Arduino Pro Micro Keyboard Tutorial

With this small kit, you will be building your own USB Keyboard! Once finished, you'll be able to plug this into any computer, and then use this keyboard to type!

 

To purchase this kit, click here
Arduino Pro Micro Keyboard
Arduino Pro Micro Keyboard


First, you should refresh yourself on soldering safety!

WARNING: SOLDERING IRONS ARE HOT.  SOLDERING IRONS ARE NOT TOYS.  ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION WHILE USING A SOLDERING IRON.


Arduino Pro Micro → With this kit, we chose the Arduino Pro Micro. This uses an Atmega32U4 Processor, which has USB support built in. With this, we programmed the processor to be an HID input device as a keyboard. It monitors the IO pins in a matrix pattern to determine which button was pressed.

Button Switches → The 43 buttons in this kit are all arranged in a matrix setup. This allows the microprocessor to poll just a few pins and be able to determine which button was pressed at any given time. We have pre-programmed the Arduino Pro Micro with code that will match the buttons to their specified keys.

For your reference, here is a copy of the resistor color code.  The resistors in this kit use the 4-Band Code.
Resistor Color Code

Preparation

Count all of your parts and verify everything is in your kit.

Item
Quantity
Description
Arduino Pro Micro
1
Processor Board
Male Headers
2
1x12 Pins
Female Headers
2
1x12 Receptacle Socket
Buttons
43
Black button with 4 Pin
1kOhm Resistor
3
Brown Black Red
Diodes
40
Red with Black Stripe
Blue LED
3
Blue Dome Shaped
USB Cable
1
USB Cable
PCB
1
Printed Circuit Board


Step 1

Install the seventeen (40) diodes into the PCB. Be sure to face the black stripe side of the diodes to match the silk screen on the board. The black stripe on ALL diodes should be towards the bottom of the PCB.

Diode Placement

Step 2

Use your own discretion on how to solder in the (43) buttons. You can install 1 at the time, or insert an entire row and solder at once time.

Button Placement

Step 3

Install the three 1Kohm resistors at locations R1, R2, R3.



Resistor Placement

Step 4

Next we will install the three blue LEDs into D41, D42, D43. Remember that the LONG LEG of the LED will go into the round pad labeled with '+' and the SHORT LEG will go into the square pad labeled with the '-'.



LED Placement

Step 5

Locate the male headers, the female headers, and the Arduino Pro Micro. Install each female header into the PCB and solder 1 pin each. Next, slide the male headers into the female headers, the short end will still be left exposed. Now place the Arduino Pro Micro on these exposed pins with the USB towards the edge of the PCB (see the marking). Solder each of the pins on the Arduino Pro Micro first. Once finished, flip the PCB and finish soldering the female headers in place. This makes the Arduino Pro Micro removable for other projects.



Pro Micro Placement

Step 6

Using the USB cable, plug the board into a computer, and open a Notepad window. Hit a few buttons on the keyboard and you should see it type!



This product is completely open source. If you'd like to take a look at the design files, and find the software, check out our Github Repository:
Click here for the Github Repository