SKB75 / SKB65 / SKB60 - GB CONCLUDED

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

don't worry, payment has slowed down and we won't hit 100 until a few more days, you'll get your emai/sepa invoice later today

[Shihatsu]

Did it via mail, but will repeat it here: Invoice payed, thank you very much for making SEPA available - highly appreciated! I am looking forward to begin my first real custom. Now I really need a soldering iron... And a desolder pump. And some springs and silent switches (the harder they come the better )

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

Now I really need a soldering iron... And a desolder pump. And some springs and silent switches (the harder they come the better )

You don't really need to desolder switches from old g80s. Of course you can but for your first build, I'd suggest you take it slow and don't make stuff overly complicated.
Mykeyboard.eu has more and more to offer lately. Even cherry MX-black silent switches in stock. Though I would recommenced to go with a more classic switch for your first build. Candykeys seems to be a good shop as well, haven't ordered there jet myself.


BTW, we are over 90 payments. 94, I think.
So we have about two thirds. Not sure if this is good or bad, I tend to believe it is more good. Think it's normal that many pay at the last day - often did it like that myself.

[RealityCavesIn]

BTW, we are over 90 payments. 94, I think.
So we have about two thirds. Not sure if this is good or bad, I tend to believe it is more good. Think it's normal that many pay at the last day - often did it like that myself.

Many people probably get their paychecks at the end of the month and wait until then to pay the invoice.

[Shihatsu]

You don't really need to desolder switches from old g80s. Of course you can but for your first build, I'd suggest you take it slow and don't make stuff overly complicated.
Mykeyboard.eu has more and more to offer lately. Even cherry MX-black silent switches in stock. Though I would recommenced to go with a more classic switch for your first build. Candykeys seems to be a good shop as well, haven't ordered there jet myself.

Exactly my thought - starting off my first shouldn't be humpered by a desoldering chore to get started. I therefor opened a "search" topic. I also didn't noticed mykeyboard has widened their product base drastically - they even have stiff springs, albeit sold out atm. Good one - thank you!

[scl]

You don't really need to desolder switches from old g80s. Of course you can but for your first build, I'd suggest you take it slow and don't make stuff overly complicated.
Mykeyboard.eu has more and more to offer lately. Even cherry MX-black silent switches in stock. Though I would recommenced to go with a more classic switch for your first build. Candykeys seems to be a good shop as well, haven't ordered there jet myself.

Exactly my thought - starting off my first shouldn't be humpered by a desoldering chore to get started. I therefor opened a "search" topic. I also didn't noticed mykeyboard has widened their product base drastically - they even have stiff springs, albeit sold out atm. Good one - thank you!

take care buying your mx black silents from there. these are the switches from the cherry fuckup with the mx red (lighter) springs, hence the cheap price. source: got my pack from there

[Shihatsu]

Thank you for the warning! I almost assumed that fact, but having it clarified makes my decision easier - I will replace the springs. Black would be worth a try, but red - no way. They are cheap as fuck, though, so I will place an order there. Thanks again, this thread clearly shows again why DT is so awesome.

[anfledd]

Just came across this GB by accident but love the premise. Put in my order and I'll pay invoice as soon as it comes over. Planning on doing a retro style build with the case by applying an old school gray/beige powdercoat to the case with some SA caps that are coming early next year.

Would love to see this one day become an even larger bent metal case like keyboards used to sit in. I'm talking like 6 inches extending from the bottom of the keys and 3 inches above. But first let's make this GB a resounding success!

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

take care buying your mx black silents from there. these are the switches from the cherry fuckup with the mx red (lighter) springs, hence the cheap price. source: got my pack from there

oh thanks, didn't know this either. have silent-blacks from that GB with the red springs as well. opened them for lubing anyway, so switching the springs at the same time wasn't a huge thing. not quite sure but it seems I have even more issues with this batch. the top housings' stem hole has a small area that is somewhat not as wide as it should be and sometimes the part from the keycap which is holding the stem collides with it. can't explain it better, will investigate further. still like the idea of silent switches very much but in practice they are nothing but trouble.

