I'm getting these plates cut from 5052 aluminum that is .063" thick.
These would be cut for switch top removal while plated. I just finished getting my quotes and it looks like for the aluminum plates it would be $15 and for the steel plates it would be $20. I have all 6 designs for the phantom board and am willing to have any of them cut, but would need 10 people interested in the design unless it's the ansi-win plate which I will be getting cut for myself.
A few things I want to mention. OP, you mentioned PCB a few times, and the only TKL PCB we can get are phantoms, which I have no ties to. bphiphany designed it and controls the production of them. Teensy you can just buy on your own.
The plates however, I can help with those. I designed and ran the GB for all universal TKL plates, and all phantom R2 plates.
Cost between raw material is not much (only a few bucks). Majority of the cost in the plate is the laser machine time and programming fees. I had batches of aluminum and stainless steel plates before, and I personally like the steel one better for the weight and rigidity. Quality of the cuts on aluminum is a tad lower because they're more prone to local warping from high temps. Stainless steel is more resistant to temperature warping, so the edges turn out a little sharper and cleaner. As for color, anodizing adds a big chunk to cost and is only available for aluminum. Powder coating is also an option, but costs even more than anodizing, but it can be done for both aluminum or steel.
As for sourcing manufacturers, you'll have to source a company that has a laser cutter with at least 3kw with tolerances of 0.002" or better, otherwise switch and stabilizer holes will be too loose. I sourced about 15 different local places around me, price and quality varies between different companies/machines, so prototype is a must. You might be able to source cheaper places that are further, but shipping these heavy plates around is not cheap (hence why I did everything local, and picked them up myself).
I can help you get these made, or give you contact info for the local company. But just letting you know ahead of time that they do not deal with individuals, and you must send official blueprints (not just a raw DXF file) before they go through quoting process. If you want to do it through my account, then it'll be a few weeks before I have time to run another batch.
I have some left after shipping out the preorders, but there were more people that wanted plates than the numbers of extras I have. Not sure what the fairest way to sell them would be.
I will take two plates if they allow switch top removal.
It appears unfortunate, but the only material I could source at this time was aluminum, I have been assured that steel will be an option in the future however. Production should be complete today though.
I will take two plates if they allow switch top removal.
Now would I make and send him plate drawings that didn't allow for that?
;)
I will take two plates if they allow switch top removal.
Now would I make and send him plate drawings that didn't allow for that?
;)
I would think not but I've seen stranger things.
Now, you don't think I would make associations like that without doing some investigation first? Give me a little more credit than that, bro. :)
People have done stupider things around these parts...
I think there would be a lot of interest if you were able to make the plates that allow solderless switch top removal, I see people looking for those plates all over the place.
Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of updates, been pretty busy with work lately. I had a holdup on the plates from the laser cutting company, they cut half my order out of the wrong thickness and the switches didn't fit so I had to have them remade. I now have them all in hand.
Someone above asked about which plates I had made. What I did was redrew the designs from the phantom PCB group buy page on the deskthority wiki, so they are essentially identical to those. However, jdcarpe has provided some more interesting options for the future so I think I will be leaning that way with my next order.
For those interested in ordering, details will follow tomorrow on contact information and so forth. Thanks for the patience, this hasn't been the easiest process, but I finally have everything polished to the quality I would like and ready to go.
-Tech
P.S. Will attach a photo once I get home!
Picture as promised...Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/uKXUP1I.jpg)
Is there and chance that you will be having any more made?
Definitely interested in 1 or 2 stainless steel ANSI 1.25 TKL plates to put in my Filcos.
Update!
I shipped all 5 plates out today, however, due to the gross incompetence of the US Postal Service's ability to estimate international shipping correctly, for the next batch I will only be shipping within the US unless I'm able to get a USPS account and a printer before the next batch is ready. Tracking numbers will be emailed to those who I've shipped to internationally, for those domestic, please let me know if you haven't received your plate in 7 business days and I will put you on the list to get a free steel one.
Thanks,
Techpriest
I found a design flaw in the plate. The four smaller stabilized keys (LShift, RShift, Backspace, Enter) have clearance issues that prevent switch top removal. If you look on the image below, there is a small corner of the plate sticking out beside the switch that doesn't clear the black plastic leg. The switch top leg on the bottom clears no problem but the top part does not.Show Image(http://imgur.com/nSuY1KJ.jpg)
Sorry about the annoyance, next batch will be using jdcarpes design so that will no longer be an issue. The international ones might take a while, but Spamray did you get yours yet?
