Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Assembling keyboard PCB for DSKY substitute

BUILDING DSKY SUBSTITUTE FOR USE WITH APOLLO GUIDANCE COMPUTER

Keyboard mechanism

The PCB was delivered December 24th to Marc. I picked it up so I could work on it over the holidays,  before we all get back together.  Boards provided by PCBWay.com to support the project.

Top of blank PCB
Underside of PCB
The translucent plunger part also arrived on the 24th. It looks perfect, but I can't verify the fit or the light dispersion characteristics until I receive the honeycomb part and build the PCB. Actually, I only expected translucent but this is closer to transparent.

Translucent plunger
I am also tracking the honeycomb plastic part from Shapeways, which is listed as due for delivery on December 26th. Since it was to be transferred by UPS to the USPS as part of their 'mail innovations' program, I suspected it is bottom rung priority for the post office and may not make it on that date.

Tracking the package on the 26th shows that UPS has not even physically handed it over to the USPS today, in spite of their misleading status message claiming that it had been. We shall see when it actually arrives.

The switches were soldered onto the board first. Next would be the LEDs and limiting resistors, allowing me to judge the light intensity through the plunger, although I don't have the actual components on hand yet. I could install the I/O extender chip and connectors while I wait.
Top of board, only missing LEDs and limiting resistors
Bottom of board is complete
Plunger atop a switch, but without coil spring that sits in between

Keycap not in correct place and honeycomb still missing, but cap across a plunger

No comments:

Post a Comment