Round 5 and Round 6 kits for sale!

[Muirium]

Ah right. That's more progress than back when we last discussed it. Back when Granite was in the works, SP said no PBT SA, period. I can understand, too, because SA is really thick and must be painful to cool properly in PBT. PBT is notorious for warping when cooled too quick or slow.

If they could reliably make the caps, they could surely dyesub them. The spherical cups on the top are no deeper than DSA. But the separate row profiles make this more work than DSA too.

[unoab]

yea, that is probably why they thinned down the inside of the caps they did make. From what Melisa told me they were leftovers from an older customer order and they do not plan on making more due to poor yields from the manufacturing on them, which is too bad..

[Muirium]

Thick PBT is definitely the way to go. PBT isn't that much of a big deal by itself, but when thick it works very nicely on the NovaTouch and I suspect on MX as well. Vintage "thick" Cherry PBT dyesubs are insanely sought after. Whoever can master their tricky production will have an immense product that we have no end of ideas for.

[Norman_]

Hey 7bit, i've been looking over my order and i noticed something...
is there any way i can get a grey, blank, 2.25u shift?

A 2.75 would also be nice, but there are some round 5 leftovers available for that

[unoab]

Thick PBT is definitely the way to go. PBT isn't that much of a big deal by itself, but when thick it works very nicely on the NovaTouch and I suspect on MX as well. Vintage "thick" Cherry PBT dyesubs are insanely sought after. Whoever can master their tricky production will have an immense product that we have no end of ideas for.

I agree PBT is nice, not only for wear and aging but for the dyesubbing abilities too. Here is a photo I took of the SP PBT caps, notice how they are about as thin as their polycarbonate relegendable covers. Now if only they would just make PBT covers for the ABS bases, then you have the nice dampening from the softer ABS but the wear resistance and dyesub abilities of the PBT, like a modern day bucking spring cap design.

[zslane]

So how many keycaps are ultimately planned for the FUNCTION kits? The "quantity" listed for them is 32, but there are actually 34 currently defined in the kit, with space in the diagram for 36.

[Muirium]

Those look like the outer shot of SP's usual ABS SA caps, with the inner shot missing. Or do you have both for a comparison?

Nice idea about a hybrid cap. But I think the manufacturing pain in PBT is about tolerances. So if it had to fit perfectly on an inner piece, like buckling spring caps, it would need to be just as thin as IBM two-piece caps. And for as much as I love my IBMs, their caps are shit compared to Granite!

[unoab]

The cap next to it is a blank brown abs SA cap, but probably was a very bad choice because of contrast and not being able to see that inner extra ridge for the double shot part. Let me dig out the caps and take another shot of some together.

edit: here is a better photo to show off the comparison of the inside thickness

[1984jude]

Is this steel can be ordered? 7bot never answered.

[ijprest]

Just got my Round 5 order (#0034, Canada). Everything looks great and all caps accounted for. Thanks to 7bit, and everyone else who helped make this happen!

[error1]

Was really hoping to jump on 5a at the last minute but I'm not getting any response from 7bot either

[zslane]

7bot is probably taking the weekend off...

[nowai]

Is this steel can be ordered? 7bot never answered.

No, this is ABS Plastic.

[7bit]

7bot is probably taking the weekend off...

Totally right!


The bot will be back in a few hours and will answer your well-formatted questions soon.

[tofagerl]

Will we have to resend, or would that just annoy his metalness?

[7bit]

Sending in more orders will pelase the bot.

[Wet]

Hope my payment goes through, was made last Friday but the newest invoice I received didn't include my latest payment

[7bit]

No worry, my deadlines are not that strict.

[Norman_]

Hey 7bit, i've been looking over my order and i noticed something...
is there any way i can get a grey, blank, 2.25u shift?

A 2.75 would also be nice, but there are some round 5 leftovers available for that

Nope on the 2.25u blank grey shift?

I'd just buy a 4 pack from SP directly but they only make them in bright green for some reason

[7bit]

I'm quite sure I have these left over from Round 5. Just jhave to catalogize them. I will do this long before Round 5a gets into production, so no hurry.

[Norman_]

Ok, just as long as i can get one eventually it's fine.

Also, am i supposed to have 100% paid by tomorrow? Obviously you said your deadlines aren't super strict, but what's the intention?

