a fancy pants keyboard i'm making
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README.md

The thyme keyboard#

blueprint

More deets coming soon 👀#

A split, low-profile, wireless mechanical keyboard inspired by the Corne design. Made possible through the hackpad grant from Hack Club.

BOM#

Part Quantity Price Link Description Notes
PCB 1 $25.15 JLCPCB 2-layer, 1.6mm, black, leaded Hasl I wanted to get ENIG but that bumped the price by $20
Choc v1 switches 50 $27.50 Chosfox pink variant: 20+-5 gf linear $0.55 per switch
1u keycaps 40 $14.00 Chosfox White PBT low profile $0.35 per keycap
1u homing keycaps 2 $0.80 Chosfox White PBT low profile $0.40 per keycap
1.75u keycaps 2 $1.65 Chosfox White PBT low profile $0.83 per keycap
Total cost: $16.45 average of $0.41 per keycap
SuperMini NRF52840 (Nice!Nano footprint) 2 $8.30 AliExpress Wireless Microcontroller $4.15 per MCU
Machine Sockets 2.54mm 1 $1.75 AliExpress 26x2 needed to socket the two MCUs comes in a 10 pack of 40x1 rows
Machine Pins 1 $3.99 AliExpress 26x2 needed to socket the two MCUs comes in a 100 pack of 4 per header
Power Switch 4 $0.39 DigiKey added an extra switch for each side as backup $0.10 per switch
JST PH 2.0mm 2-pin Connector 4 $0.40 DigiKey $0.10 per connector
Diodes 42 $1.43 DigiKey 1N4148 $0.03 per diode
Total cost: $7.66
301230 3.7V 110mAh LiPo Battery 2 $6.30 AliExpress the non jst ones are cheaper but the crimper is 60 bucks and there is no way im buying that $3.15 per battery

Total cost: $85.11

Shipping / Tax / Tariffs / Per store shopping list#

Store Shipping Subtotal Total Items
AliExpress $9.43 $26.64 $36.07 2x SuperMini NRF52840, Machine Sockets, Machine Pins, 2x LiPo Battery
DigiKey $6.99 $4.49 (tarrifs and tax) $11.48 4x Power Switch, 4x JST Connector, 42x Diodes
Chosfox $5.00 $43.95 $48.95 50x Choc v1 switches, 40x 1u keycaps, 2x 1u homing keycaps, 2x 1.75u keycaps
JLCPCB $10.55 $14.60 $25.15 1x PCB

Total shipping: $31.97
Total cost: $122.67 (including shipping, tax, and tarrifs)

Schematics#

schematic

pcb

Build Notes#

Panelization is the most annoying bit of this whole process. I was able to finally get it work work by using kikit to generate rails and tabs.

kikit panelize \
    --layout 'grid; rows: 1; cols: 1; space: 3mm;' \
    --tabs 'fixed; width: 3mm; vcount: 8;' \
    --cuts 'mousebites; drill: 0.5mm; spacing: 1mm; offset: 0.2mm; prolong: 0.5mm;' \
    --framing 'railstb; width: 5mm; space: 3mm; chamfer: 1mm;' \
    --tooling '3hole; hoffset: 2.5mm; voffset: 2.5mm; size: 1.5mm;' \
    --fiducials '3fid; hoffset: 5mm; voffset: 2.5mm; coppersize: 2mm; opening: 1mm;' \
    --post 'millradius: 1mm;' \
    --text 'simple; text: "THYME v1.14"; anchor: mt; voffset: 2mm;' \
    --text2 'simple; text: Created on {date} JLC Order: JLCJLCJLC; anchor: mb; voffset: -2.5mm; hjustify: center; vjustify: center;' \
    thyme.kicad_pcb panelization/panelized.kicad_pcb

panelized

© 2025-present Kieran Klukas