[IC] Mercutio - 40% kit - GB dates, vendors, price, and options

[MechWild]

Hi, MechWild here again. We are a 4 person (we’ve grown) keyboard company. Our members include SillyWorld, HuynhCPT, Scouser, and one mystery member we're not revealing just yet. Today we are sharing the Mercutio with you, the lovely people of the mechanical keyboard community.

Discord

MechWild site

IC Form

GB Details

Just throwing up the basic details for now, I'll make it fancy and professional soon.

GB Dates: January 15th - February 6th, 2021
Ship Date: Early April, 2021

Options:
Top & bottom plate colors: Black, white
PCB colors: Black, white, red, blue
Knob colors: Black, brass-tone

Add-ons: Mill max sockets, aluminum cone feet, assembly (limited slots)

Vendors:
MechWild (US based, worldwide shipping)
FFKeebs (EU Proxy)

The Mercutio is a 40% through hole kit with a rotary encoder and OLED display. This will be another FR4 sandwich board similar to the Big Dill Extended. If you’re not familiar, a sandwich board is composed of a top plate, the pcb, and bottom plate. The top and bottom plates are spaced apart using standoffs. The top plate functions as a typical keyboard plate and the switches hold up the pcb. This kit will be sold as a full through hole kit. We previously considered doing a Kailh hotswap version but we have decided against it for this round at least.

Sandwich case:

This our second board and we learned a lot of lessons from the BDE. One of the common points of feedback about the BDE was it didn’t have enough keys and we’re hoping this new, larger 40% board will be more usable. We are also looking at offering more colors. They’re the standard PCB colors (black, white, red, green, yellow, blue) but we would love to hear your preferences. We can’t promise all the colors for the GB sale, but we’ll provide as many as we’re capable of. Maybe we’ll even let you guys mix and match fun color combos.

We chose a 40% because it’s a keyboard size that doesn’t have a whole lot of options out there and what is out there isn’t as readily available as we’d like. Anyone can use a 60% or larger, but once you get down to the 40% boards, it takes a little more effort to get accustomed to the layout. Our main goal is to provide affordable options for less common sizes and layouts of boards so you don’t have to drop mad stacks and wait forever just to try something out.

KLE:

Now, we could have kept it as a simple through hole kit but we wanted to add a little something extra for additional utility. The top right of the board will house an OLED and rotary encoder. Instead of having an acrylic guard going across the entire forehead of the board, the Mercutio’s acrylic guard will meet the plate in a smooth curve right before the OLED.

More

Renders provided by u/Superalex051

Prototype:

OLED Sneak Peek

IC Form again

We got the acrylic to sit as low as possible. There is still a small gap but it's not very noticeable while the board is in use.

Specifications:

• Price: 55 USD
• Dimensions: 260 x 110mm
• Weight: 300g (subject to change slightly)
• Materials: FR4 sandwich case + acrylic guard
• Typing angle: 0°, but we'll be offering aluminum screw on feet

Thank you for taking a look at our next project and we are impatiently awaiting your feedback!

[MechWild]

Reserved. Don't see us needing this space, but just in case.

[JoltFX]

Intrigued


“𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙢.”

[Halcyrin]

Quite interested! Like the look and layout. Thanks for coming up with something nice and also probably much more affordable than other IC/GBs

[Yilk81]

I don't like row stagering much but seeing as 99.9% of the world uses it and there is no way around it I should have one. Hahaha the thing we tell ourselves to get a new board 
Interested in it as it's affordable and different. Keep up the awesome work! Where will it be shipped from when it will eventually hit the market? I'm in europe so I'd love to see more euro boards because of taxes.

[MechWild]

We had a nice surprise soon after posting this thread. The prototypes were delivered 2 days early and one has been assembled, photographed, and added to the original post. Some of the components are a little too tall, but we're working on a few solutions to get the acrylic guard to sit a little lower to resemble the render.

[atlanticise]

This is quite interesting! I like the unique idea, though I would be a lot more interested if it were a 60% or above. GLWIC

[Halcyrin]

Alright, I was on the fence and leaning toward yes already, but the prototype photo convinced me yes. Im looking forward to a GB!

[Flexmaster]

Prototype looks good and the price is great. Any plans for a high profile case?

[KoyBoi]

Awesome idea, very much interested

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[grundlemere]

This is neat! I'm not much of a 40s guy but this one is really appealing.

