I wasn't doing anything over Christmas as I really wanted to spend it with family and friends rather than in a workshop.
Just before the holiday though I started working on a new design for the case which is no longer based on Lister's layered case but it's designed from scratch only by looking at the technical drawings of the PCB (Gerber files from ergodox.org).
By default the case won't have the plate and will be slightly cheaper to make (left + right without the plate should cost you 40 which I personally think is a steal) but it will be able to accommodate either aluminium or steel plate if you need one. I will be making polished aluminium plates for 20 a set (10 each) later on. Also once this design is ready (fully tested and optimised) I will start looking for a 3rd party to cut it out of aluminium. If the time allows I will cut another prototype today and this time I'll make photos. You will see for yourself this design is super hot
And the one more thing. I was looking for a black PVC in wholesalers but they don't have it. I found a black plexiglass though which looks super sexy (shiny piano black finish) but it's rather expensive at about 60 for square meter (8mm thick) and they only sell whole plates which are 6 square meters so 360 just to get started... Not sure if I want to invest my time and money into this thing, I think going straight into aluminium and having 2 options (budget white PVC and luxury anodised aluminium) will be better.