Behind the scenes #156

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial

Behind the scenes #156

Keyboard projects, quick news, in the mailbox, meetups, new vendors and discount codes!

dovenyi
Published February 24, 2024

Creators! Feel free to tip me off about your keyboard related projects to bring them to 140K readers.

Hey, what's up everyone!

This week I had a lot of work to do, again, so that's why Issue #156 is a bit late.

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Welcome back for another weekly recap and behind-the-scenes write-up.

If you are new to kbd.news, you can read how this started out and what this is all about nowadays. If you like what you see, subscribe to the newsletter (free) and donate some bucks to keep this otherwise free and ad-free project alive.

Posts I thought are worth sharing

Pic: LYNXware CAT reviewed

LYNXware CAT reviewed

I reviewed the CAT by LYNXware, an incredible input device with a great potential. That said, you'll need some time to get accustomed to the custom software, the terminology, 22 thumb keys – and mouse switches all over this thing!
Dani Klein open sourced her Serendipity, a 60-key board with a pretty crazy layout: function row but no numbers.

Pic:

Viniciusbrit's Eobard is a 34-key open-source split keyboard with flippable PCB.
A bluetooth PCB via SuperMini in a wooden case: PCB 68 keyboard by alan0ford.
Joe's Scotto63 is a handwired unibody split. Wireless via nice!nano.
EurKoi shared a 3D-printed case for the Corne in the style of Angrymiao's AFA.

Pic:

Jake of the now closed P3D Store shared two variants of the acrylic case files for the 40rmie – a 40% with a rather strange upper row (6 numbers + 4 F-keys). The PCB (Gerbers) are available here.

Pic: 40rmie

40rmie

Penk shared a 3D printed Piantor case.
ddgrnkb is a 14x5 ortho with display. (Github with case dxf.)

Pic:

a GB, but pretty much my taste, and also pretty affordable: Dasky's Reverb is an MX or Choc hotswap monoblock split with circular display.
WIP: a compact low-pro split with keywell by timbetimbe, and also Max Yakovlev's MRIYA.
Closed-source: JirachiKid posted a 3D-printed orthoish one with offset halves.

Pic:

Something interesting from Epomaker: DynaTab 75X (kickstarter) with a huge dot matrix screen.

And Valhalla visited Maxvoltar on occasion of the limited-edition Artifact-1 being promoted:

We visited Belgium to interview @maxvoltar, the creative force behind the ARTIFACT-01.

If you haven’t met him, you’ve most certainly met his work. He designed Instagram, and his meticulous eye for detail and commitment to craftsmanship are evident in every aspect of the board. pic.twitter.com/JXA8BqTGkR
— VALHALLA (@valhalla) February 21, 2024

Introducing: ARTIFACT-01

A limited-edition mechanical gaming keyboard designed in collaboration with @maxvoltar, @salvun, and @protozoa_studio.

March 2024 pic.twitter.com/Z3hy8aE7NM
— VALHALLA (@valhalla) January 26, 2024

(Btw, Tim's write-up on his Event Horizon was last year's most read article.)

Keyboard art

Court of Malice macropad by NZcaps (use the KBDNEWS code for 10% off).

Pic:

Wood Weekly: Walnut Elora case by PhoenixUNI, walnut keycaps by jellzman3, and TimeKey – a Redox-shaped oak clock by falba.tech:

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Some tips by Sneftel on hand-dying keycaps:

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I used Rit synthetic dye in yellow and red. First all caps went in a yellow dye bath until good and done. Then I set up a pot of red dye bath, started a stopwatch, and started tossing in caps one by one. The first one was in for the full half hour; the final one was only in for two seconds. Then I immediately drained them and dumped them in ice water.

According to the author's own admission, this is a really unpractical keyboard (more photos):

Pic:

Le Sigmoid caps by Pseudoku:

Pic:

Alphasmart

I'm not involved in this project other than maybe amplifying the initiation and connecting participants, but there was some feedback right after the post, and then, thanks to Kristina Panos bringing it to the much larger audience of Hackaday, a handful of serious volunteers came forward and may work on this project already. I hope we will hear about the results soon.

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, here is Ed's Alphasmart article. ;)

LYNXware CAT

What a ride! :D I don't often jump back to square one and struggle with typing at 20 WPM… Thanks inconsistent mouse switches.

Pic:

Moee.tech Glitter65 – 30% discount!

So while thinking about purchasing a Glitter65 for a review, one of these alu kits with the pretty unique drawer-style case, I accidentally negotiated a 30% discount for you. :D

Use the KBDNEWS coupon code at checkout (R1 only!). This means you can get this CNC’d alu kit for $111-$132 (down from $159-189).

Not many keyboards left, this is practically a clearance sale of the R1. The Moee.tech team is now focusing on R2.

Pic: Glitter65 R1 by Moee.tech

Glitter65 R1 by Moee.tech

Donations

New Patreon supporter! Thanks Stefan S!
And as always, many thanks to my awesome regular supporters and everyone who helped this project thus far.

For all the donation options check out the donation page!

In the mailbox

Nothing really this week. Some DDC keycaps arrived in the last minute, ordered from Keeb.supply. I thought it would look awesome on my Velvet, then it hit me these caps have Choc stems. ;) But I haven't even had time to take a single shot yet. Or take a look at them. Next week.

And a lot of cool things on the way, some quite close I guess since I had to fill out all kind of customs handling documents and pay VAT and related fees. (Jeez, it's incredible how much I pay for "free" stuff.)

Meetup database

Some recently added events in the meetup database:

Tiny Little Tech Shop Meetup, March 16, Jacksonville, FL, US
zFrontier Expo Meetup, April 20, Shanghai, China
MNMK 2024, August 24, St Paul, MN, US

Pic:

As always, this meetup database is both a calendar and an archive so feel free to send me upcoming events or even ones from the recent past to make this collection as comprehensive as possible.

Vendors & Discounts

Going through my keyboard vendor database in order to update it and contacting 500 shops worldwide one by one takes a lot of time but has the favorable side effect of many of the stores offering various discounts for you.

Feel free to use the KBDNEWS discount code at 141 keyboard shops now!

New shops and updates to the database of keyboard vendors this week:

As already mentioned, Moee.tech offered you a 30% discount. Pick up the last specimens if you like this seamless drawer-style CNC alu solution.
KiwiKeebs (UK) offered you a 20% discount!
NZ Caps (Ireland) offered you a 10% discount! Yep, and they moved to Dublin just to confuse you. ;)
Keyper offered you a 10% discount too. Thanks Mike!
Another 10%: KiiBOOM.
MelGeek offered you a 8% discount.
Added: Lemokey, Jaekeyed, Leobog, Geistmaschine.

I continue checking who's alive and kicking, contacting each shop listed in the database. Finished shops with names starting with L this week, M almost done…

Some vendors marked as closed in this round of attempt to make the list up to date:

P3D Store, letsgetit.io->letsgetit.kr, LFkeyboards, LotusPro, Makeyboard

Developments

I'm working on some useful features,
and this stupid thing:

Pic:

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That's all for today. Thanks for checking by. As always: Keep learning and building!

Until next time,
Tamás

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Published on Sat 24th Feb 2024. Featured in KBD #156.

Keyboard Builders' Digest / Editorial