deskthority

Is there a contingency plan if some factories are simply unable to meet your specifications?

For example are the two spring samples produced unusably bad or just not exactly like the F?

I keep couple of AT and XT keyboards as spring/hammer donors in case I won't like the new ones (which I know may be hard to get right at first).

Is the Early Bird order window still until January 31st at this point, or can it be pushed a couple more weeks into February due to factory delays?

The boards will be fully tested before shipping, though in shipping the buckling springs may need to be re-seated. Everything can easily be repaired on your own if you order the spare parts (foam, barrels, flippers, etc.) or the F62/F77 First Aid Kit.

kekstee I am actually using the original spring samples provided by the factory. I have been using them for over one year now, originally in the original case prototypes and currently in the compact case prototype keyboards.

Harshmallow I am extending the deadline due to the delays, so you will have more time to order.

Ellipse wrote: The boards will be fully tested before shipping, though in shipping the buckling springs may need to be re-seated. Everything can easily be repaired on your own if you order the spare parts (foam, barrels, flippers, etc.) or the F62/F77 First Aid Kit.

kekstee I am actually using the original spring samples provided by the factory. I have been using them for over one year now, originally in the original case prototypes and currently in the compact case prototype keyboards.

Harshmallow I am extending the deadline due to the delays, so you will have more time to order.

Thanks for confirming Ellipse - it'll help me more comfortably pick up all the extras I want along with the keyboard. Really appreciate you keeping up with responding to all of our inquiries without fail =D

So if you had to give a ballpark ETA what would it be? Not trying to rush you, just curious of the general time-frame.

If all goes well the early bird round could ship from China by mid-year. As I noted before I will not ship anything out that does not meet my standards as something that I would want to use. Every piece must be to spec and I still need to approve the springs, top/bottom inner assembly, boxes, and keys. The barrels, flippers, PCBs, ribbon cables, and original style cases are all good and all of the early bird cases have finished production (I have ordered extras so that all orders are still part of the early bird round).

Awesome! Thanks for the reply!

I finished moving the web site to a new hosting service - it should be a little faster and load more quickly now, and with less downtime.

The factory has built the tooling to more accurately make sure all the springs are the correct dimensions - a spring that is even a little too wide may be more likely to fall off the flipper.

Hi Ellipse,

Probably a bit out of left field, but since you are already trying to make new buckling spring keys, is there any chance that there could be spherical profile B/S keys made instead of the cylindrical ones (one piece XT style of course)?

I know it's a bit of a long shot especially considering how much work you have already put into this project!

Today I tested the very first sample keys from the brand new molds but they are not accurate enough to my CAD files, so they have all been rejected. The factory will adjust the molds and send updated samples in the coming weeks.

Sorry mana I will not be doing that.

Any pictures of the sample keys etc.? Just curious how far off you consider not good enough

The measurements were off on some of the key dimensions by up to 0.5mm which is too much. Please disregard the color of the PBT as well as the flash (excess plastic) as they will not be so on the production keys.

You can also see the very first 1.75U non-stepped injection molded key samples in this photo.

I'm rather excited to see so much activity in this thread. I ordered an F77 a little over a month ago (pretty late compared to some, I know) and almost not a day goes by that I don't think about the glorious time of its arrival.

We have passed $195,000 in orders!

Regarding the samples, whenever I receive samples I compare the CAD file measurements against the samples using my micrometer/digital caliper. I only approve samples that match the CAD files, allowing for a small amount of agreed upon tolerance such as +/- 0.2mm for critical dimensions.

I'm not sure why they didn't remove the flash but it wouldn't pass muster on the production units.

Hi there, this has probably been asked before but do you think you will do a round 2 after this one is over, i dont have the money to buy this month ;_;

Yep there will be a final round.

As requested, I have also started allowing down payments - $100 or more reserves your spot in line from this point onwards, instead of the end of the line a couple months from now. There's no extra cost as you just need to cover the balance when you are ready. Anyone who wants to do the down payment can order 100 units of the store item "other customizations in $1 increments" from www.modelfkeyboards.com/shop

There was some confusion over which caps are being offered for everyone.

The Unicomp caps were the original plan as I was expecting about 50-100 orders, too low for molds to be feasible.

