Highway to Undercity

Total Time Spent So Far: 17 Hours

6/19/2025 Log 1: deciding to build a keyboard because why not

spent like an hour spiraling through mechanical keyboard rabbit holes on reddit.
people really out here using 40 key boards like it’s a game of tetris
me? i want a thicc board. full send. named it GigaBoard v1 because it sounds strong. powerful.
opened KiCad. stared at the screen for 10 minutes like it had insulted my family.
finally made a rectangle. celebrated like i just discovered electricity.
progress is progress, even if it’s one rectangle. made the schematic

Time Spent: 1 Hour

6/20/2025 Log 2: matrix moment

okay so what even is a diode matrix.
spent 2 hours in the youtube trenches learning why keyboards don’t catch fire when multiple keys are pressed.
respect to every tutorial with crusty mic audio, you taught me more than my formal education ever did
laid out the switches in KiCad. looked cursed but in a fun way.
accidentally deleted half the traces. ctrl+z came in like a superhero.
genuinely felt like i was defusing a bomb.

Time Spent: 2 Hours

6/21/2025 Log 3: millimeters vs inches vs my brain

measurement war day.
tried placing the USB-C port and realized i don’t know how long 10mm is off the top of my head
fought the unholy trinity: mm, inches, and DPI scaling
after a solid 90 minutes of confusion, finally got the USB port in a spot that didn’t break physics
started thinking about the case. maybe i 3D print it?
the vibes shifted from “just a keyboard” to “maybe a NASA control panel”

Time Spent: 1.5 Hours

6/22/2025 Log 4: trace spaghetti simulator

back to PCB layout
basically moved traces around for 2 hours like a 3D puzzle
every time i fixed one connection, three others broke.
it’s giving whack-a-mole energy
added labels like “R1” and “C3” everywhere to look like i knew what i was doing
it now looks legit. don’t ask me what anything does
confidence: high. competence: unconfirmed.

Time Spent: 2 Hours

6/24/2025 Log 5: silkscreen supremacy

took a break yesterday to touch grass
came back and decided to make the PCB silkscreen look fancy
added arrows, random labels, and text that says “ily hack club” also maybe added my name on the back. it’s a signature now
still no soldering done. still vibing

Time Spent: 0.5 Hour

6/25/2025 Log 6: firmware actually boots??

made the firmware using QMK
lowkey thought it would be impossible but turns out json configurators exist for a reason
figured out the keymap, added a few macros, even made a shortcut that opens vscode
tested it with a dev board and the thing actually responded
if this board ever works physically, the firmware is ready to slap
might mess with some RGB underglow config next

Time Spent: 1 Hour

6/27/2025 Log 7: screw placements are a lie

realized i had no actual mounting points
revisited the case design to add proper screw holes
spent 45 minutes trying to align four holes in Fusion 360
they still don’t line up. i gave up and used the “close enough” method
case now looks like it’s meant to survive an earthquake

Time Spent: 0.5 Hour

6/29/2025 Log 8: case redesign chaos (i got roasted)

turns out my first case design was actual garbage.
like not even misaligned a little it fully didn’t fit the PCB.
acon looked at it and basically said “bro what is this.”
top shell was too tight, mounting holes didn’t match, and the USB cutout? yeah it was aimed at the void.
i took the L and started from scratch. deleted most of the Fusion timeline out of spite
made a new case with actual clearance, fixed the standoff placements, realigned everything to the PCB
also added a fake flex grill just to feel something
lesson learned: don’t freestyle case design without double-checking PCB dimensions

Time Spent: 1.5 Hours

7/1/2025 Log 9: precision? never heard of her

spent 3 hours playing tetris with standoffs.
moved one standoff 0.1mm and somehow the whole shell exploded.
spent 30 minutes yelling at the Fusion timeline and 2 hours fixing sketch constraints that i definitely did not break.
tried adding side vents looked like cheese grater holes so i gave up.
realized halfway in that i still hadn’t added clearance for keycaps.
also tried “filleting for vibes” which made everything worse.
progress? questionable. stress? yes.

Time Spent: 3 Hours

7/2/2025 Log 10: clearance redemption arc

finally sat down and measured keycap + switch + plate stack height like a responsible human being.
redesigned the top shell again to stop it from bullying the switches.
added the space bar key properly (centered it this time 💀), and made sure it didn’t point to Narnia.
got brave and tried snapping the case together in the render it actually fit.
the standoffs and holes now line up , and i didn’t break the timeline this time.
might even add labels to sketches like a real CAD adult.
3 hours in, confidence restored... for now.