Are you wanting to build one or just being helpful for those that might want to make one?
I have a few spare PCBs of the posted iteration, if you’re based in Australia I’m happy to send some on. Though I’d recommend waiting for the 1.0 release.
I'm considering building one. I'm not in Australia and think I'll wait for 1.0, but thanks for offering!
I haven't soldered anything in a couple decades. Do you think it's still possible for me to do this when a guide is made?
Yes. It’s fairly straight forward and there are test points to check everything is soldered properly as you go.
There is one exception, the backlight has some very small surface mount parts, the SMD resistors in particular are quite fiddly.
My current thinking is to sell pre-soldered kits with all the surface mount parts done (LEDs withstanding). This way people only need to solder the controller sockets and encoders to get a functioning keyboard.
I will of course keep all of the design files freely available. If you order your own PCBs from JLCPCB you will need to order a batch of 5 so you’ll have some practice boards 😊
I’m still working on a cost effective way to solve the pre-soldering of LEDs. I’ve looked into reverse mountable LEDs, but I’ve yet to find something that meets the required criteria (price, color, efficiency and availability).