[IC] Invictus - Leaf Spring Gasket 60%

[fropsie]

Invictus by fropsie
IC Form
Renders









Prototype pictures




Sound test

Details

• Quantity - 45 Aluminum - 10 Polycarbonate
• Mounting - Leaf-spring gasket
• Typing angle - 8 degrees
• Front height - 18mm
• PCB - Thin (1mm) h60 from hineybush
• Sale method - Raffle - Date & times are TBD
• Pricing - TBD

Prospective colors(Vote for which options you want on the IC Form)

More

What's in each kit

• Case Top  - Aluminum: Anodized in one of the aforementioned colors - Polycarbonate: TBD
• Case Bottom - Aluminum: Anodized in one of the aforementioned colors - Polycarbonate: TBD
• Half Plate - Aluminum - Anodized black
• Full Plate - Aluminum - Anodized black
• h60 PCB - 1mm thick
• Daughterboard & stabilizer spacers
• 2 sets of soft gasket

Brief write-up

Since my first designs from 2019, such as the Sakura660, my design competence and style have very much changed. From my experience with small private runs and commission projects, I designed a board that culminated the features that I want to see in a board. The Invictus, latin for "Undefeated", is a no frills WKL 60% designed with the primary goal of a balanced but flexible typing experience.
The goal of this IC is to garner interest for this project and to figure out which polycarbonate option, as well as what the third ano option, should be made available for sale/raffle.

Thank you to all who have helped out with the development of this project.

Answers without Questions

• Kitting is final and will not change.
• Additional PCBs & Plates will not be available as add-ons, but plate files will be made available after GB.
• Quantity is not subject to change. What will be available, will be available, that's that.

IC Form - Discord Server - Instagram

[shxWN]

LETS GO FROPSIE POP OFF BROTHER

[yoniwolf1202]

FINALLY! LETS GOOOOOO

[Xemnova]

I already wanted this but you throw on 10 PC boards? Frop what're you doing to me, BIG need

[Zeelobby]

Nice man! Excited for this

[Chippy]

leafspring half plates always seemed odd to me. How does is the feel with halfplate on this?

[fropsie]

leafspring half plates always seemed odd to me. How does is the feel with halfplate on this?

Feels pretty good. Just permits additional flex under the alpha region, so for folks who don't really want a bouncy center, the full plate is a viable option.

[yoniwolf1202]

Answers without Questions

• Kitting is final and will not change.

I would really like the 1.75u Backspace to be added

[darthcapn]

Would love to hear a sound test

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

[noahf]

this looks cool but can we see it in a ortho layout?

[iinko_mk]

i don't think those leaf springs are doing anything lol. The tabs are connected to the main part of the plate by only on connection.

[fropsie]

i don't think those leaf springs are doing anything lol. The tabs are connected to the main part of the plate by only on connection.

The tabs don't completely seat on the gasket, thus allowing for flex via leaf spring. Case was designed so that the plate has no visible contact with the inside walls of the case, hence why it may be perceived that way.

[Ustinj]

i don't think those leaf springs are doing anything lol. The tabs are connected to the main part of the plate by only on connection.

Should work handily, looks to be structured the same as Keycult's plate.

Nice one fropsie!! Looks clean and concise

[Capsy]

Froopsie good.

[kk73715]

i don't think those leaf springs are doing anything lol. The tabs are connected to the main part of the plate by only on connection.

I agree with this completely- this lead spring implementation is not effective. To be fair, there are no standards of what we consider leaf spring to be so OP can call it however they like.

Justin, have you tried the Keycult plate? It is not an effective implementation either. True leaf-spring can be seen here

[Ustinj]

i don't think those leaf springs are doing anything lol. The tabs are connected to the main part of the plate by only on connection.

I agree with this completely- this lead spring implementation is not effective. To be fair, there are no standards of what we consider leaf spring to be so OP can call it however they like.

Justin, have you tried the Keycult plate? It is not an effective implementation either. True leaf-spring can be seen here

I haven't directly handled one from KC. But I'd be inclined to believe this is similarly effective in adding some give to the plate... I avoid using the term leaf-spring now because it's not really a leaf-spring (personally guilty of using the word too). But I have the wilba.tech thermal which uses a similar idea but with much longer arms and I find it to be pretty good in doing what it's supposed to, just adding a lot of length to the connection between the PCB and the case. The thermal also connects to the plate at one point, branches out into two point connection to the case - just these arms are shorter so I don't imagine it would be as lenient as the thermal... I like the word Peac.design used on their PLX IC (kerf cuts) / living hinge.

[Que7797]

Clean and simple, reminds me of Hyphen (in a good way).

Wasnt aware Hiney was doing a thin pcb either. That's super cool!

GLWIC

[$W4GK!NG]

I would love to see a "bounce test" of the board, also I think that the half plate kinda defeats the purpose of the leaf spring and the gasket but if you want to offer then its fine

[fruitykeeb]

Woah! This is legit super cool. The second plate has got to be flexxy flexy

[zoo]

much excite for fropsie-style bezels

[fropsie]

I would love to see a "bounce test" of the board, also I think that the half plate kinda defeats the purpose of the leaf spring and the gasket but if you want to offer then its fine

I can try to get a recording of it done at a later date. In regards to the half plate, although it doesn't add a greatly significant different to the flex, it is still there and noticeable. With that being said, it does also effect the acoustics of the board, with a difference that is by no means nominal.

