[SHIPPING] Granite Set ~ 100% PBT ~ Dye Sub ~ DSA

[zulios]

access-is-dsa.jpg (907.57 KiB) Viewed 6532 times

Here is mine Access-is matrix board. My tipro will come later.
I can say the DSA feels really good to type on, like it pretty much.

[matt3o]

OHMY! this is gorgeous!

[Muirium]

Very nice. I'm not sure where return is, but you have options!

[cherry-jade]

Just have a look. My money......

[beltet]

This looks awesome, I hate myself for missing this GB....

[gotbadger]

My order arrived but was missing Icon RGB set

The box was fairly full so wondering if they might be coming separately, anyone else's order come in more than one box?

[matt3o]

bummer! ask SP about it.

[Muirium]

No. My order had 9 kits (including common and Cyrillic) so the box was pretty jam packed, but still just one box.

Of course, the precise contents of each kit awaits my checking when they get to me…

[matt3o]

people are posting a lot of pictures on GH and it seems that SP quality control is not the best.

some sets (like mine) came out really well, others have some problems with warping and apparently some faded/blurred legends.

Now, I have to better investigate in the situation (honestly I believe some might simply not push the keycaps down enough), but if this is the case, I'm sorry but I'm not running a round 2 unless SP can guarantee a better quality control.

[Yslen]

people are posting a lot of pictures on GH and it seems that SP quality control is not the best.

some sets (like mine) came out really well, others have some problems with warping and apparently some faded/blurred legends.

Now, I have to better investigate in the situation (honestly I believe some might simply not push the keycaps down enough), but if this is the case, I'm sorry but I'm not running a round 2 unless SP can guarantee a better quality control.

Tiny bit of warping possibly on some of the keys, which aren't quite lined up with the others. Not going to complain though

Thanks to everyone involved for all of their hard work on this, especially Matt3o, obviously!

Just need an alu case now...

[matt3o]

it looks gorgeous with white backlighting!

[woody]

HHKB has similar warping, something that possibly goes with PBT. The quality of the legends is the thing to look after.

[Medowy]

Ohhhh man that looks amazing

[Yslen]

Terrible photo from my phone, obviously! Will try to get some proper shots tonight, if I have time.

The feel of these caps is fantastic, exactly what I wanted. They're very similar in texture to my Model M, which as far as I'm concerned is the benchmark.

Kicking myself for not getting a stainless steel plate before I soldered all those LEDs in...! The reflectivity of the plate makes a big difference to the appearance of 'underglow' lighting. I wonder if there's an easy way to make any plate colour and material super reflective.... plastic film?

[kakarlsen]

Since Signature Plastic doesn't post on DT, I'm sure it's OK if I repost this from Geekhack:



I've ordered ISO Enter, so that explains why I'm still waiting.

[Muirium]

Thanks for that. Now my import scheme swings back to being risky again. I'll only see them come the end of the month!

[matt3o]

at this point I seriously doubt I want to run a round 2

[Muirium]

Well, they're not charging you, I hope!

If you don't want to rerun it, would you mind if one (or a group) of us does? There's crazy lust for that set.

[matt3o]

they clearly have problems with QC. I asked them to send me the caps (at my expenses) before starting mass production but they didn't want to because "what could go wrong?". When I got the sets I told them about the off center legends and they said that they were within margin. Apparently they are not.

At the end they are doing the right thing, Melissa is really a nice person and SP is dealing with this issue like a sir. But all this could be easily avoided and unfortunately I see a pattern (DSA Retro).

[Muirium]

What went wrong with Retro?

Macross went okay. Was that because of lessons learned from Retro or just a small GB's good luck?

[matt3o]

just because Macross was a very small GB with very few options.

[bugsaint]

Set arrived yesterday but got hit by UK customs, £21.69. and to top it off the lettering on a couple of the caps is faded. A little disappointed. However, thanks to matt3o for organising this. I'll get them on to the keyboard tonight and post some photos over the next few days.

[maxmalkav]

Set arrived yesterday but got hit by UK customs, £21.69. and to top it off the lettering on a couple of the caps is faded. A little disappointed. However, thanks to matt3o for organising this. I'll get them on to the keyboard tonight and post some photos over the next few days.

