[IC] Olympus: An Isolation Mount 60% with a Left Cluster (Updated 9/20/19)

[Kilgarah]

Hello! I've been working on this project for the past month or so and figured it was time to see what other people think. The board is named after Mount Olympus, a mountain in Utah (also the name of the highest mountain in Greece, atop which the Greek gods were believed to have lived). First off, some renders. I did these myself and I'm not too great at rendering - sorry.


A top-down view that should help make the layout more clear.

And one of the weight.

Details

• Curved bottom a la OTD Koala
• Isolation gasket mount.
• Anodized (maybe cerakoted?) aluminum 6061/3 for the top and bottom pieces.
• Sandblasted brass for the weight and badge. I'm not interested in clear-coating at the moment.
• Brass or Aluminum plate (see below).
• 7 degree angle and ~17.5mm front height.
  
• ATMEGA32u4 based PCB designed by me - compatible with QMK.
• USB-C breakout board designed by me. Right aligned.
• Colors: TBD
• Quantity: TBD
• Price: TBD

Plate
The plate was generated by ai03's plate builder and then modified. It has some acoustic/flex cutouts, but if I'm being honest, I can't tell the difference in feel/sound. If and when this does turn into a group buy, I likely won't be offering anything other than brass or aluminum. In any case, I will be making the plate files open source.

PCB
Not much to say here. It's QMK compatible and only supports MX. No bluetooth, no backlighting. I will be making the files for both the PCB and the breakout open source.

Badge/Weight
Again, not much to say. The badge and the engraving on the weight are the same design. Mountains look triangular and I wanted something minimalist.
Layout
Here's the layout I've been working with:

I am open to a full backspace and a full right shift. I am also open to adding in WK support if that gains some popularity. I am not open to an HHKB layout bottom row. I am willing to add ISO support, but only if there's a decent amount of interest. I'm not going to alter the PCB and plate for just a handful of people.
It's looking like these are the layouts I'll be supporting:

Gaskets
The only gasket material I've played around with in keyboards is PORON. I like how it feels and I'm comfortable with it, so that's probably what I'll be going with. I am exploring other options though.

Finally, and quite importantly: I've been around for a couple of years now, but I have not put forth any public ICs or GBs. The projects I have done have been solely among friends and acquaintances. Thus, on the off chance there's enough interest in this project for it to get into the GB stage, I wouldn't be producing any more than 20 total kits, and maybe not even that many.
Acknowledgements

• Hoffy: Came up with the layout idea and name.
• Nephlock: Let me bug him with questions about how ICs and GBs work.
• ai03: Very useful plate builder and the open source Voyager projects taught me a bit about USB-C design.

FAQ
I've had some responses to the IC form, so I figured I'd clear up some common questions:
Q: WK support? HHKB support? Split space support?
A: Yes, yes, maybe. I've added in HHKB and WK support. Split space support is a little tricky. I'd rather not change the bottom row into a 6.25u one, so if I do end up doing split space it'll have to be something like 2.25u, 2u, 2.75u, which isn't standard. If this is agreeable, I think I can make it happen since it wouldn't require any change to the top case.

Q: Can you do a 65% version?
A: Maybe in the future. Right now I'm sticking with this layout. It's good to know there's some interest for a 65% version though.

Q: Will this be priced similarly to the Polaris?
A: Most likely no. I'm only doing 20 kits, and I want the ones I produce to be as flawless as possible (within reason). I can't really afford to do that at the same price point as Polaris. Sorry.

Q: Would you consider a gasket shim between the plate and the PCB?
A: I'm guessing what's meant here is a compressible gasket that fits between the plate and the PCB a la MKUltra. If that is the intended question, yes! I'd be happy to have some made. I'm curious how it'll change the feeling of the board.

Q: I like dark colors. A color we haven't seen before would be nice.
A: I realize that isn't a question, but it's important to address nonetheless. I don't know what colors I'll be offering just yet. Black and gray have been the most popular in the IC, but I'd like to offer something like a dark red or blue-gray or something like that. I should have a more concrete answer concerning colors soon.

Q: Will there be a polycarb case option?
A: I would definitely like there to be, but I don't have a manufacturer I trust enough to have polycarb cases machined just yet. Hopefully, but no guarantees.

