[GB] KAT Iron - In production

[VellFlamm]

After receiving KAT Space Cadet, I'm now pretty optimistic about KAT sets that I've joined. Looking forward for this one too.

[bozemoj]

How is it coming up? Any updates?
Zfrontier still says January 2022...

[nathanchere]

How is it coming up? Any updates?
Zfrontier still says January 2022...

... seriously? Nothing but crickets and tumbleweed?

[popkorn62]

I have an update, sorta bad news but their is a bright side. I received samples of the set for review (which I applaud Keyreative/Zfrontier for doing this for me/us  )  The set I think looks fantastic, super happy with things overall, novelties look amazing, Phoenicians, WOW, so good.
Now you are like ok the bad? So the numrow/R4 colour wasnt right. I actually didnt notice it right away as I needed the excitement of having the set wear off a bit. Something did seem off but I couldnt quite place it. Then when going back for a more critical review, I caught it. The caps came out a warmer colour that didnt match the sample/RAL or my vision. The other, I will say smaller issue is the R1 shift row is super  close to the bottom row, it doesnt look bad and I will take a big part of that blame with the bottom row and the shift row being challenging colours for PBT. That said keyreative is re-working that row as well to provide a better differentiation from the bottom row.
I know this set has been a challenge, and KAT sets a challenge overall, but I want to be very clear here, the Keyreative team has been extremely committed to getting this right, and to provide a quality product.  It is taking time but I hope I speak for you all in saying another bit of time (i dont have timelines sorry) is worth it to get it right. Sorry for the long post, and bad news but we are getting closer, the set does exist it just needs a little sprucing up. Thanks for your patience, kindness and commitment to this set and me as a designer! It is greatly appreciated

Here were the things that happened afterwards:
- Feedbacks provided to Keycreative and zF almost immediately
- RAL chips sent over
   => multiple lockdowns happened
- zF told me that Keycreative is working at reduced capacity but the sample is still being made based on feedback regardless of the chips being received or not.

Long story short...they are working on the new samples. The thing we didn't foresee was multiple lockdowns happened since the conversation happened.

[popkorn62]

Update: Feedback provided -> sample made -> Samples approved by Mike -> production expected to be done by the end of May

[dvorcol]

FYI, zFrontier issued an update June 2 stating it might be 1-2 months before all other vendors receive their KAT Iron orders.  Same for KAT Atlantis and KAT Lala.

Full update here - https://en.zfrontier.com/blogs/project-updates/recovering-from-the-lockdown

[popkorn62]

FYI, zFrontier issued an update June 2 stating it might be 1-2 months before all other vendors receive their KAT Iron orders.  Same for KAT Atlantis and KAT Lala.

Full update here - https://en.zfrontier.com/blogs/project-updates/recovering-from-the-lockdown

Thank you dvorcol, I checked with zF 2 days ago and they said the production indeed finished in May and the keyset is currently being sorted at the warehouse.

[VellFlamm]

I've just got a shipping notification from zfrontier.

[nathanchere]

I just got a shipping notification from zFrontier too

[General_Pretzel]

FYI, zFrontier issued an update June 2 stating it might be 1-2 months before all other vendors receive their KAT Iron orders.  Same for KAT Atlantis and KAT Lala.

Full update here - https://en.zfrontier.com/blogs/project-updates/recovering-from-the-lockdown

What the hell is the point of ordering from a proxy vendor, if I could've just ordered directly from ZFrontier and receive the product literal months ahead of everyone else? Regardless of the extra shipping cost, having to wait months after others have received their order is so stupid. Guess next time I'll just order straight from China and cut out the middle man.

[VellFlamm]

Here are some photo to let you guys know you'd be getting.

I've seen worse from them, but still not the quality I'd expect from the price you pay TBH.
Colors are definitely more consistent than past sets, not too much weird shines but is still present here and there,
and alignment issues are all over the place, not the worst, but bad for sure.
Those shift keys were the worst in my set.
Edit: "Right" is also pretty bad too.

meh, I'd use them. but disappointed since KAT Space Cadet I received was pretty good.
Now I'm worried about my refined.

[Mr Chrome]

"Right" is also pretty bad too.

What are you talking about? Right is meant to be right aligned. Everyone knows this.

Thanks for the pics. Spin the wheel QC it is, then. ;-;

[VellFlamm]

"Right" is also pretty bad too.

What are you talking about? Right is meant to be right aligned. Everyone knows this.

Thanks for the pics. Spin the wheel QC it is, then. ;-;

np.
It's more like "NO QC spin the wheel for what comes out the machines" TBFH.
I bet all the "QC pass" stickers are for the plastic package not the actual keycaps.
To be fair their plastic package is far better than GMK garbage. I give them that at least.

[Mr Chrome]

"Right" is also pretty bad too.

What are you talking about? Right is meant to be right aligned. Everyone knows this.

