Components finally! (Well... at least some of them)

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Yesterday I received the MCUs and some other parts for the keyboard. I'm still missing the CR2032 holders and the case. I hope they'll arrive soon...

Anyways here's some pics:

1N4148 diodes installed.

Angled programming header for the MCU.

And now for the tricky part: the YJ-14015. I choose these because they are cheap and have a smaller footprint than the Core51822B but looking at them I was worried I couldn't solder them. Solder paste to the rescue!

This is the most difficult component I have ever tried to solder but with the solder paste it was a breeze. I put some masking tape on the MCU to keep it in place, then I added the paste. A quick pass with the soldering iron and the job was done. I did a few touch-ups with the tip of the iron here and there just to be sure.

Not bad.

It's testing time!

Since I don't have the battery holders yet I improvised using the ST-Link programmer as a power source. After uploading the firmware...

I checked and all keys are registering. Excellent!

Now I need to wait for the last pieces of the puzzle and the keyboard is finished. Soon I'll update the Redox project repository with all the instructions and components needed for the project.

Stay tuned!