[IC] CNC Anodized Aluminum case for CM Novatouch, Rapid-i, and Masterkeys TKL!

[norbauer]

I hope there will be Enigma Black in the future, I am gonna wait for it. Unlike anodized (even if the gray is beautiful), there was something really different from other cases with this color and finish. A vintage style on a modern board.

I'm very keen on it myself and still plan to figure it out. I might just have to get the cases made unfinished and sent to me from China and get the powder finish work done here in the Bay Area in person. When I start the group buy, for those who are set on getting an Enigma Black, I'll ask you to contact me for it as a "special order" and I'll work with that sub-group directly to figure out how we're going to go about getting ours made.  It will definitely take longer than the others, however, and I wouldn't feel comfortable taking money from anyone for a product where I hadn't worked out all the details and have a known ETA.

[norbauer]

Just signed up so I could say I'm excited for this! I've had my novatouch for a little less than a week now and one of my few complaints was how cheap the stock case felt. Glad to have found this before it happened!

Thanks for saying that! It's stuff like this that keeps me going through all the production dilemmas, design tweaks, and prototyping delays.

We're in the home stretch for reals now.

[codywanks]

Show Image

 :eek:

wow, that looks fantastic, the chamfers & seams just look so clean! great job Norbauer!

Improvements in this version

• corner screw holes are moved away from edge to prevent possible denting (as suggested by a member in this thread)
• USB bracket moved away from nearby PCB screw to prevent interference
• flange screws to cinch plate into place securely
• slightly slimmer profile all around
• safer tolerances around the bumpon recesses

And probably some other stuff I forgot. ;)

makes me happy to see all these improvements done  :thumb:

I like that gray with the bronze-ish tint.

the bronze-ish tint seems quite obvious to me. was it just the lighting or something intentional?

[McPwned]

I hope there will be Enigma Black in the future, I am gonna wait for it. Unlike anodized (even if the gray is beautiful), there was something really different from other cases with this color and finish. A vintage style on a modern board.

I'm very keen on it myself and still plan to figure it out. I might just have to get the cases made unfinished and sent to me from China and get the powder finish work done here in the Bay Area in person. When I start the group buy, for those who are set on getting an Enigma Black, I'll ask you to contact me for it as a "special order" and I'll work with that sub-group directly to figure out how we're going to go about getting ours made.  It will definitely take longer than the others, however, and I wouldn't feel comfortable taking money from anyone for a product where I hadn't worked out all the details and have a known ETA.

Looking at the anodized cases, I think I'm going to wait for Enigma Black regardless of its certainty.  I'll be contacting you for the subgroup when the time comes.

[DALExSNAIL]

really hoping this will be happening soon, as it would be a cool project for a novatouch. Will most likely have to find one though since Ive never owned one haha.

[pixelpusher]

really hoping this will be happening soon, as it would be a cool project for a novatouch. Will most likely have to find one though since Ive never owned one haha.

Just my 2cents, but I would look for a used Novatouch and try it out if you can.  I got rid of mine a while back, and it was the first keyboard that I didn't hesitate to sell.  The switches just were not for me.  If you like the feel of membrane, you might like Topre.  If you like normal to medium tension linears (I especially like the way the spring feels mid press; the way it pushes back) or the click of blues/greens, this is not the switch for you.

I'll give topre credit for it's sound when bottoming out, but to me it feels boring.  There's no tactile feedback and nothing mid press.  Not much fun IMO.

If you fall in line with my tastes, I would NOT recommend the Novatouch (insert disclaimer about how everyone has different preferences).  See below:

• Switches I own and like: MX brown, MX blue, MX green, MX black, Gateron black, Matias clicky
• Switches I had but got rid of: Gateron clear, Topre (Novatouch), MX gray

Definitely not hating on the project, by the way.  I plan to put a Masterkeys S or Rapid-i in this baby.

