[GB] 16ga metal ergodox cases -- Shipping R2 recommencing

[AKmalamute]

I keep having to remind myself the reason I keep coming back to this shop, is because they've been the most responsive of all the shops I've contacted.

Bosses there are away luring bigger fish. The folks on the floor are great to work with but concerning certain aspects their hands are tied.

Anyway, I was quoted just last week a price for JDcarpe's spacers, per copy, and when I went to pick them up today, I was told the system has them entered at double my quote for aluminum (same price for SS; no discrepancy there).

Not much point in throwing hissy fit these are the wrong folks to do that with. But I explained, the secretary called the project manager, who said "Oh its double because the .dxf describes two parts and my quote was per-piece"

Uh ... Why is SS not doubled, then? Try again. Secretary got permission to write up the parts-acknowledgement (she cant create invoices) at the quoted price and the project manager will sort it out Monday.

They're going to cut it right now*, and I'll pick them up with the cash I expected to bring, and I'll get photos to you guys when I can, which should be within 5-10 hours from now.

* Just got a call from that secretary, who says there's a scheduled job ahead of me. Should be done Monday, they expect. No pictures tonight.

[geniekid]

Thanks for dealing with all this for us AK

[Jumpingmanjim]

Can someone explain the parts of the case to me? What are spacers? What does minimalist, full hand, whole case etc mean?

[AKmalamute]

Can someone explain the parts of the case to me? What are spacers? What does minimalist, full hand, whole case etc mean?

Let's start with Litster's case. as cut by MD in acrylic, picture here, (MD counts them from the ground up. I believe litster's github counts them from your fingers down -- keep track of that, if you take the .dxf's to a local shop) the 'whole case' is all ten pieces -- the five left-hand pieces pictured, and the matching right hand.

Unless someone asks otherwise, I would always assume you want both left and right parts of the case.

the minimalist case, is layer 1, and 3. Only. Extended minimalist includes layer 5.

here is an example of the 'full-hand' case, also in litster's github repository, again cut acrylic but this time stacked, and one hand has some MX-blues in all the holes but probably no PCB. Same logic applies -- layer one/three, 1/3/5, all five (times two) layers.

BUT in order to keep with Cherry's spec for the switchplate for plate-mounted MX series keyswitches, the switchplate is 1.5mm, which is 1/16", except what I'm ordering is 16 gauge, which might be in between those two I'm not positive. Somewhere in that range is the keyswitch's thickness in this group buy, and in order to prevent the shop from screwing up (and also to keep the processing simple, which holds price down) I'm ordering all layers ordered, off the same 16 gauge sheet.

Because of the thinness of the layers, and the height of the electronics involved, you'll need something to keep the layers apart (OP has a link to an article where someone used 1/8" acrylic for every layer, and it just barely worked). JDcarpe has been gracious enough to write up a 'spacer' that uses almost no metal but will, if stacked at the right height, hold everything apart -- all that's needed after that are the screws and one nut per screw, instead of about seven nuts per screw if you went that particular route.

 Other routes are available to keep soldered electronics from shorting out. You could use JDcarpe's spacer, you could use more M3 nuts, you could cut a layer of nonconducive material yourself, or you could use tubes that fit around the M3 screws but brace against the case. Anything to keep stuff from touching if they're going to complain about what side of the couch their electrons have slid to, would work.

Metals offered, are 304 stainless steel, and 6061 aluminum.

Also I'm going to close ordering tomorrow -- we're already over $1,000 to the shop, which hopefully should be enough to pique their interest into actually doing the work.

[zflamewing]

Got a minimal stainless in classic.  Now I have options when I assemble my first kit.

[clickclack123]

In completely unrelated news, I just figured out how and where to order brand new plate-mount Cherry stabilizers. This calls for a bookmark.

Where? I'd like to order some. They make a huge difference for the thumb switches on the ergodox.

[AKmalamute]

First of all, I put stuff into an album here but let me point out some details.

http://i.imgur.com/dw0p1kF.jpg That one is pretty straight forward ... I've inserted my switches into the switchplate, which I have pictures elsewhere of, and have carefully laid the SMD-equipped board onto the pins.

Here's a picture with three spacer layers sitting onto the upside down plate. Because of their lack of size, and the harshness of the shop's environment / goons / my sudden stops getting them home / whatever, okay? / etc they're just a bit unstraight. Biggest issue I had was getting screws to go all the way through, but getting them to lay flat as in this picture below, was a close second. HOWEVER once you've jockeyed them into place it all starts to fit together.



