Replacing a Mushy Microwave Keypad with a Mechanical duckyPad Keyboard
Improve your microwave experience by replacing that mushy membrane keypad with a nice clicky mechanical duckyPad macro keyboard.
Like any good fanatic, I frequently extoll the virtues of mechanical keyboards. When compared to the bargain-bin membrane keyboards that most computers come with, mechanical keyboards are like a feather mattress for your fingers. Aside from simply being more pleasant to use, they can also improve your typing performance and reduce repetitive stress injuries. It’s easy enough to go purchase a mechanical keyboard for your computer, but what about all of the other keys you press in your life? As it turns out, you can use a duckyPad auxiliary keyboard to at least replace your microwave’s mushy keypad.
Virtually all microwaves have membrane keypads made with small flexible domes that squish down to make electrical contact. In defense of microwave manufacturers, that is actually ideal because those keypads can be easily cleaned. But, if mechanical keyboards are life, you can replace your microwave’s keypad. This can be achieved with a duckyPad, which is a small customizable auxiliary macropad with mechanical switches. It is still in the funding phase on Kickstarter, but its creator, dekuNukem, is already showing off some cool projects that the duckyPad can be used for. It contains 15 user-configurable mechanical keys, which makes it perfect for a microwave—assuming you don’t mind the look of a keyboard tacked onto your kitchen appliances.
The microwave used for this project was an old Proline Micro Chef ST44, but this process should work for many other models. This microwave’s keypad is built around a conventional keyboard matrix, which is easy to hack or emulate. Originally, the keypad was connected via a ribbon cable. dekuNukem removed the ribbon connector and replaced it with a standard pin header. After identifying which points on the matrix correspond to which functions, designed a small “PWM” board to act as an intermediary between the duckyPad and the microwave. This board contains a chip with analog switches that are controlled via SPI by the duckyPad. Pushing a key on the duckyPad causes it to send a signal through SPI to the PWM board, telling it to toggle the appropriate analog switch connected in place of the original keypad matrix. This is, of course, a completely ridiculous project that nobody in their right mind would bother with, but it does a great job of demonstrating how versatile duckyPad is.