Thanks for the pics. Spin the wheel QC it is, then. ;-;

np.
It's more like "NO QC spin the wheel for what comes out the machines" TBFH.
I bet all the "QC pass" stickers are for the plastic package not the actual keycaps.
To be fair their plastic package is far better than GMK garbage. I give them that at least.

“QC? Pass.”

In all seriousness though, if reverse dyesub legends are so hard to align, someone really should try a different method. These WoB keycaps are dyed and then have the legends lasered, so they should be just as durable as reverse dyesub, with the main downside being that you can probably feel the legends where some material has been taken off. Well… I’ve got some KAT blanks I can yeet for science anyway…

[NoPunIn10Did]

In all seriousness though, if reverse dyesub legends are so hard to align, someone really should try a different method. These WoB keycaps are dyed and then have the legends lasered, so they should be just as durable as reverse dyesub, with the main downside being that you can probably feel the legends where some material has been taken off. Well… I’ve got some KAT blanks I can yeet for science anyway…

FYI: Laser-ablated legends have some significant downsides.
https://deskthority.net/wiki/Keycap_printing#Ablation

[Kuj0]

Here are some photo to let you guys know you'd be getting.

I've seen worse from them, but still not the quality I'd expect from the price you pay TBH.
Colors are definitely more consistent than past sets, not too much weird shines but is still present here and there,
and alignment issues are all over the place, not the worst, but bad for sure.
Those shift keys were the worst in my set.
Edit: "Right" is also pretty bad too.

meh, I'd use them. but disappointed since KAT Space Cadet I received was pretty good.
Now I'm worried about my refined.

Goddammit. I should have never gone in on this set. Been waiting an eternity for this **** QC.

[mrvco]

Oof... Maybe they're "Hand-made" 😞

[Nim]

Got mine in today and christ, the Ergo set has a serious case of "Two left shoes" syndrome. ended up with a pretty scuffed setup due to it, cause basically none of the vertical ones are mirrored right. After Atlantis turned out OK I figured it'd be at least sorta ok QC wise, but alas.

Time to just pretend this profile doesn't exist anymore for future sets

[Lostpub]

Got mine in today. Not sure if it was a update I didn't know about but KAT does not have a homing bump anymore, just scoop. In the gb I saw bumps and my KAT alpha had bumps.  A bit disappointing. Colors are ok, I didn't check anything else. Vendor and designers are great but I will pass on KAT profile from now on, way too long of a wait to be disappointed

[NoPunIn10Did]

Got mine in today. Not sure if it was a update I didn't know about but KAT does not have a homing bump anymore, just scoop. In the gb I saw bumps and my KAT alpha had bumps.  A bit disappointing. Colors are ok, I didn't check anything else. Vendor and designers are great but I will pass on KAT profile from now on, way too long of a wait to be disappointed

They have both moulds, but the bumps tend to look really bad in a reverse-dyesub context unfortunately. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was an intentional later change.

[Parva Ovis]

I got my keycaps in the mail a little while ago but just now had the spare time to open them up and put them on a keyboard. Overall I'm happy enough with them, but the Esc key in my Ergo kit is the wrong row profile. Not sure which one it is; maybe R5? Pretty annoying regardless, and I'm unclear what to do to get my correct keycap.







EDIT: Nevermind, this is my bad, not Keyreative's. The issue is that the ESC switch on my keyboard is north-facing, unlike the rest which are all south-facing. When comparing the keycaps on a flat table, there is no issue with the ESC keycap.

[mrvco]

Got mine in today. Not sure if it was a update I didn't know about but KAT does not have a homing bump anymore, just scoop. In the gb I saw bumps and my KAT alpha had bumps.  A bit disappointing. Colors are ok, I didn't check anything else. Vendor and designers are great but I will pass on KAT profile from now on, way too long of a wait to be disappointed

They have both moulds, but the bumps tend to look really bad in a reverse-dyesub context unfortunately. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was an intentional later change.

KAT Refined has homing bumps on both WoB and BoW.  Both look great.  Even if they weren't 'perfect', I'd much rather the homing bar keys than the scooped homing keys... the homing bumps are still going to look better than the tiny little strips of grip tape that I put on them.

[SwitchKeys]

I'm unclear what to do to get my correct keycap.

Email your vendor.

[msting]

... but the Esc key in my Ergo kit is the wrong row profile. Not sure which one it is; maybe R5?

<Scrambles to check my own Ergo set!>
Mine's fine.? How'd they manage to screw up some and not others?
Never a dull moment with Keyreative.

[Parva Ovis]

Update: I'm a dummy and didn't realize my ESC switch is north-facing, and the rest of the keyboard is south-facing. There is no issue with the keycap itself, which I discovered when I went to take pics to send to my vendor.

[crinis]

I FINALLY got my KAT Iron Phoenicians from Mekibo. I have wanted these since the pandemic, but missed the initial GB, so I got them on the extra sale. I am over the moon. I bought both the rust and regular and mixed and matched. These are gorgeous. Thank you.

PS I would say that my only "complaint" is the lack of the bump on the "f" and "j" keys. But I'm already getting used to it. TY TY TY