[the_marsbar]

I agree, a NovaTouch is a bit underwhelming when compared to a HHKB Type-S  (which I absolutely love typing on). I'm sure it can be fixed, though, e.g., by silencing the board, and replacing the horrible ABS stock keycaps with PBT keycaps.

[Metaldrake]

I agree, a NovaTouch is a bit underwhelming when compared to a HHKB Type-S  (which I absolutely love typing on). I'm sure it can be fixed, though, e.g., by silencing the board, and replacing the horrible ABS stock keycaps with PBT keycaps.

Agreed, stock Novatouch is very underwhelming compared to my two Realforce boards. Silencing + domeswap + lube + thick PBT keycaps really does help it feel great, and I prefer it over my Realforce boards too. Hopefully this aluminium case will help improve the overall experience even further.

[dead_pixel_design]

I agree, a NovaTouch is a bit underwhelming when compared to a HHKB Type-S  (which I absolutely love typing on). I'm sure it can be fixed, though, e.g., by silencing the board, and replacing the horrible ABS stock keycaps with PBT keycaps.

Agreed, stock Novatouch is very underwhelming compared to my two Realforce boards. Silencing + domeswap + lube + thick PBT keycaps really does help it feel great, and I prefer it over my Realforce boards too. Hopefully this aluminium case will help improve the overall experience even further.

So I was looking to pick up a CM Nova off eBay because I have heard generally really great things about them, love that they are discontinued now, and don't have a good TKL board, but the cost has had me weighing my options, I really love this case project and am interested in getting on board, but would you guys say some of the other boards this case fits would be better or worse than the CM Novatouch?

[Phenix]

Depends IF you like topre topre more than MX

[Vigrith]

So I was looking to pick up a CM Nova off eBay because I have heard generally really great things about them, love that they are discontinued now, and don't have a good TKL board, but the cost has had me weighing my options, I really love this case project and am interested in getting on board, but would you guys say some of the other boards this case fits would be better or worse than the CM Novatouch?

I like the Novatouch. The switches definitely feel different from my HHKB but it's not necessarily worse per se - the stems are instantly compatible with MX keycaps, the layout's great (TKL is about as big as I'll go these days), it's inexpensive... No reason to not buy it while you can if you can afford it, to be perfectly honest. It's a whole lot you're getting for very little money, you can even potentially harvest the stems to mod a HHKB later on if you happen to love topre and want to get a smaller board or something.

On the other hand, the other keyboards this case is compatible with are pretty much your average board, they'll always be around if you do want to get one eventually.

[DALExSNAIL]

really hoping this will be happening soon, as it would be a cool project for a novatouch. Will most likely have to find one though since Ive never owned one haha.

Just my 2cents, but I would look for a used Novatouch and try it out if you can.  I got rid of mine a while back, and it was the first keyboard that I didn't hesitate to sell.  The switches just were not for me.  If you like the feel of membrane, you might like Topre.  If you like normal to medium tension linears (I especially like the way the spring feels mid press; the way it pushes back) or the click of blues/greens, this is not the switch for you.

I'll give topre credit for it's sound when bottoming out, but to me it feels boring.  There's no tactile feedback and nothing mid press.  Not much fun IMO.

If you fall in line with my tastes, I would NOT recommend the Novatouch (insert disclaimer about how everyone has different preferences).  See below:

• Switches I own and like: MX brown, MX blue, MX green, MX black, Gateron black, Matias clicky
• Switches I had but got rid of: Gateron clear, Topre (Novatouch), MX gray

Definitely not hating on the project, by the way.  I plan to put a Masterkeys S or Rapid-i in this baby.

Oh I already know I love topre, I have an hhkb at the moment haha, great I put though!

I meant a novatouch though, I need to find one!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[K]

Ohh this happening soon  been waiting a very long time for this. Defintely in for 1 grey one . And the Novatouch is inferior to most topre stock but silencing it completely changes it imo I pad silenced my novatouch and haven't looked back at my cherry keyboards since so don't give up completely on your Novatouch till you've tried pad silencing or if your too lazy hypersphering it

[ErgoSloth]

Definitely looking forward to this, love the gray one!
As soon as I'll have this and a set of hypersphere rings I'll be set  ...except for the keycaps, that never ends...

