On hold. Previously...
/) hi geekhack
Ever since I first heard the incredibly light, crisp clack of steel, I've been in love with the idea of a keyboard machined from stainless steel. After a storied, arduous development & 160 hours of renders, I'm finally ready to present Hailey, a stainless steel 75%. Its swooping lower assembly draws obvious inspiration from 159's illustrious Kepler keyboard, and a mirror-polished stainless steel finish adds an elegant touch to the piece. A delightful juxtaposition of gentle curves and hard angles, Hailey sits as a statement piece on your desktop, but still remains aesthetically neutral enough to fit most themes.
> DISCORD <
UPDATES11/15/19 — On Renders & Prices...yee yee renders
The price for the board has been finalized at $750... though I'm sure many of you might already know that after the recent events that transpired. The plate options are also solidified—carbon fiber, carbon fiber ISO, aluminum, brass, and POM. All are priced at $30 each. PCBs will go for $55 each. Note that the extra PCBs won't ship with a daughterboard, nor will I be carrying extras in stock at Keylace. Your Hailey kit will ship with two HERA-C boards by default.
11/11/19 — On ANSI & ISO...Alright, so I finished the PCB. The board will support ISO (both enter and left shift). There's been a decent number of respondents on ISO options, so I will be offering a carbon fiber ISO-only plate.
11/7/19 — On Good News & Bad News...Hey, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Hailey will be priced at a much more reasonable number that is
not $850. The bad news is that I have to remove the PVD option entirely.
The thing about PVD finishes is that QC'ing them is secretly the tenth circle of hell. I wouldn't be willing to accept even a tiny burr mark, and that's incredibly hard to guarantee on a workpiece of this size. I thought limiting it to ten-ish units would be feasible, but at that point we'd be paying almost twice the price just for a shiny butt. In conclusion—I can't go volume production because of QC, and I can't do limited production because of price. I've very sadly then struck PVD from the offering entirely. I promise I would really love to have it, but it's simply not the move.
Meanwhile, things developed with the Kagami finish. Turns out, my manufacturer isn't intending to polish the internals of the lower, which means the non-exposed faces will be left with a raw, machined finish. I must concede—it is very careless to sell a half-assed workpiece for a retail north of $700, but I honestly cannot devise any other solutions. I should clarify, though, that all external faces will be polished to a mirror standard, which means you won't see any of the raw texture unless you peer into the USB port.
The surfaces marked in blue, as well as the housing for the daughterboard, will be left with a raw machined finish.
This is a much cheaper alternative to polishing everything, which is both prohibitively expensive and minutely impossible in some corners.
Anecdotally, this also improves sound signature, but I'm not entirely sure how that works. Something to do with a diffuse surface vs glossy.There is at least one more piece of good news. Engraving through CNC wasn't an option for the Kagami finish because it wouldn't be possible to polish the engraving. I realized, though, that I could just laser "Hailey" onto the rear! I've always wanted to do a laser engraving on a keyboard somewhere; I just haven't had the right keeb until now. Personally, I think the contrast of a mirrored surface against a matte engraving would look great. I'll have some renders up for that later.
Also, before I get any more questions—I am not serializing it. I'm not big on serialized boards, to be honest.
11/6/19 — On Colors and PVD...Okay, I admittedly did not expect to update this quick, but that's my fault for pushing out a slightly rushed IC.
Big thanks to 159 as well as some others for warning me about the insane QC for PVD parts (and keyboards at large). After some deliberation, I've decided to limit the buy to 75 units of Hailey. As suggested by Rensuya, mirror-polished stainless steel will be made available as an option. Personally, I was rather surprised that this was a pretty well-received feature. In order to reduce the price tag (and also issues with polishing), I've very unfortunately decided to remove the engraving at the bottom of the board. It's on the bottom, anyway; you'll never see it. The mirror-polished Kagami finish will be priced lower than the PVD coating in a vain attempt to keep the quantity of that latter finish low. I should note, however, that there will be a limit of ten units for the PVD coating, for those who
really want that shiny rose gold tone.
From lack of interest, I've dropped the Ano. "Nightingale Blue" upper and the PVD "Onyx Black" lower from the lineup. I've also modified the daughterboard cutout to keep things a little more sensical.
SPECIFICATIONS
‣ Aluminum 6063-T6 upper + beadblasted & anodized or electrophoretic coating finish
‣ Stainless steel 304L lower assembly + mirror-polished finish & a laser-engraved logotype.
‣ Personally, I find it quite convenient to be able to buff & polish away any scratches. This is something I do on watches and other stainless steel-made wear, so I imagine it won't be much different with a keyboard.
‣ Carbon fiber plate suspended in a full isolation mount, supported by custom-cut shock absorbent PORON strips.
‣ A brass & an aluminum plate will also be available for an added sum. It won't be much, though. And as per usual, the plate files will be made publicly available at the conclusion of the buy phase.
‣ An Alps EC11 rotary encoder with a click switch. Unlike the renders, knobs will be knurled on the sides. It is made of aluminum and available in silver and black.
‣ The encoder uses a standard 6mm D-shaped post, should you wish to use your own rotary knob.
‣ Custom "May" PCB; with an ARM STM32 chip, ESD & overcurrent protection, and the HERA-C daughterboard.
‣ Keylace will offer, for as cheap as possible, extra May PCBs & Hailey-type HERA-C daughterboards in case yours goes yoink. Each Hailey will ship with two HERA-Cs.
‣ Please note, also, that I design in the 19mm spacing.
‣ Two adhesive-backed silicone rubber feet, custom-cut
‣ 5.5° typing angle
I'll be running Hailey as an FCFS GB through my site Keylace.co, which will soon be launching to carry Cygnus. Mid-December, three prototype units will be shown and sent out to streams.
SALESPrice — $750. Add plates for $30, add PCB for $55.
Quantity — I am still oscillating on this matter. Currently, the board has a 75 unit limit. At 100, the Cost of Goods for the board itself goes down, and if this is the case, I would very much like to use this extra overhead to focus on better presentation, packaging, and fine-tune the board at large (essentially, instead of reducing the price, I offer a better product than budget would've otherwise allowed).
Shipping — USPS.
Lead Time — Three months, give or take. I should note that the shipping phase won't take long, as I have about half a dozen people assigned to packaging & logistics.
IC FORM
RENDERSNote: the renders are representative, and while I try to show what I want to sell, they are not 100% indicative of final colors, finishes, or other product options.
Please be aware that the ano. "Nightingale Blue" Upper & rose gold/black PVD Lowers are no longer offered. Additionally, contrary to renders, the stock knobs will be knurled on the sides. I'll have more renders posted soon to reflect the changes.
SPECIAL THANKS...to 159 for providing early feedback, the Kepler TKL, & saving me from the sheer hell of QC'ing a hundred PVD parts;
...to Rensuya & senter for suggesting the Kagami mirror-polished stainless steel finish;
...to driftingbunnies for consultation on sale quantities and the "Hailey" engraving;
...to enome for reminding me to make a Discord server and being an excellent wall to which I could bounce ideas off, as well as an amazing source of support;
...to mrpetrov for also being an excellent wall;
...and to you for reading, especially if you left a comment
