[GB] Southpaw Extended 65% - 100% Shipped - Cleaning up

[tigerali]

It’s super vague. No matter how much we ask for information reconsiderit either doesn’t give us actual information or can’t.

[ktrezzi]

Thanks again tigerali for giving us the updates tigerali


What a vague and nonsense answer tbh -.-

[bearwolfz]

Also, did CK have the acryl plates or not? First they didn't ship to some people, then reconsiderit said they should be shipped with the bent plates so CK should have them.

Anyone got their acryl plates or not? 

[NoncarbonatedClack]

Anyone got their acryl plates or not? 

Nope. But that's only because I'm a dummy and didn't know I needed one for a bent plate (noob here, first group buy for a keyboard).

Sorry that's not helpful lol.
Have to get one made..

[bearwolfz]

Nope. But that's only because I'm a dummy and didn't know I needed one for a bent plate (noob here, first group buy for a keyboard).

Sorry that's not helpful lol.
Have to get one made..

Wait you mean the acryl plate is not included by default with the bent plate? I was under the impression it would be included with the plate
 

[NoncarbonatedClack]

Wait you mean the acryl plate is not included by default with the bent plate? I was under the impression it would be included with the plate
 

On. Maybe, I honestly don't know. At any rate, I still may do something custom for it. Meh.

[flying1911]

I remember myself fancying this as my end-game, which was largely driven by the fact that I'm a lefty. It was a time when for me spending $300 on a keyboard was borderline unthinkable, and yet I had been so close on pulling the trigger only to have found out the GB was over.

I see this thread popping up every now and then, and it's crazy to think 2 years and dozens of boards later (for me), the GB still hasn't seen a clear finishing line. I guess it was my luck, and I wish the best of it to everyone who's still waiting for their boards.                                                                                                                                                   

[tigerali]

In my mind, at least, we've crossed into "debacle."

As I'm not covered by Candykey's generous offer, I am beginning to wonder whether legal recourse via small claims court is warranted.

[reconsiderit]

I should be getting the tracking number from the factory today. I'll post it as soon as I have it in hand. To go through what I had briefly said on discord yesterday:

1) On the Candykeys side, I've emailed them and given them the contact for the factory yesterday. They will be arranging pickup on their own. They do not have case hardware yet as it was originally supposed to be provided by KP. I will be sending them the specs for the hardware. If needed, I will help them with hardware sourcing as generic hardware will cause interference between the PCB and case. Hardware is stuff that can be found through mcmaster though I am not sure if they have something like that in Europe.

2) For orders on my side, I have gotten them to finally ship to me. I have everything on hand and should be able to start shipping keyboards out as soon as I get them. I'll get through this as quickly as I can but I expect it will be about two or three weeks from the day I receive the package.

3) What the cases were waiting on was the packaging to ship the units from the factory to me and CK. They wanted to use cardboard boxes at first and wrap the items in foam but I didn't think that'd be enough so I opted for wood crates. On my end, I was also trying to explain that they couldn't mark the entire crate as a $10 gift. Due to the wait time between responses from the factory, this has taken quite a while.

4) The acrylic diffuser should have been bundled with the bent steel plates. They were made in the same factory as all of the laser cut items (bent steel plates, alu plates, steel plates, etc...). From what I can see, CK never received the acrylic diffuser for some reason. The rep at the factory which did those has moved on to another place but I'll reach out to them and see if they know anything about the situation.

Once again, for those waiting, I will update with a tracking number and post it here once I have it from the rep. Will be using fedex int'l economy which is about a week from CN to me. CK will be handling shipping themselves between them and the factory rep.

If you want anything cleared up, feel free to ping me to ask me anything. I'll do my best to answer and get back in a more timely manner.

[Bubblegum]

Thanks for the more detailed update!

[weetjewel]

4) The acrylic diffuser should have been bundled with the bent steel plates. They were made in the same factory as all of the laser cut items (bent steel plates, alu plates, steel plates, etc...). From what I can see, CK never received the acrylic diffuser for some reason. The rep at the factory which did those has moved on to another place but I'll reach out to them and see if they know anything about the situation.

