geekhack Marketplace > Interest Checks
[IC] PAL by Banana Stand Works
dimsum:
Hi yall!
This is an update to an IC that is over 2 years old.
I’ll try to keep it brief here; saving the older IC contents for posterity - you can check them out in the first reply below.
K, here we go:
PAL
Your friendly neighborhood 60%
ft. an exploded arrow key cluster
PAL is a layout I have been personally using for over 3 years now - It suits my needs perfectly and I am pretty much contented with daily driving it for the rest of my life.
It may have taken a while, but I'm very excited to finally be able to make available to anyone else who might be interested.
Not going to make a pretense of presenting something groundbreaking here - PAL is a very simple keyboard; hardly competitive against a lot of the stuff you can buy for less money nowadays - but it is still my favorite one nonetheless.
I just hope some of you will like it, too.
Render Gallery
NTSC Artisan
An R4 1.25U artisan will come included with every PAL kit and is going to be color-matched to the keyboard case.
Product Information
Specs:
6063 alu top & bottom
Tadpole mount
6° typing angle
17.5mm front height, 21.50mm adjusted:
Options
Colors: Grey, Green, Lilac
Plates: FR4, PC, Alu
Solderable & hotswap PCBs by Yiancar:
GB Info:
Price: starting at US$230 for a kit
GB dates: Jul 23 - Aug 16Aug 23 of the current year of our lord 2022 2023 2024 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Vendors:
Protozoa Studio (worldwide)
zFrontier (CN & worldwide)
Prototype Photo Gallery
Misc
Timothy (Akuko Labs) built a PAL proto and took some cool shots of it a while back;
you can check them out at his IG:
And last but not least:
Alexotos build stream (VOD)
Cheers everyone,
Dimsum
Discord Links
Signature code in case you would like to support the project:
--- Code: ---[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=116569.0][img]https://i.imgur.com/TQNNgvz.jpeg[/img][/url]
--- End code ---
dimsum:
Misc Fluff
Saving for posterity, please ignore.
Conceptualization (2021)
MoreI first started playing with this layout in early 2021, making a really crappy 3d-printed handwire to test out my exploded arrow cluster idea:
I ended up loving it so much that I committed to making a "proper" version of the board. Updated version was much simpler and cleaner, featuring tadpole mount; printed in SLA and built with a prototype PCB.
Original IC & 1st Prototype(March-May 2022)
MoreThis is PAL from the original IC. It was simpler and cruder than the current design, but nonetheless pretty fun to type on.
A Singaporean builder fatboychard did a build stream of it, sound test clip here
2nd&3rd Prototype (Aug 2022)
MoreThe second prototype was made at a different factory and featured an updated design that is 99% similar to the current PAL.
Ultimately, It had a lot of imperfections on the interior finishing, so we ended up re-ordering it again and getting those addressed. Nothing to look at here because #3 looked pretty much identical to #2 from the outside.
What happened since?
MoreOof that's a tough one.
The design of the board has been pretty much completed since mid-late 2022 but then life got kind of crazy for everyone involved in the project.
I changed countries, states, jobs and overall went through a lot of stuff in 2022-2023. Then it got crazy for the guys at Protozoa, too - and PAL has been placed on a back burner for much too long.
We (Protozoa & I) originally hoped to make it an in-stock product, but it eventually became apparent that Protozoa won't be able to swing such a deal. Meanwhile we changed factories 2 more times (4 manufacturers total - and probably around 7-8 total prototypes, I'm not even sure on the final number) trying to find the best price-to-quality ratio we could.
We slowly finalized things like PCB design and packaging and got a really good deal on the artisans (they were originally planned as an add-on but now we can essentially include them in the kit for free which we are all very excited about).
So It's not like nothing at all has been done since 2022, but the progress has definitely been much slower than desired or anticipated. We fully understand that a lot of momentum got lost through the waiting game and It is going to be harder reaching the MOQ now than it would have been 1 or 2 years ago - but we are have a good amount of faith in PAL and are really determined to make it happen.
Cheers,
Dimsum.
Biscuit:
GLWIC. There were quite a bit of people who are interested in seeing exploded arrows on a 60, but didn't agree with removing the right shift.
So this is a great option for those people.
unwashed_heathen:
In love with this layout. 60% boards have never been for me, but PAL has me sold. Will be keeping an eye on this for sure! Although I would like to see some more interesting color options.
With this board coming from the Banana Stand I'm going to need to see a banana colored PAL :D.
stotle.caps:
GLWIC, pretty interesting layout, rlly like the simple design and the price i rlly like it
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version