Phantom Custom Keyboard Group Buy (CLOSED)

[bpiphany]

Look at that =) Now I almost feel bad for not ordering any plate... Next time I will have a special request though.

Nice cats. The gray one looks like mine, only longer hair.

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[dirge]

nice pic, guess your amp gets a little warm lol

are those headphone amps to the side?

your making me want to get my arcam 9 and poweramp out the loft.  I'd have them close to my pc, but you can't get moved for keyboards and packing materials at the moment...

[mkawa]

oh god, want dem plates! *drool*

[bpiphany]

nice pic, guess your amp gets a little warm lol

are those headphone amps to the side?

At full size you can almost make out the text on them. The one on the bottom is a DAC (later version) and the other one the power supply for it. I've been thinking about getting a power DAC to replace them all and save some desk space and clutter. I don't think my cats would appreciate the idea very much =D

[dirge]

Little surprised you don't have DIY stuff actually

[bpiphany]

Little surprised you don't have DIY stuff actually

Shh, I am going to let you in on a little secret. I don't know anything about electronics... But if I had good instructions, or at lest schematics, for a DIY DAC amplifier I would probably not be able to resist =D

[gimpster]

4 hours?  You need to drive faster!  It should take 3 hours.

Yah, Google Maps frequently lies to me. Keep in mind, I'm about 30-45 minutes further north from you, too.

[dirge]

I get a DIY audio newsletter from some forum, I should introduce you, your wallet and all your spare time

[litster]

Recently I built 2 cMoyBB headphone amp, and just started building an Objective2 headphone amp.  I don't know anything about electronics either.  I follow the parts list to order parts from mouser.com and digikey.com  There are instructions that you are basically putting lego pieces together.  They tie me over until phantom parts are here.  :-)

[WRXChris]

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I have the same NAD amp (except black)! Never buying another consumer grade audio product in my lifetime.

[dirge]

My first headphone amp was a cmoy in an altoids tin, great bit of kit and little risk of electrocution!

I would be tempted by valves, but, i may kill myself.

why are you talking about phantom parts litster?  you've had one the longest!

[litster]

I want to build more phantoms. :-)

[tsangan]

I want to build more phantoms. :-)

What's that lit? You want to build mine too?

[demik]

What's that lit? You want to build mine too?

AND AN MX MINI? OKAY! sending it over right now!!

[alaricljs]

Anyone need a phantom built w/ greens?    Someone cancelled their green board and I was looking forward to that.

[demik]

you can build my mx mini with greens >.<

[alaricljs]

If you want, I'm more than happy to

[Loligagger]

It's definitely probably far too late to ask, but could phantom style plates be made for pokers? There are the plates from the DIY groupbuy, but I don't think they have the slots cut to allow the switch tops to come off or compatibility with both cherry and costar stabilizers.

[alaricljs]

As they say, anything is possible... I don't know if BiNi pulled any favors to get the phantom plates made.  That said, the source file came from the phantom PCB workup made by PrinsValium.  His KB PCB howto contains the stuff needed to work with KiCAD and design a poker PCB, then you can also output the plate design and find a shop that can cut it for you.

[demik]

If you want, I'm more than happy to

just waiting on some stabilizers to come in and yes, i do want!

[dorkvader]

Shh, I am going to let you in on a little secret. I don't know anything about electronics... But if I had good instructions, or at lest schematics, for a DIY DAC amplifier I would probably not be able to resist =D

AMB's Gamma1 is pretty excellent for a DIY DAC, and you can pair it with a mini^3 pretty easily. I have half the parts for two Gamma2's, but I have yet to solder them (It's been over a year)


Bini's picture is excellent. I wish I could own a cat here. Prins's cats are great, too.

I'm so excited this is all coming together!

[Loligagger]

As they say, anything is possible... I don't know if BiNi pulled any favors to get the phantom plates made.  That said, the source file came from the phantom PCB workup made by PrinsValium.  His KB PCB howto contains the stuff needed to work with KiCAD and design a poker PCB, then you can also output the plate design and find a shop that can cut it for you.

I don't have a shop near me that could cut a plate cheaply, unfortunately.

[gimpster]

Recently I built 2 cMoyBB headphone amp, and just started building an Objective2 headphone amp.  I don't know anything about electronics either.  I follow the parts list to order parts from mouser.com and digikey.com  There are instructions that you are basically putting lego pieces together.  They tie me over until phantom parts are here.  :-)

I have your Phantom parts, minus the switches, plus another little present from the Keyboard Fairy. Hit me up if you want to swing by today. And to everyone waiting, these things look really nice. I especially like the "credits" that were silk-screened onto the PCB; really nice touch. Now I need to find a weekend to warm up my soldering iron and start placing diodes...

EDIT: I would've just dropped them by on my way home last night but I didn't get back until 10:30...it was a looong day. At least I got to pick up some cheap Oregon liquor while I was there.

[Djuzuh]

I don't have a shop near me that could cut a plate cheaply, unfortunately.