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

But first let's make this GB a resounding success!

sent you the info mail, since you use gmail, please check your spam. great you joined the GB.
oh and what you said else - I feel tha same way

[hansichen]

oh thanks, didn't know this either. have silent-blacks from that GB with the red springs as well. opened them for lubing anyway, so switching the springs at the same time wasn't a huge thing. not quite sure but it seems I have even more issues with this batch. the top housings' stem hole has a small area that is somewhat not as wide as it should be and sometimes the part from the keycap which is holding the stem collides with it. can't explain it better, will investigate further. still like the idea of silent switches very much but in practice they are nothing but trouble.

I have similar issues on some of the silent blacks from that batch. It mainly appears on slightly off-centered keypresses and it doesn't happen on all switches. But it's definetly annoying when you realise it after building the board

[Shihatsu]

As I plan to grab some of those switches can you let me know if and how I can test that behaviour, so I can sort out?

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

I have similar issues on some of the silent blacks from that batch. It mainly appears on slightly off-centered keypresses and it doesn't happen on all switches. But it's definetly annoying when you realise it after building the board

that's exactly it, yes, only on off-centered keypresses. i filed of a bit of the part from the caps that goes over the cross-stem. that worked. but I certainly don't wanna do that for all the caps. I did put a silent-black stem into another housing and that worked perfectly well. will do it that way with the next batch of silent-blacks. I think maybe cherry needs to retool.

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

As I plan to grab some of those switches can you let me know if and how I can test that behaviour, so I can sort out?

the best way imo is to get the stems out and plant them into other cherry housings. perfect opportunity to lube them.

[Omikron]

What pcbs are compatible with the case? I plan to build a new kb and your case is the best I've seen for a while so I don't want to end up with the wrong circuit board that doesn't fit just 1 mm

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

basically ALL pcbs that have the usb port on the left will fit. most common possibilities are mentioned in the layout/plate pictures (also linked in the start post):

PLATES AND LAYOUTS

there on the right side, the PCBs that enable the particular layout are mentioned. but these are just a few, others fit as well. you don't need to care about the screw holes in the PCB. they are not used in this case (haha), since it is a top mount construction.

[scottc]

How is payment going? Do you have any idea when production might start, or a rough timeline? No rush, just curious

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

btw, around 115 have paid their invoice so far. the last invoices will be due in a little over a week from now, then we'll hopefully have all to start production.

I'll also post a list of all who paid so far, sorry this didn't happen jet, standard GB practice, will have it done this week.

@scott, just wrote this while you posted

I sent out reminders yesterday. I'm optimistic the rest will pay when september starts.

[Omikron]

basically ALL pcbs that have the usb port on the left will fit. most common possibilities are mentioned in the layout/plate pictures (also linked in the start post).

Thank you, didn't see it in the pictures, text size a little bit hard to see.

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

yes, you're right, too small to notice right away.
so much information was added and changed over the course of this project and is now all over the place. pcb compatibility should have deserved a more prominent place in the start post.

[Omikron]

Quick question, I noticed that your way of engineering allows users to manually switch standoffs for something higher to "submerge" steel plate couple of millimeters deeper in the case. This will make keycaps to submerge a little bit deeper in the case Like this:



Instead of this:



If this is correct - could you please measure the highest possible standoff compatibility? I want to avoid contact between PCB and base of the case.

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

the possibility to use different sized standoffs is something like a feature of this case. first you should know, that most high-profile cases aren't actually that high. it is pretty common, that the top surface is level with the bottom edge of a cherry-profile cap. I wanted the caps to sink in significantly deeper into the frame. I will include 7mm standoffs, which will let the caps sink in 3mm - that is a lot, if you press down a key of the middle row it almost completely sinks into the frame. maybe I'll also include 6mm standoffs as well, so you can choose for yourself.

your question:
in the lowest 6 degree position you could even manage to juuust fit in 8mm standoffs without the pcb touching the bottom housing. but not if you use a pcb with hot swap sockets - then you can "only" do the included 7mm at the lowest 6 degree. if you want to use a higher angle than 6 degree then you can always use 8mm standoffs or even longer ones - but that wouldn't really make sense.

btw - the two images you posted show the same acrylic case. plate position is the same. the caps appear to sink in more than the other but that is just the caps. the SA caps' lowest edge does not reach down as far. don't know if that was understandable, sorry difficult to describe.

bottom line:
you don't need to care about getting standoffs. 7mm standoffs are included and they will let your caps submerge into the case by 3mm, which is pretty deep.

