I was initially excited about my Keychron V6 keyboard, I was looking forward to a thockier keyboard and wanted the customizability with qmk. The V6 seemed like a good match. But after unboxing it, I realized that the south-facing LEDs weren’t ideal. I had just purchased Razer PBT keycaps, which I loved, but they didn’t work at all with the LEDs and the escaping light underneath just blinded me.
I tried to make the setup work with custom keycaps from fkcaps (https://fkcaps.com/custom/5ELZPQ). While they were cool, they weren’t the same as double-shot PBT keys. The setup wasn’t ideal but I just stuck with it.
When I saw a YouTube video about building a keyboard with KiCad, I was inspired to try it myself. I used an ATmega32U, because I thought it would be easier to integrate, but it did have it’s challenges: limited I/O meant I had to sacrifice the layout switch, and my matrix is best described as “tortuous”. Despite a few errors on my PCB (a group of LEDs were not connected and I completely missed the holes for a stabilizer), the final PCB works amazingly well.
I’ve added a few photos below showcasing my setup before PCB assembly. You can see the light issues under the keys and how the laser etching from fkcaps isn’t very durable.
EDIT: I’ve published the files to github in case anyone wants to have a look: V6 conversion
What about the matrix, “Japanese” duplex or something?
“Japanese” duplex
No, lol! I wish I had known of this or would’ve been clever enough to come up with something similar. I basically just yolo’d it the best I could. It was a torture.
Super cool! Great job. That’s the one thing that bothers me about their boards. Maybe I’ll give this a shot too
It was a fun process, much recommended. I’ve got an extra 4 pcbs that require a few bodge wires if you’ve got a V6. :D
Any chance you’d release these files? I might wanna try this too. I miss my shine through keys.
Yes, I want to, just haven’t gotten around to put it all together yet. But it’s on my to do list.
Awesome thanks!!! I’ve really wanted to do this and this would help me learn this way more than on my own.
I’ve put everything up on github: V6 conversion. Have fun. If you are going to get into this adventure, this might come in handy (it helped me): How to Build a Custom Keyboard From Scratch
Wait, how did you have the physical PCB? 3d Printed?
