(Model MF) Remodeling the Model M (aka.. the Mara)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

<Skywalker>Nooooooooooooo</Skywalker>

It looks like Courier! Spindly! It's so gaunt, the nice slab serifs don't distinguish themselves.

[lot_lizard]

<Skywalker>Nooooooooooooo</Skywalker>

It looks like Courier! Spindly! It's so gaunt, the nice slab serifs don't distinguish themselves.

Warm up that Inkscape on your pc and take a stab... it's the "Objective" . Happy to have the help.

I would prefer the Medium as well, but attempting to avoid forking up the 35 bones for the full array of font weights. The Medium demo is too heavy.

EDIT: This is the medium demo. Played with the font size and got it to look a bit less bulbous. I would still prefer 80-85% this thickness

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[Nuum]

Something irks me with that logo. Part of it is probably because I don't get what "MF Objective" should mean and to me it doesn't sound good phonetically. Could you elaborate on that?
And while I like the font of "Objective" I think I don't like the mix of both fonts.

[lot_lizard]

Trimmed up the font over lunch... happy"er". Still welcome criticism

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Something irks me with that logo. Part of it is probably because I don't get what "MF Objective" should mean and to me it doesn't sound good phonetically. Could you elaborate on that?

There are actually a few reasons, but domain name availability had as much to do with it as anything. Sexy things like "MFormation.com", "mfProject.com", etc are not available. "mfThority.com" implies a tighter coupling to the site than we would want given it is focused around eComm alone. With whatever we picked, I wanted the .net and .org instance as well to avoid confusion.


There are several words that represented what we were striving for ("mission" is a little biblical, "movement" implies it is more than it is, etc), but the "objective" of our project was and remains this:

Produce something greater than the sum of any individual talent through the collaboration of enthusiasts for zero financial gain... all for the sole benefit of progress.

There are actually a handful of patents and intellectual capital in all of this. By "publishing" our work, we are not only hoping others can benefit... but assuring others can't capitalize in the future. All of this sums of the 'objective' of the project, and all projects under the umbrella that are slated but yet to come.

More than anything... we just have to pick something

[Arakula]

With whatever we picked, I wanted the .net and .org instance as well to avoid confusion.

You do realize that there are hundreds of generic TLDs around now, right? .com/.net/.org isn't really that meaningful any more.

[lot_lizard]

With whatever we picked, I wanted the .net and .org instance as well to avoid confusion.

You do realize that there are hundreds of generic TLDs around now, right? .com/.net/.org isn't really that meaningful any more.

Exactly. That and these are all going to be links out of here anyway

Actually... can someone explain to me why these atypical suffixes cost 50-100+ per year vs. the 10-15 per year for .com/.net/.org other than yahoos just capitalizing? Nonsense...

Again... we are just trying to get something out there. If you have something that is better, feel free to chime in. We are by no means married to these ideas, but if you haven't been able to tell, I don't like to waffle. Here are your rules:

• keep the cost minimal
• keep it is easy to spell for anyone
• utilize MF as a "brand"
• avoid consequential misspellings.... mfkeyboard.com would be too close to mfkeyboards.com, which some douche bag squatted on at "remarkable timing". Consequential spelling includes "mfWhateverTheHell.net" not being the same as "mfWhateverTheHell.com"

[lot_lizard]

I've had some PMs asking about the elusive future projects. There are a few in the works, but the following are concrete, and will happen (likely sometime in '17):

• Cases for the MF (think both legacy versions, and something significantly more artistic with mixed materials)
• XTant 2.0 proper... we eluded to MF being XTant2 as a novelty sticker and color scheme for the MF, but I have MANY XTs floating around here that I want to see be repurposed (50+ counting BigFeet). I am going to have the original XTant plates produced, but a little more productized to leverage our 3d printing as a plate separation, leveraging our new barrel stabilizers, etc. We're going to take the shells, strip them, paint industrial grey, and create something a little more formal out of WCass's project. Fortunately, this will cost less than the MF because the plates are less complicated (no elaborate offset bends). As part of this, we would accept your XTs to have this "modernizing service" performed on your behalf at our costs
• I have LOADS of F122 plates. We are working on ways to create a cut-down "Notsaver"

[emdude]

The last two items sound very intriguing, where will the barrels and flippers be sourced? Do you still have any plans for the ones that were designed a while back?

[lot_lizard]

The last two items sound very intriguing, where will the barrels and flippers be sourced? Do you still have any plans for the ones that were designed a while back?

Exactly... we are going to use the funding from the ~20 extra MFs on eBay to fund barrel and flipper molds. I haven't said in the marketplace, but I took a big gamble on our springs. I could essentially triple our order with the spring producer for a few hundred dollars more. If they work well, we are covered for "ever". If it is a fail, I am eating a few hundred dollars. It was worth it given the quantities we already had, so decided to take advantage. If we are off, we know a lot about any tweak that needs to take place.


On the XT front, this was why I was suggesting you didn't do something silly with your XT/Bigfoot thinking they wouldn't have a future purpose. We will make them better than ever before (utilizing the new mini-xWhatsit and connector, etc). There will be parts that lose value, but the majority will live on. We were feeling sick about all these lost boards for the MF cause

[elecplus]

I sure wish you could find a purpose for M122s...

[emdude]

The last two items sound very intriguing, where will the barrels and flippers be sourced? Do you still have any plans for the ones that were designed a while back?

