After trying hand-wiring i decided that I wanted to try to make a custom PCB. This would be the first that was a bit more advanced, with a MCU and USB. I also wanted a PCB for the vintage SMK switches I just bought from Ebay.
I used EasyEDA to design it since i would be ordering from JLCPCB and there is a nice integration between EasyEDA and JLCPCB which made the ordering a lot easier.
I created my own footprint for the key switches and planned to use Mill-max 7305 sockets to make it hot swappable so I easily could reuse the switches for future projects. I choose Atmega 32U4 as the MCU for a couple of reasons, I’ve used it before in LoRa projects in the form of Adafruit feather boards, I found some people who recommended it, but most of all I found a guide on designing keyboard PCBs that used it.
Unfortunately I placed the components and the switches on the same side of the PCB board so the switches touched the diodes. I also didn’t place any holes for mounting except in the corner, but other than that it actually worked. But due to the error the PCBs never got any use but I used the experience for my next PCB.