[GB] Modern M0110 custom keyboard

[Starius]

Registered an account just now to express how completely frustrating this whole GB is. I first saw this project over on Reddit maybe 18-24 months ago and fell in love with the design. And I bought the whole enchilada: case, PCB, stabs, custom serial number, switches, assembly, the whole thing. I have asked for refunds on everything except for the case at this point but I haven't seen a dollar back.

At this point, I am just assuming I am out the entire bill. As much as I want to support small group buys from motivated community members, I am probably only buying finished goods or going through MD/Drop for anything I buy in the future. What a mess.

Even worse for me, my order was over 1000 usd AND i shipped him blue alps, brown alps etc worth ovet 300 USD for assembly.

This GB, Alf x1.1 and xondat killed this hobby for me i have yo say, there's not much passion left.

Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk

Thomas, I’m actually quite sorry you’ve had this kind of luck with the hobby.  I’ve been more fortunate, but those experiences have definitely been fears of mine since the beginning.  It really is the luck of the draw, I guess. That being said, this GB and the Lumina are current ones I’m in that have taken a long time.... and at this stage, I have to say I’m not too disheartened just yet.  Not every GB is going to run smoothly, and I still expect the Modern M0110 and the Lumina to arrive some day.   

The one aspect I do take a bit of a issue with is not how long these GBs take, but the lack of consistent communication throughout the process. 
I know there isn’t always new information to report, but consistent communication can go a long way to fostering good will during long stretches of a GB. 

[break]

FWIW Desk Candy is on summer vacation right now, according to their website. Sorry this has drawn on, folks, but hopefully you'll get a response soon.

[your_fish_monger]

The one aspect I do take a bit of a issue with is not how long these GBs take, but the lack of consistent communication throughout the process. 
I know there isn’t always new information to report, but consistent communication can go a long way to fostering good will during long stretches of a GB.

And I think that's what I would want most at this point. Give us an update every Friday or the weekly progress, what's coming up next, and if timeline expectations have shifted again. I have to hit deadlines left and right in my own career. Just wish the GB runner would let us know what is happening with some kind of regular frequency at this point. It's absurd to wait 2-3 months between a short update. Bite the bullet and tell us what's going on already.

[dantambok]

And I think that's what I would want most at this point. Give us an update every Friday or the weekly progress, what's coming up next, and if timeline expectations have shifted again. I have to hit deadlines left and right in my own career. Just wish the GB runner would let us know what is happening with some kind of regular frequency at this point. It's absurd to wait 2-3 months between a short update. Bite the bullet and tell us what's going on already.

Asking for a weekly update is too much. No GB runner does that, I think? Once a month would be more than enough tho.   

[crowKAKAWWW]

And I think that's what I would want most at this point. Give us an update every Friday or the weekly progress, what's coming up next, and if timeline expectations have shifted again. I have to hit deadlines left and right in my own career. Just wish the GB runner would let us know what is happening with some kind of regular frequency at this point. It's absurd to wait 2-3 months between a short update. Bite the bullet and tell us what's going on already.

Asking for a weekly update is too much. No GB runner does that, I think? Once a month would be more than enough tho.   

The kotai case gb runner made weekly posts from start to end, probably the best communication I've ever seen with group buys.

[geewiz]

The kotai case gb runner made weekly posts from start to end, probably the best communication I've ever seen with group buys.

IMHO something in between weekly and monthly is the appropriate update frequency you owe to the people whose money is resting in your accounts.

[nuclear_wizard]

Registered an account just now to express how completely frustrating this whole GB is. I first saw this project over on Reddit maybe 18-24 months ago and fell in love with the design. And I bought the whole enchilada: case, PCB, stabs, custom serial number, switches, assembly, the whole thing. I have asked for refunds on everything except for the case at this point but I haven't seen a dollar back.

At this point, I am just assuming I am out the entire bill. As much as I want to support small group buys from motivated community members, I am probably only buying finished goods or going through MD/Drop for anything I buy in the future. What a mess.