Exactly... we are going to use the funding from the ~20 extra MFs on eBay to fund barrel and flipper molds. I haven't said in the marketplace, but I took a big gamble on our springs. I could essentially triple our order with the spring producer for a few hundred dollars more. If they work well, we are covered for "ever". If it is a fail, I am eating a few hundred dollars. It was worth it given the quantities we already had, so decided to take advantage. If we are off, we know a lot about any tweak that needs to take place.


On the XT front, this was why I was suggesting you didn't do something silly with your XT/Bigfoot thinking they wouldn't have a future purpose. We will make them better than ever before (utilizing the new mini-xWhatsit and connector, etc). There will be parts that lose value, but the majority will live on. We were feeling sick about all these lost boards for the MF cause

That sounds excellent. I was thinking that molds for your barrels and flippers would be a sure way to make the XTants and faux Unsavers happen. Here's hoping the springs work out! Offerings of different weights would be very compelling too..

I also happen to have a Bigfoot that I parted for its barrels and flippers. It is complete otherwise and it would be a shame to trash it, so I'll be looking forward to seeing what you conjure up for XTant 2.0..

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Something irks me with that logo. Part of it is probably because I don't get what "MF Objective" should mean and to me it doesn't sound good phonetically. Could you elaborate on that?
And while I like the font of "Objective" I think I don't like the mix of both fonts.

I do have reservations about the mix of typefaces, too.

[lot_lizard]

Something irks me with that logo. Part of it is probably because I don't get what "MF Objective" should mean and to me it doesn't sound good phonetically. Could you elaborate on that?
And while I like the font of "Objective" I think I don't like the mix of both fonts.

I do have reservations about the mix of typefaces, too.

I can say this... only the MF logo is being used in any REAL context (something physical actually being produced) thus far. We just need a logo for the eComm. It is possible it is just the MF as well, but wanted to see if we had some clever thoughts amongst the bunch about how to incorporate the "mission" with the "brand"

[tentator]

What about www.modelmf.com ?

[002]

I dunno if you are set on 'Objective' (and I personally have no issue with it whatsoever) but just thought I'd throw out maybe 'MF Collective' -- might open your options a bit for those sexier domains that you're after, and kinda fits the theme of collaboration. Just throwing it out there.

[lot_lizard]

I like Collective a lot, but .com is taken. It's actually more in the direction of what originally popped in my head. Names focused around the group buy itself since that is it's real purpose.

Things like mfgroupbuy, mfdrop, etc.. Something short, sweet, and to the point. At the same time, didn't know if it sounded to commercial (which isn't the point)

[E TwentyNine]

MFCooperative?

[Wodan]

The Legend: (sorry, OT)

I would love to be part of a collective like the one above ...

[lot_lizard]

so how bad does mfdrop suck? Certainly a "wannabe" move, but easy to remember and type in. I waffle about it

To be honest, we are actually a drop on steroids for a given product since we will always allow the ordering of individual parts. Each part would have a drop point (affecting the price of sum of all parts if purchasing the complete product). I was actually going to run our MF GB that way this last time, but we knew going in the exact numbers that would be picked up because of polling and having a limited commodity of switches. We were only off by 5 units total (amazingly close). Going forward, we will be based on buy dates instead of limited commodity quantities.

[Wodan]

love the term DROP and ... drops GET sucked, they don't suck

hmkay?

[lot_lizard]

mfDrop.com (.net/.org) have been squatted. I am eventually going to let these alternative TLDs expire, but sitting on the "cheap seat" versions until we decide on the path to take.

I actually like the term "drop" as well, and we can have a little fun with the logo if we want. Certainly opens up possibilities

EDIT: Smurfed with this over lunch a bit

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[Daniel Beardsmore]

If in doubt, I fall back to German. MF Werke …

[DMA]

we are going to use the funding from the ~20 extra MFs on eBay to fund barrel and flipper molds.

CAPS CAPSCAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS CAPS SPHERICAL CAAAPS DOUBLESHOT CAPS CAPS CAPS
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE&t=140 if you wonder)

(adapter would probably actually be better, even at the cost of added height, because compatibility)

tentator you mean modelmfkeyboards.com ?

[Techno Trousers]

I like mfdrop, and the Smurf logo. No worries about Massdrop claiming infringement of a trademark?

[lot_lizard]

I like mfdrop, and the Smurf logo. No worries about Massdrop claiming infringement of a trademark?

Not at all...

[lot_lizard]

Fohat was nice enough to loan me this little jewel to see if we can replicate it. I hadn't ever used one before, and am surprised how handy it actually is. I doubt we'll have time to produce it as part of this GB, but certainly something we can make cheaply in the future. I'll throw the STLs out on GitHub with everything else when available.

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[derzemel]

Fohat was nice enough to loan me this little jewel to see if we can replicate it. I hadn't ever used one before, and am surprised how handy it actually is. I doubt we'll have time to produce it as part of this GB, but certainly something we can make cheaply in the future. I'll throw the STLs out on GitHub with everything else when available.

Spoiler:

IMG_0691.JPG

no doubt it is useful, but what is it, what does it do?

[webwit]

An IBM key puller. I'm not a big fan myself.

[derzemel]

Oh, I see. Why would this be better than a wire one?

[lot_lizard]

Oh, I see. Why would this be better than a wire one?

It seems to be targeted at just removing the top of a 2-piece cap (leaving the stem in place). For that it works well (normally I just use my fingers).

An IBM key puller. I'm not a big fan myself.

I didn't try on a one piece cap. It seems a little flimsy for that? Not sure if that was ever it's intended purpose