Invisibiliti approached me about making a QMK-progammable PCB for his 10-unit run polycarb/acrylic (I forget which) Unicorn TKL group buy. He sent me a broken (some diodes and the USB port were borked) Mech27 PCB to use for reference. I’ve noticed a gap in proper QMK “kustom” TKL PCBs, so I’m here to fill that gap.
At this point, I’ve received the 10 PCBs for this run and have assembled one of them. I ordered diodes of the wrong package size, so I’m waiting for those to come in.
“Skinny A87” form factor - same footprint as B87, but same USB placement and stab layout as A87.
Standard ANSI and WKL bottom rows, ISO enter, short right and left shifts, 2u backspace
Top-side Mini USB port
Spacebar stab is under the spacebar switch (this is important for kustoms, and generally dictates compatibility). Full stab orientation pic
RGB underglow
One-color in-switch LED
Powered by Atmega32U4 MCU
No physical reset switch - just short two pins on the PCB (for case compatibility)
Pins to solder a daughter board on (Moon TKL, for example)
Fully soldered and pre-programmed with a basic TKL map out of the box
Note that compatibility will vary for this. It is not a drop-in PCB for any TKL. It will be the buyer’s responsibility to ensure that the PCB will work with their target case/board. I’ll work on gathering a compatibility list from some sources I have in the community. I do have plans to make an “H87b” version that has the spacebar stab swapped to the north side of the switch.
I expect to have these built and shipped to my 10 prototype buyers in the next two weeks. Once that is done, I will focus on getting this to market and mass production.
Price
At this moment based on my quotes/math, I’ll be able to charge $45 per PCB with an MOQ of 50. If the total order number reaches 100, I should be able to drop that to $40 (TBD). These prices aren’t 100% final yet, but are very close to my pricing goals.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave em below. I hope this can help the western keeb community get away from bootmapper/jigon.
Would inverting the orientation of the spacebar stabs be better? The TX87 PCB has the same orientation as this, and they had to extend the pcb by a few mm around the spacebar because of it. It led to the PCB not fitting in some kits.
A87 PCBs don’t have the problem, as the spacebar stabs are oriented the other way. The stab housing hooks are up, and the clip in ends are at the bottom. Non issue as the clips cling to the sides of the hole.
EDIT: btw, I need a pcb for a kit I own, and I’m hoping this would fit
I think I’ll have to add the outcrop for this version, depending on how testing these goes. I do plan to make an H87b version with the spacebar stab north-facing.
Looks interesting, especially at that price point. What are the mounting options? It looks like there are cutouts on the physical boards that aren’t there on the renders. I have been looking into TKL boards, but the current PCBs make wood cases very difficult. If you’re interested, I’d like to talk about adding some mounting points to make different case designs possible.
As an aside, other than costing half as much, what are the differences from the LFK TKL?