The first day of the GB was 29/06/18; so be real, you've only had money on the line for 13 months tops. You really can't complain about being invested for 18-24 months: some boards are in IC for years, but have a relatively short period between GB and fulfillment. Should people pledging to those complain that they saw the board 3 years ago when the GB was only 2 months ago?

That being said, the communication in this GB has been terrible, and I can't help but feel like the hype associated with this GB was urged on by a lot of people pointing out around the time of the GB that "big names in the community" vouched for and helped out with getting Desk Candy up (somewhat legitimizing it). That was used to dispel very real and serious concerns with a first time GB runner taking on such an ambitious project, but then these "big names" could disappear and/or claim ignorance because they aren't actually involved, letting a first-time GB runner flounder and deal with the fallout without any repercussions themselves. I know I'll be considering these red flags for GBs in the future. Anyways, just a rant, but I feel like if your name is prominently displayed (in any way other than a "thanks for helping me get this together") and used to market the product, then you bear some responsibility for the success/failure of the GB.   

His last response was on July 10th, with one before that explaining that his time is packed with driving vendor to vendor to make ends meet and actually get the things made.  He showed pictures of prototypes.  Think about it, if he were scamming us, why would he bother spending more money to actually make prototypes to show us pictures of?  We're all in past the point of return with any PayPal return window, so he should just run off with the money.  We're all in the same boat here.  Why choose to assume the worst and get upset, and in doing so cause yourself unnecessary headache and heartache, right now, for something that might not even be true?  If you (and all of us) do get completely shafted, then yeah, then we'll feel bad together, if it happens.  For me, I'm assuming the best, because if it works out, I didn't experience any headache or heartache through any of the process.

Being positive isn't what people are complaining about though. Expressing your disappointment with how this GB is being run has proven time and time again to be the only way to get any updates. As far as "running off with our money" I don't think anyone is suggesting that; it's that based on the progress seen so far, there is not much to suggest that we will get a product that is up to the quality of the product initially shown to us. I doubt anyone is thinking this GB was a "scam" or a money grab, it has just run into so many problems that getting the product we paid for seems like a slim possibility at this point even if it is fulfilled. Do I think that we will eventually get a board from this: yes, but will it be the board we were all hoping it would be? That's less certain to me, and discussing that isn't being negative for no reason, it's a legitimate criticism of the updates and work shown so far which I think is worth a discussion.

Registered an account just now to express how completely frustrating this whole GB is. I first saw this project over on Reddit maybe 18-24 months ago and fell in love with the design. And I bought the whole enchilada: case, PCB, stabs, custom serial number, switches, assembly, the whole thing. I have asked for refunds on everything except for the case at this point but I haven't seen a dollar back.

At this point, I am just assuming I am out the entire bill. As much as I want to support small group buys from motivated community members, I am probably only buying finished goods or going through MD/Drop for anything I buy in the future. What a mess.

Even worse for me, my order was over 1000 usd AND i shipped him blue alps, brown alps etc worth ovet 300 USD for assembly.

This GB, Alf x1.1 and xondat killed this hobby for me i have yo say, there's not much passion left.

Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk

That's a lot of cheddar on one GB... Maybe the takeaway here is not to throw too much money at someone who doesn't have a track record of successful GBs in the future. I'm sorry that these projects have left you feeling disillusioned with the hobby, but please don't let the few GBs that went under dampen your enthusiasm for keyboards as a whole! Hopefully you can at least ask for your switches to be shipped back to you in a timely manner.

[dwarflemur]

At the end of the day you gotta remember that this is just some dude who probably has a day job running this. On top of working full time managing a big group buy sounds like a giant pain in the butt. Sure, the communication hasn't been great, but giving updates all the time that say "nothing really to update right now" is just going to make people agitated as well. Patience is something you absolutely need to have for these group buys, especially if it's the person's first time doing it. I haven't seen anything here that really sets off red flags for me, and I'm pretty sure that eventually I'll end up with a keyboard that I'm very happy with.

[DukeEsquire]

I'm not a part of this GB, but I've kept an eye on it because I think it's a cool project.

