Okay, well I'm sure that everyone by now has seen that imsto has started an interest check for his a second round of poker cases and now treble318 has something starting up in the classifieds
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?29827-Custom-KBC-Poker-Aluminum-Tray-amp-More-%29I don't know why these two both decided to pop up at the same time as each other (and thus have to compete against each other) and why they decided to do so while I was already in the process of doing this. I understand that some people are probably having second thoughts about having ordered one from me now, so I'll go ahead and be the one to talk about the elephant in the room.
First I'd just like to point at the differences between the case I'm making and the ones they are making.
1. Both imsto's and treble318's cases are more expensive. With polishing and blue anodizing mine comes out to about $95, treble's is $100 + cost of coloring, and imsto said that his would be more expensive than last round, which was $140 I think.
2. Both of theirs use the same mounting system, which is to have the PCB lie on several cylinders which accept screws rather than supporting the whole PCB as the metal insert for this one does which was to help with the PCB flexing problem the original case has. However, as there will have to be a layer of insulation between the metal insert and the PCB, there may be some "flex" due to compression of the insulating material, I'll have to try this out once I get some better insulation instead of what I was using so far. The insert also makes it considerably heavier for those who like that.
3. There's no dip switch cut out for this case, which I treat as a plus, because really you won't be changing your dip switches more than once or twice probably and so it's nice to have a smooth bottom for the case.
4. Mine has no feet. Imsto wins flat out here with his machined ones. treble318 has some rubber ones which he just sticks on, which could be mimicked for my cases but you'd have to do it on your own.
5. Both of theirs are machined, and as such are more perfect looking. You've seen the videos I've posted and you can tell that the corners were welded on mine, which may or may not bother you.
So anyways, with that being said, if everyone would really want to opt out and go with one of theirs, I can try to see if I can stop the order. I'm not sure how far they've gotten into it yet, if at all, and it may be possible that I wouldn't be able to refund the whole amount if they were in the middle of things (in particular, they probably already ordered the aluminum they need to work on, but they might not have gotten it yet to start making the cases). This would have to be an all or nothing thing though, I can't really have half the people opt out since then the prices would no longer be good in a group buy sense.
Anyways, let me know what you guys think. Kind of sucks that this happened so late in the process... -_-
It also kind of sucks that they both have a more finished product they can show off while I only have that first prototype, because once my case is polished and anodized it will probably look much more comparable to theirs but right now that glass beaded outside pales in comparison.
