Gateron Low Profile Switches and Where to Order Stacked Case From

[drewlwhitney]

Two quick questions:

1. Where can I get the stacked case (for example, the one for the Sweep Bling MX) manufactured? I know JLC PCB is great for the PCB, but what are good places for cases?
2. Do any of the current keyboards support the Gateron Low Profile KS-33 switches, and if not, how could I modify one of them to support the switches with hotswap sockets? I would probably modify the Sweep Bling MX. Is it as simple as changing the location of the pads and making sure the switch holes are correctly placed and sized? Where can I get dimensions for switches to do this? I'm an electrical engineering student so I'm okay with the PCB design part of this, but I have no idea where to find specifications.

Thanks!

[duckyb]

1. You can also get it made from them in FR4 material. If you want other materials like metals there are other laser cutting services like sendcutsend.
2. If they use the choc hotswap socket you would need to get the footprint for choc hotswap, then open the bling mx PCB and perform a "replace all footprints of the same type" on the mx sockets. Select the choc socket and apply.
   After that you would need to fix the now disconnected traces.

[drewlwhitney]

1. Gotcha, god I love JLC.
2. They use a different footprint, but I believe I may have found a resource for that. I found both foostan's library and this other one, which both seem to include a hotswap footprint for the Gateron KS-33 switches. Do you think one of them is better than the other? If I do end up modifying the Bling MX, is that something I should make a PR for, or do I just keep it on a fork?

Thanks!

[duckyb]

Both libraries you found are very well regarded by the keyboard designer community so pick whichever one you like.

I'm not the owner of the repo so you'd have to ask @davidphilipbarr about merging a new sweep version but he already answered a similar question here: #94 (comment)

[drewlwhitney]

Perfection. Hopefully I'll get some time to work on this next week. I think linking to an external repo in the README would make the most sense, since I don't want to make y'all maintain this. I didn't realize you weren't David lol, thank you for the work you put into this project!

Are there any other procedures I should know about for this project (i.e. automatic testing, etc.), or do I just substitute the footprints, reconnect the traces, and order and test the board? I'd like to provide a well-validated design for other peeps.

I'm also happy to close this issue for now and open another one if the README should be updated.

[duckyb]

I recommend fixing/checking this issue on the schematic you will be working with #75

And run DRC in Kicad when the design is done. If it passes you should be good to go.

In this repository we also have an automated build system for the PCB preview images, but it won't be required in your repo.

[drewlwhitney]

Understood. Closing the issue for now, thank you for all the help!

[drewlwhitney]

Hello! It's me again.

I got time to work on the Gateron version and have created a fork at Sweep-Gateron. I'm going to have a friend look over the routing to make sure it's good, but I had some questions about creating the gerber files and sending everything to JLC.

I ended up modifying the Sweep High instead of the Sweep Bling MX because the Gateron KS-33 footprint is not conducive to a reversible PCB. However, I copied the mounting holes from the Sweep Bling MX, so the Gateron version is compatible with the Sweep Bling MX switch plate and bottom plate. I removed support for the tenting tripod from both the PCB and bottom plate, so I'll need to regenerate the gerber files.

1. I was looking at this guide from JLC to figure out the gerber file generation. Are there any specific settings you use to generate the Sweep gerber files outside of what JLC recommends?
2. For the switch plate and bottom plate, do you just generate those as gerber files too? I saw there is a .dxf file but I don't know if that was just used to create the .kicad_pcb file. If they are just manufactured like regular PCBs, do you use the same recommended JLC settings as for the PCB (i.e. 1.6mm thickness)?
   • Will the switch plates have copper layers? Or do they just have FR4 and solder mask?

[duckyb]

Use this: https://github.com/asukiaaa/gerber_to_order

[drewlwhitney]

Gotcha. Do I create gerber files for the top and bottom plates too? And is the recommended thickness for both 1.6mm?

[duckyb]

Yes

[drewlwhitney]

Awesome. Last thing, do you want to modify the README to link to the Gateron Sweep? All good if not, I still need to test whether it even works. Plus people can find it by looking through the forks.

Thank you so much for your help, I'm so excited to build this thing!