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Keypad Disaster

A project log for Custom Intellivision Controller

There have been many redesigns of the Intellivision controller. This is mine.

deftcoyotedeftcoyote 06/15/2025 at 00:490 Comments

I assumed I could limit the travel in the low profile mechanical keys to get something I was happy with, but every attempt didn't feel correct. I put the switches and keypad on a board together, so that's what the lower traces are for. I used an engraver to make the leads. The engraver doesn't quite cut deep enough unless you run it a couple of times. Then I have to drill the holes, which is obviously tedious with a tiny drill bit.

I then modeled and resin printed some keycaps. There were various designs to get a feel like the membrane dimples. They turned out pretty well, but as you can see from the last image, they just won't work with overlays. Also, ignore the one I broke. :)


So for now I'm going back to a membrane keyboard, and I'm moving all the buttons and switches to a new pcb.

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