Nkey1 - GH60 keyboard aluminium case - original project

[NUDEcnc]

Hi, guys, I would like to introduce myself and my aspirations! 

My name is Arek, I’m an ex-aerospace engineer with a fairly wide range of experience having worked for several high profile UK engineering firms, on jobs ranging from the automotive to the oil industry.
I have my own youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/NUDEcnc

My ethos is to build, from the ground up, a brand synonymous with quality. 
I originally joined Geekhack back in 2014 to get access to the wealth of knowledge and opinion that we share here. 
Several projects (some of which you may have seen) later, and thanks to our great moderation team I have just been given a ‘Vendor’ status.

Some projects I was involved on this forum:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71985.0
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=65905.0
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=78551.0 - first version only 

I’ve been working on this project for a while and am now looking to canvass the opinion of enthusiasts and experts like yourselves!
So, I’m happy to introduce to you, the most recent and elegant evolution of my aluminium 60% (Poker II, GH60) keyboard CASE.

Ideas behind the project:
1. Case MUST fit standard GH60 / Pocker II plate:


2. Most cases have “sharp” shapes and straight lines. I wanted to create a keyboard that would break with this trend and implement smooth transitions, soft edges for both visual effects and comfort of use,


3. Low profile – I wanted to make it as low as possible


4. Main case chassis as one block


4. Case chassis is mounted to key plate (not PCB) for minimal key flexion
https://youtu.be/rNwgkppqd4E

5. I have used only high-quality materials like aluminium and carbon fibre, stainless steel


6. Stepless tilt angle adjustment

7. Implemented “Negative slope keyboard support “ concept
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ahtutorials/typingposture.html




I wanted to share this project with you and gain your opinion. Please, let me know ALL YOUR THOUGHTS! I would like to know what do you love, like, and hate about it, please advice what can I improve. Would you be interested in buying one?

and of course,
Happy New Year to you all !!!

[NUDEcnc]

*/

[menuhin]

These are all legit features that not many have implemented in their design, e.g. plate mounting to case chassis, stepless tilt adjustment with negative tilt supported.

Do you have access to your own CNC milling machine?
How much have you spent on just this case + plate project?

Step adjustment implementation is usually faster to change and more precise. Can the tilt be quickly adjusted or that changing it can be quite tedious?

The only one thing I wish is that it is a high profile case (high enough to hide the switches), but I am definitely interested to see if it is possible to have it turn into a group buy in the future.

[xondat]

I'd love to see the mounting demonstrated better. Looks aren't for me, but the negative tilt/feet concept is a cool feature.

[kurplop]

Unusual choice of streamlined design with a classic cyma reversa side detail adds up to a hard to classify but clean, striking look. I really like the color combination and finish.

If I weren't an ergo-board guy, I'd be interested in it. In other words, I think you've got a winner.

[derezzed]

I had dismissed this as just another 60% board with some aesthetic flourishes, until I saw the negative slope feature and the case-mounted plate.   I'm a huge fan of both of those features.  How much height do the legs add to the case?  Could the case accept any 60% plate that has "universal" arrangement of screw holes?

[FoxWolf1]

FYI "nkey" is the Korean company SkyDigital's name for their keyboard line. Might get a little confusing...

[suicidal_orange]

It's been a while since you posted, good to see you've been involved behind the scenes

I really like the curves with contrasting anodising on this, don't suppose you've mastered orange?  A matching numberpad would be great too.

The only thing I'm not keen on is the notch which is visible when the board is angled - could there be an option for standard or negative tilt so there isn't one?

Another thought was a case mounted plate would be ideal for handwiring but with those dipswitches poking through the bottom it looks like there isn't much room for a controller - can you confirm?  I guess it would work if the bottom was removed...

Finally it looks like the USB port is quite recessed, does this stop a straight cable hitting the desk with negative tilt?  If not have you tested right angled connectors/adaptors?

Actually one more question - does the case hold the plate round the edges or does it use the screw holes?  I'm thinking non-standard layout compatibility where the screw holes wouldn't be available...

[NUDEcnc]

These are all legit features that not many have implemented in their design, e.g. plate mounting to case chassis, stepless tilt adjustment with negative tilt supported.

Do you have access to your own CNC milling machine?
How much have you spent on just this case + plate project?

Yes I do have my own CNC machine, and I'm CAD/CAM programmer, so real cost was just my time.
You can see me here  https://www.youtube.com/user/NUDEcnc

Step adjustment implementation is usually faster to change and more precise. Can the tilt be quickly adjusted or that changing it can be quite tedious?

To adjust tilt you have to use 2 carbon fibre tubes as spacers. By modifying height of this tubes, you change keyboard tilt.
If I will be selling this design, I will add different height sets of tubes. Maybe I should  call it semi-stepless tilt adjustment, as you have step adjustment or fine tune by simple modification. Opinion please on this subject

The only one thing I wish is that it is a high profile case (high enough to hide the switches), but I am definitely interested to see if it is possible to have it turn into a group buy in the future.

The idea was to make low profile case. This time 

I'd love to see the mounting demonstrated better. Looks aren't for me, but the negative tilt/feet concept is a cool feature.

I will add more pictures soon.

Unusual choice of streamlined design with a classic cyma reversa side detail adds up to a hard to classify but clean, striking look. I really like the color combination and finish.

"cyma reversa" - I had no idea what I was doing

If I weren't an ergo-board guy, I'd be interested in it. In other words, I think you've got a winner.

Thank you

I had dismissed this as just another 60% board with some aesthetic flourishes, until I saw the negative slope feature and the case-mounted plate.   I'm a huge fan of both of those features.  How much height do the legs add to the case?  Could the case accept any 60% plate that has "universal" arrangement of screw holes?

