CNC Aluminium Case for CM TKL boards: Novatouch, Rapid-i, MasterKeys

norbauer · 25 Nov 2016, 06:03

Thanks for your support, everyone! The order is now at the factory, and at our quantity they estimate a 1-2 month lead time before shipping to the USA, where I will re-pack with the necessary parts and ship to participants worldwide. I'll be posting updates in the GeekHack thread and occasionally sending emails directly to participants if something important comes up.

norbauer · 04 Jan 2017, 08:39

I'll continue to post updates in the GeekHack group buy thread, but I'm happy to report that these are done being machined and are off to be bead blasted and anodized/powder coated. They'll be shipping to me within the next couple weeks and then out to my fellow keyboard nerds all over the world, including the several Deskthority members who participated.

Wodan · 04 Jan 2017, 08:53

TRIPLE-YEY!!!

Phenix · 07 Jan 2017, 22:37

Wodan wrote:TRIPLE-YEY!!!

I TRIPLE THE TRIPLE-YEY!!!!!!!!!

norbauer · 08 Jan 2017, 22:30

A few people have sent me PMs who missed out on the GB. If you fall into this category and you'd like, you can join this list here:
http://norbauer.us7.list-manage.com/sub ... c4bbb079d4

I expect to have some spares available and will announce there when they are available.

I will also probably eventually do a second run, if enough people seem interested to hit the MOQ with the factory.

norbauer · 08 Apr 2017, 00:18

I just thought I would mention that, by popular demand, round 2 of this group buy is now live, with improved shipping rates for international buyers and lots of interesting new colors.

https://shop.norbauer.com

I also made a video about the making of round 1.

Orpheo · 08 Apr 2017, 00:55

Best keyboard video ever dude! Love the conclusion as well.

Ps : Never listen to them governments, shut off the TV and listen to Rage Against The Machine "Know Your Enemy" ^^

zslane · 08 Apr 2017, 01:56

Yeah, if you ever wanted another career, you could have one making documentaries (that you narrate yourself to boot). Well done!

norbauer · 09 Apr 2017, 20:20

haha. Thanks zslane!

Incidentally, for those who have contacted me who need spare riser feet from round 1 (or if anybody just wants spares for the current round 2), I created this listing:
https://shop.norbauer.com/products/spare-riser-feet

I don't have the full range of colors available, but hopefully one will work if you're in need of feet from last time.

norbauer · 21 Apr 2017, 22:21

Hi all. I just wanted to say that today is the last day of the group buy. I'll probably keep it open a few hours past the Friday midnight PST deadline for folks in Europe, but I need to submit the order to the factory on Monday (which means spending Sunday tallying everything up), so I can't go much longer than that.

FWIW, this is also probably the last time I'll produce these cases (time to move on to fun new keyboard projects), so if you were wanting to get one, now would be the time.

http://shop.norbauer.com

Thanks so much to everyone on DT and GeekHack for your support and encouragement! This has been one of the most fun projects of my life—and it has given me occasion to make any new friends. Keyboard people are awesome!

robotsokk · 29 Apr 2017, 07:45

Finally pulled the trigger on one of these after hearing about the project last year. I'm glad I was able to get in on the extras since I managed to miss both GB rounds. Really appreciate the time and care you clearly put into this.

This case + Hypersphere's rings will be amazing.

norbauer · 29 Apr 2017, 07:46

Thanks so much for joining up!

richard912 · 30 Apr 2017, 08:58

robotsokk wrote: ↑Finally pulled the trigger on one of these after hearing about the project last year. I'm glad I was able to get in on the extras since I managed to miss both GB rounds. Really appreciate the time and care you clearly put into this.

This case + Hypersphere's rings will be amazing.

End game for a hypersphered Novatouch with this case. I eagerly await the arrival of my Aerospace Aluminum unit and matt3o's /dev/tty MT3 will be the finishing touch. Time to start piecing together the next end game after this because it really never ends....

norbauer · 08 Sep 2017, 00:39

Hi all. I just thought I'd mention that I'm doing one final "mini-group buy" of these cases. I've changed up some of the finishes available, expanding the custom powder coat options by popular demand, since I've decided to scale back the anodizing options. Community Feedback so far on the previous runs has been very positive.

Myoth · 10 Sep 2017, 02:52

That pink one looks really cool !

norbauer · 10 Sep 2017, 07:48

Thanks! That's my favorite new color this round.

Kabouik · 07 Mar 2018, 12:41

I suppose I would have heard about it if it was planned, but it's still worth asking: are you planning on an additional round? I would love to get my hands on a case for Novatouch (tactical grey probably), and I think the demand is still pretty high on a number of colors.

Iggy · 07 Mar 2018, 12:56

Kabouik wrote: ↑I suppose I would have heard about it if it was planned, but it's still worth asking: are you planning on an additional round? I would love to get my hands on one (tactical grey probably), and I think the demand is still pretty high on a number of colors.

I'm interested, too, especially for a 105 key version. My Topre is aching for one.

norbauer · 07 Mar 2018, 17:58

Kabouik wrote: ↑I suppose I would have heard about it if it was planned, but it's still worth asking: are you planning on an additional round? I would love to get my hands on a case for Novatouch (tactical grey probably), and I think the demand is still pretty high on a number of colors.

I prefer to produce my designs in limited numbers and then move on to new projects (rather than to try to maximize the number I sell of a given design), so I'm sorry to say I'm not likely to produce this design again. =\

I'm currently working on a housing design for the FC660C and recently did a group buy of housings for the RealForce 87U family. For those and future designs, you can keep stay up to date via my email list, but for the Novatouch case I would actually recommend looking on /r/MechMarket. They come up there from time to time.

consolation · 08 Mar 2018, 02:31

norbauer wrote: ↑ ...
I'm currently working on a housing design for the FC660C
...

Hi Norbauer - while you will pry my eb Norbatouch from my cold dead fingers; have you thought about doing a case for Leopold 980c, for those of us who like compact but need a numpad? You haven't made a design with one yet... tempted?

A topre compact with a numpad, inside a slab of machined aluminium, covered with one of your impeccable powder coats; now that's keyboard porn...

norbauer · 08 Mar 2018, 05:19

I've thought about it, but the cost of anything bigger than TKL tends to go up non-linearly. After FC660C, I'm going to do the RealForce numpad, so I've got my plate full for a while, but perhaps after that.

Thanks for the kind words, btw.

consolation · 10 Mar 2018, 14:50

norbauer wrote:I've thought about it, but the cost of anything bigger than TKL tends to go up non-linearly. After FC660C, I'm going to do the RealForce numpad, so I've got my plate full for a while, but perhaps after that.

Thanks for the kind words, btw.

You are more than welcome, if sitting in front of the computer didn't give me a chance to wistfully stroke my enigma black, I'd get so much less work done...

I'm surprised that a 980 would be that much more expensive, it's almost the same size as a TK, one column larger basically. Is there a reason why TKL size is specially cheaper?

Awesome to hear about the numpad BTW, can't wait to chuck a nice chunk of aluminum in my laptop bag to mess with airport security.

Which reminds me, I had my norbatouch in the laptop bag going on a flight couple months ago. If it wasn't a local flight, in one of the safest countries on the planet, I genuinely think security wouldn't have let me board with it. As it was, they had the airport copper look it over... he seemed bemused.