My intent, now that I've seen all the parts, is to solder the pins to the board, as in picture one. I find already I'll wish for some kind of squishy thing like woodworkers have to hold pieces together while the glue dries. Moving on ... After pins are soldered, I'll stack three spacer followed by the 'official' lower spacer -- clearing the PCB will be a near thing, but that's what I want -- just enough to know it won't touch.



That pictures, is the spacers I have now -- more on that in a moment -- So, as above, three spacers, followed by the lower spacer which you can make out if you watch for outline changes, followed by another of JD's spacers, and it was bolted together sans base at this point, and moved upright for further fitment tests.



Of particular interest to some, might be the large open gap left by JD's spacer relative to the MD acrylic.

Because my inter-board connector is off-board I don't need anywhere as much clearance which is good, because communication isn't this shop's strong suit. Have I mentioned that?

So, JDcarpe's file is a nested both RH/LH thing. The project manager asked about that -- 'hey this makes two things. Are you ordering things or copies of the .dxf? Why, thank you for asking! Copies, not things!

I got things this afternoon. They're going to clean up their mess and HOPEFULLY I'll have the other half in the morning. And hopefully this won't happen again when I submit the order.

Speaking of which, there's still about four unpaid invoices -- I'll be cancelling those if I don't hear from you real soon so I can submit the order tomorrow after I finish updating all my notes in my various places. Once these are in my hand and in the mail, I'll be honest I'm probably not going to run a round three. Too many headaches.

A friend asked about buying a laser myself, so I could bypass the shop. Uhh? 1500w turn-key system (meaning all the important stuff is missing so you can buy it next month when you have income from the thing) starts out, supposedly at $300,000 plus maintenance, as they burn through CO2 like it was a fuel -- in addition to the 1500w of electricity.

Ah, well. I hope you're all still excited, because I'm still going forward with spending your money.

Because the Ergodox is metal.

[GSimon]

That looks amazing, almost wished I bought another for my non-existent 2nd Ergo-Dox.

[clickclack123]

So, JDcarpe's file is a nested both RH/LH thing. The project manager asked about that -- 'hey this makes two things. Are you ordering things or copies of the .dxf? Why, thank you for asking! Copies, not things!

Thanks for going through all the hassle for us, akmalamute, I hate dealing with idiots. How do people like this get to be in charge of a business with a $300,000 piece of equipment?!

BTW I can get you a good deal on .dxf copies for half the price they'll do them for!! Any takers?!

[yuiop]

Thank for the update and pics.  metaldox ftw

[EppyKay]

Looks sweet. I can't wait til these come in. Though looking at my ergodox again makes me think I don't want to go through the hassle of desoldering my switches... I guess that means I have to build another keyboard.

[tbc]

okay.

sounds like the order is done EXCEPT for half of the ordered jd spacers.

if so, thats GREAT news.  otherwise, i feel bad for akm having to continue dealing with these guys.

[AKmalamute]

sounds like the order is done EXCEPT for half of the ordered jd spacers.

Round one is done. I'm just about to submit round two ... official policy is, MOQ is $120 and lead time is 3-5 business days. As you can see, it's more like $250 / 3-5 business weeks. Yes, we broke MOQ. Into pieces.

$1,100 to the shop, guys! Now it's a waiting game to see if I break their laser again. 

[yuiop]

So each spacer kit comes with 8 'copies' of JD's dxf?  in other words 16 'things', correct?

[AKmalamute]

So each spacer kit comes with 8 'copies' of JD's dxf?  in other words 16 'things', correct?

Some folks requested seven copies, so 14 'things' -- but yes. That was the way it was quoted, that's the way I'm ordering it.

[agodinhost]

$1,100 to the shop, guys! Now it's a waiting game to see if I break their laser again. 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo!
 )

[geniekid]

$1,100 to the shop, guys! Now it's a waiting game to see if I break their laser again. 

No wonder they're unresponsive to you

[Data]

Looks like I just missed this one.  It's too bad you're not doing a Round 3... I'd be super interested.

Be sure to post some pics of your final builds for too-slow guys like me to drool over.

[AKmalamute]

Monday's update: It's not in the queue yet. Also, the project manager wasn't in, but the folks I spoke said encouraging things. The shop is busy and running a 7-9 day lead time for most projects, the manager's assistant remembered that a cash-sale order had recently been handed off to programming to 'snug up' for nesting purposes, and all else being equal he might expect it would be done by Friday.

I left my phone number but I've only been called once in all this time so I don't expect that will yield new information. Instead, I'll go back out there tomorrow or the next day, see if I can catch the project manager and bug him directly about getting this finished.

