Tag: Arduino

So, It’s Done For Now

At least as done as I need it to be.

Not pretty, just functional

Used a piece of scrap 2×4, resawn to a little over 3/8″.

Made some slabs from an old 2×4

Planed cut smooth after each slice.

Then smoothed the rough side of each slab. My bench hook was a little too tall, so I had to shim them up with a bit of 1/4″ plywood so the plane would clear.


I held the LHSWBBT next to one of the slabs at what felt like a good angle, and ran a pencil line. Then stuck the two sides together with some double sided tape and cut on the band saw.

Cut sides on band saw and planed smooth

I needed rabbets and dados for the top and PCB. Started out cutting free-hand with a utility knife (they’re only about 1/8″ deep), but realized it would be a lot easier with the Dremel plus router base and a straight edge.

Pretty obvious which one was free-hand and which was done with the straight edge and Dremel

There is no pretty joinery here, or even any attempt at it. The side which supports the hand is one of the slabs laid flat and planed to the same angle as the sides. The dados hold the PCB in place and everything is held together with three screws on each side.

Almost there. Sides still need to be trimmed to length

The bottom has been left open (easy to rewire/add things if I choose). Undo the four top screws and the cover lifts off. Nothing fancy, but this thing is fully functional.

Stuff that works…

How’s It Hooked Up?

The software is here. Just a simple little hack. The final version is almost the same as what’s posted. All that’s changed is some extraneous junk has been removed, and the thumb button now acts like the left-control key on the keyboard.

And here’s a fancy hand-drawn schematic.

Here you go

The Return of the Left Hand Scroll Wheel Button Box Thingie

So, several months later… (what am I talking about?)

I finally get ’round to doing more with the LHSWBBT. Going ultra-cheap isn’t the fastest way to get something done. Do you spend $10-$15 on a part or order ten of them for $1.50 and wait 4-6 weeks for it to show up? If you’re going ultra-cheap, you take option number two.

When combined with mistakes, like not noticing the the perf-board you ordered has smaller than normal through holes, and you can’t install the PC mount switches, it takes even longer.

Putting It Together

Mounted the switches and encoder

First step, mount the switches and encoder to the PC proto-board. Layout was detailed and scientific – I set my hand on a piece of paper and marked where my fingers fell. Drilled the hole for the encoder and soldered the switches to the board.

We’re committed now

I had a large sheet of acrylic in the shop suitable for the project, from which top panel was cut on the band saw. This leaves somewhat nasty edges on the acrylic, but a Stanley No.5 bench plane set for a thin cut does an excellent job of cleaning up, straightening and squaring up the edges.

I located the mounting holes for the acrylic by taping the PCB to it and drilling through the existing holes in the PCB. Then I installed extra long standoffs in PCB so the acrylic could be positioned over the mounted switches, and marked the rough center of each with a Sharpie.

Routing the holes.

Knowing I wouldn’t get the alignment close enough if I drilled final sized holes, I drilled starter holes and used a Dremel with a router base clamped upside down in the vise to open up the holes a bit at a time until they fit.

Close enough

Hooking Everything Up

I went for crude but simple, and easily modifiable. I installed Berg pins for the connections to every component and wire-wrapped the whole thing. Fast and easy, and it makes it super simple for the LHSWBBT to evolve over time.

All parts installed.

It may be ugly, but it’s fully functional.

Everything connected to Berg pins and wire-wrapped.

And yes, it does work. Still needs some updates to the software. I’ve given up on getting the Arduino library to work with more than three mouse buttons, and have decided that the thumb button would be more useful as a modifier key such as Control. I haven’t updated the Button class to be able to transmit keyboard events as yet, so the thumb button isn’t doing anything.

Fully functional, sans case.

As you have probably noticed, there isn’t any case for this thing yet. It’s just sitting on stand-offs. I plan on wrapping it in a wooden frame whenever I get another ’round-tuit.