My Kyria Build

My keyboard background

I work as a developer, so my keyboard is part of my trade toolkit. A couple of years ago I purchased a Kinesis Advantage 2 because I was getting wrist pain, as a result of moving my right hand up to the backspace, delete and enter keys.

In the quest to pursue more an even more comfortable typing experience I started searching for an even more ergonomic keyboard. This lead me down the rabit hole of mechanical keyboards. I scoured the internet for as much info as I could find. One of the first recommendations I got was the moonlander, however after printing the a4 test, it appeared too big, and it wasn't concaved like the Advantage 2 is. I found out about the Dactyl, but that looks way too overwhelming for a first project, and I don't want to mess with 3d printing just yet.

So my search landed me on the Kyria, I don't remember how I found it, but it looked perfect. The thumb clusters, the stagger of the rows and the form factor appealed to me.

After finding splitkeeb.com and the discord, I asked a ton of questions.Everyone there was happy to answer and provide guidance. After enough research I decided to order the parts. My initial idea was to make a super slim MBK keyboard, but if you've ever wanted to get MBK keycaps, you'll notice you'll have a very VERY limited choice of caps. I wanted options, and I figured the shallower travel of the choc caps would be bad for ergonomics anyway. As a result I went with XDA with gateron brown switches instead.

Some users on the discord were very helpful in confirming that I had ordered eveyrthing correctly. Considering I'm on the opposite side of the planet, I didn't want to have to wait to reorder something I missed.

Going into this I knew nothing about soldering or electronic engineering. I did a heap of research on soldering too. I found the phenominal video by Pace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIT4ra6Mo0s that explained the fundamentals in a very information dense video, but in a way that could be easily understood. In keeping with the theme of getting things right, I ordered a couple of practice kits. I've never soldered anything in my life, so I figure I should practice on something worth much less than the Kyria first.

A couple of lessons learned from the practice kit: How to actually solder, cutting the component legs as close to the solder blob as possible (to make clearning easier), affixing components so they don't move unexpectedly (or cause a disturbed joint)

The build

This is what I went with:

I followed the steps provided on splitkb.com https://docs.splitkb.com/hc/en-us/sections/360003200940-Kyria-Build-Guide

Hardware build step 1 - Flash the microcontrollers

Note: Don't put Microcontrollers on the anti static packaging while you've got the MC powered up, the antistatic packaging is conductive! Use Cardboard or something non conductive instead.

Before I soldered anything, the first step was to check if the microcontrollers were functional. I plugged them in to my PC, and sure enough, both started up fine.

To flash the MCs I followed the instructions on https://docs.qmk.fm/#/newbs

I created my own fork of QMK to add my keybinding to the splitkb folder (where the Kyria firmware lives).

The instructions look scary, but follow them carefully, it's actually quite easy.

After successfully compiling my firmware, the QMK toolbox made it super simple to flash the firmware to the MCs. Again, follow the instructions carefully, it's easier than it looks! I won't know if I was successful until the soldering steps are complete. There's a step that says you will need to reset your MC at some point during flashing, but this never happened for me. I was concerned because there's no way to reset at this point, but H pointed out in the SplitKb discord that the elite C does have a tiny reset button on it if needed!

Hardware build step 2 - Bottom PCB The 2 PCBs in the kit are the same, so the first step is to pick which will be left and right. You need to do this to determine where is the top and bottom of each side. All the steps are the same for both sides. I'm keeping the full six columns, which means no modifications there.

The next step is to add the diodes. Because I'm using MX switches, I have the option of putting the diodes on the top or bottom of the PCB. I'm going with bottom for my build. I don't have any fancy tools to bend the diode leads, so I used my fingers. The diode positions are marked D1 to D25. It's important to note that the BLACK BAND around the diode must always face the SQUARE pad. I soldered where the legs come out, which is fine for MX type switches. Soldering on the top near the diode risks heat damaging the diode. After soldering I clipped the legs off, I don't need to keep them because I purchased the mill max pins, but I kept them anyway just in case.

It took me about half an hour to solder the diodes on.

The last step on the bottom of the PCBs is the LEDs. Pre-tin the LED pads. The LEDs I purchased with the are temperature sensitive. The maximum temperature is 250C or 480F. Make sure that you solder around 250-280C, thanks F for the advice.