[yuiop]

Thanks for the update!  That sounds promising

[cub-uanic]

@AKmalamute,

Not sure, it's too late to join or not?
I'd like to get one, exactly as on pictures from @Gold on first page - combo of two aluminium + top acrylic, and all needed spacers/screws/etc.
Is this possible?
If yes, please provide amounts to pay, with shipping to Ukraine.
Thanks!

[AKmalamute]

@AKmalamute,

Not sure, it's too late to join or not?

Sorry, the order has already been submitted, and is in process. I'm also not going to be running round three during summer - if the market hasn't flooded I may pick this up in the fall, however.

Also, the thing on page one is, essentially, a mock-up. Primary differences between that image, and this GB, are the thickness of metal (I'm focusing on 16 gauge, or "1.5mm" metal sheets) and I'm not messing with spacers (aside from JDcarpe's .dxf, which is deliberately intended to fit as part of this GB) nor am I dealing with acrylic for various and sundry reasons, nor am I trying to source M3 screws or the like.

 Now, on to everyone else: I've received acknowledgement that the order was entered, and it's completely on-target price wise. However, it also shows it was entered into their system yesterday and if what I heard Monday is right, there's a 7-9 day lead right now ... we'll be looking at July before they so much as reach the post office.

 Or, in glass-half-full format, these things you guys have ordered should be in your hands  before July is done. 

[zflamewing]

As my father used to say, "Great things comes to s/he who waits."

[GSimon]

Or, in glass-half-full format, these things you guys have ordered should be in your hands  before July is done. 

To have something I ordered in June arrive in July is more than glass half full as far as GH Group Buys go. Awesome!

[tbc]

@AKmalamute,

Not sure, it's too late to join or not?

Sorry, the order has already been submitted, and is in process. I'm also not going to be running round three during summer - if the market hasn't flooded I may pick this up in the fall, however.

Also, the thing on page one is, essentially, a mock-up. Primary differences between that image, and this GB, are the thickness of metal (I'm focusing on 16 gauge, or "1.5mm" metal sheets) and I'm not messing with spacers (aside from JDcarpe's .dxf, which is deliberately intended to fit as part of this GB) nor am I dealing with acrylic for various and sundry reasons, nor am I trying to source M3 screws or the like.

 Now, on to everyone else: I've received acknowledgement that the order was entered, and it's completely on-target price wise. However, it also shows it was entered into their system yesterday and if what I heard Monday is right, there's a 7-9 day lead right now ... we'll be looking at July before they so much as reach the post office.

 Or, in glass-half-full format, these things you guys have ordered should be in your hands  before July is done. 

glass 3/4 full

less time between round 2 and round 3

[clickclack123]

Or, in glass-half-full format, these things you guys have ordered should be in your hands  before July is done. 

That's absolutely excellent! Thanks for all your work AKmalamute.

[agodinhost]

Or, in glass-half-full format, these things you guys have ordered should be in your hands  before July is done. 

That's absolutely excellent! Thanks for all your work AKmalamute.

+1

[AKmalamute]

The order acknowledgement listed today as being completion date. I called to ask if it was complete, and received an email (woo! A rare occurrence!) that the material hadn't come in yet. ... Hopefully tomorrow it can be completed.

But Not Friday because that's a holiday here, and then the weekend ... so ... Might be Monday.

[zflamewing]

AK That's good news.  We're on the docket and they're waiting on the raw mats to process.  I'm excited to see how these turn out.  One step closer to having my first dox.

[Data]

Hey AK, would you be willing to share your files with me? I have a relative who owns a high end machine shop here in Orlando. It's possible I could run a round 3 in a few months if the interest is still there... assuming you've had enough of it. 

[AKmalamute]

Hey AK, would you be willing to share your files with me? I have a relative who owns a high end machine shop here in Orlando. It's possible I could run a round 3 in a few months if the interest is still there... assuming you've had enough of it. 

Its all the publicly available stuff, but sure ... tomorrow. Right now I need to get to bed. Not sure why I'm not yet; its already tomorrow.

Hopefully round two is cut & polished when I saunter into the shop sometime before noon -- Monday is my day off but it's also errand day so I may not be near the computer much. But I've already planned the 'its been cut and they're in my hand' message I'll post when I have pictures of this massive (by my personal standards) order in front of me.

edit: grammar needs sleep for clarity.

Afternoon edit: I've seen them. They've been lasered, but need cleaning up. I should be able to pick them up on my way to work tomorrow. That means I won't be able to pack anything until the weekend (probably) but ... Round two, nearly to shipping!

