MacroPad

Fracture Pad (A macro pad project)

Description:

A macro Pad for use in CAD and general productivity + convenience, mainly for use in CAD... but up to you to decide what you want to use it for, I included an OLED screen to display things like animations or info like RAM usage.

Features:

• 1.51 inch transparent oled screen
• 9 cherry MX switches
• Back lit RGB leds for each switch (SK6812 MINI-E)
• 3 EC11 rotary encoders
• 3D printed voronoi patterned snap lock case NO SCREWS NEEDED for assembly of case (only screws are needed for the mounting of the OLED driver board which are provided in the oled package bought from waveshare)
• NO HEAT ISERTS REQUIRED as the oled board can be mounted on 3D printed standoffs by just threading the screws on since not a high amount of strength is required for mounting of the driver board.
• 3D printed TPU feet to prevent the macro pad from sliding around.

CAD model:

Info:

The casing is made up of 3 main layers OLED cover --> Case Lid --> Case bottom. Things that should be 3D printed are Rotary encoder knobs, All casing layers and OLED driver board standoffs. The casing has a OLED cover so the OLED driver and screen can be removed from the PCB so it can be reused. YOU MUST solder the MX switches after putting the PCB into the case (bottom and lid) since the lid contains a key panel to support the MX switches.

"Note: Created in solidworks"

OLED cover:

Case Lid:

Case bottom:

View of PCB mounting:

Exploded view:

Schematic:

Info:

• GPIO expander used to host the keyboard matrix allowing me to have 3 rotary encoders.
• Decoupling capacitors added for RGB LEDs and GPIO expander.
• Thru hole pads added for oled wires that connect to the oled driver board.

PCB

Info:

• 2 layer PCB with ground plane included.
• 113mm (width) x 86mm (length).
• M3 sized mounting holes for securing the PCB. (No screws are used for mounting of this PCB in the case)
• I recomend to get the manufacutre to assemble ONLY THE SMD COMPONENTS the PCB for you as i use SMD variants for diodes, capacitors and components to save space, unless you know how to do reflow soldering and have the equipment.
• There are some DRC errors but those should be fine to ignore as i think it should be fine to cut of a 0.1mm of a RGB LED pad.

Firmware overview:

• Work in progress...

BOM

• 9x SK6812MINI-E RGB LEDS.
• 9X Cherry MX keycaps.
• 85g of 3D printing filament (optional 3 colours and TPU feet)
• x10 MLCC ceramic capacitor 0.1uF
• x9 Cherry MX Mechanical Switches
• x1 XIAO RP2040 (MCU)
• x1 MLCC ceramic 4.7uF (SMD)
• x1 330Ω resistor
• x1 47 µF Electrolytic Capacitor
• x3 EC11 Rotary encoders
• x9 1N4148 Diodes (SMD variant)
• X1 PCF8574AT (GPIO expander) (SMD variant)

Ai usage declaration:

Since this was my first PCB project i used ai extensively for research and learning how to design PCBs and how to use ki-cad. e.g. "How wide should this trace be" or "What is a decoupling capacitor when should I use it? Does the GPIO expander need a decoupling capacitor..." I ONLY USE AI TO LEARN like now i understand why decoupling capacitors are used and how they are connected and now i understand power traces like 5v should be wide and ground traces if needed should be wider to allow low resistance path... ill be happy to answer any questions regarding this. I also used AI during programming since i overcomplicated things for this board with an additional GPIO expander and 3 rotarty encoders so i kinda messed up during qmk codding so i used ai just to fix everything cause yk... it was so painful.......................... probably around 25% of the code.... i mean it should be................................................................. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa