[IC] 852 TKL - A Hong Kong themed TKL

[dr0pbear]

Hi everyone, dr0pbear here with a new project.
Following the successful GB and fulfillment of the Dropbear60, I'm excited to introduce the 852 TKL, an F12 TKL inspired by the city of Hong Kong, and featuring a triple-mount system.

IC FORM
DISCORD[/size][/b]




About
This board was inspired by Hong Kong, one of the world's great cities. The iconic bauhinia flower is engraved above the arrow cluster, and the internal brass weight features the silhouette of the famous Victoria Harbour. The bottom stainless steel weight is laser engraved with a street map view of the Kowloon area.



Specifications


Form Factor: 87 Key (F12) TKL. WKL/WK Top case.
Angle: 7 degrees, EKH 21.5mm
Materials: Anodised Aluminium 6063 Top and Bottom Case, Sandblasted Brass Internal Weight + Sandblasted Stainless Steel External Weight
Mounting: Choice of Top Mount, Gummy O-Ring Mount or Viton O-Ring Gasket
PCB: PCB designed by zykrah with universal C3 daughterboard (same footprint as h87c).
Plates: Full, Half or "Hybrid" Plate- Half plate with one material and a mini alpha plate with another material
Weight and dimensions: ~2.3kg built, 358 x 140.5 x 33 mm (LxWxH)


Features
"Hybrid" Plate Option: While regular full and half plates will be available, hybrid plates are a way to further customise the sound and feel of the board. Basically, you get a regular half plate in one material (say, aluminium) and a "miniplate" for the alphas cutout in another material (e.g. Polypropylene). The files will be available after fulfillment so you can make your own combinations.

Triple Mounting System: I've also designed this board to be compatible with three different mounting systems. There is a Jane-style top mount and gummy o-ring mount, but also an o-ring gasket option, similar to the Geonworks F1 or Papilio where an o-ring strip is fitted into the top and bottom of the case to provide isolation. The required hardware for all three mounting styles will be provided in the base kit.


Colours

All case bottoms will be anodised silver. For the top case colours, I've prototyped Burgundy, Silver, Lilac, Tiffany and Grey. I will be going ahead with Burgundy, Lilac, Tiffany and either silver or grey, TBA.



Pricing and GB Info

Aiming for a price of ~$450 USD. This is a mid-high end board but I'm aiming to keep prices as low as possible, considering the amount of material and machining time required.
Vendors: Allcaps (OCE), Kibou (HK/CN), k.techs (SG/SEA), other regions TBC.

Kit includes: Case, Plate (material tbd), Solder PCB, Daughterboard, Carry Case, Top mount screws, Viton O-ring gasket strip, 50A Gummy O-Ring.

Media

An example of the hybrid plate and viton o ring mount.
More Photos
https://imgur.com/a/WegH1eD




Updates
October 2023
I have now received the 2nd round of case prototypes with the following changes:
-Enlarged internal weight and hidden JST cable channel under the internal weight
-added split spacebar support to plate
-made bauhinia engraving slightly larger and deeper so as to be more visible
-slight adjustment to gasket mount cutouts
-slight adjustments to corner radius and chamfers

Also received prototypes of custom PCBs designed by zykrah in both hotswap and solder- same footprint as a H87/88c, solder will support F13 but hotswap will only have F12 support. They will come without a USB C port soldered on but you can choose to add one at a later point to use in another board (e.g. Geon F1 series)

To Do
- Confirm final GB colours
- Confirm GB vendors, pricing etc.

[farlig]

looks nice, i'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this

[suishibe]

it's pretty, and I like the hybrid plate idea

[hzh0525]

A good theme！

[o3okevin]

W

[The0rigina1]

NE discount for hong kong people? 

[beejay]

The target price is too high for the current state of the market and what you are making here. Also would like to see an exploded view of the board. Glwic

[The0rigina1]

The target price is too high for the current state of the market and what you are making here. Also would like to see an exploded view of the board. Glwic

Two separate weights, curves on the side profile, and laser-engraving on the weight all add cost. I don't know where do you get your numbers from

[catamscott]

solid looking board, pictures of internals and plate would be nice though. not sure what the moq on this is but price seems reasonable as well

[aicyborg]

cloudline at home (at least the side profile)

though to be fair if you're gonna "draw inspiration" from something, it's a good one to do

[dr0pbear]

NE discount for hong kong people? 

Haha can't show favouritism!

solid looking board, pictures of internals and plate would be nice though. not sure what the moq on this is but price seems reasonable as well

Noted, I'll update the IC with more pictures soon.

cloudline at home (at least the side profile)

though to be fair if you're gonna "draw inspiration" from something, it's a good one to do

Guilty as charged I guess, wasn't specifically trying to copy the cloutline profile but I like simple curves

[Beaniekeys]

yooo another HK themed board? yessss

[Terrysko]

The construction seems to be quite robust, but apart from the design, the acoustics of the switches sound unusually loud. Unfortunately, the inner workings of the keyboard are not clearly visible so far, the vibration damping in connection with the rest of the case should actually be better.