I'm a little lost on what the remaining "to do" list was. I thought i was basically done except for that engraving issue and the the GB runner goes silent.

[nuclear_wizard]

At the end of the day you gotta remember that this is just some dude who probably has a day job running this. On top of working full time managing a big group buy sounds like a giant pain in the butt. Sure, the communication hasn't been great, but giving updates all the time that say "nothing really to update right now" is just going to make people agitated as well. Patience is something you absolutely need to have for these group buys, especially if it's the person's first time doing it. I haven't seen anything here that really sets off red flags for me, and I'm pretty sure that eventually I'll end up with a keyboard that I'm very happy with.

And you have to remember that this dude isn't doing this out of the kindness of his own heart. He has A LOT of our money tied up in this project. I can respect that this is a passion project being brought to life in a guy's spare time (and caveat emptor and all that), but that doesn't mean the project should be immune from any criticism or people should just be grateful to get anything at all. You may be fine with how things are progressing, but the multiple comments asking for updates and offering criticism of what's been shown so far demonstrate that there are many who aren't happy with this project. The radio silence from the GB runner on these points is what people have a problem with. I also understand when delays happen, but there's a massive difference between the way this project and say Norbauer's Norbaforce cases were run while the delays in the timeline are very similar.

I also love how when anyone brings up the timeline of a GB being too long, the "old men" coming out of the woodwork telling everyone that they should be used to projects dragging on because once they waited two years for a board and loved it, so these "people who haven't been in many GBs should just learn some patience." It's like a weird badge of honor to have waited more than a year for a product to come out when the other people in the thread just want more consistent updates or actual movement on the project. Wouldn't you actually prefer to get your product sooner or at least know where the project is at currently? As has been noted, it's been 6-7 weeks since the last update.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[crowKAKAWWW]

I'm a little lost on what the remaining "to do" list was. I thought i was basically done except for that engraving issue and the the GB runner goes silent.

We're still waiting for anodization samples, so as far as I know, only 4 cerakoted boards are done, and 0 anodized boards are done.

[nguyenhimself]

Why do I have a feeling that the VN66, also an M0110-inspired case, will probably ship before this one?

Keeping the production within the US is the #1 mistake here IMO. Are we still waiting for that one guy to return to work? Been so long I can’t even recall anymore.

Waiting a year for a GB to finish is not unheard of, but that should not be the norm.

[dwarflemur]

Why do I have a feeling that the VN66, also an M0110-inspired case, will probably ship before this one?

Keeping the production within the US is the #1 mistake here IMO. Are we still waiting for that one guy to return to work? Been so long I can’t even recall anymore.

Waiting a year for a GB to finish is not unheard of, but that should not be the norm.

Aren’t they only making like ten of the VN66?

[your_fish_monger]

We're still waiting for anodization samples, so as far as I know, only 4 cerakoted boards are done, and 0 anodized boards are done.

And therein lies the issue. Since it's been over a month I think since the last update, we have zero visibility into whether or not those numbers have moved at all. We have no clue what the progress is.

I work with a phenomenal project manager at my corporate gig. And every week, we get a status of a critical launch we're on that says (1) here is what we achieved last week, (2) here is the progress overall in the launch, (3) here is what the milestones are next week, and (4) here are any issues we are monitoring that could jeopardize deadlines.

I get that the GB runner is likely doing this on the side. But as others have pointed out, there is a serious amount of cash in their pocket from the community. All we have to show for that investment right now is samples not matching what was promised originally, a lack of meaningful updates/progress/communication, and no end in sight for eventual resolution and delivery of what we all paid for. It's just unacceptable.

[The_Royal]

Just dropping in to bump.

Hope everyone receives their boards, eventually.

