MX hotswap, wireless version.
This is the case design for the Lil Chonky Bois, the successor of the original Chonky Boi, which has been moved to the archive. The Chonky Bois come in different flavors, i.e. wired and wireless. The wireless version accomodates the bluemicro840 v1.x and the bluemacro840 v1.x. Rumor has it that the Nice!Nanos are going to be in stock again in the nearnear future, when I can get a hold of a couple, I will update this repo with a holder for it, providing the original promicro holder will not suffice. Furthermore, MX hotswap and ALPS mountplate versions are provided.
Having started with handwired alps keyboards, repurposing AEKII switches, I turned my nose up to hotswappable keyboards. This was wrong, like very wrong. What I did not know at the time was how rich and diverse the MX switch landscape had become. At the time I only had silent white alps and if I looked far and wide on the internet, maybe, just maybe I could find a batch of affordable blue or orange alps. Three types of switches was managable.
When I made an MX version I quickly fell into a rabbit hole of blues (yuck), browns (oof), yellows (hello), glorious pandas (wat) and black inks (fuyooo) and I have barely scratched the surface. No, like lubing and filming your switches, I now consider hotswap to be mandatory for any keyboard enthousiast. I manage to solder a set in roughly two hours and my back hates it, if I see a nice switch set on ali (I see you tecsee purples) I do not want to think about breathing soldering fumes for another evening. No, I want to think about the taste of krytox 205g0 on my fingers instead ! /s
For conveniece, several wrist rests are provided in a separate blend file, the gel version has also been exported as an stl. Please note that I am using some weird rubber feet I found in a craft store, sold by the pound and you will need to accomodate accordingly.
Essentially I lifted three homerow keys out of the right side and modeled it into a tester to test switch fit and to test the switch feel.
Put a lubed and unlubed switch in here and amaze your friends !
| type | amount | remarks | link |
| knurled inserts | 12 | M3 x D5 x L4.0 | ali |
| m3 screws | 6 or 8 | flathead or roundhead | ali |
| Kailh hotswap sockets | 34 | ali ymdk | |
| switches | 34 | glorious pandas (tactile), gateron inks (linear) or kailh box blues (clicky) or… | ali ymdk |
| switch lube and station | n/a | Optional, but if you are not lubing your switches, why are you here ? | ali ymdk |
| 1n4148 diodes | 34 | ali | |
| grippy rubber | n/a | To keep the kb from sliding, harder to find than I’d like to admit | ali |
| color coated copper wire | Optional, but the color coding and the thin wires really suit this project | ali | |
| keycaps dsa/xda | 34 | 30x1u and 4x1.5u | ali ymdk |
| gel superglue | 1 | The hotswap sockets are glued in place, gel is better with filling printed gaps | bol |
| WIRELESS | |||
| bluemicro840 v1.x/bluemacro 840 v1.x | 2 | Do not mix micro and macro | store |
| micro reset switch | 2 | Hardware reset switch; boards need double click to be put into dfu mode | ali |
| jst connector | 1 | one 4-pin male and female;disconnecting the botplate is a quality of life option. | ali |
| On/Off switch | 2 | ali | |
| LiPo battery | 2 | Shipping to your country could be an issue, check local drone tech suppliers. | ali |
| WIRED | |||
| Pro Micro MCU | 2 | Elite-C (usb-c) or teensy 2.0 (usb-mini) are viable alternatives | ali |
| TRSS connector | 2 | Needs to be stereo | ali |
| TRSS cable | 1 | Or any old male-male stereo 2.5 mm jack audio aux cable. | ali |
| ALPS | |||
| Alps no name clone | Still waiting on delivery,so untested as yet. Get an old apple AEKII on ebay instead. | ali | |
| MISC / Quality of life | |||
| Gel wrist rest | 2 | ali | |
| Crimp tool | 1 | For your jst connectors, and the molex connectors in your maker future. | ali |
| Superglue accelerator / activator | Check your local hardware store. |
For the wired version, QMK is the way to go, I maintain a form of qmk with a keymap for the Lil Chonky Bois:
https://github.com/sanderboer/qmk_firmware
Similarly I maintain my keymap for the wireless build in my own fork of BlueMicroBLE (lil_chonky_kb branch):
https://github.com/sanderboer/BlueMicro_BLE/tree/lil_chonky_kb
Please refer to the BlueMicroBLE docs for installing the build env, additional setup and build script for linux is in the root of my for of the repo. Please let me express my extreme gratitude to Pierre Constantineau, the creator of the bluemicro840, for his extremely patient and helpful guidance on discord in setting up the boards and showing me just how deep the rabbit hole of bluetooth voodoo goes.
And as an alternative I also have my keymap implemented in my ZMK fork (lil_chonky branch):
https://github.com/sanderboer/zmk/tree/lil_chonky
Please refer to the ZMK docs for setup the build env, build script for linux is in the app/boards/shields/lil_conky_bois/ dir
Bluemacro840 under construction
Wired version in the background with wrist rests, wired version showing its guts. Note the removable botplate thanks to the jst connectors.
The original Big Chonky Bois and Lil CHonky Bois that started it all.
Lil Chonky in ALps and MX version.
Wired version, XDA keycaps.
