Building Handwired Keyboards with Choc Switches

[@joe_scotto]

Let me know what you think of this board and your thoughts on low profile switches!

[@erichanson5628]

Low profile is great! Would love to see a ScottoFly lowprofile design

[@scresaxz]

This is amazing. This is so infectiously inspirational. This is exactly what I wanted to create, but slightly canted, and maybe not socketed, I have a bag of gaterons, a pico, and a furious surge of excitement.

[@joe_scotto]

Awesome! Share photos with me when you build it :)

[@bringbackwindowsphone]

First time ever seeing your channel and I love how you instantly go straight into details and cover everything fast paced

[@joe_scotto]

Thank you, I’m glad you enjoy it!

[@jamiezachary]

For choc switches you can do a recess on the left and right side of the mount and basically create a 1.3 mm lip that is perfect for the switch to click into. Creates a solid hold while letting you remove the switch if needed.

[@joe_scotto]

Thank you! For my next board I’m going to look into that because the UV resin was annoying

[@mastermine1117]

I love this! Im currently in the process of building my own hand wired board with choc switches and a pico! Just finished 3D printing the last pieces for my case and mounting the switches hoping to have the wireing and soldering done tomorrow! This is my first keyboard so hopefully i don't mess anything up! 😬

[@haukefrahmann7849]

I'm just on the verge of getting my first selfbuild,selfsolderd keyboard ... BECAUSE OF YOU!! :D So I started with the choc switches ... and ran in the same problems >> switches are loosely fit ... So I made the outcout 13.8mm with an edge in 1.3mm depth (I got the specs from their website) >> Now they hold way better! Thnx for all of your insides!!

[@publicsalad218]

i think handwired keyboards that uses choc switches is somewhat rare, i only see DIY pcbs. its so nice that you're starting to create more handwired low profile keyboards! Finally!

[@joe_scotto]

Yeah from what I’ve seen the Choc world is dominated by exposed PCB boards.

[@playteles123]

I was having some issues with large surface area prints lifting on my textured build plate and I highly recommend using a glue stick to rub down your build plate before printing cases. Its solved my problem 100%.

[@joe_scotto]

I’ll have to see if I can do that with the PEI bed I use. I’m pretty certain it’s because of the filament since I don’t normally have issues but an extra precaution wouldn’t hurt!

[@raphaelmosaic]

great board & great quality - looking forward to see more builds from you. the same board but with more thumb buttons, Bluetooth and even thinner would be my endgame for portable productivity

[@bobbyhutter5654]

what got me into mechanical keebs was wanting a low-profile but satisfying typing experience (the low profile being desired after 9 years of coding on a macbook pro with it's membrain keyboard). after noticing a lot of the community suffers from normie-itis and there was little to no innovation happening within it i knew i'd just have to make it. that was ~2 years ago. thought i'd say all of that to try to communicate how much i appreciate this build - especially with the center-displayed pico for an almost cyber-deck flair. another amazing build!!!

[@joe_scotto]

“Normie-itis” I love that and am stealing it haha

[@JamesTodd1996]

Lol normie itis for a niche hobby like this is next level snobbery.

[@saidkorseir192]

I am definitely looking forward to see more hadwired low profile keyboard, man

[@joe_scotto]

Soon… just waiting on parts as usual in this hobby

[@saidkorseir192]

@@joe_scotto would you like to make a video about split keyboards. 2 parts, 2 microcontrollers, and how do they work together through trrs cable

[@joe_scotto]

I have plans on a “regular” split board that uses two controllers :)

[@saidkorseir192]

@@joe_scotto man, you re awesome 🙌

[@camenskycameron8413]

I looooooove the pc bottom :0 Keep up the great work!

[@joe_scotto]

Makes me want to do more with it but I need to get a saw first lol

[@d13g0c]

Awesome content and video quality. Now I have to try some choc switches lol.

[@joe_scotto]

Go for it! They’re way better than I ever thought they would be haha

[@alexmelillo1247]

I have no idea if I could get used to the smaller travel. But it looks so good

[@joe_scotto]

The shorter travel is not nearly as weird as I thought it would be and I really enjoy it.

[@MAGAIVER]

I got my first choc keyboard and also my first split and column staggered board, I had been using orthos with MX switches for several months and I literally got used to it in minutes, and hit a monkey type pb on the second day. I still prefer the feel of mx switches but chocs are not bad at all. I am using sunset switches on my choc keyboard and had been using box jade, pink and white on my mx keyboards.

[@holygl]

Great video-thank you! You said that the Khali Robin switches were in your top 3...I'm interested to hear what your favourite switches are of all time?!

[@pinch-of-salt]

how do the robins compare to the jades? both are low profile clickbar switches

[@erichanson5628]

Thank You Joe!

[@Vancha112]

Gorgeous looking keyboard :0

[@joe_scotto]

Thank you, means a lot to me when people like the things I make!