I've been ripped off by Dutch custom office this morning, 26€. Even worse I was 2€ short from the exact amount (postman does not have change of 50) and I will have to pick up my order tomorrow. Uncool

[Muirium]

Ouch! Were you guys charged much more than 20%? my experiences with customs here have always turned out horrible, with loads of overcharging. I once paid more than 100% tax on an anime DVD box set from Japan!

(Okay so that was 12 years ago. But I won't forget! And I've been ripped off by them this year too. They routinely choose not to trust declaration labels, hike up the value, and then charge me extra processing for giving them the bother. They really don't trust these old keyboards!)

[maxmalkav]

@Muirium

In my case ... 42% :$ My invoice was of "only" 84$ including shipping.

The Spanish customs office charges you with a percentage plus a fixed amount for the "administrative costs". If the Dutch one works in a similar way, paying 20 something € was expected. Quite uncool, anyway.

EDIT:
I'm just checking some info on the internet and the customs taxes should be around 13€ I have to double check all this thing. I will try to get some extra info at the post office.

[Eszett]

I’ve been bullied by customs in Germany more than one time. These highwaymen went bossy, I got angry, and then they even threatened me with a fine for verbal slander. When I could scratch their car finish with a key ..

[Muirium]

The taxman, along with the government, has the legal monopoly on force!


@Maxmalkav: Did you pay any American tax, too? SP seems to be mistakenly charging that for foreign sales now. Although not for Granite. In fact my domestic order had no tax on it! (Shambles.)

[kbdfr]

I always wonder why people feel they are being robbed when charged with duties or costs they can expect.
Customs (and taxes in general) are not arbitrary decisions by individuals, but follow rules set in advance (and admittedly sometimes very complex). Feel happy if you happen not to be charged, not angry when they are applied.

I’ve been bullied by customs in Germany more than one time. These highwaymen went bossy, I got angry, and then they even threatened me with a fine for verbal slander. When I could scratch their car finish with a key ..

And Eszett, it is the duty of civil servants to enforce rules. If you don't like the rules, complain to those who made them and not to those who have to apply them.
If you could make them change their minds because you get angry (or threaten them with damage to their cars - next step being to their families?), you could also make them change their minds by bribing them. I don't think it is something one should strive after.

Would you ever try to have the bus driver bring you to your doorstep instead of letting you get off at the bus stop, and get angry or even threaten him if he won't?

[Muirium]

Such reasoning about the authority of government sounds nice until you vote in a few elections and discover the pointlessness of the "democratic" process. Most voters vote as their parents did, and as their self-reinforcing news feeds reinforce every day. And the parties are optimised to play the zero sum election game, not to represent anyone's interest but their own. You have precisely zero say in whether customs are charged at your doorstep. And never will. For any change in policy to occur, it has to come from somewhere else. Like the EU, or Mr. Murdoch.

We rely on the humanity of our institutional self-selecting politicians just as desperately as with any other system in the world. They have the power. Not us.

The government I have the most respect for, globally, is China's. They don't pretend, they just do whatever it takes to push their country forward. We were the same way a century or two ago, but with so much more bloodshed.

[maxmalkav]

I always wonder why people feel they are being robbed when charged with duties or costs they can expect.
Customs (and taxes in general) are not arbitrary decisions by individuals, but follow rules set in advance (and admittedly sometimes very complex). Feel happy if you happen not to be charged, not angry when they are applied.

My main complain is that taxes in this my specific case are too high (42% of the value!), I would be fine paying VAT (20 something %), it is the law and what I would expect. I really want an explanation of such a (relatively) high figure this time.

Talking about my home country (Spain), we have a chronic problem with bloated and old fashioned public administration. While thanks to IT some paperwork is easier (and cheaper) to do than ever, organisms like local government, public universities, mail system and so keep legions of public workers and absurdly high administrative fees. It is a system quite expensive whose only purpose is self perpetuation: making the system leaner is not an option, the political cost would be too high.

In the Spanish case (the one I best know) I'm fine with paying 21% of VAT, I'm not fine with paying a fixed rate of 15€ + 21%VAT just for processing my 20€ order.