Q: Bluetooth? Underglow?
A: No and no. Bluetooth is tricky to design in a metal case and I don't want to compromise on the design of the case for bluetooth. If I do end up doing a polycarb case, I'd consider doing underglow. Otherwise, it wouldn't really make sense. As it stands, there's not even per-key backlighting, since I'd like to keep the PCB costs and complexity as low as possible and I'm figuring not that many people want per-key backlighting in a borad like this.

Question list updated 9/20/19.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to me on Discord (Kilgarah#4277) or Reddit (/u/Kilgarah). I would strongly prefer one of those instead of a geekhack PM.
Please fill out the interest check form: https://forms.gle/VPQe8GA3syMNW78N8

Update (9/20/19)
Here are some more renders of the final supported layouts (HHKB, WK, WKL - not displayed here, see top of post):




The PCB and plate have been updated as well.
Note: There is a seam between the top and bottom pieces. It doesn't show up on renders, but I can come up with an exploded view to make the assembly more clear. The weight engraving is similarly not rendering correctly. Here's a picture of it not rendered that should help clear up any confusion.

[MatthewPham]

lotta gasket/isolation mount boards lately huh.

[cdhoffmann]

oh baby 

[nephlock]

HELL YE!! pumped!

[Lelantos]

lotta gasket/isolation mount boards lately huh.

What else is there until magnetic levitation mounts?

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

[fcoury]

Have been waiting for this layout for quite a while. Love it. Instabuy for me.

[Rob27shred]

Whew momma! I'd be down for one given my wallet can handle it at the GB time. Really intriguing design that has me torn, but I'd be willing to pay to find out if I'd like it or not. The board itself is just beautiful IMO, the only thing that makes me pause is a traditional 65% FF will fit in the same space. Although with the left cluster all you really lose is the physical arrow cluster, which isn't a huge issue for me. While it has been a long time since something 60% (if you can call this a true 60%?) has really caught my eye like this, I still have my trusty ALPS64 build & ACR60 in my rotation so I have my prefered L bracket (up), semicolon (left), apostrophe (right), forward slash (down) arrow mappings still ingrained in my typing habits!                             

[juliandoucette]

Yup. I like this. Please make it.

[Incarnius26]

Damn I would be all over this if it was a 65%. Still love the aesthetic and design though


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lush_bunny]

As I have my eyes on way too many GBs and spent a good amount of money, I'll just say this board looks gorgeous. Good luck!

[LXVRGS]

i like it i like it a lot

[victorpre]

Love the layout

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Mcnos]

Very nice

[Kilgarah]

Whew momma! I'd be down for one given my wallet can handle it at the GB time. Really intriguing design that has me torn, but I'd be willing to pay to find out if I'd like it or not. The board itself is just beautiful IMO, the only thing that makes me pause is a traditional 65% FF will fit in the same space. Although with the left cluster all you really lose is the physical arrow cluster, which isn't a huge issue for me. While it has been a long time since something 60% (if you can call this a true 60%?) has really caught my eye like this, I still have my trusty ALPS64 build & ACR60 in my rotation so I have my prefered L bracket (up), semicolon (left), apostrophe (right), forward slash (down) arrow mappings still ingrained in my typing habits!                             

Losing the arrow cluster is definitely a drawback to this layout, but I figure it's a good middle ground for people who like the 60% form factor, but could use a few more macro keys. Since it seems like there's some interest for it, I might think about making a 65% version in the future. Thank you for the feedback and I'm glad this caught your eye!

Love the layout

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Have been waiting for this layout for quite a while. Love it. Instabuy for me.

All credit for the layout (and name) goes to cdhoffmann!

[snelltrail]

Wow baby, this is hot! Love the layout, will definitely be keeping my eyes on this one!

[gasp]

Looooooove! Wtb wk support :eyes:

[clik_clak]

I'm with Gasp. WK support please.

[Bawsky]

Nice looking board and I like the cluster. But not in love with the badge/plate emblem. It looks too much like a triforce haha. Maybe offset one of the foreground mountains to make it look staggered?

[Nigolski]

i'm in

[djmantis]

I would like to see a WK version. Would you be open to split-space as well?