[deskcandy]

Hey folks,

Sorry for taking a while since the last update! Things are moving along, although slower than I would have liked. Here are the salient points for you to know:

• Metal polishing for anodized units is done. We will start engraving all engraved orders this week or next. Some of the (custom) engraving files had issues and we have to edit them individually to ensure that they don’t come out weird (overlapping lines) on the laser.
• Some of the initial unengraved Cerakote keyboards have to repainted, because they had a slight discoloration on the right side. I am bringing them back to my vendor this week, and he should have the rest of the unengraved units for me. If your keyboard is good to go colorwise, then you will receive a shipping address confirmation from me soon - it has been a bit since we ran the GB and I want to double check shipping addresses for every order so we don’t have any missing keyboards
• I haven’t shipped the unengraved Cerakote units yet because I had to reorder some of the screws and also had to order screw taps. I have to retap each screw hole on each keyboard myself by hand to ensure that you don’t have any screws break off in the keyboard. My Cerakote vendor plugs the screw holes when they paint the keyboards, but it’s impossible to prevent 100% of the Cerakote liquid from getting in and would rather play it safe.

Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks as always for your patience.

Best regards,
John

[your_fish_monger]

Hey folks,

Sorry for taking a while since the last update! Things are moving along, although slower than I would have liked. Here are the salient points for you to know:

• Metal polishing for anodized units is done. We will start engraving all engraved orders this week or next. Some of the (custom) engraving files had issues and we have to edit them individually to ensure that they don’t come out weird (overlapping lines) on the laser.
• Some of the initial unengraved Cerakote keyboards have to repainted, because they had a slight discoloration on the right side. I am bringing them back to my vendor this week, and he should have the rest of the unengraved units for me. If your keyboard is good to go colorwise, then you will receive a shipping address confirmation from me soon - it has been a bit since we ran the GB and I want to double check shipping addresses for every order so we don’t have any missing keyboards
• I haven’t shipped the unengraved Cerakote units yet because I had to reorder some of the screws and also had to order screw taps. I have to retap each screw hole on each keyboard myself by hand to ensure that you don’t have any screws break off in the keyboard. My Cerakote vendor plugs the screw holes when they paint the keyboards, but it’s impossible to prevent 100% of the Cerakote liquid from getting in and would rather play it safe.

Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks as always for your patience.

Best regards,
John

Can you quote us timing expectations on some of the items you have outlined above? And can you commit to an update every two weeks so or so? There's about two pages of responses from us here in the GB unhappy with the progress and frequency of communication since your last post.

[dead_pixel_design]

Please don't set time expectations

[ibabo]

Thank you for updating John. If you could come in every few weeks and just let us know you haven't made a run for the border it would put a lot of people at ease. Thanks!

[KingzandBean]

Please don't set time expectations

Agreed, it'll just give people more to stress about and make it harder to send out updates which is I think what the people really want

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[dwarflemur]

Please don't set time expectations

+1

[your_fish_monger]

A bit of good news hopefully, Desk Candy put up their first Instagram post in almost a year. If you ordered a rose gold M0110, at least you know yours is hopefully close to being ready.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2LQLZGHbLB/

[deskcandy]

Hey folks, mini update here! I just packed a few keyboards. I'm really happy because there were a few remaining things I needed in order to make sure each order was "shippable" and complete (having all the screws, hex wrenches, polybags so the keyboard doesn't smudge, etc) so I can actually pack them as they are ready from my vendors. This took me WAY longer than I expected because I was triple checking everything (specs and quantities) and had to order from a bunch of different vendors and check a bunch of different prices and options. Anyways...since this was discussed earlier:

The big remaining TODOs are:
- Running rest of engraving (it should only take 1-2 days but it's been taking really long to triple check every file to make sure the engravings including all the custom ones don't come out messed up). We think the "standard" engraving file is good to go as of earlier this week but we'll do another test engrave on aluminum to be 100% sure.
- Anodizing everything post-engraving (including non-engraved since anodizing has to be done in one big batch)
- Cerakote all the engraved boards (plus redo some nonengraved--unfortunately some of you who opted out of engraving have to keep waiting a bit longer since some of the colors came out uneven and are unacceptable)

I know that sounds like a lot, but trust me that the engraving and anodizing vendors work really really fast and are really professional (they are legit industrial companies with real corporate clients and work really efficiently from what I've seen so far). The bottleneck is unfortunately probably going to be on me. Each order without assembly service takes me at least 30 minutes and maybe closer to an hour to pack because I am polishing each brass plate and retapping each screw hole by hand, myself. It's really hard to find anyone in my area to do that kind of work at a high level of quality in such a small quantity at a price I can afford without losing more money on the GB. So it sounds kind of ridiculous but you're getting a lot of my own sweat in each keyboard (literally since it's been in the high 80s / 90s where my workshop is in LA lately) so there will be a slow burn of rolling this out to y'all.