The case design does not use plate mounting holes. The plate is attached to case bay the edges
I will post more pictures.

FYI "nkey" is the Korean company SkyDigital's name for their keyboard line. Might get a little confusing...

Thank You. I did call this case "Nkey1" but it can be confused.

[DALExSNAIL]

Watching this for sure.

Im liking the design and the extra features on this thing!

[NUDEcnc]

It's been a while since you posted, good to see you've been involved behind the scenes

I really like the curves with contrasting anodising on this, don't suppose you've mastered orange?  A matching numberpad would be great too.

Great idea Which PCB can you recommend for the numberpad?

The only thing I'm not keen on is the notch which is visible when the board is angled - could there be an option for standard or negative tilt so there isn't one?

Yes I have similar impression   I think that 2 options would be easy to offer.

Another thought was a case mounted plate would be ideal for handwiting but with those dip-switches poking through the bottom it looks like there isn't much room for a controller - can you confirm?  I guess it would work if the bottom was removed...

Again can you point pcb which could be used in this option? I can make option for bottom cover with cutout option if needed.

Finally it looks like the USB port is quite recessed, does this stop a straight cable hitting the desk with negative tilt?  If not have you tested right angled connectors/adaptors?

I have to check that 

Actually one more question - does the case hold the plate round the edges or does it use the screw holes?  I'm thinking non-standard layout compatibility where the screw holes wouldn't be available...

I hope this pictures give you an answer.




PCB is only connected to switches.

[suicidal_orange]

It's been a while since you posted, good to see you've been involved behind the scenes

I really like the curves with contrasting anodising on this, don't suppose you've mastered orange?  A matching numberpad would be great too.

Great idea Which PCB can you recommend for the numberpad?

There isn't a standard that I know of... If regack's 4x5 GHPad looks like the below that would work?  Hopefully you can open gerbers...

More

The only thing I'm not keen on is the notch which is visible when the board is angled - could there be an option for standard or negative tilt so there isn't one?

Yes I have similar impression   I think that 2 options would be easy to offer.

Good answer

Another thought was a case mounted plate would be ideal for handwiring but with those dip-switches poking through the bottom it looks like there isn't much room for a controller - can you confirm?  I guess it would work if the bottom was removed...

Again can you point pcb which could be used in this option? I can make option for bottom cover with cutout option if needed.

Great place for a typo!  Handwiring would be just soldering wire and diodes without a PCB so there would have to be a Teensy or similar in there somewhere.  Your pics definitely look too slim for this unless the Teensy went under the spacebar, so will have to be an all out build with a custom PCB if it's to house a strange layout with a split spacebar as I was thinkng.  The case deserves it anyway!


You neglected the most important question though - is orange an option? )

[jal]

I like the board. It is pretty, and I find the design elements refreshing - nice to see something other than a block with fillets. The negative tilt thing is interesting; I'm going to have to read up on that. My wrists are screaming while thinking about it, so I'm clearly missing something.

I'm working on two semi-related designs myself - one a sort of organic, weird thing I doubt anyone but me would want, and one taking some inspiration from turn of the century machinery. (That I doubt many keyboard enthusiast-types will want.) More work is postponed at the moment while I decide on/purchase a milling machine. The one I've been using for prototyping is shared and rather sloppy, especially on the Z, and I haven't been able to compensate for that reliably. (That's only partly a transparent excuse; there are other things I want to do that I can't do on the shared mill. But more generally, I crossed whatever the line is, and this is no longer just a hobby.)

Anyway, nothing useful as to specifics to add at the moment, but I'm interested in how this goes. Nicely done!

[NUDEcnc]

You neglected the most important question though - is orange an option? )

Orange   Why orange?
 Yes I can offer colour named "KTM orange"  (KTM - motorbike manufacture).

weird thing I doubt anyone but me would want

One thing what I learned on this forum is that you probably wrooooooooooooooooooong 
If you need help with your project, maybe I could help. 

[NUDEcnc]

What you think about finish coating like:
silver or gold?

This is frame which is silver plated.



Is it good idea? Would you be intrtested in something like that.
What about logo-  with or without it?

Also I'd like invite everybody to vote for Keyboard of the Month
  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=86846.0 - it is very important to me and probably  others in competition.
Voting like that will give me honest opinion if this what I'm doing is interesting for you.

Regards Arek

[jal]

weird thing I doubt anyone but me would want

One thing what I learned on this forum is that you probably wrooooooooooooooooooong 
If you need help with your project, maybe I could help.

I appreciate the offer! Given how much I have to learn, you may come to regret it.

I didn't expect to buy one so soon, but got a deal, so I went for it. Most of it has arrived; the table gets here Monday. So first order of business is figuring out all the setup, tramming, maintenance, etc. I never learned at the shop. It is used, and the prior owner made a lot of modifications, so I'm probably looking forward to a month of "maybe if I replace that cable... why the hell did he do *that*?... forgot to order a <whatever>... why did I ever decide to do this..."

[suicidal_orange]

Is that silver so shiny it's reflecting something blue?  Looks great with the contrasting logo but if it's all shiny I'm not sure how it would look when looking down at it (in use) rather than looking across it like in the pic.  If it's shiny would palm prints be an issue?  Plus if it's real silver some people's skin chemistry makes it tarnish really fast and silver is not very hard.  All that said, I really like silver )  Gold might be a step too far in terms of cost but it does overcome the skin chemistry and softness.

The logo itself is nice and subtle. I think it would look good as a shiny contrast logo on the original gunmetal one?

On the subject of seeing if people are interested in this you would get way more traffic in Interest checks, this sub is the best on the site but people don't really look in here for stuff to buy.  Keyboard of the month is tragically under-viewed too...