The PCB has room for 10 LEDs labeled RGB1 to RGB10. The PCB has a diagram on it to indicate the correct alignment of the LED, the marked edge of the diagram matches to the notch in the LED. Solder one corner, if you're happy with it's position, solder the other 3 pads.

For me the LED soldering was a real hassle. I won't be able to test if I soldered them correctly until much later in the build.

That's it for the bottom of the PCB. Make sure you correctly assign the other half's bottom too.

Keyboardimage.png

Hardware build Step 2 - Top PCB Add the 2 resistors to each half, labeled as "4700 R1" and "4700 R2", located in the top center of the PCB.

Then add the reset button, which is located immediately below the resistors I just installed

Then the TRRS inside the white lines on the PCB (when you solder it on the bottom, you'll see the legs outside of the whitelines, this is because the PCB is mirrored and is what you want to see, it's the top that matters).

Because I'm using an OLED screen I had to bridge the jumpers at the bottom of the microcontroller space. Make sure you bridge these on the TOP side. Soldering on the jumpers on the bottom of the PCB can lead to keyboard damage and OLED faults. This was easy enough to do.

I then soldered the sockets for the PCB on, a very simple process by this point. Before I installed the pins I covered the sockets with electrical tape to try to prevent solder from leaking down into the sockets. After this I installed the pins, I prepoked holes in the tape before installing the mill max pins. They went in quite easily with a satisfying click.

Once that process was complete it was time to solder the elite Cs to the pins, again holding it in place with tape. I carefully soldered all the joints. After a few minutes I let the joints cool down, then started to pull out the MC. The MC came out with a bit of difficulty, and I was paranoid that some solder got into the socket. However after a bit of even, firm pulling, they came free. I'm not sure I'll ever repurpose the elite Cs but at least I have the option.

I used electrical tape to hold the screens in position. I soldered the screens in a way to slightly tilted the screens toward me to make them easier to view.

I skipped the encoder step as I'm not using one this time.

Before installing the switches I cleaned of any rosin leftover from the soldering process as best as I could.

Now nearing the end I was pretty excited. I installed the top case plate, then all the switches. Only the switches that were in optional encoder slots had to be secured with tape. The rest of the switches were held in place with the top plate which was taped to the PCB for added stability. This was a relatively simple soldering job, I started with some outside switches to secure the top plate into position.

After soldering all 50 switches, I again used isopropyl to clean as much rosin off as possible. By now I was fairly confident in my soldering job, so I installed the bottom plate. Then connected the Kyria to my PC. After a few nerve wracking minutes I tried all the switches. To my relief I soldered everything correctly! The only issue I had is a single backlight LED, but I'm not overly worried about that.

After the backplate was on I was able to install the tenting puck. This allows me to attach common stands to tent my keyboard. It's an interesting idea, so I thought I'd at least give myself the option in the future. But currently I have no plans to use a stand to tent my Kyria.

To finish off, it was only a matter of installing my keycaps and taking it for a test drive!

Software build

I followed the steps on the QMK Firmware site https://docs.qmk.fm/#/newbs_getting_started

I copied from existing keyboard layouts, expanded on them, and tweaked as needed. I tried things, and if I didn't like them, it was easy to change!

Because I'm generally familiar with what was happening in these steps, I found it relatively simple to follow these instructions. The main issues I had were setting up my OLED animation. I was able to find a heap of help in the Discords.

Results

After a few months of use, I'm really enjoying using a split keyboard. So far only one screw has come loose (that I need to remove the whole base plate off to access) and a LED backlight doesn't work. The main issue I'm coming accross is needing homing keys for my thumbs. I've ordered a custom keycap to use as a thumb homing key.

After a few months of tweaking my keyboard layouts I'm really happy with what I've accomplished. With enough perserverance, I think any one can assemble their own keyboard.

Future plans

Keyboard wise, the next step for me will be to buy a Kineses 360. The dish style layout is the ultimate in comfort. Adding a split to the Advantage 2 will be perfection.

Now that I have a soldering station and the requisite tools, I'm thinking of making other circuit kits like a hand held emulator.

My goal in making this Kyria was to be more comfortable when typing, and I have to say, mission accomplished!