Can I ask a stupid question? What's the purpose of the through-hole? Just for the drip?

[MechWild]

This is neat! I'm not much of a 40s guy but this one is really appealing.

Can I ask a stupid question? What's the purpose of the through-hole? Just for the drip?

Not a stupid question at all. It puts your skill and effort on display. That makes you want to solder better. And if you're soldering better, you want to show it off.

[Ciel]

This might be the board that makes me finally add a 40% to my collection haha. Can I ask what the keycap set is in the prototype photo?

[JoltFX]

For less than $70 this is awesome! I have a couple <40% boards and excited to add this to the collection


“𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙢.”

[MechWild]

This might be the board that makes me finally add a 40% to my collection haha. Can I ask what the keycap set is in the prototype photo?

They are the Candybar Keycaps sold by TKC. Sherbet alphas with white/grey mods from an epbt set.

[treeleaf64]

What a great keyboard. I like it!

[rpiguy9907]

Could you possibly also support a 1.25u enter? That one extra bit of punctuation that allows for makes the board so much easier to use.

[kiwi03]

Neat! It would be awesome if there is a BT option.

[JoltFX]

Could you possibly also support a 1.25u enter? That one extra bit of punctuation that allows for makes the board so much easier to use.

I second this


“𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙢.”

[Halcyrin]

Could you possibly also support a 1.25u enter? That one extra bit of punctuation that allows for makes the board so much easier to use.

+1

[MechWild]

Could you possibly also support a 1.25u enter? That one extra bit of punctuation that allows for makes the board so much easier to use.

After 24 hours of accepting feedback, that is the most common request. We will be trying our best to support split enter. I can't 100% guarantee it at this point but I will say it is very, very likely to happen.

[nathanchere]

I've never really liked 40% but this does so many things right I don't think I could say no

[MS85]

Gave most of my feedback in the form, but forgot one thing: a case. It would be nice to have. I received my Barleycorn this week and it comes in a very nice semi-hard case. Interesting for a through hole build, in order to protect it, but it is almost a waste for that format, I don't plan to move it so often. On the opposite, it would be interesting for a 40% which is way more portable.

[MechWild]

Gave most of my feedback in the form, but forgot one thing: a case. It would be nice to have. I received my Barleycorn this week and it comes in a very nice semi-hard case. Interesting for a through hole build, in order to protect it, but it is almost a waste for that format, I don't plan to move it so often. On the opposite, it would be interesting for a 40% which is way more portable.

We have been looking at getting carrying cases for future boards, not so much this one. I'll see if I can squeeze in a request for another size.

[tommyamoszhao]

what is the height and weight of this build?

[MechWild]

what is the height and weight of this build?

We don't have a final height yet because we're messing around with different standoffs. The weight will be around 300g but that will probably change slightly as well since we have to make some minor tweaks to the plates.

[ephemeral25]

This might just be my first 40%! Super nice project, nice price 

I would have liked a full 1U top row

[Oggi]

Would be in 100% if you had an EU vendor!

[eltrotro]

Very nice board at a very reasonable price.

Any hope that you will add PCB & Plate support for Alps switches?

[MechWild]

Would be in 100% if you had an EU vendor!

We're looking to get an EU vendor set up in time for this release. We'll update everyone if and when we do secure one.

Very nice board at a very reasonable price.

Any hope that you will add PCB & Plate support for Alps switches?

We've got a whole laundry list of PCB changes to make and Alps support is on it. We'll provide a change log once we achieve a satisfactory design.

[Fe]

Very cute keeb

[piit79]

We're looking to get an EU vendor set up in time for this release. We'll update everyone if and when we do secure one.

DM incoming

[Qwapa]

This doesnt seem like that bad of a board and its only 60.

[Olaipai]

Count me in!

[MechWild]

Hey, everyone, I just updated the OP with some basic Group Buy info. I'll be fleshing it out some more in the next couple days (images, links, etc) so check back every so often.

We'll be running the GB on our site (MechWild) as well as through an EU storefront (FFKeebs) belonging to a good buddy of ours. This will be unlimited with a soft cap. A very soft cap, basically, if the units ordered don't fit into my house.

Thanks again for all your support and we can't wait to get these boards into everyone's hands.

[cptblack]

I can't wait to get this lil guy!  will be my first 40% 

[asimpatikojr]

Does 0305 sockets compatible with mercutio 40?