[arhetue]

Wow. Looks fantastic. I don't know which one I will end up getting, but i will for sure be getting one of them.... 

[eyedrop]

I started using the Novatouch at work.  This case would be a great compliment.  I cannot wait for this group buy to happen.

Thanks norbauer for organizing this.

[FSund]

I just wanted to chime in with my respect and awe for the work done by norbauer so far.

I'm still a bit on the fence because of the relatively high price, but I'll probably end up getting one when the GB starts.

I actually noticed the other day that the stock case of my Novatouch has started bending/flexing, which has mostly convinced my to get norbauer's alu case.
The effect is subtle, but really obvious when looking down the length of the keyboard. It's hard to capture with a phone camera, but you can kind of see it in the images below:


I would be really interested to see if anyone else has noticed this on their Novatouch. But that is perhaps something for a different thread.

[norbauer]

I'm working on setting up the group buy infrastructure now. How long do you guys think we should leave it open for orders? Is there a common GeekHack convention for this? I was thinking maybe a couple of weeks.

[Vigrith]

Between a couple weeks to a little under a month is the usual I think, guess 2-3 weeks is the sweetspot, I personally think anything under 2 is too short and pushing a month might be too long unless we really need to stretch for the MOQ.

That said, exciting news! I've been busy and haven't kept up with the thread as I should, have you decided how many colours you'll be offering the case in after all? I saw the dark and light greys, is the space white still happening?

[Puddsy]

I'm working on setting up the group buy infrastructure now. How long do you guys think we should leave it open for orders? Is there a common GeekHack convention for this? I was thinking maybe a couple of weeks.

3-6 weeks

you'll only really get orders at the beginning and end of the order period anyway

[evangs]

17 days a good period as you can cover a couple pay periods but still keep it short


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[norbauer]

Between a couple weeks to a little under a month is the usual I think, guess 2-3 weeks is the sweetspot, I personally think anything under 2 is too short and pushing a month might be too long unless we really need to stretch for the MOQ.

That said, exciting news! I've been busy and haven't kept up with the thread as I should, have you decided how many colours you'll be offering the case in after all? I saw the dark and light greys, is the space white still happening?

OK, yeah, I think maybe around 3 weeks seems like a good plan then. Probably a good idea to span a bit more than a two-week period, but I don't want to make us all wait any longer than necessary to get this rolling.

Current planned colors for this group buy: warm gray anodized, black anodized, white powder. I'm trying to cobble together a way to take orders this weekend and hope to have it ready for early next week. :)

[pixelpusher]

Sounds great!  Would you have a photo of a finished white version before the buy closes?

[Vigrith]

OK, yeah, I think maybe around 3 weeks seems like a good plan then. Probably a good idea to span a bit more than a two-week period, but I don't want to make us all wait any longer than necessary to get this rolling.

Current planned colors for this group buy: warm gray anodized, black anodized, white powder. I'm trying to cobble together a way to take orders this weekend and hope to have it ready for early next week.

Yea I feel that'd be the best way to go about it, will you be running the buy through the GB section here or any particular website outside of GH?

Regarding the colours, that's awesome! I'm partial to white always but depending on how the black looks I may be torn, did you receive samples for all three finishes and if so will you be uploading them all to the OP prior to the buy period?

[EugeneYap83]

I would suggest to open the orders from beginning of November and close just before the end of November.
Hopefully we can receive orders by Christmas that way.

[EugeneYap83]

OK, yeah, I think maybe around 3 weeks seems like a good plan then. Probably a good idea to span a bit more than a two-week period, but I don't want to make us all wait any longer than necessary to get this rolling.

Current planned colors for this group buy: warm gray anodized, black anodized, white powder. I'm trying to cobble together a way to take orders this weekend and hope to have it ready for early next week.