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

UPDATE (PAYMENT STATUS):

I made a new order list - this time it also shows the payment status for each participant. There are still 41 invoices unpaid. We'll see after the first week of September is over, then most of the invoices are due.

Please everyone check the list for mistakes.

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

UPDATE

Since my last post only a few more have paid. As of now there are still 38 unpaid. I'd like to split up this group into three different kinds:

A) Four of them asked if they could get some more time. Thanks to them, cause if I know they want to keep their commitment but just need some more time, then I can proceed, assured they'll pay later. No problem with that.

B) Most of those who haven't paid jet have kept quiet - I'd be thankful for some feedback like the ones from A) gave me.

C) This is the group most troubling for me as a GB runner. 13 have just canceled their invoice. I only noticed that last week. Was a bit confused when I noticed that the number of unpaid invoices went down without payments going in. So I went through the list in my paypal account and noticed "canceled" invoices - I didn't even know this was possible. Paypal doesn't gave me any kind of notification for this. I wrote an email to them, basically asking what's up but only one single person has answered. He mentioned having written a note for me on paypal along the cancelation but paypal does not show me any details about those invoices other than that they are marked as cancelled.
So it seems like this group just had fun filling out the form but didn't feel any kind of obligation. They pre-invoice Email summarized the latest development and I totally accepted any requests to drop out by then. But just disappearing is pretty shitty imo.

So what now:
25 still open and 13 cancelled. I'd like to wait for next week and hopefully some more of the 25 will pay or just contact me and ask for a delay. If the 25 stay committed then I will cover the 13 as extras and the order will be placed.

Backup plan:
SKB75 and SKB60-WKL sample incoming, ETA end of next week. Will put more effort in taking pictures (all before were just by phone) and make an official reddit post (had promised that long before anyway). This should help to get the amount that justified the price point all were paying.

Production:
I will give the go for production no later than September, even if I don't get the planned number of orders. Wouldn't be nice for me but the huge majority of you paid and have been waiting looong enough - thank you for your awesomeness!

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the raffle. The winners are written down on a piece of paper that I don't have with me right now. Will let you know tomorrow.

[anfledd]

Sounds good to me, and thanks for all your hard work in trying to pull this thing across the finish line.

[Shihatsu]

Thanks for the update. I will also try to spread the word in a german board, reddit will help also, I hope. If nothing helps please keep us posted, may some of us (for example me) will order a second one. Just as spare or something to sell or... just let us know.

[FSund]

Sorry to hear about the non-shows and cancellations. I was unfortunately not able to join this time, but I hope you are able to pull this off anyway. You've been doing a very good job so far!

[PlastikSchnittstelle]

Sorry I forgot about the raffle again. Just dug out the piece of paper I wrote the winners down to. Here they are:

draic
johngodsmith
-pineapple-
noobas4urus
LightningXI

like I had stated before, hansichen is added for being the first who joined the GB and Zuology for his help here in the forum.

To all of them, congratulations and please let me know which version you'd like to have added.

[LightningXI]

Sorry I forgot about the raffle again. Just dug out the piece of paper I wrote the winners down to. Here they are:

draic
johngodsmith
-pineapple-
noobas4urus
LightningXI

like I had stated before, hansichen is added for being the first who joined the GB and Zuology for his help here in the forum.

To all of them, congratulations and please let me know which version you'd like to have added.

Whoa, this is nuts! Thank you, PlastikSchnittstelle!!

I will PM you later regarding my added choice.