Thank you,
Techpriest
Just wanted to post an update, I am still awaiting quotes from a few of my vendors on production so nothing has started yet and I will hopefully have more information next week on a timeline for these. And to those who have received your plates, I would love to see pics of what you've done with them so far.
Also, I have decided that since there seems to be a great deal of need for these in the community and elsewhere I will be continuing production on an ongoing basis and will be putting up a website in the next few months to simplify ordering but will continue posting here as production runs become available. If there is enough demand for other sizes and layouts I would gladly consider producing those as well.
Thanks,
Techpriest
It would be awesome to get some poker plates with the removable switch top cutouts as well as G80-3700 plates.
Yep, Any particular layout you had in mind? I can't see making 7bit at this time, but would really really like to in the future.
And to the other question above, it will require rustproofing, I was planning to test a few different methods to see what worked the best, but my goal will be maximum amount of rust resistance for the greatest period of time. I will update further once I determine exactly what I'm going to use.
Yep, Any particular layout you had in mind? I can't see making 7bit at this time, but would really really like to in the future.
And to the other question above, it will require rustproofing, I was planning to test a few different methods to see what worked the best, but my goal will be maximum amount of rust resistance for the greatest period of time. I will update further once I determine exactly what I'm going to use.
Hehe, they do seem to hate one-offs. But, I will check for you spamray to see if maybe they can throw it in with my next order, it would have to be the same material as the rest of the order probably so would carbon steel work for you?
Thanks,
Techpriest
Yep, Any particular layout you had in mind? I can't see making 7bit at this time, but would really really like to in the future.
And to the other question above, it will require rustproofing, I was planning to test a few different methods to see what worked the best, but my goal will be maximum amount of rust resistance for the greatest period of time. I will update further once I determine exactly what I'm going to use.
Here's my GH60 Rev A prototype:Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/X1vgORA.jpg)
Not a great close up, but the paint looks classy there.
Here's my GH60 Rev A prototype:Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/X1vgORA.jpg)
Not a great close up, but the paint looks classy there.
JD,
Did you paint Dustinhxc's purple Poker plate?
Also man I really want a GH60, but I'm sure I could put it together myself.
Here's my GH60 Rev A prototype:Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/X1vgORA.jpg)
Not a great close up, but the paint looks classy there.
JD,
Did you paint Dustinhxc's purple Poker plate?
Also man I really want a GH60, but I'm sure I could put it together myself.
Yes, I forgot about that. I did paint his purple Poker plate for him. :)
Geniekid,
I'm thinking I am probably going to go with a paint finish on 75% and unfinished on 25% for people that want to do their own.
Can there be universal plates or is that not possible?
Can there be universal plates or is that not possible?
No because universal would require use of PCB mount stabs only and phantom requires plate mount. I know what you mean though, that would be nice
Edit: This is why I would love to see a Phatnom 2 if you will that supports PCB stabs, and a built in controller and backlighting a la GH60 would be nice also. Don't know if anyone with the know-how will ever do it though.
I'm getting these plates cut from 5052 aluminum that is .063" thick.
Is there any way to get steel instead? Aluminium tends to bend in the mail pretty easily, unless you mount it to a hardboard, which raises cost significantly for us all. Steel is an excellent material and you save a lot of money on shipping materials. It's OK if you're set on aluminium though: they make great plates.
Send him a PMOf course. I meant to say something more along the lines of "how does one transfer the moneys".
Paypal usuallySend him a PMOf course. I meant to say something more along the lines of "how does one transfer the moneys".
There are still 10 plates remaining, once these 10 are gone I still plan on doing a run of steel, any thoughts on whether I should do carbon or stainless?I would go with stainless.
There are still 10 plates remaining, once these 10 are gone I still plan on doing a run of steel, any thoughts on whether I should do carbon or stainless?Why do you not do both?
any thoughts on whether I should do carbon or stainless?You know what would be really cool and completely needless? T-1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A514_steel) steel. The shop I work with sometimes, has a part that goes into a grinder, and they dropped a few in the parking lot so now I have a star-trek badge shaped hunk of the stuff.
There are still 10 plates remaining, once these 10 are gone I still plan on doing a run of steel, any thoughts on whether I should do carbon or stainless?Why do you not do both?