So if I'm not mistaken no progress whatsoever has been made on the issues with the steel bent plate orders from CK. We've been waiting for a response for almost half a year to be told that nothing has been done yet.

[NoncarbonatedClack]

2) For orders on my side, I have gotten them to finally ship to me. I have everything on hand and should be able to start shipping keyboards out as soon as I get them. I'll get through this as quickly as I can but I expect it will be about two or three weeks from the day I receive the package.

4) The acrylic diffuser should have been bundled with the bent steel plates. They were made in the same factory as all of the laser cut items (bent steel plates, alu plates, steel plates, etc...). From what I can see, CK never received the acrylic diffuser for some reason. The rep at the factory which did those has moved on to another place but I'll reach out to them and see if they know anything about the situation.

Thanks for the update!

Sooooo... For those of us that ordered through switchplate.co, received a bent plate, and didn't get an acrylic diffuser, what is going on there? I honestly can't remember if that was a separate option or not during purchasing, so I'm just trying to figure that out.

[rpiguy9907]

In my mind, at least, we've crossed into "debacle."

As I'm not covered by Candykey's generous offer, I am beginning to wonder whether legal recourse via small claims court is warranted.

You are aware that if you win in small claims court you and only you are are responsible for collecting the award. If the loser of the case refuses to pay, you have to pay a debt collection agency to try and collect the funds. Best case if he doesn’t pay you ruin his credit score, lol. Furthermore, if you win but pester the loser of the case directly for the money they can sue you for harassment.

Small claims court is a bit of a joke.

[bmilcs]

What is the current status here? Is it time to give in and file a Paypal claim? LOL. I haven't been keeping up nor aware of what the protocol is.


USA purchase here.

[forumusername]

What is the current status here? Is it time to give in and file a Paypal claim? LOL. I haven't been keeping up nor aware of what the protocol is.


USA purchase here.

You're a year and a half late to file a PayPal claim

[NoncarbonatedClack]

What is the current status here? Is it time to give in and file a Paypal claim? LOL. I haven't been keeping up nor aware of what the protocol is.


USA purchase here.

Here:

I should be getting the tracking number from the factory today. I'll post it as soon as I have it in hand. To go through what I had briefly said on discord yesterday:

1) On the Candykeys side, I've emailed them and given them the contact for the factory yesterday. They will be arranging pickup on their own. They do not have case hardware yet as it was originally supposed to be provided by KP. I will be sending them the specs for the hardware. If needed, I will help them with hardware sourcing as generic hardware will cause interference between the PCB and case. Hardware is stuff that can be found through mcmaster though I am not sure if they have something like that in Europe.

2) For orders on my side, I have gotten them to finally ship to me. I have everything on hand and should be able to start shipping keyboards out as soon as I get them. I'll get through this as quickly as I can but I expect it will be about two or three weeks from the day I receive the package.

3) What the cases were waiting on was the packaging to ship the units from the factory to me and CK. They wanted to use cardboard boxes at first and wrap the items in foam but I didn't think that'd be enough so I opted for wood crates. On my end, I was also trying to explain that they couldn't mark the entire crate as a $10 gift. Due to the wait time between responses from the factory, this has taken quite a while.

4) The acrylic diffuser should have been bundled with the bent steel plates. They were made in the same factory as all of the laser cut items (bent steel plates, alu plates, steel plates, etc...). From what I can see, CK never received the acrylic diffuser for some reason. The rep at the factory which did those has moved on to another place but I'll reach out to them and see if they know anything about the situation.

Once again, for those waiting, I will update with a tracking number and post it here once I have it from the rep. Will be using fedex int'l economy which is about a week from CN to me. CK will be handling shipping themselves between them and the factory rep.

If you want anything cleared up, feel free to ping me to ask me anything. I'll do my best to answer and get back in a more timely manner.

[tigerali]

You are aware that if you win in small claims court you and only you are are responsible for collecting the award.

I am an attorney barred in California and Georgia, so yes, I'd assume I was aware. I'm also not far from Sunnyvale, so I could both serve and attempt to collect, which is why I said what I said.

