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CH552-48: Low-Budget PCBA in BM40/JJ40 Form-Factor, rev2023.1
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@rgoulter rgoulter released this 22 Nov 15:11
· 76 commits to master since this release
ch552_48-rev2023.1
4307a1f

CH552-48: Low-Budget PCBA in BM40/JJ40 Form-Factor, rev2023.1

A very simple 48-key PCBA which uses the CH552 MCU.

The keyboard uses semickolon's fak firmware, which uses the sophisticated and modern Nickel configuration language to declare keyboard and keymap definitions.

The CH552 is cheaper than the RP2040, although is much less powerful. e.g. you're probably not going to get Vial on a CH552 keyboard. In practice, fak seems well suited for small-keyboard enthusiasts.

Design goals:

  • PCBA and Ortho 4x12 improvement upon the CH552-44.

  • Low Budget.

  • Use CH552 for the fak firmware.

  • Same mounting holes as JJ40/BM40/PyKey40.

Pictures:

CH552-48 in a sandwich style case.

Underside of the CH552-48 in a sandwich style case.

Underside of the CH552-48, showing the PCBA components..

2D Renders of the PCB, revision rev2023.1

Release Assets

Firmware

(NOTE: for flashing new firmware, on Windows, the CH552 bootloader can connect, but most of the time the bootloader will fail to connect. It's much easier to flash firmware onto the CH552 from Linux, e.g. docs/guide-liveiso-flashing-fak.md).

Plates and Cases

The bottom plate can be used to protect the components underneath the PCB.

Source files for plates to cut (or cases to 3D print) can be found under cad/ in this repository.

Assets 8