[Draxion]

**** this looks sick

[CodeMayhem]

i really like it. one thing thou, i feel like the bezel on the sides is a little too narrow. maybe go with the same spacing as the top and bottom. plus you could then move the badge centered over the cluster. just my two cents.

[PikaJoyce]

i really like it. one thing thou, i feel like the bezel on the sides is a little too narrow. maybe go with the same spacing as the top and bottom. plus you could then move the badge centered over the cluster. just my two cents.

+1

[switchnollie]

lotta gasket/isolation mount boards lately huh.

[irneb]

great layout, nice design. I'm sold

[ninjacore]

This is cool.  Wish you were open to adding hhkb support and don't really understand the reticence to do so.

I prefer the symbol on the weight for the top left corner, also.

[Kilgarah]

Updates

I've looked over the IC responses and added some support for some extra layouts. Here's what I've got now, and it's unlikely to change:



Permalink for the KLE: http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/##@@_x:1.25&a:7%3B&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&_c=%23ff7461&w:2%3B&=&_x:0.25%3B&=&=%3B&@_c=%23cccccc%3B&=&_x:0.25&w:1.5%3B&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&_w:1.5%3B&=%3B&@=&_x:0.25&w:1.75%3B&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&_w:2.25%3B&=%3B&@=&_x:0.25&w:2.25%3B&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&_c=%2362b38d&w:2.75%3B&=&_x:0.25&w:1.75%3B&=&=%3B&@_c=%23cccccc%3B&=&_x:0.25&c=%238090ff&w:1.5%3B&=&=&_w:1.5%3B&=&_c=%23cccccc&w:7%3B&=&_c=%238090ff&w:1.5%3B&=&=&_w:1.5%3B&=%3B&@_y:0.25&x:1.25&w:1.5%3B&=&_x:1&w:1.5%3B&=&_x:7&w:1.5%3B&=&_x:1&w:1.5%3B&=%3B&@_y:0.25&x:2.75%3B&=&_w:1.5%3B&=&_x:7&w:1.5%3B&=&=

I've altered the PCB to support this and come up with a couple new top cases - one HHKB and one WK, in addition to the WKL one. Here's some renders of all of that:






Those renders still use the original WKL only plate, so they look a little strange, but I have an updated plate to support all of the layouts shown above.

Questions

This is cool.  Wish you were open to adding hhkb support and don't really understand the reticence to do so.

I prefer the symbol on the weight for the top left corner, also.

I read this and realized I didn't really have a good reason to not add HHKB support, so now we've got it! The symbol on the weight is the same as the top left corner. For some reason, I can't get the renders to show that. Here's some non-render pictures of the weight.

i really like it. one thing thou, i feel like the bezel on the sides is a little too narrow. maybe go with the same spacing as the top and bottom. plus you could then move the badge centered over the cluster. just my two cents.

Unless more people echo this sentiment, I likely won't change the thickness of the bezel. I like the thinner bezel more than a thicker one.

I would like to see a WK version. Would you be open to split-space as well?

WK version added! Split space seems to have a little bit of interest, and since it wouldn't require adding in any new top cases, I can add support for it as well probably.

Nice looking board and I like the cluster. But not in love with the badge/plate emblem. It looks too much like a triforce haha. Maybe offset one of the foreground mountains to make it look staggered?

I'm definitely open to change when it comes to the badge. I'll try to come up with a few designs and see if we can get a consensus on one.

One last thing: There is a seam between the top and bottom pieces. I can't get this to show up in renders, but it's there. I can put together an exploded view so everyone has a better idea of how this case is put together.

Thanks for the feedback and interest, everyone! I've gotten quite a few responses to the form so I'm going to start getting some quotes and we'll go from there.

[ninjacore]

Thanks for adding HHKB support - really like it

Regarding the weight/badge design, I meant that I'd like to see the original weight symbol on the badge (as opposed to the "2 triangle, 1 diamond" symbol being on both).

[geewiz]

I didn't really have a good reason to not add HHKB support, so now we've got it!

Oh come on man, did you really have to make this kit enticing to me when the Polaris hasn't even shipped? 

[persocom]

The new layouts look great!  Really looking forward to seeing what color options come up and what kind of price point we're looking at per unit.  Very excited

[Adelscott]

Depending on price I may be in if ISO+WK+nice color