pieces I personally got) was really really bad. As for the mouse that comes with it, I went through 3 of them (left button started to randomly not click, about once every 3 clicks which drove me crazy) and then just gave up. Keyboard itself could be said that I damanged as I tried to remove key to clean crumb that got inside and I could never get it back.

I suggest an Evoluent[0] mouse if you’ve never tried one. I use the Vertical Mouse 4 wired edition.

[0] https://evoluent.com/

Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#38

Post by 1MachineElf »

skocznymroczny wrote: post #24
imagine99 wrote: post #8

I'd actually like a mod the other way round: There are a bunch of great mechanical keyboards (such WASD V3, daskeyboard prime or many other amazing custom builds) but they are all wired. I don't know why they don't make proper mechanical wireless keyboards (they are bulky enough that a battery should easily find space). But a wireless conversion mod would be the next best thing. Due to my (unchangeable) desk situatio…

Most mechanical keyboards fans prefer to use PS/2 connectors instead of USB because of latency, it's unlikely they will accept wireless any time soon.

This is true for me, but I don't think it is true for the majority of mechanical keyboard fans. I do however wish it was easier to output PS/2 with custom firmware like QMK used in this post. I've even hoarded some PS/2 cables for when that day finally comes.

Re: Microsoft Sculpt Wired Conversion Mod

#40

Post by MrUnderhill »

w4rh4wk5 wrote: post #22

Great work. Something I'd definitely want would I still be using the Sculpt. Like others have mentioned here, the Sculpt suffers from other issues apart from being wireless: My biggest issue is the small, poorly constructed F-keys. Switching to regular sized keys on the Microsoft Surface Ergonomic shows how bad they actually are. Anyway, is there a way we could get Microsoft to build a Sculpt v2 which fixes the short…

Agreed, we sorely need a Sculpt mk II. It is one of my favorite keyboards too, I had big plans to incorporate a trackball into the empty space in the middle [1] (somehow make the split spacebar act as mouse buttons). But the terrible Esc & F-keys has put me off so far.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/ld4cgVc.jpg

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