I am pretty bummed about the lack of a 6u HHKB top case option, but I'll be fine with ANSI winkeyless if that one makes the cut.
I was surprised to see the 7U spacebar leading buy a lot in the poll.
But that’s what it says, so no 6U version, sorry.
Don’t worry, WKL will definitely be!
Now I’m on holiday. No pc and keyboard until next year. I plan to begin the GB then quickly.
Another thing I want to mention:
A slight mayority voted for the plate material to be alu over steel. Don’t really know why. I will override this one and go for steel. I’ll figure out if black powder coating can be done at the same factory to keep things simple. Would’t Like the blank steel to shine through between the keys.
Steel is just the better material for the plate compared to alu.
Aluminium is a softer material, and allows for a slightly bouncier feel at the bottom out. This is generally viewed as a favourable characteristic when used in conjunction with heavier tactile switches like MX Clear, whereas steel plates feel better with linear switches.
When it comes to plates, it's not always about selecting the alloy with higher modulus. Different material brings different things to the table regarding key feel, and I think this is probably the context that you're not considering (and to be fair that's actually fairly difficult to demonstrate unless you actually build two identical boards using two different plates, as an apples-to-apples controlled comparison).
I do like steel plates, as I'm a predominantly linear switch user, but I definitely see that you should consider offering multiple plate materials if the logistical overhead is not too much.
Steel may be an objectively better material (although I work in aerospace, and steel is actually an inferior material compared to 7000 series alloys from an airframer's perspective, again, different context, devils in the details yadda yadda, you get the idea). Hope this was helpful to you in explaining why aluminium is preferred for some people.
Worth it to note that what I said only really applies to the more common 6000 series alloys, the (more common in aerospace) 7075 alloy is pretty much comparable to many grades of steel in terms of tensile and shear modulus, and probably bottoms out just as hard as 316 stainless when used for a switch mounting plate.
