CPC464 Mechanical Keyboard

[Bread80]

I have now published my replacement keyboard for an Amstrad CPC464 using Cherry MX compatible keyswitches.

The board is suitable for mounting within an existing CPC464 case and includes connections suitable for both the single row 19/20-pin inline PCB type keyboard and the dual 10-pin connectors used by later membrane keyboards. It can also be used free standing, either with a CPC464 or CPC6128 - jumpers footprints are included to allow remapping of the dual 10-pin connectors. (The keyboard could also be used with a CPC664 but the lines will need remapping between the keyboard and motherboard. The schematic includes details). A third connector footprint is provided at the rear of the board with identical pinout to the 2x10-pin connector (and remapped via the same jumpers). This connector is intended to make the PCB easier to use as a free-standing board when, for example, using with a bare motherboard outside of a case.

Footprints allow either direct soldering of the keyswitches to the board, or the use of MX hotswap sockets. Hotswap sockets allow keyswitches to be more easily swapped for different types or between boards. The board accepts either 3-pin or 5-pin keyswitches but NOTE: There is currently no mounting plate available. We therefore recommend only using 5-pin keyswitches, and NOT 3-pin ones (5-pin switches have two extra mounting lugs on the rear).

The space bar has been reduced in width from the original 9u to a modern standard 7u. The space freed by this has allowed the addition of two 'bonus' keys. These can be mapped, via jumpers, to the main connectors for reading by the host computer, or can be connected to external hardware via the same jumpers.

When fitted into an Amstrad CPC464 case there is a slight gap (0.5u wide, where 1u is one standard key width) to the right of the Enter key. This is, sadly, unavoidable due to available keycap sizes.

There are more, and larger, images in the repository. There's also a link to the keycap set I've used.

Repository: https://github.com/Bread80/CPC_Keyboards/tree/main/Keyswitch_CPC464_SMT
Boards are listed on PCBWay's Shared Projects at https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Mechanical_Keyboard_for_Amstrad_CPC464_e66db4b2.html

[Bryce]

Very nice.

Regarding the gap problem: Couldn't you just spread the gap across the entire keyboard by spacing each of the individual keys just a tiny bit further apart? All the same parts (a new PCB of course), but a much less obvious / visible fitment issue. If you get the PCBs made in black I doubt anyone would even notice it.

Bryce.

[salvogendut]

(Stands up) 10 minutes of applauses

Man I love when people do great stuff and they share it with the community. I wish there were more people like you out there!

Thank you!!