Yea I feel that'd be the best way to go about it, will you be running the buy through the GB section here or any particular website outside of GH?

Regarding the colours, that's awesome! I'm partial to white always but depending on how the black looks I may be torn, did you receive samples for all three finishes and if so will you be uploading them all to the OP prior to the buy period?

Yes, I agree, I would recommend MassDrop ideally.
From what I read at reddit, People claimed that GH community has a quite high level bias-ism and arrogance as a result quite a number of keyboard enthusiasts are boycotting it.
MassDrop has more visitors as the site don't really have any bad rep and plus the way MassdDrop manage money/finance gives people a sense of security and trusts. Therefore people are more confident in placing money on it and it would be much easier to reach the quota

[Phenix]

Please no massdrop.
It is a pain (normally)
for anyone outside US (im in Germany, so high shipping + (hopefully no taxes) sum up

[bubbedi]

Please no massdrop.
It is a pain (normally)
for anyone outside US (im in Germany, so high shipping + (hopefully no taxes) sum up

+1

but I understand if you want to go through massdrop

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[EugeneYap83]

Please no massdrop.
It is a pain (normally)
for anyone outside US (im in Germany, so high shipping + (hopefully no taxes) sum up

It's the price to pay for security and reinsurance
 Anyway its just a suggestion. I do agree it can be expensive.
Alternatively there is taobao it would be much more affordable  since its manufacturer in very same country. But I personally think it's not a good idea.

[fine_italian_leather]

He has already said this will not be done using massdrop.

[norbauer]

I'm just working on setting up a simple Shopify store and Stripe payment system. This way you'll be dealing just with me directly, so you know whom to blame if something goes wrong. :) I'm pretty visible on the internet, and I'm organizing this under my own real name (Ryan Norbauer). I've made a decently popular keyset that many GH members have bought in the past (Galaxy Class), so hopefully that will all help people feel more confident than buying something from an anonymous internet stranger.

Rest assured I'll make sure our shipments are fully insured and always take as cautious an approach as I can. I'm the sort of person who frets constantly about worst case scenarios (and how to protect against them), so I'm probably more on top of risk management in this project than most people would even expect me to be. I just want us all to get our cases safe and sound. The biggest unknown for me in terms of delivery timeline is customs clearance—only because I've never had to do it before on a large shipment.

I'm still putting things together but hope to have something up early this week to start taking orders and building our numbers. I don't have any concerns about hitting the factory MOQ if the polling numbers are at all indicative. And, honestly, I don't necessarily want the numbers to be too huge, because I have to pack and ship all these things after they arrive to me in the shipping crate. ;) And the way this shop works, there isn't really a significant price break on volume at these quantities.

[wodan]

You had me at "CNC Anodized Aluminum case"

[arhetue]

So psyched for this. Just lubed, hypersphered, and 55g domeswapped a Novatouch in preparation.

Will you have final pics of the three case colors posted with the order form? On the fence between warm grey and black.... what do you think would look best with a Troubled Minds setup?

[fax668]

On the fence between warm grey and black.... what do you think would look best with a Troubled Minds setup?

No doubt it would look best on a white keyboard:

[pixelpusher]

I'm just working on setting up a simple Shopify store and Stripe payment system. This way you'll be dealing just with me directly, so you know whom to blame if something goes wrong. I'm pretty visible on the internet, and I'm organizing this under my own real name (Ryan Norbauer). I've made a decently popular keyset that many GH members have bought in the past (Galaxy Class), so hopefully that will all help people feel more confident than buying something from an anonymous internet stranger.

Rest assured I'll make sure our shipments are fully insured and always take as cautious an approach as I can. I'm the sort of person who frets constantly about worst case scenarios (and how to protect against them), so I'm probably more on top of risk management in this project than most people would even expect me to be. I just want us all to get our cases safe and sound. The biggest unknown for me in terms of delivery timeline is customs clearance—only because I've never had to do it before on a large shipment.

