[IC] JD40 40% boards: metal, plastic, and a celebration of smallfry's life

[mkawa]

Folks,

I've been talking to a number of people who want to come together and celebrate smallfry's life. Yesterday, we bounced the idea of a 110 red on red keyset that harkens to one of his favorite boards. We've been talking about the economics of it, and what we've come up with instead is a group buy of JD40 40% boards. I'll let jdcarpe talk about how he and smallfry worked together on the 40% board idea, but the basic idea for the GB will be pretty simple from a participant's point of view.

We are going to build kits to make JD40 boards. The layout will not be customizable. It will be a basic winkeyless layout with possible one small change for a key that acknowledges and celebrates nathan's profound influence on the board, both the keyboard and the forum.

each kit will come with:

1x titanium switch plate
1x PCB
2x acrylic spacers
1x aluminum bottom plate
1x bumpon kit
1x red on red keyset designed specifically for this board

1x titanium switch plate
1x titanium bottom plate
1x sorbothane spacer gasket
1x PCB
1x bumpon kit
1x fastener set

the smaller size of the keyset will keep keyset costs reasonable. the titanium will be polymer coated for durability, and the aluminum will be either protected or colored via anodization or powder.

any and all money made on this GB over the cost of materials and labor will go towards the nathaniel j walter foundation. assembly services will be available, details TBD.

we miss you nathan.





update: regardless of what goes under the titanium switch plate, the switch plate will NOT have switch-opening notches. If you want switch-opening notches: head here http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58073.msg1333490#msg1333490 to purchase. limited quantity available. Note that proceeds from the notched switch plates will not go to the NJW foundation.

[tjweir]

Great cause, great board and colourway. 

Interested.

[HoffmanMyster]

I am also in for this. 

[yicaoyimu]

Is it possible to get just JD40 kit without caps?

[SpAmRaY]

Any idea on how many will be produced?

[Vibex]

I'm certainly interested.

[CPTBadAss]

Can we get the caps without the board?

[SpAmRaY]

Is it possible to get just JD40 kit without caps?

Can we get the caps without the board?

^^ compromise?

[geniekid]

The layout will not be customizable.

Am I correct in interpreting this as the physical layout not being customizable but the controller (Teensy?) still being fully programmable?  For that matter, do we need to supply our own controller?

[mkawa]

Is it possible to get just JD40 kit without caps?

Can we get the caps without the board?

^^ compromise?

hah! sounds good to me

to simplify things, sets will come with all of the items listed

[mkawa]

The layout will not be customizable.

Am I correct in interpreting this as the physical layout not being customizable but the controller (Teensy?) still being fully programmable?  For that matter, do we need to supply our own controller?

yes, and good question. jd has dealt with pjrc before from the previous GB. since fulfillment will probably just be JD and I, it should be easy to include a teensy with the kit.

as for how many will be made, we have to determine the multiples of units that can be yielded from each piece of material, but we generally want to include everyone who wants one.

[riotonthebay]

Can we get the caps without the board?

Making the caps available on the side would allow us who already have a JD40 to participate, which would be much appreciated. It shouldn't drastically complicate things since caps will already have to be a separate order from PCB's/plates…

[jdcarpe]

Just wanted to add a little note here. SmallFry didn't really design the 40% keyboard with me, but he was very supportive of my design in our personal conversations. It was the first new design of mine to be realized after we lost SmallFry, so I decided I should name the new keyboard after him. Regack was kind enough to include the dedication to SmallFry on the new revision PCBs, but these older revision PCBs won't have that.


We should probably include a Teensy and header pins with each kit, as well as diodes and a few other components that will be needed to build these.

[JPG]

I don't want to derail this topic at all, but anyone know where he found his keyset for the F122?

[Grendel]

Interested !

[jdcarpe]

I don't want to derail this topic at all, but anyone know where he found his keyset for the F122?

He Rit dyed them.

[mkawa]

Can we get the caps without the board?

Making the caps available on the side would allow us who already have a JD40 to participate, which would be much appreciated. It shouldn't drastically complicate things since caps will already have to be a separate order from PCB's/plates…

one of the major problems is that unless there are a lot of takers, we would like to limit the cap set to 40% for pricing reasons

[jdcarpe]

Can we get the caps without the board?

Making the caps available on the side would allow us who already have a JD40 to participate, which would be much appreciated. It shouldn't drastically complicate things since caps will already have to be a separate order from PCB's/plates…

one of the major problems is that unless there are a lot of takers, we would like to limit the cap set to 40% for pricing reasons

He's asking if the 40% keyset can be made available to people separate from the keyboard kit. Because there are a few of these keyboards already in the wild now.

[pexon]

Colour me interested 

[mkawa]

oh, sure.

[CPTBadAss]

Yup, JD and Riot got me covered .

[Melvang]

Is there any sort of a rough ballpark idea on price for these?  I would love to try out a 40%.  It will be one hell of a transition from full sized.

