Just learned that a single 60% keyboard PCB can have over 1,000 solder points from a factory tour video on YouTube. That's INSANE detail for something we just type on.

3 comments

3 Comments

Honestly, that number makes my hands hurt just thinking about it. I tried to hand-wire a macropad once and gave up after like twenty joints. Can't even imagine the focus needed for a full board.

pat_perry2mo ago

That's just the PCB, too. You've still got all the switches to solder on top of that (or hotswap sockets, which are their own tiny parts). It really makes you appreciate the assembly process, even for a "simple" board.

corad8410d ago

Wait, hold on. You're telling me that number is just for the PCB itself? That's bonkers. So that's like 200+ joints for all the diodes and resistors and microcontroller stuff, and then you add another hundred or whatever for switches on top of that? I mean, I've built a few kits but I never actually counted up the total. Maybe it's just me but my brain is completely short-circuiting at the thought of doing that many in one session. My hand would cramp up before I even got to the spacebar.