[tbc]

i'm more excited than anyone else....i'm sure of it.

[agodinhost]

i'm more excited than anyone else....i'm sure of it.

[AKmalamute]

From the labs of Dr. Weird-looking-malamute-guy-who's-never-been-to-Alaska:

Gentleman, BEHOLD:



METAL

This time, it shall be DIFFERENT

ITS NOT DIFFERENT AT ALL!



IS IT STEVE ?! !? !?

now,

LET THE COLLATING BEGIN



Uh, yeah.

Also, in case I wanted it:


It's the part that was cut out. Since this was the one double-thickness order, I know which piece it goes to, and I have what was around it, too. Except I'm missing one of the lower-spacer pieces from it so ...

Also a bunch of the spacers are missing, and I don't know for sure what else. So I can start packing, I think, but that won't be 'til this weekend and even then I obviously don't have everybody's in yet. I wish it would have been done on my weekday off so I could insist on laying it all out on a big table and counting it with them they can't seem to get stuff done right or on time. Fortunately the workmanship seems pretty good -- and the price. Just not the speed or accuracy. </shrug>

[GSimon]

Amaazing   

[tbc]

WOW

those pics made my year.

GJ doc!

EDIT:

ps

the only person more excited than my previous self is my current self

[AKmalamute]

So, First two boxes out. A few surprises.

 To wit, if you're in Canada, and expecting a SS case, I probably need to ding you an extra $20 for shipping. Almost positive though, that aluminum falls under that magical divide of four pounds, under which everything is as I foretold it.

 Also, it turns out there's a flat-rate box that will accept these cases (Looked several times and thought there was no way ...) but it will only be cheaper (and only by fifty cents) if you're getting SS shipped CONUS. So, stateside stainless buyers, I guess you get the fancy box.

 More as it develops.

[tbc]

hey AKM,

can you doublecheck the shipping costs for my order?  it's 'special'

[GSimon]

So, First two boxes out. A few surprises.

 To wit, if you're in Canada, and expecting a SS case, I probably need to ding you an extra $20 for shipping. Almost positive though, that aluminum falls under that magical divide of four pounds, under which everything is as I foretold it.

 Also, it turns out there's a flat-rate box that will accept these cases (Looked several times and thought there was no way ...) but it will only be cheaper (and only by fifty cents) if you're getting SS shipped CONUS. So, stateside stainless buyers, I guess you get the fancy box.

 More as it develops.

I received your e-mail and replied. If you'd like send me another invoice with the additional cost, or I could just send the money to your e-mail with Paypal

[AKmalamute]

I received your e-mail and replied. If you'd like send me another invoice with the additional cost, or I could just send the money to your e-mail with Paypal

Since you've already paid the invoice proper, and all you owe me is the shipping difference, I'd figured just the requested-via-paypal thing would suffice.

I'll be going to the post office in the morning with a few packages, then scrounging up boxes from work so I can get more out in the afternoon.

[GSimon]

Since you've already paid the invoice proper, and all you owe me is the shipping difference, I'd figured just the requested-via-paypal thing would suffice.

I'll be going to the post office in the morning with a few packages, then scrounging up boxes from work so I can get more out in the afternoon.

Ok, sent you the difference (32$) to your email.

[tbc]

Since you've already paid the invoice proper, and all you owe me is the shipping difference, I'd figured just the requested-via-paypal thing would suffice.

I'll be going to the post office in the morning with a few packages, then scrounging up boxes from work so I can get more out in the afternoon.

Ok, sent you the difference (32$) to your email.

holy ****.  how much did you order....? lol

[AKmalamute]

holy ****.  how much did you order....? lol

It was a communication error that led to a clerical error -- namely, I didn't catch that he was in canada in time to bill for international shipping. We talked about it then, and decided it would be easier to adjust for correct shipping now.

So, tracking info for the lucky few -- and I hope to get more out in a few hours. Hopefully this won't _really_ take all week. Also I'm going to go talk to the shop, see where we're at for the missing spacers, since that's holding up a few of the shipments.

Evening edit: two more out. TWELVE CASES SIT UPON MY KITCHEN TABLE so that means we're making decent progress.
Turns out, stainless steel is heavy. Should have added a dollar just to CONUS -- in addition to the $20 for int'l. that I didn't know about.

Also, I'm out of spacers -- shop says it will be Monday before the replacements are cut. So, funny story -- in the box, was the interior of a few of the pieces. A donut hole, when I wanted a donut. Nicely polished, completely useless to me. I thought it was funny, and I showed the project manager today. He was polite to me, but seemed pissed. The more I thought about, the more that makes sense. His guys are sucking down double time (once to do it wrong, once to do it right) to polish and pack garbage the customer doesn't want -- that could have been thrown into the recycling bin to recover a few pennies instead of costing a few dollars.

