Phantom Custom Keyboard Group Buy (CLOSED)

[7bit]

I still did not receive anything.

Sent off some switches today. More tomorrow ...

[The_Ed]

Were my switches still at your place or already shipped to bini? You said there were 2 packages you still had to ship to him, and that mine *might* be in them.

I'm afraid I've shipped them to Biniaris.

I still have 2 packages for him, I will take a look. I consider to ship all remaining switches directly, as I already do with all non-US shippings.

[John Fourth]

Anyone have an extra "ANSI layout with Cherry 1.5x wide modifiers" plate?

[litster]

Update from BiNiaRiS:

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. I've been doing some stuff on the side and my time to get everything finished has been dwindling. Not to mention some huge bumps on my end.

Everything is in the mail to Europe split into multiple shipments. Customs can be a pain in the ass. At least 2 packages 7bit sent me took slightly over 30 days to arrive.

the rest of your orders are trickling out. there are still a few people who's switches haven't arrived yet. i'll be doing the final count to see who's switches are missing over this weekend.

thanks for being patient everyone, this has been a huge learning experience for all of us. this project was about 10 times bigger than i thought it would be when i initially got into it, but we're almost through.

[agor]

Thanks for the update and thanks to everyone involved for the hard work. You rock!

[7bit]

Rumors say that the phantom packages are on the back of high-speed snails (pictured) which are sliding eastwards at an average speed of 2e-3 mph since early last week.

[litster]

on slick surface, the snail is actually moonwalking.

[dirge]

my switches arrived and cheered me up. need more cheering up so hope the boards and plates turn up soon. until then, whisky. lots and lots of whisky.

[Tarkoon]

I would love it, if it were at least snails like this one:

rennschnecke.jpg (198.92 KiB) Viewed 5976 times

[fruktstund]

I wrote a really long post a moment ago, but deleted it to make it more straightforward:

Interest check for PCB and plates round 2; good idea or bad idea?

[jdcarpe]

I wrote a really long post a moment ago, but deleted it to make it more straightforward:

Interest check for PCB and plates round 2; good idea or bad idea?

I think it's a great idea. I think the originators want to move on to another project (The Light), but I honestly think the Phantom was a great design and deserves to be offered up again. The only drawback I can see is that everyone seems to want backlighting now, for some reason.

Maybe if we kept it simple and only did PCB's and plates, like you suggested, it wouldn't take forever like the current Phantom GB has. Source your own switches and Teensy, say I.

[litster]

One of the most time consuming parts of the Phantom project was ordering, sorting, and packing the small parts. LEDs, diodes, etc. *If* we do it again, we would only include PCBs and plates. anything that keyboard builders could get themselves would not be included.

Let's get this one over with first. One big ass group buy at a time

[agor]

Yeah, let it be finished, it's almost done anyway. But at least Teensy's should be provided in my opinion.

[damorgue]

The teensy is the easiest part to find since it can be bought everywhere. The diodes as well, and switches is cutrently undergoing a second run. The stabilizers can be bought, although a bit harder, and they can also be ripped from other boards. The main items is the plate and pcb. I could get plates in stainless steel if someone else orders the pcb's.

[bpiphany]

We could perhaps do a joint Swedish effort to pull off another group buy for plates and PCBs. I've got the PCBs on one-click-ordering over at pcbwing.. =)

Components is probably smoother for each one to order on his own, or in smaller groups of people living close to each other.

But not yet. This thing has to finish first =P

[damorgue]

Sweet

The low number of stainless plates makes them a bit more expensive than the aluminium batch though. 2B finish is probably the cheapest and most suitable. I don't think mirror finish is that great since you would see the underside of the caps a bit and it would reveal dust and dirt.

[dirge]

But not yet. This thing has to finish first =P

True, but would be good to have the next round well advertised, just don't want to see phantom reselling for silly prices.

