F104+SSK+122+62+77+50+Ergo orders now open! New Kishsaver+Industrial Model F Keyboards

[depletedvespene]

No "this side up" signs anywhere?

[Ellipse]

Correct, the keyboard packaging is designed so either direction will not cause key buckling or pressure on the keys.

[Hypersphere]

@Ellipse: I've returned after an absence of a few months.

1. Any updates on estimated arrival times for those of us who place orders early in this process?
2. Are the US tariffs on goods from China and the US-China trade wars going to affect prices and/or delivery times?

[Wazrach]

I dread to think what the import taxes are going to add up to. :/

[Ellipse]

Deliveries should start in late October or early November.

[consensual-penis]

I keep seeing this early bird thing, and how if you order now, you will still be in the early bird round. Am I to take it that you plan on making more of these keyboards after this?

I would hope so since you now have all of the machines, tools, and factory set up.

[Coco]

Will a tracking number be provided when our orders are shipped? I kind of want to avoid getting my packages jacked by a not so friendly neighborhood.

Makes it easier to plan on when to be home.

[consensual-penis]

Will a tracking number be provided when our orders are shipped? I kind of want to avoid getting my packages jacked by a not so friendly neighborhood.

Makes it easier to plan on when to be home.

with how expensive these boards are, I would prefer a signature requirement.

[Ellipse]

Yes everyone gets a tracking number. Signature requirement costs about $5 extra, feel free to PM me if interested.

Yes we are in the early bird round and you can still order and be included in this early bird round. After this there will be one more round.

[Humanoid]

You will put the pictured F77 boxes inside of another box for individual shipment right? I don't like how amazon sometimes slaps a sticker on the main product box, ruining it from the sticker, handling and weather.

[consensual-penis]

well shit, if this first round turns out I might have to get the 60% as well.

[enrique.aliaga]

In my case it's the opposite: If this round turns out good enough, I might have to get the F77 as well: Industrial Gray + blank keycaps.

[Ellipse]

Humanoid I will probably wrap the boxes in a plastic type gray wrap. No double boxing unless extra large stuff is ordered.

Some more photos of the boxes: below are some detailed photos of the double walled box edges. The fold is designed to resemble that of the Model M 1391401 box but with double walled box construction so the product box would double as a shipping box (wrapped with gray wrap to avoid stickers on the box).

I have ordered fiber reinforced tape for the classic style keyboard foam packaging (similar to what IBM used) and I have a gummed paper tape machine for sealing all the boxes (will be using 72mm wide reinforced paper tape)

2019 09 box detailed (1).jpg (2.08 MiB) Viewed 11544 times

2019 09 box detailed (2).jpg (1.98 MiB) Viewed 11544 times

2019 09 box detailed (3).jpg (1.17 MiB) Viewed 11544 times

[consensual-penis]

The level of detail going into this project is pretty nuts.

[Humanoid]

Humanoid I will probably wrap the boxes in a plastic type gray wrap. No double boxing unless extra large stuff is ordered.

The gray wrap will protect it from the sticker and weather. But not from incompetent people who often smash the boxes, especially the corners.

I once ordered 3 used laptops from the same guy. He put each laptop into a separate identical box. 2 of the boxes arrived with dents on the corners. The 3rd box was beyond recognition. It didn't even look like a box, all smashed and torn open. It looked like that box from the beginning of the first Ace Ventura movie. (Luckily, the laptop inside had some very thick bubble wrap around it.)

Never underestimate the power of bubbles.

[NilesLinus]

Ellipse:
Maybe I missed it. What is the latest re: the dye sub process. I know there was a fair bit of discussion about typography/kerning/etc. But I’m more interested in the progress of your actual machine process. Is your output now up to pace to ship units efficiently once they are off the boat from China? No pressure here. Just curious. Thanks.

[consensual-penis]

I would love to be able to purchase normal colored keycaps with a blue dyesub.

That would be badass.

[Humanoid]

You mean like these?
https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/FullRGBKeys

The blue legend keys are what I'm actually using on my F122. And yes, they look good.

[consensual-penis]

You mean like these?
https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/FullRGBKeys

The blue legend keys are what I'm actually using on my F122. And yes, they look good.

I love them!

How are they compared to the vintage caps?