Anyway, the Hong Kong theme is an original idea!

[TerraKeycaps]

Plans to do any other city scapes?

[dr0pbear]

Plans to do any other city scapes?

Not at this stage. As you can imagine, it wouldn't be very practical to accomodate everyone's favourite city...

[antsinyourpants]

NE discount for hong kong people? 

Asking the real questions!

[The0rigina1]

Plans to do any other city scapes?

Not at this stage. As you can imagine, it wouldn't be very practical to accomodate everyone's favourite city...

Is the prototype shown in the pictures representative of the gb units? Right now, the anodization doesn't look great honestly

[dr0pbear]

Is the prototype shown in the pictures representative of the gb units? Right now, the anodization doesn't look great honestly

Can you specify what about the anodisation isn't up to expectations? In person, I consider it to be pretty much flawless, I can't see any spots/streaks/splotches. Looking back on the photos, I can see a few smudges from handling marks and also me not being a pro photographer. Also, I do have plans to send a prototype to some streamers for building/reviews so hopefully seeing it on stream will alleviate any of your concerns.

[The0rigina1]

Is the prototype shown in the pictures representative of the gb units? Right now, the anodization doesn't look great honestly

Can you specify what about the anodisation isn't up to expectations? In person, I consider it to be pretty much flawless, I can't see any spots/streaks/splotches. Looking back on the photos, I can see a few smudges from handling marks and also me not being a pro photographer. Also, I do have plans to send a prototype to some streamers for building/reviews so hopefully seeing it on stream will alleviate any of your concerns.

You can see the sandblasting grains on the surface, maybe the grit was too low

[madrone]

Love the artwork on the weight.  It's a lot more interesting than the super simple ones we usually see.

[Jho]

I love maps and TKLs so I gotta express some sort of interest here. Looks great, O Ring mount sounds good, but just sad to see that price is all.

[mr_foggy]

The target price is too high for the current state of the market and what you are making here.

wrong. I don't get the complaints about pricing, this is definitely cheaper than equivalent TKL ICs that surfaced in the last 6 months at least.

also it looks good! the map weight is very interesting. I too would suggest smoother sandblasting, though.

[fuster]

Looks really really good

[yvkb]

Price is reasonable, aesthetics are on point, would love to see a gray top / silver bottom option 

[dr0pbear]

Thank you everyone for the IC feedback so far! I'm glad to see so many people have liked this board. I'd like to answer a few FAQs.

Feedback:
- A few people have mentioned the "grainyness" of the anodisation- I specified a 150 grit sandblast for the first proto, however this is clearly not smooth enough. I have communicated with the manufacturer to use a higher grit sandblast which should address this issue.
- I'll be commissioning a hotswap PCB for GB. I've also added support for split spacebar for solder. WK and WKL will be available, but no F13.
- I've increased the size of the internal weight for more heft. By my calculations this should raise the weight by ~350g
- Having 3 top case colour options seems realistic at this stage. I'm planning on keeping burgundy (Pantone 188C), Grey (Pantone 18-0306 TCX) and Aqua (Pantone 3262C). If there's demand for Cloud White (11-4201 TPX) I want to try and add that too. Bottom colour will remain as silver for all options.

Upcoming: I'm ordering another set of protos reflecting the changes made above. I also hope to confirm vendors soon.

Thanks again for all the feedback so far.

[The0rigina1]

Thank you everyone for the IC feedback so far! I'm glad to see so many people have liked this board. I'd like to answer a few FAQs.

Feedback:
- A few people have mentioned the "grainyness" of the anodisation- I specified a 150 grit sandblast for the first proto, however this is clearly not smooth enough. I have communicated with the manufacturer to use a higher grit sandblast which should address this issue.
- I'll be commissioning a hotswap PCB for GB. I've also added support for split spacebar for solder. WK and WKL will be available, but no F13.
- I've increased the size of the internal weight for more heft. By my calculations this should raise the weight by ~350g
- Having 3 top case colour options seems realistic at this stage. I'm planning on keeping burgundy (Pantone 188C), Grey (Pantone 18-0306 TCX) and Aqua (Pantone 3262C). If there's demand for Cloud White (11-4201 TPX) I want to try and add that too. Bottom colour will remain as silver for all options.

Upcoming: I'm ordering another set of protos reflecting the changes made above. I also hope to confirm vendors soon.

Thanks again for all the feedback so far.

Ask for 180 if they can. However, I doubt this will be useful in the GB run since most manufacturers only go up to 150 on larger orders IIRC.