I'm still putting things together but hope to have something up early this week to start taking orders and building our numbers. I don't have any concerns about hitting the factory MOQ if the polling numbers are at all indicative. And, honestly, I don't necessarily want the numbers to be too huge, because I have to pack and ship all these things after they arrive to me in the shipping crate. And the way this shop works, there isn't really a significant price break on volume at these quantities.

Awaiting the URL to whisk my money away!

[ErgoSloth]

On the fence between warm grey and black.... what do you think would look best with a Troubled Minds setup?

No doubt it would look best on a white keyboard:

Hell yes, especially with the white caps from the Joker set if you have them 

Wish there was something like this for DSA Quartz to help me decide too 

[consolelog]

+1 on some more pics, perhaps a top-down view? Can't seem to decide what will go well with hyperfuse

[arhetue]

Nope. Not for me. Too jarring. Leaning toward gray.

[pixelpusher]

Maybe you've mentioned it already, but what about the fit of a non-"i" version of the cm boards, the cheaper "rapidfire" boards?  Would love to grab a $60 rapidfire with greens and stick it in here.

If that won't work, any idea on the fit of a Phantom PCB?  Maybe you would have to do without a plate though?

[duynguyenle]

Maybe you've mentioned it already, but what about the fit of a non-"i" version of the cm boards, the cheaper "rapidfire" boards?  Would love to grab a $60 rapidfire with greens and stick it in here.

If that won't work, any idea on the fit of a Phantom PCB?  Maybe you would have to do without a plate though?

I believe the QFR is manufactured by a different OEM and will not fit. Luckily for you, I think the TEX case will fit the QFR just fine.

[norbauer]

+1 on some more pics, perhaps a top-down view? Can't seem to decide what will go well with hyperfuse

Good point. I'll work on adding those to the order page.

[norbauer]

Maybe you've mentioned it already, but what about the fit of a non-"i" version of the cm boards, the cheaper "rapidfire" boards?  Would love to grab a $60 rapidfire with greens and stick it in here.

If that won't work, any idea on the fit of a Phantom PCB?  Maybe you would have to do without a plate though?

I believe the QFR is manufactured by a different OEM and will not fit. Luckily for you, I think the TEX case will fit the QFR just fine.

I concur. I haven't had a QFR around for a while, so I can't test it in person, but as I recall, when I first opened the Novatouch I remember thinking it was a new plate/case design (to me, anyway). I'm actually impressed that there is as much commonality among their disparate cases as there is.

If anybody wants to post some pics of the QFR plate, however, I could probably be able to tell immediately. If it looks plausible, I'm happy to order one and test.

[codywanks]

Am considering the idea of doing a typing sound test with Norbauer's prototype case on my Hypersphere'd Novatouch, as I doubt such a video exists at the moment (silenced Novatouch typing vids aren't common to begin with).

It'll take me just a few minutes to set up a videocam over my left shoulder but:
1) The powder coated gray finish on the prototype will not be offered in the groupbuy, so I'm a little concerned that posting a video of it will cause confusion, especially among those who haven't bothered to read though the entire thread
2) I'm using an old Sony HDR-CX100 and I'm not sure how crappy the mic is
3) I'd expect the filesize to be quite substantial, and I do not want to create a YouTube channel just to host it, so I'd probably need some help with this

What do you guys think?

[derzemel]

Am considering the idea of doing a typing sound test with Norbauer's prototype case on my Hypersphere'd Novatouch, as I doubt such a video exists at the moment (silenced Novatouch typing vids aren't common to begin with).

It'll take me just a few minutes to set up a videocam over my left shoulder but:
1) The powder coated gray finish on the prototype will not be offered in the groupbuy, so I'm a little concerned that posting a video of it will cause confusion, especially among those who haven't bothered to read though the entire thread
2) I'm using an old Sony HDR-CX100 and I'm not sure how crappy the mic is
3) I'd expect the filesize to be quite substantial, and I do not want to create a YouTube channel just to host it, so I'd probably need some help with this

What do you guys think?

