Introducing the Bantam-44: A row-staggered, hand-wired 40% keyboard
Posted: 09 Feb 2016, 22:29
Hi all,
After a week of drafting designs, emailing fabrication companies, planning, and some help from the community; I am proud to open up the first group buy for the Bantam-44.
The Bantam-44 is a 44-key keyboard in a row-staggered layout. It is compatible with Cherry MX switches and Cherry MX clones. I will be offering top and bottom plates in both 6061 Aluminum and 304 Stainless Steel. All plates are laser cut from 16 gauge sheet metal. The parts are also compatible with the OLKB Planck parts. So if you would like a milled case for the Bantam-44, OLKB is a great place to get one.
Each plate needs at least 5 orders. If one plate/metal combo does not get enough orders, I will ask for those people to move to the alternative metal. Prices should go down after 30 orders, but I do not have specific pricing on that yet. I will also offer the option to buy the necessary screws and 10mm spacers to assemble the two plates. I am also currently working on seeing if I can get a custom keyset for this board. More info on that later.
Shipping to the continental US is $10 for whatever quantity of plates you order. Please let me know if you would like international shipping. I will also assemble keyboards for $30 plus the price of your preferred switches, controller, and wiring supplies.
Top Plate
Bottom Plate
Layout and Proposed Keyset
You can also check out the /r/MechanicalKeyboards:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... staggered/
and /r/MechMarket thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/com ... staggered/
Current number of orders
After a week of drafting designs, emailing fabrication companies, planning, and some help from the community; I am proud to open up the first group buy for the Bantam-44.
The Bantam-44 is a 44-key keyboard in a row-staggered layout. It is compatible with Cherry MX switches and Cherry MX clones. I will be offering top and bottom plates in both 6061 Aluminum and 304 Stainless Steel. All plates are laser cut from 16 gauge sheet metal. The parts are also compatible with the OLKB Planck parts. So if you would like a milled case for the Bantam-44, OLKB is a great place to get one.
Each plate needs at least 5 orders. If one plate/metal combo does not get enough orders, I will ask for those people to move to the alternative metal. Prices should go down after 30 orders, but I do not have specific pricing on that yet. I will also offer the option to buy the necessary screws and 10mm spacers to assemble the two plates. I am also currently working on seeing if I can get a custom keyset for this board. More info on that later.
| Product | Metal | Cost |
| Top Plate | 6061 Al | $14.50 |
| Top Plate | 304 SS | $13.50 |
| Bottom Plate | 6061 Al | $10.00 |
| Bottom Plate | 304 SS | $10.00 |
| Hardware | Brass/Steel | $2.00 |
| Keyset | N/A | N/A |
Top Plate
Bottom Plate
Layout and Proposed Keyset
You can also check out the /r/MechanicalKeyboards:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... staggered/
and /r/MechMarket thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/com ... staggered/
Current number of orders
| Product | Buyers |
| Al Top Plate | 4 |
| SS Top Plate | 7 |
| Al Bottom Plate | 4 |
| SS Bottom Plate | 6 |
| Hardware | 11 |
| Assembly | 1 |