Mechanical Keyboards

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Garage door opener now uses Cherry MX Blues (programming.dev)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Manufacturer wanted $25 (+shipping) for a replacement garage door opener wall switch. 13 minutes of printing + 5 minutes of soldering + two leftover Cherry MX Blue switches (that I'll be use) and the problem is solved 👍

Note: The wiring was slightly more involved than I thought... needed a resistor for the light (there's only two wires but it's got two functions: Light on/off and garage open/close.

If folks are interested I could make a much fancier PCB-based version with screw terminals and whatnot. It's a very trivial schematic.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago

Very resourceful, I like it.

Added benefit: you'll definitely hear it if someone tries to open the garage door and steal all your stuff in the middle of the night

CLACK

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is so stupid, but I love it so much. 🤣 I’m tempted to give it a try, but I’m worried that once I get used to mechanical switches on my garage door opener - I’ll need them throughout the rest of the house too.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Do it! Normal garage door openers are good for like 1,000 cycles (if that, haha). With these switches it should be good for 50 million.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

You have to replace the door hinges and rollers a few times to get that life.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Very cool

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Put me down as interested in the whole shebang!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Did you complete the PCB?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Nah. The inlaws seem to be satisfied with the way it is right now and I've got better things to do 🤷

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Curious, wouldn't waterproofing be an issue? Or is this on the indoor side of the garage?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

It's inside the garage so water isn't an issue.

Having said that I would have no trouble at all making a version of this that's waterproof! For that though I'd make a PCB and use my own magnetic key switches (Void Switch)...

https://youtu.be/iv6Rh8UNWlI?si=HLxDopztmpPDVTVI

When I made that keyboard for Chyros I asked him if he wanted it to be waterproof and he said no so I never bothered but it's not very difficult to do such a thing when your entire keyboard is contactless.

The "key" is to use waterproof connectors or just solder the wires directly to the PCB. Then you just coat the whole thing in silicone sealant (or similar e.g. seal it with epoxy, Flex Seal, etc). The chips don't care and hall effect sensors will still work just fine through any non-ferromagnetic coating (e.g. any plastic or hydrocarbon-based material).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I should do this with the one in my car; the stock don’t work very good