B L A S T E R 7 5 DYNAMIC YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE
MAJOR UPDATE IN OCTOBER 2022Hello Geekhack and all geeks, we're finally ready to reveal what's been going on behind the curtain,
and this time it's not something we are proud of doing so.
That being said, with our deepest apology we must announce what's been going on behind the screen - the background,
the problems, the outcome, and the future of our project.
For those who wish to avoid long texts, there will be TL;DR at the end.
- Background -Back when we initiated BLASTER75 IC, we've received major feedback on our price point and colour range.
After discussions and negotiations with all our manufacturers, we've decided to arrange the colours
as having black bottom case only for our first round, and put more variety of colours on the top case.
Also, with that decision made we've also planned our first project would take in-stock sales format.
The prototypes we made (the prototype picture is included in the IC page) were above our internal standards,
so we moved on to the production stage.
Production was done in April, so we headed to our ano manufacturer.
- Problems and its outcomesAno streaks were the prevailing issue on almost all of our top cases, and most of the streaks were on exterior.
Overall, the anod quality we expected from the sample runs were not achieved in a full production run
and were sub-optimal. We've tried numerous methods (including a few other GB runners' advices)
to solve this issue with no meaningful outcome, except one - the problem seems to go away mostly with more matte finish.
Spending almost half a year after production was done, we've came to the conclusion that
the materials were the core of the problem and cannot be solved easily.
So far, Red and Silver matte finish were the most prominent in their quality (these are still sub-optimal, however;) after Black.
- Future plansWe'd like to announce a few things that are settled within our team.
1. We currently have 33 matte-finish [ALL BLACK] BLASTER75 units that meets our minimum quality standards.
They are all QC'd and are being packaged at the moment.
Given that most, if not all, units are sub-optimal at best, we've taken a substantial price discount -
$320 USD, including all the parts and components (except shipping fee).
Sales will take place on our Shopify Page (under construction at the moment) on all global orders.
2. If anyone is interested we'll also be offering our [RED TOP / BLACK BOTTOM] B-Grades (along with other colors with enough requests)
after our A-grade sales is over. Will post their pictures as soon as possible.
3. Local (South Korea) In-Stock sales will take place approximately 48 hours prior to the international in-stock sales.
If (by the slimmest and slightest chance of all) the Sales in Korea depletes our first in-stock rounds,
we'll take an extra few weeks to make up for the second, international-only in stock round.
- Final WordsWe are truly sorry for not delivering the perfect quality standards, and that our resources, abilities and knowledge
were insufficient yet to resolve the issue at hand. However, what's more important than our feelings is that
anyone who has shown us an interest for BLASTER75 deserves to know the detailed and transparent information.
However, we have not given up our quest for resolution. Different anod manufacturer(s) and non-anod surface treatments
are underway, and we'll let you know the results as soon as they are available.
Several pictures will be uploaded very soon, for both our ALL BLACK unit and Red Top B-Grade unit.
Also, we've contacted a few other reviewers who kindly accepted our review request,
so please take a look at them when they are revealed!
-TL,DR; 1. We planned to offer various top case colors while having black bottom case only, for increasing color variety with low costs.
2. We also prepared for in-stock sales, and all production unit were produced in early April, 2022.
3. We've encountered ano streaks prevailing on all colours.
4. Matte BLACK Top/Bottom case yielded best results among those, so we will be offering ALL BLACK matte units only for the time being.
5. ALL BLACK in-stock units will be offered at $320 USD excluding shipping.
6. Specs such as Mounting Mechanisms, Kit Components, and PCB Layouts remain identical to the original IC.
7. B-Grades of other colours may become available, with more price cuts.
8. Please join our Discord Server for more frequent updates!
Pictures of [ALL BLACK] Units
Media Coverage 1. NAOGOL (Unanodized Prototype, polished) 2. NAOGOL (Polished&Anodized Prototype, 7 Different Switches ) 3.하리아빠/hariappa (All Black, MX Black Hyperglides, w/o Foam ) 4.하리아빠/hariappa (All Black, MX Black Hyperglides, w/ Foam ) 5. 하리아빠/hariappa, Written Review (for English speakers, please use Google Translator)
https://blog.naver.com/hariappa/222900125672
A large portion of Original IC contents below are obsolete, but I'll leave them for transparency's sake.
Please only refer to the Layout, Dimensions and Weight, and Kit Components section for information up-to-date.
1. IntroductionThis is
ALTAiN's first project, Blaster75. A 75% layout Custom mechanical keyboard, themed after laser blasters.
A little background on our project development story - We were fascinated by 75% layout keyboard
as it has TKL functionality intact while keeping the overall size smaller. We were also keen on maintaining
minimum blank spaces around typing areas as much as possible. Thus we chose 75% layout as our first project's
major aim.
2. Features & Specs
Housing Material : Aluminum 6061
Plate Material : Aluminum 6061
Typing Angle : 6 degree
Weight Material : Stainless Steel - SUS304
Feet : Silicon Pad, Double-side taped
Weight when assembled : 2.3~2.4kg (~5 lb)
** See the Dimensions and Weight section below for assembly weight verification! Colours offered :
Black, Gray, Navy * Blaster 75 will also be launching with limited Special Colour Edition, details TBD. PCB Specs : 75% Layout, ATMega32u4 MCU, USB C-Type, ANSI/Solderable ONLY.
Layout Support :
* We are currently working on (1) finalizing our PCB Sampling, (2) completing QMK-based Firmware,
and (3) officially supporting our pcb with QMK / VIA. This will take some time to complete.
We will be updating our PCB Sample pictures as soon as they are ready,
and release the base firmware once our Discord and the firmware are both up and running. Dimensions and Weight:
Prototype is built with Aqua King (stock), Swagkey V2 Stabs (produced by JWK)
3. Renders * Disclaimer: More
Prototype photos and renders were slightly edited for colour accuracy.
Colours may appear differently depending on displays and light.
4. Prototypes (NOT A RENDER)* Disclaimer: More
Prototype photos and renders were slightly edited for colour accuracy.
Colours may appear differently depending on displays and light.
More proto shots will be updated.
5. Kit Components
1 x Top Housing
1 x Bottom Housing
1 x Plate
1 x PCB
1 x Weight
1 x Poron Foam
10 x Silicon Feet
Screws (Some Extras included)
1 x L-Wrench Driver for Assembly
6. Price and QuantityQuantity - 300 units capped, FCFS. This is subject to change any time prior to the actual GB.
Price - TBD, but we are estimating Mid - $400 USD, w/o Shipping.
7. Timeline GB Launch: ~
April Q2 2022(TBD, Most likely mid-June) GB Delayed to Q3, 2022
GB Timeline: 1 Month after GB Initiation
Fulfillment: TBD, Q4 2022
8. Special NotesAltain is a team of a keyboard hobbyist and a designer located in South Korea. We started working on Blaster75 Project since the January 2021.
We'll be working on creating our Discord server too! Once created we will post the invite links for anyone who's interested in Blaster75 and our future projects.
Your Constructive Criticisms and Feedback are always welcome! We expect to learn much from, and give our best back, to the community.
All information above may be subject to change prior to the actual Group Buy and finalization of its details.
Copy the codes below and paste it on your Signature at your forum profile to support us, if you'd like!
[url=https://https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=116631.0][img]https://i.imgur.com/grzqPFY.png[/img][/url]Join our discord for updates!
https://discord.gg/Xwsy4UXfgF
Altain is a legitimate and legally protected Trademark. Blaster75 is copyright-protected.