In what jurisdiction or jurisdictions are you barred?

[reconsiderit]

2) For orders on my side, I have gotten them to finally ship to me. I have everything on hand and should be able to start shipping keyboards out as soon as I get them. I'll get through this as quickly as I can but I expect it will be about two or three weeks from the day I receive the package.

4) The acrylic diffuser should have been bundled with the bent steel plates. They were made in the same factory as all of the laser cut items (bent steel plates, alu plates, steel plates, etc...). From what I can see, CK never received the acrylic diffuser for some reason. The rep at the factory which did those has moved on to another place but I'll reach out to them and see if they know anything about the situation.

Thanks for the update!

Sooooo... For those of us that ordered through switchplate.co, received a bent plate, and didn't get an acrylic diffuser, what is going on there? I honestly can't remember if that was a separate option or not during purchasing, so I'm just trying to figure that out.

If you didn't receive a diffuser and ordered through switchplate, please send me an email. It was not a separate option. You should have received one.

contact@switchplate.co

[reconsiderit]

I've been given the tracking and been told that the order has been dispatched from the factory. The shipping is through a third party which will be handing it off to FedEx in HK which is then going to my door.

For those interested, the tracking is below. As of me writing this, it hasn't been handed off to fedex yet.

110385321707

[ktrezzi]

Okay sorry but I didn't understand your message (non English native here), could you (or anyone) please give me a TL;DR about the CandyKeys order? What is missing, what is the ETA of all of that?

[Laughmaster]

Okay sorry but I didn't understand your message (non English native here), could you (or anyone) please give me a TL;DR about the CandyKeys order? What is missing, what is the ETA of all of that?

1. Candykeys is handling their own shipment from the factory so the above tracking number does not apply to them.

2. Candeykeys needs to order small parts (screws, etc.) separately.

3. When Candeykeys received the bent plate orders previously, they did not get the acrylic diffusers that were supposed to be included. reconsiderit is contacting the factory about this.

4. In the last update from Candeykeys (previous page) they said they would be issuing refunds in the event that they can't fulfill orders.

[CandyKeys]

Hello all!

So there is all the important info. above, I just wanted to update and confirm the last parts are becoming picked up now from the factory by Friday. The woman of the factory has contacted us with their pick up details and hopefully things will go smoothly. Now we are burdened with a ton of work regarding what will be missing, we expect a fair amount, for things like LEDs and switches we will probably reach out to you if there is something missing but should have everything. The acryl middle plates are here, I will confirm again after opening stuff up and we then will set to work. It is annoying now but lets hope all goes well!

[ktrezzi]

Okay sorry but I didn't understand your message (non English native here), could you (or anyone) please give me a TL;DR about the CandyKeys order? What is missing, what is the ETA of all of that?

1. Candykeys is handling their own shipment from the factory so the above tracking number does not apply to them.

2. Candeykeys needs to order small parts (screws, etc.) separately.

3. When Candeykeys received the bent plate orders previously, they did not get the acrylic diffusers that were supposed to be included. reconsiderit is contacting the factory about this.

4. In the last update from Candeykeys (previous page) they said they would be issuing refunds in the event that they can't fulfill orders.

Thank you!

Hello all!

So there is all the important info. above, I just wanted to update and confirm the last parts are becoming picked up now from the factory by Friday. The woman of the factory has contacted us with their pick up details and hopefully things will go smoothly. Now we are burdened with a ton of work regarding what will be missing, we expect a fair amount, for things like LEDs and switches we will probably reach out to you if there is something missing but should have everything. The acryl middle plates are here, I will confirm again after opening stuff up and we then will set to work. It is annoying now but lets hope all goes well!

Thank you even more. Let's hope that we all gonna build our keebs soon

[guptaji]

Hello all!

So there is all the important info. above, I just wanted to update and confirm the last parts are becoming picked up now from the factory by Friday. The woman of the factory has contacted us with their pick up details and hopefully things will go smoothly. Now we are burdened with a ton of work regarding what will be missing, we expect a fair amount, for things like LEDs and switches we will probably reach out to you if there is something missing but should have everything. The acryl middle plates are here, I will confirm again after opening stuff up and we then will set to work. It is annoying now but lets hope all goes well!