Now that we are up to 422 keyboards ordered (over $195,000 in orders so far!) I was able to order the construction of brand new key molds which are currently being re-tooled to meet the key specifications of the CAD files.

Quick idea/thought/suggestion: Would it be possible to manufacture a key blocker/blinder for the right hand section of the F77 to flatten the 5 key positions between an arrow cluster and a nav cluster?

To show what I mean by "key blocker", here's a picture of 1u blockers:



I'm thinking something similar, but ideally just one piece covering the five barrels above the arrow keys. The idea would be to turn the F77 into a true TKL (or more accurately, TKL + F-keyless).

Obviously, such a 'blocker' would not be flush with the underside of the adjacent keycaps due to the barrels, but if you look at the F77 at an angle, it looks like the case 'sides' around the keycaps are very tall, meaning it should be possible to construct the blocker in such a way that it would be flush with (or recessed below) the sides.



Of course this is the kind of thing we could probably have 3D printed to spec, but given the attention to detail of the case itself it seems like kind of a shame (and color matching a 3D print would be damn near impossible). Not to mention the golden opportunity to decorate this blocker with an embossed Ellipsesaver logo, Kingsaver style

Ellipse wrote: There was some confusion over which caps are being offered for everyone.

The Unicomp caps were the original plan as I was expecting about 50-100 orders, too low for molds to be feasible.

Now that we are up to 422 keyboards ordered (over $195,000 in orders so far!) I was able to order the construction of brand new key molds which are currently being re-tooled to meet the key specifications of the CAD files.

So, this means your keycaps are different from Model M caps which we seem to agree are the same as Model F ones? Or is this just to correct for the plastic flash on Unicomp products?

I am making one piece caps which work on both Model F and Model M keyboards. They are designed to be made to the highest quality standards - similar to the XT Model F keyboards. Good PBT, flash removed, high quality dye sublimation.

Someone was talking about designing a key cover that would go over a removed barrel. It would likely be 3D printed due to low interest. Any volunteers to design it?

Ellipse wrote: There was some confusion over which caps are being offered for everyone.

The Unicomp caps were the original plan as I was expecting about 50-100 orders, too low for molds to be feasible.

Now that we are up to 422 keyboards ordered (over $195,000 in orders so far!) I was able to order the construction of brand new key molds which are currently being re-tooled to meet the key specifications of the CAD files.

Btw, is it possible to order/include a single 1U blank keycap without ordering a set?

I think it would be cool to put on one of the spare barrels+flippers as a small switch-tester to play around with.

Sure, just order 2 units of the "$1 increments" store item.

Ellipse wrote: I am making one piece caps which work on both Model F and Model M keyboards. They are designed to be made to the highest quality standards - similar to the XT Model F keyboards. Good PBT, flash removed, high quality dye sublimation.

Someone was talking about designing a key cover that would go over a removed barrel. It would likely be 3D printed due to low interest. Any volunteers to design it?

What color keycaps are you planning to offer?

Just the standard pearl/pebble, black and Industrial SSK blue.

... about a million posts back I whispered "if you're going to make molds, make them sphericals...". I just feel like I need to whisper that again even though I know what the answer will be ...

__red__ wrote: ... about a million posts back I whispered "if you're going to make molds, make them sphericals...". I just feel like I need to whisper that again even though I know what the answer will be ...

I, too would be ok with this, even though I also know what the answer will be.

We passed $200,000 in orders today - a major milestone!

Sorry red, unfortunately the molds are already in production for standard reproduction keys given the goal of the project (a reproduction of near-impossible to find metal case Model F keyboards). Spherical molds could be done if someone designed them and was willing to put up the funds to order molds.

We are still waiting on the first run prototype parts to be made and then hopefully approved. I was hoping to get these earlier but the factory has been slow to get things going after the Chinese New Year holiday. Production of all parts can start after these first-run parts are approved.

Ellipse I am sure you are familiar with this thread of old: workshop-f7/spherical-buckling-spring-t ... 11186.html - rsbseb does seem to have stopped being able to do this though, anyone by any chance happen to get those design files off him?

@Ellipse - cost estimate for a set of molds?