Friday Product Post: Under the Cherry Moon
New Cherry MX Switch products, and an update to our Shapeoko/Stepoko line!
Guess what; it's Friday! Since it is Friday we of course have some new products for you to check out. This week we have some cost effective yet high quality key switch options, as well as a new revision to the Shapeoko/Stepoko product line. Without further ado, let's see what Nick has for us this week!
Thanks Nick!
Cherry MX Keyswitches are top-of-the-line mechanical keyboard switches. They’re satisfyingly “clicky,” reliable up to tens of millions of key presses, and a standard in gaming and programming keyboards across the globe. This blue version Cherry MX Switch is favored because of its secondary internal actuator, which makes it less likely to "double-tap."
Of course you're going to need some way to hook up your new Cherry MX Switch, and we have you covered. With the SparkFun Cherry MX Switch Breakout, we have made the switches more easily adaptable to breadboard or perfboard-based projects. The Cherry MX Switch Breakout is a perfect prototyping tool for projects ranging from a single-key user input to fully-custom, 101-key keyboards.
A new revision to our Shapeoko and Stepoko product line? Yes, indeed! The new revision of the Stepoko board updates the firmware to the latest version (0.9j). We've also added a piece of thermal gap filler to help electrically insulate the board from your chassis and prevent ESD problems. Finally, we added three cable carriers to the Deluxe kit to help get your cabling under control.
The firmware and thermal gap filler changes have been represented on the Shapeoko Deluxe Kit, as well as the SparkFun Stepoko Motion Control Add-On Kit, and finally the SparkFun Stepoko.
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, that's it for this week. Make sure to check back with us next Friday for some _R_eally _F_un new products! See you then!
If those Cherry switches have as nice a feel to them as the old IBM model "M" keyboard did, then I have a challenge for you guys. How about designing a PC board to hold 102 of those bad boys for a computer keyboard project? The key caps would be 3D printed of course, so someone would need to design those and have the STL's available for download. With the bulk discount on the switches (you'll have to have more in stock to meet the demand) it could be a reasonable project given what a good model M goes for these days!
It would be fun to be able to do a completely custom keyboard project... and actually, they mention that as part of the idea behind that breakout board. But ouch... 102 key keyboard = ($0.86102) + ($1.66102) = $257.04, and that is before factoring wiring, chassis, etc.
But for one-off applications? Still glad they've added this to the product line... the footprint of the Cherry switches are a little awkward if you just want to play with or proto them.
Well, if I were to do it I'd design a custom board that would take the switches directly so no need for the breakout board. That brings the parts cost for the switches down to $87.72. I'd probably publish the PWB design on OSHPark so anyone who wants it could order the board. Do the schematic and layout in KiCAD with the project on Github, and the case and key-caps on Thingiverse. Totally open-source keyboard.
I'd offer to work on it, but I don't have the money to prototype the schematic and first run of boards. (Probably looking at a grand just for prototyping as long as multiple revisions aren't needed...)
If only I got a tax refund instead of owing more money... My birthday is coming up if anyone wants to buy me the Shapeoko Deluxe Kit for me to assemble for my local maker group, just tell the customer service person to ship it to the address on my account. ;-)
You know, the more I think about it, I realize that I'm only half joking here.
My local maker group (Barrel of Makers in Wilmington, DE) is a registered non-profit and is just starting out so we don't have much equipment yet. It would make a nice $1k tax deduction should anyone be interested. I just want to put the thing together and have access to it. :-D
Next Friday's products wouldn't have anything to do with Radio Frequency would they?
You'll have to wait if you want to really find out.
Maybe a caption contest where all submissions are acrostic