[BlueBär]

I know you sell JD40 kits for 200$, now this even has a titanium plate and a keyset so I suppose the price will be quite high? I am interested in one but I don't know how much I would pay for this

[Melvang]

Thanks bluebar.  Looks like I need to get this bolt modded M of mine sold pretty quickly.

[jdcarpe]

I know you sell JD40 kits for 200$, now this even has a titanium plate and a keyset so I suppose the price will be quite high? I am interested in one but I don't know how much I would pay for this

Well, that is with switches, and assembly labor. And the fact that I order the components in small batches keeps the price high for me.

In some volume order, the PCBs will be cheaper, plates will be cheaper (well, the Ti will be more expensive, but you get what I mean), etc.

[SpAmRaY]

I know you sell JD40 kits for 200$, now this even has a titanium plate and a keyset so I suppose the price will be quite high? I am interested in one but I don't know how much I would pay for this

Well, that is with switches, and assembly labor. And the fact that I order the components in small batches keeps the price high for me.

In some volume order, the PCBs will be cheaper, plates will be cheaper (well, the Ti will be more expensive, but you get what I mean), etc.

Any chance the new 40% PCB will be ready?

[BlueBär]

Well, that is with switches, and assembly labor. And the fact that I order the components in small batches keeps the price high for me.

In some volume order, the PCBs will be cheaper, plates will be cheaper (well, the Ti will be more expensive, but you get what I mean), etc.

With that amount of switches they don't make a big impact though )
Well as I said it depends on the price for me. I like the 40% form factor, it's just cute :3
On the other side I don't know if I could use a 40% as my main keyboard, which is what held me off of buying one.

[mkawa]

we're looking at ti switch plates only. a ton of 40%s can fit on one of these sheets. further, i have been working with my cutter on reducing cutting cost significantly.

[mashby]

I'm 100% in.

[Yslen]

Potentially in. I've been waiting on the development of JD's 40% design and for a kit to become available. What's the layout going to be, exactly? I had some caps already in mind for a 40% but if it's winkeyless they will probably not fit...

EDIT: I've ordered these with the hope I'd be able to use them on a JD40/SmallFry board, at some point.



Also, if this is the first version of the PCB, what's it lacking vs. the revised version that's still in the works? Sorry if this information is already out there somewhere and I've missed it.

[hwood34]

totally in for this. I've been moving down in size since my very first fullsize, so I guess this is the final progression

[Zeal]

Hm, this'll be interesting. I just hope the 40% layout won't mess me up when I type on other keyboards. 

[tbc]

I AM IN

so so freaking in.

titanium. awesome.

40%.  baller.

self assembly.  OH YA.

'skin' case layering.   

led support?

comes with switch tool?

[mkawa]

switch tools would have to be coordinated with the_beast if there are any droppings left that could be used to cut them

[mkawa]

would people prefer a titanium bottom plate or is aluminum fine? the advantage of titanium is: it looks cool and it is a heck of a lot stronger than aluminum sheet.

[mkawa]

also, we can get little aluminum feet made. i don't think this will add much marginal cost to the price, and we have drawings for these already

[AKmalamute]

would people prefer a titanium bottom plate or is aluminum fine?

You might get a larger overall saturation if you offered both: aluminum to the folks whose wallet hasn't recovered from its last hack, and Ti for those in a position to go all the way.

[mkawa]

if we do two materials, the labor cost of cutting is going to double, which will negate any potential cost savings. volume and uniformity is essential to cost cutting

[Vibex]

would people prefer a titanium bottom plate or is aluminum fine? the advantage of titanium is: it looks cool and it is a heck of a lot stronger than aluminum sheet.

I would prefer Titanium personally.

also, we can get little aluminum feet made. i don't think this will add much marginal cost to the price, and we have drawings for these already

And I would love to have feet. Much more important to me then the Titanium bottom plate, though I would still love that.

[Zeal]

How much would Titanium top, bottom & feet cost? 

[Grendel]

I would prefer an Al bottom plate since it's lighter (planning for a board to carry around. Every g counts )

[mkawa]

titanium would be lighter because the aluminum sheet would need to be thicker to get the same rigidity

[mkawa]

How much would Titanium top, bottom & feet cost? 

i don't have access to the thickness of titanium needed to make feet. they would be 6061 alu

cost depends on how we end up building this thing and how many get made.

[Grendel]

Ah, I will change my preference to Ti in that case.

[HoffmanMyster]

Titanium bottom + feet is my vote.

[Melvang]

Ti top, ti bottom, and aluminum feet in brushed.

[minho]

Potentially interested, it looks quite alluring though.

[mkawa]

i think we're going to run a prototype of this with top and bottom titanium (no feet yet -- that will take some time to grab the drawings and gathering quotes)

[dante]

With a layout this small wouldn't a plate be overkill?

[Melvang]

With a layout this small wouldn't a plate be overkill?

No because TITANIUM.