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CH552-36

Richard Goulter's CH552-36 is a 36-key split with exposed SMT components and CH552 MCU.

KBD.news
Published January 4, 2024
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The CH552-36 is a 36-key split keyboard designed by Richard Goulter. It takes inspiration from TeXitoi's KeySeeBee.

I liked the look of the "show the components" along the side of the PCB, as well as the look of the (mostly) SMD components, and the idea of just having a keyboard that's the PCB & switches – richardgoulter.

Specs

  • 36 keys (5x3+3)
  • MX, soldered
  • CH552T MCU
  • exposed SMD components
  • FAK firmware

Pic: Exposed components and CH552T

Exposed components and CH552T

The design has a few properties that reduce the cost: just like some previous models by the author, it uses the cheap CH552T MCU, and the PCBs are smaller than 100x100mm. (The boards aren't reversible though; "the design is neater for not being reversible".)

The switches are 5-pin MX-compatible, which saves the need for a plate.

The repo contains a tenting stand too:

Pic: Tenting stand

Tenting stand

Since it uses the CH552 MCU, the keyboard uses semickolon's FAK firmware, which uses the Nickel configuration language to declare keyboard and keymap definitions.

Resources

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Published on Thu 4th Jan 2024. Featured in KBD #149 (source).


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