 Still, there are orders that don't include a spacer kit -- I'll try to package some of those up tomorrow.

[swill]

holy ****.  how much did you order....? lol

It was a communication error that led to a clerical error -- namely, I didn't catch that he was in canada in time to bill for international shipping. We talked about it then, and decided it would be easier to adjust for correct shipping now.

So, tracking info for the lucky few -- and I hope to get more out in a few hours. Hopefully this won't _really_ take all week. Also I'm going to go talk to the shop, see where we're at for the missing spacers, since that's holding up a few of the shipments.

Evening edit: two more out. TWELVE CASES SIT UPON MY KITCHEN TABLE so that means we're making decent progress.
Turns out, stainless steel is heavy. Should have added a dollar just to CONUS -- in addition to the $20 for int'l. that I didn't know about.

Also, I'm out of spacers -- shop says it will be Monday before the replacements are cut. So, funny story -- in the box, was the interior of a few of the pieces. A donut hole, when I wanted a donut. Nicely polished, completely useless to me. I thought it was funny, and I showed the project manager today. He was polite to me, but seemed pissed. The more I thought about, the more that makes sense. His guys are sucking down double time (once to do it wrong, once to do it right) to polish and pack garbage the customer doesn't want -- that could have been thrown into the recycling bin to recover a few pennies instead of costing a few dollars.

 Still, there are orders that don't include a spacer kit -- I'll try to package some of those up tomorrow.

Wow. Nice job dude. You are a machine.

This is by far the fastest turn around on a GB I think I have ever been involved in.

If that wasn't enough, you helped get the GH60 GB on track at the same time.

AKmalamute for president.

[jdcarpe]

Got my R1 order and spacers today. Thanks, man! These look great. Now I just need to dig out my ErgoDox kit. Haha

[swill]

Got my R1 order and spacers today. Thanks, man! These look great. Now I just need to dig out my ErgoDox kit. Haha

Ya. I need to read up on how the io expander works so I can hand wire my dox when the enablers arrive.

[AKmalamute]

Wow. Nice job dude. You are a machine.

This is by far the fastest turn around on a GB I think I have ever been involved in.

If that wasn't enough, you helped get the GH60 GB on track at the same time.

AKmalamute for president.

 Well, on the GH60 I think all I did was say something about stab-wires and how I'd handle it if it were my order ... mostly trying to lower emotion because people were upset maybe a little out of proportion to the problems.

Like a slow turn around. Yeah, I try. Its why I keep the run times short -- There's already been mistakes on this, and I've misentered tracking info like five times and had to correct it -- five times in one case (that's right! No it's wrong. Wait I was right. Can't be -- this is that person's number. Dang it I was right the first time so whose number is *this* ?)

 Five more out today, and I think I've gotten all the non-spacer orders en route except for one of the UK buyers. Turns out I'll need double what it would take for anywhere else. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon.

Got my R1 order and spacers today. Thanks, man! These look great. Now I just need to dig out my ErgoDox kit. Haha

Cool! Man that's a load off my shoulders. Been waiting to send those since round one but didn't have the spacers (that you drew up!!) then we had to wait, and ...

First round of spacers had some duds that would have required real tweaking. But with the R2 spacers, there was all those missing, plus some tweaked so I took those back, with the donut hole in my previous post. I think this is coming together nicely.

[swill]

Wow. Nice job dude. You are a machine.

This is by far the fastest turn around on a GB I think I have ever been involved in.

If that wasn't enough, you helped get the GH60 GB on track at the same time.

AKmalamute for president.

 Well, on the GH60 I think all I did was say something about stab-wires and how I'd handle it if it were my order ... mostly trying to lower emotion because people were upset maybe a little out of proportion to the problems.

Like a slow turn around. Yeah, I try. Its why I keep the run times short -- There's already been mistakes on this, and I've misentered tracking info like five times and had to correct it -- five times in one case (that's right! No it's wrong. Wait I was right. Can't be -- this is that person's number. Dang it I was right the first time so whose number is *this* ?)

Didn't you get all the plates cut??? That was the latest major hold up from what I can tell.

I hear you on the shipping. I do the shipping for kiteaid and it takes so much time.

[geniekid]

My body is ready...also my Ergodox is as assembled as it can be without a case/plate

Thanks AKmalamute!

[persuasionlaser]

Today OP was a cool guy

have my babies