[zslane]

Patience is not merely a virtue in this GB, it the dominant paradigm. There are both pros and cons to this. Sure, everything about this process feels like it takes forever, and you have to wait what feels like a lifetime to get your keycaps. But the long, drawn out nature of it means you are almost never "too late" to get in on the action. And you never need to panic that you didn't get an order or payment in "on time" since that concept is extremely fluid and 7bit is profoundly generous and nonchalant about deadlines.

Did you fail to receive an invoice recently? No worries, just wait a day or so and it will show up in your e-mailbox. Does your latest invoice fail to acknowledge a recent payment? Again, just give it a little time. The system is primitive and slow, but it is really robust from what I've seen so far. Nothing gets lost or missed, and you are not penalized for the intrinsic sluggishness of the system.

Lastly, I've found that the only downside to not paying 7bit's percentage demands by certain (again, very fluid) deadlines is the possibility that your costs could go up if you haven't paid up to "lock in" the lower prices on your original order submission (and eventually supplies will become exhausted, so people will eventually miss out, but that is a long way off if the current order counts are anything to judge by). If you scroll up a few pages you'll see that 7bit is asking for 80% payment to lock in current prices, not 100%. If that policy changes, rest assured you'll have plenty of time to catch up.

Again, there is nothing about this GB that is hurried, rushed, or justifies panic. It is a very casual, meandering process.

[axtran]

Yeah, I sent a payment but the invoice system is still saying that I didn't pay. No response yet from 7bit so I'm wondering what to do... Maybe contact Google Wallet support and cancel payment and then repay?

[McPwned]

Yeah, I sent a payment but the invoice system is still saying that I didn't pay. No response yet from 7bit so I'm wondering what to do... Maybe contact Google Wallet support and cancel payment and then repay?

I can take days for it to show up in an invoice from 7bot.

[7bit]

Yeah, I sent a payment but the invoice system is still saying that I didn't pay. No response yet from 7bit so I'm wondering what to do... Maybe contact Google Wallet support and cancel payment and then repay?

If you do this, some killers will be at your butt within minutes!


First, I will wait until we've passed the deadline. Then, I will ask Evilcamels to send an update. Then, I will send invoices to everybody who still did not pay. If you paid but it does not show up in your invoice, just pm me.

Also, I will wait some days for bank payments to come in.

[beltet]

Darn... I have not checked in on this thread for a few weeks now. can anyone recap?
Is it payment deadline tomorrow(I have paid all but like 10€)?
Do I have to made all my orders by that?
Any other news I would need to know about?

[zslane]

The usual turnaround time I've experienced with the numerous order updates I've sent--and three rounds of payments along the way--is about 24 hours. Place/modify your order and you'll get an invoice about a day or so later. Sometimes you'll get updated invoices more than once a day, and sometimes you'll get an identical invoice, unbidden, again a day later. If there is a method to the madness, I've not sussed it out entirely, but I do know that it works in its odd and somewhat mysterious way.

Payments are a little slower to make their way through the system, largely I suspect because the person handling the payments (evilcamels) is not the same person who is in charge of everything else (7bit). Such information exchange happens at the speed of human sufferance, not the speed of a 100%-automated system of code running at 3.6Ghz and travelling over a 100+Gbit data pipe.

This is summer time, and people take vacations. This weekend things got backed up a little (my payment on 8/27 didn't get registered with an updated invoice until about an hour ago, for instance). No need to worry. It's that speed-of-human-life thing getting in the way a little, that's all. 7bit may be German, but he is still only human after all.

[flabbergast]

Darn... I have not checked in on this thread for a few weeks now. can anyone recap?
Is it payment deadline tomorrow(I have paid all but like 10€)?
Do I have to made all my orders by that?
Any other news I would need to know about?

It is not a deadline for ordering/paying, only the prices for some stuff will go up see this post.

If you paid at least 80% of what you owe by the deadline, the prices will remain fixed for you.

[zslane]

Is it payment deadline tomorrow(I have paid all but like 10€)?

Deadline tomorrow is 80% of your total to "lock in" your current prices. The prices of some things are going to go up due to the low order counts on many kits, so the sooner you lock down the current, lower prices, the happier you ostensibly will be. However, see 7bit's recent message about the steps he plans to take. Plenty of opportunity to get in on the current prices over the next couple of days.

Do I have to made all my orders by that?

No. I believe you can continue to order until supplies for any given kit run out, which in many cases won't happen until long after the GB goes into production.

Any other news I would need to know about?

Nope. Only that you're timing is very good.

[bloo]

Is there a close date or production schedule for 5a?