[@Vancha112]

@@joe_scotto They've been real helpful! i started my first keyboard a while back, never finished it. I just received a bunch of solder flux and soldering tin for it to continue work on it. Now all i think i'm having troubles with is the microcontroller ;)

[@Grazfather]

What's the issue with the USB interconnect?

[@AmateurVillain]

I'm currently building somewhat simillar to this - i'm just adding 2 thumb keys in the middle,adjusting the promicro a bit higher

[@joe_scotto]

Awesome! DM me photos on IG or somewhere when you finish it, I would love to see!

[@MAGAIVER]

I want to get clicky choc switches for my keyboard and I'm trying to decide if I should get the Choc Jade or Robin switches, do you have any experience with Choc Jades? Which one would be more similar do MX Box Jade, Choc Jade or Robin?

[@Lofilegacybeats]

Where did you get the key caps from

[@ocoro174]

yo cool channel I also like the choc switches for the low travel 🥰 you think it's possible to mount these to a wood panel though? I don't have a 3d printer 🥺👉👈

[@joe_scotto]

Yeah, laser cut or even hand cut wood is something I’ve seen done :)

[@Antebios]

Question: Can choco switches be used with rgb led so each keycap can have backlight in order to type in darkness?

[@joe_scotto]

I don’t think you can. However you can definitely do under glow behind the switch plate.

[@yrpl0mblu]

Hello Joe, I asked you in the comments if u knew about interconnection in HDMI cable similar to VGA. My breakout boards arrived today and i tested HDMI cable from my computer. Turns out there is no interconnected wires. Hope u find it useful

[@joe_scotto]

Thank you for letting me know this! Looking forward to seeing your build :)

[@khalidity]

Hi, thx for showing this, I guess it's kinda hard to make it as low as possible isn't it, since it's hand-wired and everything gets thicker on the bottom, I don't think it can get lower than a PCBed keyboard, been using the reviung41lp lately and quickly notice the difference between the hand-wired board and the PCBed board, been thinking if we can make a foldable keyboard hand-wired 🤔

[@gholen]

I like this, and I'd personally would like you to make a small, split keyboard (think Corne) but handwired and with bluetooth!

[@joe_scotto]

I actually just ordered a nice nano for a build. Probably won’t be split but will be wireless. Still have a lot to figure out for it first as I need to learn ZMK firmware more.

[@gholen]

@@joe_scotto Sounds awesome! Also, how is the Rpi Pico?

[@joe_scotto]

@@gholen I love the Pico... you can get 4 of them for $20 on Amazon and they have tons of pins along with 2 MB of flash memory. The only thing I don't like is that they're still micro-USB for whatever reason. I'm not going to abandon Pro Micros as they still have their place due to the small footprint but for most of my boards, I plan on going with the Pico.

[@gholen]

@@joe_scotto Awesome! How's the pinout on them?

[@joe_scotto]

@@gholen 26 GPIO pins

[@K0S3K]

I see that you are using QMK, did you experiment with KMK on CircuitPython as well? I like the simplicity of KMK better, however there are some nuances with CircuitPython devices in general - like Windows picking them up as USB drives ..

[@joe_scotto]

I’ve been looking into KMK a tiny bit but looking a lot more into ZMK so I can build wireless handwired boards. I’ve already done a Corne on ZMK but now want to learn more about it so I can do full builds.

[@K0S3K]

@@joe_scotto nice. It will be great to witness you ZMK journey. By the way, KMK does support fully wireless split bluetooth keyboard as well just like ZMK. At least according their documentation, as I didn't try it yet.

[@definitionofduck]

What modelling software do you use?

[@joe_scotto]

Shapr3D

[@goranbla]

what's the tool used for the typing test? 🙈

[@joe_scotto]

monkeytype.com

[@goranbla]

@@joe_scotto thank you 🙏

[@pakabu1013]

How do we actually flash a firmware into the pico ...is it supported with qmk?

[@joe_scotto]

I do not believe you can use QMK Toolbox to flash it but it is supported in QMK. If you're able to compile QMK locally, you simply setup your keyboard with the RP2040 and run the standard "qmk flash" command. Take a look at "info.json" and "rules.mk": github.com/joe-scotto/keyboards/blob/main/Scotto34/QMK

[@pakabu1013]

@@joe_scotto Thanks man really appreciate it😁.

[@mrk1224]

I wish choc navy keyboards existed to buy.

[@XernealHD]

What is the name of the modelling program?

[@joe_scotto]

Shapr3D

[@notvoidz]

the discord server link is dead

[@joe_scotto]

Thank you for letting me know, I had it set to only 7 days… should be this now: discord.gg/vN6X3z8eyv

[@carson.captures159]

😮🎉

[@joe_scotto]

🎉

[@vineetkumar3422]

how do I put rasp pico in bootloader mode while flashing them qmk hex file?

[@joe_scotto]

To be honest… I’m not too certain. Sometimes using the bootloader button on the board will work but other times I have to hold it while plugging in and releasing once it is. Once it’s in my keyboard though, I have a bootloader mode bound to a key that always works. It’s the initial flashing that’s confusing.