Just a heads up to everyone too--I am going to confirm each order before I ship. This GB has taken a while and there's been a lot of back and forth with each of you, and I can't really afford to send out the wrong orders to people at this point!

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone and hope that was useful.

[pandemic123]

got a tracking for my rose gold!!!!

[dantambok]

It's been a looooong journey, John. Sorry if things did not go your way but at least it's nearing the end. Can't wait to get this chunk of metal 

[ringzero]

Thanks for the update, and your hard work on it!

[pandemic123]

Got my rose gold, looks nothing like the renders, has a noticeable scratch and brass plate is in bad condition. given the immense wait I'm quite disappointed.

images of defect and poor match to advertised render: https://imgur.com/a/ER21USe

[lukelex]

LUL WTF?!?!?!

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[clik_clak]

Got my rose gold, looks nothing like the renders, has a noticeable scratch and brass plate is in bad condition. given the immense wait I'm quite disappointed.

images of defect and poor match to advertised render: https://imgur.com/a/ER21USe

[crowKAKAWWW]

I'm sorry, but what the hell is that?

[MacSurfy]

Wow that looks like 

Maybe if you trade your GMK Olivia with GMK Sandstorm it will be all right?

[Krelbit]

it has begun

[dingusxmcgee]

Got my rose gold, looks nothing like the renders, has a noticeable scratch and brass plate is in bad condition. given the immense wait I'm quite disappointed.

images of defect and poor match to advertised render: https://imgur.com/a/ER21USe

That’s a Y I K E S

[clik_clak]

Wow that looks like 

Maybe if you trade your GMK Olivia with GMK Sandstorm it will be all right?

That shouldn't have even passed QC. I can understand slight variances, but that isn't even close. That can't be called rose gold in any way.

[ibabo]

Oh god, this is a rocky start. That looks like pink powdercoat almost

[deskcandy]

Hey folks, I've reached out to pandemic123 via email and offered them the option of a return.

The problem here is that for the Cerakote color option, I asked for customers to give me specific Cerakote color codes (e.g., "H-142 Light Sand" in the H-series of Cerakote). Unfortunately, Rose Gold is not an official Cerakote color, and my vendor improvised. The rendering referenced in the imgur link was not meant to represent any specific Cerakote color and I'm sorry that was confusing for folks. That rendering by janglad was also shiny, and Cerakote is always a matte finish, the only way for us to get that kind of semi-gloss / shiny finish would be through anodizing or some other kind of surface finish.

Happy to answer other questions here, but I don't anticipate problems with other custom colors (where we have a specific Cerakote color code) or standard Cerakote or anodized colors. We are doing what we can with the resources we have at our disposal and are focusing on keeping the entire group buy moving.

[deskcandy]

FWIW, another customer (I'm not sure if they are following the GH thread here and are willing to post a picture of their keyboard) who received their Light Sand Cerakote keyboard last week sent me a glowing email and is very happy with their keyboard.

[pandemic123]

Confirmed John quickly reached out to provide me with a return option which I'll be doing. It's just a bit too far off from rose gold and the color wouldn't work any of my the keycap sets I have

[pixelpusher]

Does cerakote scratch that easily?

It’s getting taken care of already which is good.  I love the color but Certainly understand wanting a replacement.

[lukelex]

Hey folks, I've reached out to pandemic123 via email and offered them the option of a return.