Hope all goes well as well. Thanks for this crucial information/update.

[ktrezzi]

@reconsiderit: Would you mind to update us a bit more in the future please?

[tentboy]

I’ve been checking the fedex tracking and looks like they will be delivered to reconsiderit today. Hopefully things can move quickly from here 

[reconsiderit]

Looks like the package has arrived at the local FedEx hub.  I wasn't able to be home to sign for the package today but I'll be picking it up tomorrow and starting to work through it this coming weekend.

[CandyKeys]

Just wanted to update new stuff

TNT has the info (all the things needed for pick up). I have the contact to the factory thanks to the GB host. I have told TNT to pick up the package by the Friday as I said however it failed due to no communication from the factory as TNT tried to call them for the pick up in China. So I have written the factory to be aware this time of a coming package and it should hopefully be picked up then next week as this week they have holidays until the 7th. Will update if there are further issues.

[Krazzios]

My god, this factory should be put on some official blacklist.

[ktrezzi]

Thanks to this GB I know everything about Chinese bank holidays / Chinese new year

[tigerali]

Time for an update methinks.

[forumusername]

He said he would work on it this weekend... It's not even Friday.

[tigerali]

He could say, for those of us not obsessively checking the tracking ID that it has indeed been picked up.

Plus given all that’s happened I think I’d be happy with too much communication rather than too little.

[NoncarbonatedClack]

Any news? Waiting on an update to at least hear if everything that was delivered is correct.

[reconsiderit]

Small update but I've just gotten a chance to open things up. Haven't had time to do much more than that, but it seems everything is there.

I'll be doing a count/QC first then moving to fulfillment once that is done.

[edj628]

Man, good thing we're a bunch of nerds with varying degrees of patience.


Thanks for the update.

[Valyns]

Any chance I could DM you a different address for you to send mine to? Since the groupbuy ended I've moved. More than once at that LOL.

[ktrezzi]

He said he would work on it this weekend... It's not even Friday.

Aaaaaaand here we go again, next friday, no update except for "Sorry I hadn't the time"

You know what reconsiderit, I generally appreciate that you organizing, like many others, GB in your spare time. But I'm beginning to think that I don't give a **** about you not having enough time.


It's no almost two years, you've run other GB in the meantime - Maybe, just maybe, you should prioritize your to-dos and finally finish that horrible group buy. It's not even horrible that we have to wait for such a long time, it's horrible because your communication sucks and I don't feel like your are putting enough effort in it. It's time now that you go "an extra mile". Stop saying that you don't have much time to check the stuff, TAKE THAT TIME AND CHECK IT.

[tigerali]

He said he would work on it this weekend... It's not even Friday.

What'cha got to say now?

[forumusername]

He said he would work on it this weekend... It's not even Friday.

What'cha got to say now?

About what? I assume you don't need help reading the updates?

[tigerali]

He said he would work on it this weekend... It's not even Friday.

What'cha got to say now?

About what? I assume you don't need help reading the updates?

The picture of the box saying I'll look at it later? That's not an update. There hasn't been an actual update since you decided to be thread police.

[forumusername]

He said he would work on it this weekend... It's not even Friday.

What'cha got to say now?

About what? I assume you don't need help reading the updates?

The picture of the box saying I'll look at it later? That's not an update. There hasn't been an actual update since you decided to be thread police.

So you do need help - three days ago he said that he would QC/count what was delivered and then proceed to fulfilment. I suggest not holding your breath waiting on more information C:

[tigerali]

I mean he also said we'd get the boards a year ago, so I need more than "I'll look at it" (as I explained already and you seemed to ignore in order to be snarky) but thanks for being a stand up forum member.

[NoncarbonatedClack]

Dare I ask.... Any updates?

[tigerali]

Reconsiderit, you literally just promised to keep us updated and it's been crickets.