Say in the video title that gray will not be available. Say it again in the video (text on image for the whole duration of the video). Also in the description.

This way you will hopefully have fewer than 10 people asking where they can buy the gray case

[norbauer]

Am considering the idea of doing a typing sound test with Norbauer's prototype case on my Hypersphere'd Novatouch, as I doubt such a video exists at the moment (silenced Novatouch typing vids aren't common to begin with).

It'll take me just a few minutes to set up a videocam over my left shoulder but:
1) The powder coated gray finish on the prototype will not be offered in the groupbuy, so I'm a little concerned that posting a video of it will cause confusion, especially among those who haven't bothered to read though the entire thread
2) I'm using an old Sony HDR-CX100 and I'm not sure how crappy the mic is
3) I'd expect the filesize to be quite substantial, and I do not want to create a YouTube channel just to host it, so I'd probably need some help with this

What do you guys think?

Say in the video title that gray will not be available. Say it again in the video (text on image for the whole duration of the video). Also in the description.

This way you will hopefully have fewer than 10 people asking where they can buy the gray case

lol. True. But I think from the order page it should be obvious.

codywanks: Thanks for offering to do this! You can put it on Dropbox maybe and share a public link? Or I can give you access to a Dropbox folder on my account.

This reminds me I should maybe do a typing test video of the anodized case. I'm still in the middle of unpacking in my new house and completing some necessary renovations, so I'm a little scattered and slow but I get to everything eventually.

[dead_pixel_design]

Current planned colors for this group buy: warm gray anodized, black anodized, white powder. I'm trying to cobble together a way to take orders this weekend and hope to have it ready for early next week.

I'm trying to find pictures of what the available colors look like on the thread but am not having luck, do you have a picture of what the anodized warm grey, black and the white powder will look like?

[codywanks]

Say in the video title that gray will not be available. Say it again in the video (text on image for the whole duration of the video). Also in the description.

This way you will hopefully have fewer than 10 people asking where they can buy the gray case

^ LOL YES THIS

codywanks: Thanks for offering to do this! You can put it on Dropbox maybe and share a public link? Or I can give you access to a Dropbox folder on my account.

good idea! let me see if I can get my dropbox to work. or I'll shoot you a PM if I need to borrow a folder

This reminds me I should maybe do a typing test video of the anodized case. I'm still in the middle of unpacking in my new house and completing some necessary renovations, so I'm a little scattered and slow but I get to everything eventually.

the one here seemed pretty decent

[norbauer]

This reminds me I should maybe do a typing test video of the anodized case. I'm still in the middle of unpacking in my new house and completing some necessary renovations, so I'm a little scattered and slow but I get to everything eventually.

the one here seemed pretty decent

That is one is actually on a powder coated prototype, but one made at the shop that is actually going to be making the production cases. I'm not saying that the finish will have much effect on the typing experience (surely it won't?), but it is technically a slightly different case.

[norbauer]

Current planned colors for this group buy: warm gray anodized, black anodized, white powder. I'm trying to cobble together a way to take orders this weekend and hope to have it ready for early next week.

I'm trying to find pictures of what the available colors look like on the thread but am not having luck, do you have a picture of what the anodized warm grey, black and the white powder will look like?

I'm working on better pics and the best place to see the final ones will be in the product page I set up, but in the meantime, here is a view link to the Dropbox folder I've been using for holding the images I've posted here.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lun1vfsoi1wf4eu/AABUKriqrtI4f9eP-JICf-Gma?dl=0

Click on the "color comparison" folder at the top to see two images of the two ano colors together.

[dead_pixel_design]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lun1vfsoi1wf4eu/AABUKriqrtI4f9eP-JICf-Gma?dl=0

Click on the "color comparison" folder at the top to see two images of the two ano colors together.

Awesome, exactly what I was hoping to see, thank you!