Another photo of the Paradox
Just waiting for a part to come in tomorrow, and I will update with some GB details.
However I would like to get some bad news out of the way first, so that you guys have some time to decide if it affects your decision to join the GB or not.
Unfortunately, both of these options are by far the most popular in the IC polls, and it is regretful that they will not be available for the GB as an option.
- Blue Grey WILL BE REMOVED as an anodizing color option.
- Copper Plate will NOT be offered as an optional extra.
With the bad news out of the way, let me give a little insight on why the most popular options have been removed if you are interested.
Blue Grey was first offered because it is the most trendy color of 2018, maybe as people try to capture some of what made the old OTD boards so classic and sought after.
What IS blue grey? I believe the only shade that is "Correct" for this community is the color ran for the OTD 356.2. A little off, and the color is a disappointment, maybe so much so that a refund will be requested. I even see GB Runners test out tens of samples with different dye ratios to find the correct shade of Blue-Grey. I do not have the budget or the connection (yet) to play that game, so I will not waste resources that will surely be better spent elsewhere on the GB.
The copper plate. I was very excited to offer this option for the GB, and was in a unique position where the factory I am working with offered this material. However a few key reasons means that I had to drop the material as a plate option;
- My design requires that the plate MUST be within a tolerance of ±0.1mm on the 6 mounting post positions, or the plate will simply not fit.
- My plate design, although not too complex, removes a lot of the material from the plate, weakening the overall rigidity.
- Copper is a tricky material to lasercut. It is very reflective to laser, and can easily deform from the heat of the cutting.
So with all the factors above, the factory could not cut a copper plate accurate enough to be within the tolerances required after 2 (very expensive) attempts, and we agree that dropping the option was the most logical decision. I am relieved that this issue was found with samples purchased at my own cost, and not had happen during the GB.
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For removing the Blue-Grey option, I will be adding the following popular colors as an alternative for
6063 Aluminium anodizing;
- Deep Red
- Royal/Navy Blue
- Silver
- Rose Gold (Maybe, will see after samples made)
In addition to the original
There will be no change to the Hard Coat Anodizing in Matt Black for 7075-T6 aluminium.Royal/Dark purple was close to making the list, however I believe that people like the idea of a Purple keyboard, but few actually spend the money to buy one.
I will be moving the sandblasting & anodizing to be done locally in Singapore to better control the finish. Pantone colors will be shown before the GB, and color samples will be made during the GB. You can change colors up to 1 week after the color samples are made and posted.