That said, I'm totally interested in your cut to fit board, as it covers the phantom layout but also everything else... would like to see that soon

[bpiphany]

The postman usually takes the elevator up and shoves the mail for each floor just outside the elevator door. Then he walks the stairs back down while actually delivering it. Today when I was heading out for the gym there was a pile of mail by the elevator, and on top, a box for me, from 7bit. Alas I saw immediately that it was too small to fit a Phantom PCB. But there were lots of exotic Cherry flavours in there =D

[litster]

Good news guys! Good news!

BiNiaRiS just informed me that most US packages should be delivered by the middle of next week (Wednesday-Thursday) at the latest. Canadian and non-EU orders will be later/random.

7bit has been notified by custom that a package is waiting for him, but an invoice of the content is required. We are working through that now.

Please post when you receive your package so we can keep track. The sooner we know all orders are received, the sooner we can make the left overs available for purchase.

[The_Ed]

So I'll have my switches in a week?! I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up because of the "most" part...

[damorgue]

Good news guys! Good news!
Please post when you receive your package so we can keep track. The sooner we know all orders are received, the sooner we can make the left overs available for purchase.

Yes please







pwetty please?

[Dezeer]

Reporting for here also, got switches waiting on boards.

[gimpster]

Latest update on my Phantom project. I had to order a new desoldering iron after my Radio Shack special crapped out, so I upgraded to the Hakko 808. What a nice machine that is to work with. It showed up on Tuesday so last night I set about desoldering 2 Dolch keyboards and liberating them of their blue Cherry switches. Then I mounted them up on the blue Phantom and soldered away. Second Phantom is finally done.



And since my Round 3 Moogle keys arrived yesterday, I could actually load up a full set of Dolch keys. I had to fix the firmware, I found that the firmware I previously used was setup for standard 87-key layout, not 86-key. Small fix, and now it's all working great. Glamour shots below.

Monochrome Phantom:


Touch of blue:




Still waiting for the LEDs to show up from China, so those aren't on yet, but they will be soon enough. Now I just need my Round4 Phantom keys. I also think a Cream Cheese & Blue set would look P-I-M-P on this board.

[litster]

Very nice, Gimpster! Are Cherry stabilizers working out for you? I tested Cherry stabilizers on the new plate and it actually works better than the prototype plate. it is accurate enough that both Cherry and Costar stabilizers lock in pretty good.

[gimpster]

Yeah, the Cherry stabilizers are working very well. Especially if you have new stabilizers. I put some used stabilizers into the purple Phantom that came from some 25-year old Wyse boards. Those can get pulled out when you're removing keys sometimes, but it only happens on keys that get REALLY stuck in there, and it's an easy fix to put them back in. The Costar stabilizers worked great as well. I'm quite happy with how well they both are able to be used on the same plate.

[dirge]

Please sort the customs out guys I'm having trouble waiting now! (kid / xmas)

[agor]

Any updates from 7bit and customs?

[BiNiaRiS]

Status Update for you all. I have some bad news and good news.

Bad news. The shipment of plates to 7bit got returned to me today. The front of the box had basically been demolished. The shipping info was mostly destroyed so it was returned unreadable (and thus undeliverable). Fortunately my return address was mostly there so we are just delayed. This only affects European orders. No plates were damaged and they will be reshipped tomorrow via 6-10 shipping.

Good news. Every US (and non-EU) order has been shipped. 37 packages went out Tuesday (couldn't make it Monday) and the few stragglers will be dropped off tomorrow. There are a few unlucky people:

dmk, riffautae, theta, and malpardis. Your switches were either lost in the mail or somehow missed the cut when 7bit was shipping them. We're relatively certain they were lost in the mail. Either way, 7bit is shipping replacement switches. To make it even worse, I only have some extra MX Red switches which none of you ordered. I will be shipping out the rest of your orders so you can at least start on soldering diodes.

[The_Ed]

So either my switches have been shipped or will be shipped tomorrow? It's been so long that I need to make another order, but I promised myself that I wouldn't until I received my first one.

[BiNiaRiS]

So either my switches have been shipped or will be shipped tomorrow? It's been so long that I need to make another order, but I promised myself that I wouldn't until I received my first one.

yours 100% are shipped. so you'll probably get them tomorrow. maybe friday.