[Humanoid]

The text alignment on some of the keys is clearly off. For example my Q is practically touching the top-left corner. The shift and caps lock keys have their text too high, and not vertically centered. But most of the keys have good enough alignment. And since I rarely look at the keys, I rarely notice that the text on a few keys are misaligned. The caps also have a lot more wobble than the old ibm caps, but I don't think it affects the feeling when typing. I think others may have more information on the general differences between unicomp vs old ibm key caps. I hope the text alignment on the F77 key caps will be better.

[Wazrach]

The text alignment on some of the keys is clearly off. For example my Q is practically touching the top-left corner. The shift and caps lock keys have their text too high, and not vertically centered. But most of the keys have good enough alignment. And since I rarely look at the keys, I rarely notice that the text on a few keys are misaligned. The caps also have a lot more wobble than the old ibm caps, but I don't think it affects the feeling when typing. I think others may have more information on the general differences between unicomp vs old ibm key caps. I hope the text alignment on the F77 key caps will be better.

My Unicomp keycaps are comparable to XT keycaps. The legends are razor sharp. The positioning of the lettering is consistent across the board. They do wobble more than standard caps and they are scratchy when pressed off-centre. I'd say the scratchy sensation is the biggest problem with the caps, as everything else is superb. I need to find a way to consistently lube the switches.

[segacontroller]

I have only ordered the "PANIC" keys from unicomp, and I bought them in every color.

None of the legends are printed in the same position. They honestly look atrocious as they are off center on both axis/axes?. I don't have any normal legend keycaps, but these novelty keys are really bad.They even look bad in the picture on their website.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/mm5/graphics ... /panic.png

[Wazrach]

I have only ordered the "PANIC" keys from unicomp, and I bought them in every color.

None of the legends are printed in the same position. They honestly look atrocious as they are off center on both axis/axes?. I don't have any normal legend keycaps, but these novelty keys are really bad.They even look bad in the picture on their website.

https://www.pckeyboard.com/mm5/graphics ... /panic.png

That's really strange. I wonder what the cause of the differences in legend quality is? Again, my set of keycaps is fantastic. It is clear the Enter key is fuzzier than the rest though.

[consolation]

My APL keyset was fine with alignment ( https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/USAPLSET .) Quality and feel wise they were same as my two-piece, square badge, model M keys. But, they are two piece... I'd be bit torn putting them in an F77; although... APL!

[Ellipse]

First early bird shipment tentatively set for Saturday!

As an update the factory has completed assembly of most of the keyboards but is still working on finishing up mass assembly. They expected to be finished by this point but there were some unexpected assembly challenges with the ultra compact cases. They made some mistakes with the classic style cases (e.g. forgot to put the 2-3 nub keys where needed) and this resulted in additional time needed.

To avoid having everyone wait any longer, they will be shipping me most of the early bird keyboards but not all of them. The remaining early bird keyboards will ship a month or so later. They expect to give me more than enough keyboards (both compact and classic style) to keep me busy with shipments out to everyone in the mean time.

Initially I expected the factory to determine they could finish X number of keyboards per day and complete everything by the formula: total quantity/X days. But I have learned that the factories train the assembly workers to assemble one configuration of product at a time and some configs are more tricky than others for the workers doing the assembly. They started with the classic style keyboards and expected to be finished by this point but there were some unexpected assembly challenges with the ultra compact cases so assembly slowed significantly. The assemblers also made some mistakes with the classic style cases (e.g. forgot to put the 2-3 nub keys where needed) and this resulted in additional time needed.

[darkcruix]

After you box them - you ship them .......


EXCITING !!!!!

ship.jpg (38.15 KiB) Viewed 9677 times

[Mattr567]

Good to hear. What is the current estimate for when keyboards will start shipping to customers?

[cods]

Never have I been happier that I bought an earlybird upgrade.*

Sweet!

(Edit: it has been pointed out that between my excitement and haste, I’ve used the incorrect terminology, and that I should have written ‘low serial number upgrade’ or similar. Thanks to those who pointed out my error!)

[consensual-penis]

I'm curious just how many people bought the early bird upgrade.

I know I did.

[consolation]

Aren't we all early birds... getting the worm etc. Do you mean the low serial upgrade?