Neopad

Overview

Neopad is a little macropad with four switches and two rotary encoders, made by through hole components only. It's designed to use QMK firmware. Actually the number of switches is six, because even the encoder are allowed to click.

The Neopad in the photo above is the first prototype with ultra light case made from biscuits cardboard. In this repo you can find the final revision including:

• fixed reset button pin routing
• fixed positioning of mounting holes
• added breakable PCB for EOTW case
• new shiny artwork

Read the full development log on my website: rookiebwoy.eu ivndbt.com.

In this repo

Here you can find my KiCad project files and the gerbers I used to manufacture the Neopad. In order to open and modify them you will need to download and add the keebio-components symbols library to the project's path.

PCB's frontside.

PCB's backside.

Description

• The 2 LEDs rappresent the current layer in binary (max 4 layers rappresented but, accordingly with QMK capabilities, you can program up to 16 layers)
• Total PCB dimensions are 99.22mm x 87.31mm
• Macropad dimensions after build are 99.22mm x 42.86mm

BOM

Qty	Description
1x	Pro-Micro (or clone with ATmega32u4)
4x	Cherry MX compatible switches
2x	Encoders EC11
6x	Diodes THT do-35 1N4148
2x	Resistors 1/4W 220ohm
2x	LEDs 3mm
1x	Button switch 4 pin 6mm x 6mm
4x	M2 8mm standoff
8x	M2 screws
6x	Rubber feet
4x	Keycaps
2x	Knobs

Firmware

You can find the QMK Firmware for Neopad on the official QMK repository at this link.

References

I decided to open source this project because I wanted to give back to the amazing mechanical keyboard comunity what was given to me. I owe special mention to the following links that I found extremely useful and that without them I could never achieve this:

• the keyboard designer wiki @ ai03.com for KiCad's tutorial
• Chokkan's YouTube videos for setting up QMK's developing environment
• imchipwood's dumbpad macropad for encoder's routing, LED's behavior, QMK and readme structure