deskthority

I cant afford one right now, but put me down anyway.

Cant believe I missed all this stuff while I was at summer camp.

I am really going to try to get at least one of these boards if not both. Just need to budget expenses.

Pretty much what I'm thinking too. Depending on the price and production gotchas.

What kind of production gotchas should I be looking out for?

Ellipse wrote: What kind of production gotchas should I be looking out for?

The barrel plates being bent backwards.

That applies to all the plates! Dorkvader had that problem with his XTant plate GB, which is having to do a second run to fix the mistake.

In general: Murphy's Law definitely applies to first production runs. Beware. And be precise to a fault!

Do you think it would be worth it to redesign the "sandwich" plates to directly bolt together instead of relying on the original slide-to-interlock design? Alignment posts/holes could be added to ensure that the plates come together as perfectly as possible.

It seems like being able to bolt the plates together would ease the assembly/disassembly process and allow for fine tuning of the tension between the plates.

joc wrote: Do you think it would be worth it to redesign the "sandwich" plates to directly bolt together instead of relying on the original slide-to-interlock design?

I totally believe that this would be preferable.

An added benefit would be that a wide variety of thicknesses and firmness of mats would be accommodated.

fohat wrote:

joc wrote: Do you think it would be worth it to redesign the "sandwich" plates to directly bolt together instead of relying on the original slide-to-interlock design?

I totally believe that this would be preferable.

An added benefit would be that a wide variety of thicknesses and firmness of mats would be accommodated.

My god...

We can make the model F better with more changes like this. Different weighted springs, smoother plastic on the barrels, maybe metal flippers?

Time to brainstorm people.

Oh wow, different weighted springs would be really nice.

Maybe you could optionally buy some sets of different weights in addition to the standard weight.
Metal flippers? Would that have any advantages in comparison to the normal ones?

Metal flippers could beat the shit out of the PCB. Which isn't generally a good thing…

Anyway, enjoying the mission creep here! Can I mention Bluetooth? Big keyboards are dangerous when tethered to your laptop. One slip and the computer leaps up flying! Stupid USB.

Bluetooth in a F would be interesting, although I suspect power consumption would be a real problem. (Can you even scan it slower in a low-power unpaired mode that triggers repairing and full power scanning, or would that screw up the capacitance?)

Muirium wrote: Can I mention Bluetooth?

Bluetooth from inside a metal case?
Doesn't the metal case function as a Faraday cage?

That's what the old cable port is for: placing the (non-protruding, yugh!) antenna.

I've found my dinky Bluetooth Apple Keyboard to be stupidly overpowered for the purpose. I had to be careful to unpair it before taking it out to the garden because it would gladly stay attached to another computer indoors, through several walls.

Bluetooth mice are a whole other story. They flake out all too easily. But Bluetooth keyboards are rock solid in my experience. There's so much less state getting chucked around in a given time.

bhtooefr wrote: Bluetooth in a F would be interesting, although I suspect power consumption would be a real problem. (Can you even scan it slower in a low-power unpaired mode that triggers repairing and full power scanning, or would that screw up the capacitance?)

There is lots of space for a HUGE battery in there

Yup. I talked with Xwhatsit about Bluetooth beamsprings a while ago. He liked the apparent absurdity of the idea (which becomes much more practically appealing as you think about it) and reckons multiple month battery life should be braindead easy to achieve. But he's a busy Kiwi.

Why should Bluetooth keyboards be dinky and shit? Because Logitech says so? Fuck those guys. Bluetooth mechs for the masses! One kilogram at a time!!

12 volt SLA battery, like one of them alarm system batteries

Can anyone suggest a bluetooth system that includes a battery and can plug into the xwhatsit USB controller and fit inside a 4704? Or a cheap way of building one? This might be a good accessory, along with adding LEDs under certain keys.

Muirium wrote: That's what the old cable port is for: placing the (non-protruding, yugh!) antenna.

Why not make it a contemporary telescopic radio antenna? Now there's your absurdity.

Wcass pointed me in the right direction on which silver 4704-style labels to buy, so I will be able to add serial numbers and dates to each F62/F77 with a label.

thats cool !

if there is more than 16 can i call number 16 please

I expect to give out serials in order of received payment with the earliest supporters of the project given priority. I think that is fair. The labels will have no logo.

I don't know if I'm #16, but if I am, I'll switch with you andrewjoy.

How much are we talking about here, to the nearest hundred bucks say?

In the first post I mentioned a goal price of $350. Maybe less if you use your own keys. I have acceptable quotes for some of the parts but the case tooling is way out of budget from the first few estimates that came in. I may need to replace the case with a Korean custom keyboard style layered flat aluminum case to get the project down to $350. Tooling and dies are the biggest cost components, so with more orders the cost goes down.

Have you considered getting them machined rather than casted? I know I would hate a layered style case, but a machined one would make me just as happy as a cast one.

Count me in with Photekq. Layered is no way to go.

Could someone try to explain where the difference is between layered vs casted vs machined regarding the case?
A small explanation would be enough I think.

Cast and machined are both solid. Like this:


http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/rea ... 11074.html

Muirium wrote: Count me in with Photekq. Layered is no way to go.

count me 3

not that interested in layerd