Help me refining the Midnight set

[matt3o]

same as SA. DSA is available in the standard "DSA Retro" font only, which is pretty good actually.

When we organized the DSA retro group buy, SP told us that many other typefaces were available and we could have gone in their warehouse to check them. unfortunately we didn't have the chance.

[Muirium]

You need someone up in Washington to take the tour!

The standard SP font is okay (and much better than a lot of new keyboards ship with) but not amazing. A Cherry-like font is an interesting direction, but I've mixed feelings about DCS. Spherical is my way.

[matt3o]

considering the vastitude of Round5 I feel that a cherry-DCS might be a better choice, but I'll let the people decide.

[ماء]

Is printed on the keycap will light , when dark?
i think cool without blacklight.......

[matt3o]

It's double shot ABS (not printed). Mostly light legends on dark background.

[REVENGE]

Actually, can SP do glow in the dark plastic for doubleshot? That would be a killer feature of this set if implementable...

[Broadmonkey]

Yes, they can. They can also do clear plastics.

[matt3o]

indeed, if you look closely you'll notice a "glow in the dark" kit

[Muirium]

I wonder if we'll ever be able to make Glow in the Backlight kits…

[matt3o]

sorry what?

[scottc]

I think he means it in the sense of "glow in the dark". It took me a few minutes to realise, though.

[matt3o]

I've got pricing. The GB will start really soon

[matt3o]

Granite set took precedence BUT midnight is finally coming to a keyboard near you

These are the (almost) final kits

Midnight DCS



Midnight SA

[DanielT]

I followed the thread on GH, very nice color scheme.I'd preferred it more in DSA profile, but all row 3 SA isn't that bad I'll have to see the pricing on this, already spent too much in Round 5, Galaxy and Dolch DSA
I don't know how it will look on a 60%, If you could do a 3D model like on Granite that would be cool, it would make it harder to resist the temptation
You really have a gift for these things

[Muirium]

This one would be great… maybe next year!

The slant kit is a cunning ploy. That can be my justification to skip this one. I've no use for a load more row 3 SA caps. But if the all row 3s were the option kit, and the common SA kit was properly profiled, well, you'd be making my abstention much more tricky!

[matt3o]

What I'm going to do is probably

R3 - R1 - R2 - R3 - R3 - R3

which probably makes more sense than a R4 with the two shifts in R3. I dunno have to try. At the end the all-on-row3 won the survey mostly because of ergodox compatibility.

PS: I'll try to make a 3d render but I don't have the 3d models for dcs and SA yet

[Muirium]

Obligatory SPH picture:



You really think that would look any good with row 3 absolutely everywhere besides row 1 and 2? Row 4 is what finishes it off. I love that negative tilt! Row 4 mods would be the cherry on the icing on the cake, but row 3 mods work quite nicely, even my incomplete pre-REPAIR set.

Here's my OneHand with contoured and uniform caps:



I know which I prefer. Sculpted rows are the soul of SA.

[matt3o]

if the shifts were row4 it would be perfect

[Muirium]

One day. Oh one day…

[matt3o]

I'll try to ask Mel if that's something we could do... after all she waived 6000 set up fee off the Granite

[Muirium]

Now that would be quite interesting…

Row 4 keys we want include 1.25u and 2.25u left Shifts plus 1.75u and 2.75u right Shifts, of course. Are any of those already available in ABS? Everything else on row 4 is single unit, as I recall, though I don't have a numpad handy to look at!

Of course, I'd love PBT versions too, but as you've had to explain to me several times now: different molds!

[matt3o]

1.75u is available. 1.25u would be available but only with matte finish. 2.25 and 2.75, no way.

Next PBT will probably be DCS. But in a distant future

[Muirium]

Just for reference, have you got a full list of what exists in ABS and what exists in PBT? SP's own documentation doesn't differentiate:

http://keycapsdirect.com/pdfs/SAFamily.pdf

[matt3o]

I don't really know what's available in SA family PBT material. It should be quite a complete set (including spacebars, I have one and it's wonderful), excluding shifts.

[Muirium]

All the better! As I'd like you to concentrate on PBT dyesub GBs! DSA and sweet, sweet SA.

[DanielT]

SA and dyesub not working, at least for the moment

[Muirium]

Aw! Are they still mastering the art of dyesubbing a spherical surface? I used to think only cylindricals could be dyesubbed until I saw Matt pull off DSA Granite. But SA is a fair bit deeper cupped than DSA.

[matt3o]

I believe the only problem is the printing tooling like DSA had (and SP fixed that for Granite, so...)

[Muirium]

Give them a challenge: paint your bot on a single SA deep dish cap! A one of a kind collectible…

[Vierax]

SA Commando profile isn't that bad with numrow and F-row in R2 and R1 (respectively) It's easier to reach those row than in a full R3 board.
The classic SA row profile is greater but costly and it doesn't allow to switch to dvorak or colemak without an extra kit : ergonomical profile v/s ergonomical layout :/
A negative point is the uniform modifier row : keys pressed with the thumb are better in Row2 but better in Row 4 when pressed with the pinky. So internal keys like Alt are better in R2.