[reconsiderit]

Hey guys, I just wanted to touch base again, but I don't have all that much time to simply set aside and churn the whole thing out at once. I'm working through it slowly and only have one or two nights a week to work on these so you guys are going to get a lot of "nothing has changed" if you want me to update twice a week. I'd trimmed my work hours down significantly starting last week in preparation to sort pack and ship 3 GBs in October. I'd have to start cutting classes if this was to be done any faster. I can update bi-weekly and will give an ETA of shipping towards the end of this month/next month.

I've done a complete unpacking and QC of the angled feet. With this I have some bad news and good news.

Bad news is that some of the angled feet aren't perfect. Quality is better than the original ones from KP, but still isn't perfect due to handling imperfections. No atrocious anodization drip which is a big improvement over the last run.  Some of the chamfers have small dings from handling but there isn't the whole issue of unbroken edges with chipping anodization and straight up dents as there were with the previous ones.

I haven't yet unpacked all of the cases but the black and raw one I've taken out of the packaging look pretty good.

Another thing I wanted talk about in advance were the raw cases. The factory ended up processing the raw cases and did prep for anodizing even after I had told them not to. They refused to do anything about it or answer any questions I posed to them about it. Because of this, there will be hand finishing done to the raw cases and risers. I'll upload a picture of this soon but it isn't the look that I intended for these to have. Due to the nature of hand finishing, the surface isn't visually uniform. (its like the hand rubbed finish you see on pocket knives) I'd recommend either doing a powdercoat or a cerakote over the raw aluminum if you aren't satisfied with how these turned out. I can help organize cerakoting if desired.

That said, there aren't any issues apart from that. CNC work looks as it should with precise chamfers and zero visible chatter along deeper cuts. Anodizing from the black alu case I pulled is pretty good. The machining work is the same as the angled feet but no visible handling marks as far as I can tell.

[Krazzios]

Okay, let me just preface this by saying, thank you for the update.

This is literally all we need, an image a week to show that stuff is moving. I bet most of us in the groupbuy (despite it coming up on 2 years) are still really hyped about this board.
The problem thus far has been the long stretches of silence. There doesn't even have to be an essay worth of update, just a line every now and then showing us that there is indeed progress. Even this picture is enough to tell me I'm that much closer to receiving my board, even though I'm getting mine from CandyKeys and not from you directly.

Now, I realise you have real life responsibilities and that a groupbuy takes time. But in the future, if we could just get an image and 1 line of text a week (even if nothing significant has happened) it would put a lot of peoples minds at ease.

[speaktobrett]

Okay, let me just preface this by saying, thank you for the update.

This is literally all we need, an image a week to show that stuff is moving. I bet most of us in the groupbuy (despite it coming up on 2 years) are still really hyped about this board.
The problem thus far has been the long stretches of silence. There doesn't even have to be an essay worth of update, just a line every now and then showing us that there is indeed progress. Even this picture is enough to tell me I'm that much closer to recieving my board, even though I'm getting mine from CandyKeys and not from you directly.

Now, I realise you have real life responsibilities and that a groupbuy takes time. But in the future, if we could just get an image and 1 line of text a week (even if nothing significant has happened) it would put a lot of peoples minds at ease.

Yeah I'm in agreeance with this.

I guess my concern was that nothing was happening, and the wonder of whether I would actually receive a board in the end.

Appreciate that you have given an update Reconsiderit.

Thank you

[grossvogel]

Because of this, there will be hand finishing done to the raw cases and risers.

What about raw cases that went to CandyKeys?

[reconsiderit]

Because of this, there will be hand finishing done to the raw cases and risers.

What about raw cases that went to CandyKeys?

They will have the same hand finishing done to the ones that are headed to the US. They were made by the same factory in the same run.

It's not quite visually nice as the endmill finish that I intended but how they've been hand finished allows for things like powdercoat or cerakote to be thrown on without any intensive surface prep. I'll have pictures up soon.

I've just completed going a handful of the cases this morning and they look excellent. I should be able to finsh the remaining ones on Friday and start packaging to ship out on Sunday.