The problem here is that for the Cerakote color option, I asked for customers to give me specific Cerakote color codes (e.g., "H-142 Light Sand" in the H-series of Cerakote). Unfortunately, Rose Gold is not an official Cerakote color, and my vendor improvised. The rendering referenced in the imgur link was not meant to represent any specific Cerakote color and I'm sorry that was confusing for folks. That rendering by janglad was also shiny, and Cerakote is always a matte finish, the only way for us to get that kind of semi-gloss / shiny finish would be through anodizing or some other kind of surface finish.

Happy to answer other questions here, but I don't anticipate problems with other custom colors (where we have a specific Cerakote color code) or standard Cerakote or anodized colors. We are doing what we can with the resources we have at our disposal and are focusing on keeping the entire group buy moving.

Hey John,

I'd appreciate if you could follow up on my 4 month, 3 month and 1 month old emails about taking over a spot on this GB.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[pandemic123]

no return label yet haha. hope I don't have to wait too long for this... if anyone wants my board I can sell it at cost + shipping as well since that may be a lot faster

[sibicle]

Super jazzed to get my board! Dunno what's with all the haters.

Anyone have a suggestion of the best PCB to get that is compatible? Would like QMK, USB C, Bluetooth (!?!?), ESC key 4XRGB (if such a thing is possible)

Thanks

[ibabo]

Super jazzed to get my board! Dunno what's with all the haters.

Anyone have a suggestion of the best PCB to get that is compatible? Would like QMK, USB C, Bluetooth (!?!?), ESC key 4XRGB (if such a thing is possible)

Thanks

If you are down with hotswap, I know cannon keys has a nice tsangan 60% with backlight, through switch rgb, and usb-c
Ps. POST A PIC!!! I wanna see

[deskcandy]

Hey folks, quick update here. We are trying to run 30 engravings this week - it's a bit difficult to set up time with the engraver but we're hoping to get it done this coming Friday so we can get more Cerakote boards done. Anodizing will have to wait until *all* engraving is done for boards to be anodized because it has to be done in a single batch.

Other than that, still shipping out unengraved Cerakote boards and repainting some of them.

[pixelpusher]

Hey folks, quick update here. We are trying to run 30 engravings this week - it's a bit difficult to set up time with the engraver but we're hoping to get it done this coming Friday so we can get more Cerakote boards done. Anodizing will have to wait until *all* engraving is done for boards to be anodized because it has to be done in a single batch.

Other than that, still shipping out unengraved Cerakote boards and repainting some of them.

thankyee for the updoot

[deskcandy]

 

Here's a picture of a Crimson Red Cerakote keyboard for you guys. Sadly this one has to be repainted because the paint job was a bit too light on the right side and uneven (you can't see in this picture). Notice the machining marks on the inside. We feel good about getting them out on the other surfaces of the keyboard but there was pretty much no way to get them out on the inside of the bottom without ruining all definition (i.e., "sharpness" of the cuts). I think it looks kinda cool actually so you can get a feeling of the "raw" output of the manufacturing process.

[dantambok]

Here's a picture of a Crimson Red Cerakote keyboard for you guys. Sadly this one has to be repainted because the paint job was a bit too light on the right side and uneven (you can't see in this picture). Notice the machining marks on the inside. We feel good about getting them out on the other surfaces of the keyboard but there was pretty much no way to get them out on the inside of the bottom without ruining all definition (i.e., "sharpness" of the cuts). I think it looks kinda cool actually so you can get a feeling of the "raw" output of the manufacturing process.

oh damn is that mine?  )

[deskcandy]

Here's a picture of a Crimson Red Cerakote keyboard for you guys. Sadly this one has to be repainted because the paint job was a bit too light on the right side and uneven (you can't see in this picture). Notice the machining marks on the inside. We feel good about getting them out on the other surfaces of the keyboard but there was pretty much no way to get them out on the inside of the bottom without ruining all definition (i.e., "sharpness" of the cuts). I think it looks kinda cool actually so you can get a feeling of the "raw" output of the manufacturing process.

oh damn is that mine?  )

Yeah it is was but it doesn't pass QA, sorry dude  We will hopefully have it fixed soon though! It looks really great except for the right side's defect.

[Willhurt2008]

Will there be extras available?

[FearsomeCubedWarrior]

~