[dRnRcRr]

Nice

[$W4GK!NG]

I would love to see a "bounce test" of the board, also I think that the half plate kinda defeats the purpose of the leaf spring and the gasket but if you want to offer then its fine

I can try to get a recording of it done at a later date. In regards to the half plate, although it doesn't add a greatly significant different to the flex, it is still there and noticeable. With that being said, it does also effect the acoustics of the board, with a difference that is by no means nominal.

Understandable, will be looking out for the bounce test sir )

[NoxNoxNox]

year of the sixty.

Lets go!

[heyimpanda]

nice, looking forward to losing the raffle

[densus designs]

Unconquerable to death! Hic Vir est plurimus virtus!!

[Zeelobby]

Not sure why there's so many arm chair leaf spring experts in here. Haha. It's def leaf spring, and should add some bounce to the build. The small arms of material should allow for some compression of the plate.

The point of a half plate is usually to emphasize flex cuts in the pcb. If there aren't any then it mostly just means the alphas will now get an fr4 sound signature, unless you go with really thin PCBs (cem3, maybe 1.2) where the less plate material means maybe a little more flex.

You can most definitely have both together. They do different things (flex vs compression/bounce).

[ilikerustoo]

A great addition to the year of the sixties (YotS). The golden age is upon us.

[yoniwolf1202]

Not sure why there's so many arm chair leaf spring experts in here. Haha. It's def leaf spring, and should add some bounce to the build. The small arms of material should allow for some compression of the plate.

The point of a half plate is usually to emphasize flex cuts in the pcb. If there aren't any then it mostly just means the alphas will now get an fr4 sound signature, unless you go with really thin PCBs (cem3, maybe 1.2) where the less plate material means maybe a little more flex.

You can most definitely have both together. They do different things (flex vs compression/bounce).

Yeah, it's using a 1mm pcb so really no need for flex cuts on the pcb from the looks of it.

[singabore]

dookie

[fropsie]

dookie

[ttom]

dookie

Show Image

.no

[yoniwolf1202]

dookie

Show Image

.no

[UGunaLOSE]

Oh? looks nice. Interested in seeing more.

[Friendship]

i don't think those leaf springs are doing anything lol. The tabs are connected to the main part of the plate by only on connection.

I agree with this completely- this lead spring implementation is not effective. To be fair, there are no standards of what we consider leaf spring to be so OP can call it however they like.

Justin, have you tried the Keycult plate? It is not an effective implementation either. True leaf-spring can be seen here

I haven't directly handled one from KC. But I'd be inclined to believe this is similarly effective in adding some give to the plate... I avoid using the term leaf-spring now because it's not really a leaf-spring (personally guilty of using the word too). But I have the wilba.tech thermal which uses a similar idea but with much longer arms and I find it to be pretty good in doing what it's supposed to, just adding a lot of length to the connection between the PCB and the case. The thermal also connects to the plate at one point, branches out into two point connection to the case - just these arms are shorter so I don't imagine it would be as lenient as the thermal... I like the word Peac.design used on their PLX IC (kerf cuts) / living hinge.

Show Image

Weighing in on the leaf spring thing, it does seem that some of these "leaf spring" designs are doing multi fixed point mounting and I agree it may be the designers goal to (try to) accurately dial in the typing feel. Every little detail/characteristic can help in kb typefeel and I feel and this is no exception.

I too agree that leaf spring isn't a good definition for what's been seen in KBs so far because standard leaf springs generally follow a crescent shape with one fixed and one moving point at the spring ends. Living hinge also might not work as (at least in packaging) living hinges are used for rotational movement, not designed to rebound the force applied to it equally, and usually still relying on only 1 fixed point.

Strategic flex cuts/kerf cuts seem to be the best at accurately describing what the design intention is to me at least.

[Will_I_am344]

I am new to IC's but I am wondering about the IC form. I fell in love directly with the Red Tinted polycarbonate option which was shown there. It's honestly my Dream board, I was looking for a board which had the following qualities:

 - 60%
 - Polycarbonate
 - Red Tint
 - Good weight
 - Space between buttons at bottom row, at the exact place where it is on these boards (very important to me)

I am up over the moon over seeing this. I am wondering how can I make sure I will be able to order one? When are they released? Are they available in Europe?

Love your work!

Best Regards

[fropsie]

Update time

For starters, I had inquiries both in PMs as well as on this thread in regards to the flex of the board. As promised, here is a video of the flex test:

Regarding the color poll
As of right now both Grey, as the third aluminum option, and red (188C), as the polycarbonate option, are in the lead. I will leave the form up for a few more days considering how close the options are. Regardless, a red polycarbonate prototype will be ordered in order to provided a sound test with the design using this alternate material, as well as to show off the quality of tinting.

Estimated pricing
We are currently looking at an approximate pricing of $315.00 per kit (excluding shipping, etc.), however this is with an increased quantity from 45 aluminum units and 10 polycarbonate units to 60 aluminum units and 20 polycarbonate units (excluding extras). Although this isn't a significant leap of units provided for the raffle, I have decided to go down this route to ensure that price can be kept down to a reasonable amount.

[Fredington]

Any chance for HHKB?

[fropsie]

Any chance for HHKB?

Not for this design. True HHKB design is in the works and will pop up down the line though 

[Diggidy]

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