Kyria Build Log

Pre-build

I purchased my first ortholinear keyboard, the Planck EZ from ZSA, two years ago. I’ve enjoyed the reduced finger reach, multiple layers, small form factor, and open-source firmware. There were a few things I wanted that drove me to look for a new board.

Requirements

• Split: Splitting the Planck in half seemed like it would let me angle my wrists and arms more ergonomically.
• Rotary encoders: There are a bunch of awesome use-cases for knobs on a keyboard that switches can’t really replicate: tuning volume or brightness, scrolling through edit history, or simulating mouse movement.
• Thumb clusters: The bottom modifiers on my Planck are hard to reach and have never had a good use. A cluster of easily reachable thumb buttons can takeover spacing and backspacing, shifting, and layer switching.
• Hand-building: I have limited hardware experience, so soldering my own components seemed like a fun project and a good intro to the PCB world.

Kyria

I checked out a bunch of split keyboards (awesome-split-keyboards is a great resource), before settling on the Kyria from splitkb. It seemed to have an active community, available parts, and a sensible layout.

I ordered the PCB kit from splitkb, and a set of Kailh Low Profile Choc Switches and other bits from MKUltra. Then the build commenced!

Build

The splitkb build guide is well-written, and I didn’t need to consult many other resources while building.

Diodes

First I inserted the diodes onto the underside of the PCB.

Then I soldered them down…

…and clipped the legs off. After trying this with the wire cutters I had on hand, I would say a set of flush-cutters or snips is absolutely necessary. Otherwise you won’t be able to cut the legs nicely flush, as illustrated in this picture.

Microcontrollers

I took a brief recess from soldering to setup my QMK environment and test my microcontrollers: one USB-C equipped Elite-C, and one Pro Micro. I ran into a few tricky issues during this process.

I’m running Arch Linux, which provides a QMK package:

sudo pacman -S qmk

Before flashing you have to put the board into bootloader mode. The Elite-C comes with a reset button that you can press, but for the Pro Micro you have to short the RESET and GND pins. I used pliers and a U-shaped piece of solder to achive that.

You then have only 8 seconds to run the flash command before the board exits bootlooader mode. This succeeded out of the box for the Elite-C.

qmk flash -kb kyria -km default

But again, the Pro Micro gave me trouble - the flash command just hung and wouldn’t recognize the connected board. I tried a dozen workarounds from the QMK docs and forums

Finally I got it to work by installing the avrdude bootloader driver on my machine, which is the one used by the Pro Micro, and specifying this while using the make syntax for flashing. Success!

sudo pacman -S avrdude
make splitkb/kyria/rev1:default:avrdude

Other components

I was hyper-focused on my soldering, so I forgot to take many good pictures of it. I installed the microcontroller, OLED display, TRRS port, and Reset button. I attempted to socket my microcontroller as splitkb recommends, but botched the first one - it’s important to put a layer of scotch tape between the sockets and the microcontroller to prevent them from fusing. I would also recommend popping the microcontroller off after every five solder joints or so, to make sure you haven’t accidentally fused it before you finish it entirely and have to undo the whole thing.

I then attached the top of the case and soldered the switches into it.

Done

And that about does it. I plugged it into my computer and by some miracle it just works!

I’m missing a few keycaps as you can see - this is because I didn’t realize that the Choc switches don’t support the 2u keycaps I bought. I purchased some nice gold ones from MKUltra that I’m waiting on now, and I’ll add a photo once they arrive.

Thoughts & Next

Building this keyboard was satisfying and not as hard as I thought! Soldering in particular seems scary, but was actually pretty forgiving of mistakes.

I went with White switches for this build to see if I liked them and they are a bit loud - I don’t think I could use this in an office. But they feel good!

I’ve just started designing the layout I’m going to use with this keyboard - there’s enough there for another post in the future.