this has the papermod applied, which makes the switches sound much better

• This board can be 100% hand soldered with a normal soldering iron. No hot plate required
• The custom footprint makes soldering the switches quite managable, compared to hot plate soldering the switches to smd pads
• A 42 key layout

• Only 6mm thick (1mm was sacrificed to add a backplate to cover the backside of the pcb )
• Comes with full zmk support including zmk studio for easy remapping
• Extremly light and portable

• Even though this can be hand soldered, this is an advanced project,
  if you have never built a keyboard I would advise against this being your first project
• You will need a good soldering iron and well flowing solder, but please use lead free. Flux helps with the soldering process, so be sure to have it on hand. I was able to manage soldering without, so it is possible to manage without.
• Make sure to work in a well ventilated area and wash your hands afterwards.
• These switches are super unforgiving. You will most likely not be able to desolder these once attached. Take you time and be aware that one simple mistake could ruin the whole board
• Out of the box these switchs sound horrendous, you will need to do some mods. Mikeholscher has some guides . I am still experimenting.

• 1mm thickness is a must. The case is designed for 1mm thickness.
• Choose a nice solder mask color, as this will be visible. White or black will look best with most case colors.
• For safety reasons, I would recommend to go with the lead free HASL finish
  => unfortunately this combo gets a bit expensive, but it is necessary to have proper fit and look.

• 1x Pcb (gerbers can be found in /gebers ), choose 1mm thickness and a nice color, if you plan to use transparent keycaps
• 1x Nice Nano v2 (buy them with the individual mill max pins, not the row)
• 42x 1N4148W SMD Diodes
• 42x PG1316S switches (buy at least 50 to have some spares)
• 42x PG1316S keycaps (you won't really need spares here)
• 1x 2 pin reset switch
• 1x Power switch
• 1x Battery (the format is very important, especially the thickness. anything above 3mm will not fit into the case)
• 10x M2 2mm depth x 3.5mm diamter threaded inserts
• 10x M2 3mm flat head screws
• 1x Top part of the case
• 1x Bottom part of the case

• Images will be added soon

• Please be very careful with the diodes and only move them, once the solder they are attached with is liquid, otherwise you might rip out a pad on the pcb, which would ruin your whole pcb.

1. Add a bit of solder to one of the diode pads. Make sure you only add solder to one of the pads at this point
2. Repeat this for all diode pads.
3. Now sort your diodes by direction. This is very important, as the diodes have a fixed direction. To sort the diodes in the right direction, you first located the thin white lines on one side of the diode. Now align that with the straight line on the diode pads. The arrow on the pad should "point into" the line on the diode.
4. While heating the one pad that already has solder, place the diode on the pad with a set of tweezers making sure it aligns very well with both pads. The alignment is very crucial, as there is little room underneath the switch.
   Once all diodes are attached on one side, rotate the pcb and add solder to the other side of the diode.
5. Lastly remove all excess solder from the pads, by touching up the pads with a soldering iron and using a solder sucker if necessary.

1. All diodes have to be soldered at this point. There is no turning back once a switch is soldered.
2. Solder column by column. Place one column of switches on the board. Make sure the switches fall into their alignment holes
3. Tape them to the pcb, making sure they have not moved out of their alignment holes.
4. Flip the board so you see the pads from the bottom of the pcb
5. Drop solder into the holes inside the pads. Make sure the solder flows into the holes and has time to flow well.
6. Check the continuity of the switches with a multimeter, make sure they are all working. This will save you a lot of frustration.
7. Remove the tape and flip the pcb back to the top side.
8. Continue with the next column
9. Once you know that every switch on the pcb is working, you can move on to the controller.

1. Make sure that your controller is not faulty, by flashing it with the zmk firmware and checking if the blue lights appear on connection
2. Place the controller into a breadboard with the back side of the controller (so the side, which has no components visible) facing up ( to you).
3. Now insert each MilMax pin into the pin holes of the controller and into the breadboard. Make sure that the MilMax all sit nearly flush with the top side of the controller
4. Now solder each MilMax pin to the controller. Make sure you soldering iron is not too hot, 280-300C is enough.
5. Now once all you pins are attached to the controller. Place the controller into the pcb (once again with the back side facing up).
6. Make sure your controller sits flush with the pcb. Tape it inplace and make sure it does not move.o
7. Flip the PCB, with the controller in place. Now solder the 4 corner pins to the Pcb.
8. Cut all MillMax pins flush to the pcb,including the 4 corner pins.
9. Now solder all other pins and make sure not to use too much solder.
10. Remove the tape.

1. Insert the reset switch into the reset switch holes on the pcb.
2. Turn around the pcb and cut the reset switches pins flush with your flush cutters.
3. Turn the pcb around to the front again.
4. Add solder to the 2 pins that you inserted into the reset switch through holes that you just cut flushed.

1. Insert the power switch into the power switch holes on the pcb.
2. Hold it in place with tweezers, while you add a blob of solder to one of the pads
3. Now add solder to all of the other pads
4. Touch up all the solder joints and make sure they do not use an excess amount of solder.

1. Preheat the soldering iron to < 300C
2. Place a threaded insert onto the preprinted holes in the top part of the case
3. Use the soldering iron to heat the threaded insert, while applying a bit of pressure to the insert. Make sure it sits flush once inserted
4. Repeat that with all other threaded insert holes
5. Now place the pcb into the top part of the case.
6. Now place the backplate on top of the pcb.
7. Use the M2 srews to attach the backplate to the top part of the case
8. Place rubber feet into the preprinted holes in the backplate of the case.

• Print with a 0.2mm nozzle on the best / most accurate setting. Otherwise the very thin walls for the main compartment will not print correctly
• Print the top part top side down, for a smoother finish
• To avoid warping, print the parts with less than 30% infill
• Make sure to print with supports. I used tree supports

• Thanks to mike for the base footprint files for the pg1316 switch. Check out his pg1316s based keyboard here, I took his footprint and modified it to make soldering much easier with phts inside the pads.
  Futhermore, he helped me finalize this project and offered many of his insights. Please check out his profile and give him a star on his work.

1. Clone the repo

git clone --recursive <this repo>

recursive for the submodule containing extra footprints

2. Run ergogen which will build the pcbs

npm install -g ergogen
ergogen .

3. Go into the output directory and open it with pcbnew (KiCAD)
4. Do the routing / modifications
5. Upload the gerbers to a pcb manufacturer
6. Follow the guide about assembly

1. Zip the gerber directory
2. Upload to a pcb manufacturer
3. Assemble the board