Any hackerspace with a lazercutter? or a place where you can lend a lazer cutter?

[damorgue]

Still too early to ask for the second group buy?

[Djuzuh]

Still too early to ask for the second group buy?

I'm pretty sure the objective for everybody now is to make another custom keyboard, maybe more maybe less awesome.

Like the light.

[damorgue]

I'm pretty sure the objective for everybody now is to make another custom keyboard, maybe more maybe less awesome.

Like the light.

That ducky dragon looked awesome light-wise. RGB programmable leds would really solve all problems, unless multiple layer pcbs are too expensive and out of the question since there would have to be a sick amount of traces.

[WhiteFireDragon]

So after we get them, are the Teensy controllers preflashed with QWERTY layout? Or how do we go about programming them?

[litster]

The teensy won't be preflashed.  It is very simple to flash it though.  Currently I have the firmware (.hex) built for PHANSI layout.  It takes no time to make the other ANSI and ISO layouts.  It is just a matter of editing a table in the source code and rebuild them.  I can make the .hex files available later.  

Click the link on my signature to go to the Phantom building thread.

[__red__]

I'm pretty sure that a typical hackerspace laser cutter is not going to cut it (pun intended).

I would assume a water cutter would be an absolute minimum for a 0.063" piece of sheet metal.

A laser cutter could cut it out of 1/4 or 3/8 acrylic pretty easily though.

[damorgue]

I'm pretty sure that a typical hackerspace laser cutter is not going to cut it (pun intended).

I would assume a water cutter would be an absolute minimum for a 0.063" piece of sheet metal.

A laser cutter could cut it out of 1/4 or 3/8 acrylic pretty easily though.

Our sub contractors can cut 10mm steel with laser, so if you find any  supplier who have any kind of cnc-laser, they ought to be able to cut it. They have lower limits at 0.5mm since the metal sheet gets blown away. Pretty much the same for waterjets, lower limits but almost no upper limit.

[mkawa]

when treble318 has time he may be able to help cut some plates. i don't want to put words in his mouth, but from previous conversations with him, i believe his shop has an appropriately beefy laser cutter.

[dorkvader]

I'm pretty sure the objective for everybody now is to make another custom keyboard, maybe more maybe less awesome.

Like the light.

ergodox is closer to completion, I think it will be the next.

[__red__]

I promise that's not a typical forty watt laser :-)

[__red__]

Our sub contractors can cut 10mm steel with laser, so if you find any  supplier who have any kind of cnc-laser, they ought to be able to cut it. They have lower limits at 0.5mm since the metal sheet gets blown away. Pretty much the same for waterjets, lower limits but almost no upper limit.

Do we have a name for our sub-contractor for the plates in this project?

I'd love to use them in a related project.

[Loligagger]

when treble318 has time he may be able to help cut some plates. i don't want to put words in his mouth, but from previous conversations with him, i believe his shop has an appropriately beefy laser cutter.

I actually asked treble a while ago about the possibility of making plates. He's quite busy with other projects so I haven't tried asking again yet. Maybe when he has more free time & there's enough demand?

[damorgue]

If you have some drawings, I could ask our suppliers what they would charge for the plates. How many are there?

[Loligagger]

Could probably just start an interest check for them. I don't have/know how to work autocad so someone would need to make the necessary changes to make a poker plate (put screw holes, take off the F keys, etc).

[theta]

Just out of curiosity, how much longer should it take to receive the switches in the US?

[FKSSR]

I'd also like an update on the switches to the US. 2 months ago, someone said that they should be shipping out "soon." Is there any real, solid time frame as to when the switches are received AND then sent out?

[litster]

some switches arrived in at BiNiaRiS' in the states.  They are being sorted and some Phantom orders maybe shipped out this week.  There are two shipments of switches from 7bit to BiNiaRiS that well too large and heavy and had to be repackaged and sent again.  7bit should be doing this this week.  7bit also sent out some switch orders directly to US buyers if the order was large enough.

I still need an update from BiNiaRiS where he is at with his sorting and packing.  Last time he updated me last week, he was almost don't with sorting and packing and was ready to ship out orders that he has all the parts.  Some orders may take long to wait for the additional switches' arrival. 

[dirge]

Have the euro parts been shipped to 7bit yet?

[FKSSR]

Awesome! Thanks for the update!! And thanks for all your work, everyone! I know I sound impatient, but that's just excitement.

[damorgue]

I am still looking for any Phantom parts I can get, just PM me if you have any. Also, I will most likely buy some extra plates since I will probably not find enough. I have already gotten prices on plates in stainless steel, just fyi in case anyone else wants some more plates.

[dirge]

I would like another plate, isowin,  I got an iso1.5 and a ansi1.5 , so interested mate.

[gimpster]

Well, my wife is impatient, and since BiNiaRiS seems to be hand-delivering the key caps to everybody...  She gave the Cherry black switches a try and it turns out she rather likes them, so my work spent desoldering those Wyse boards yesterday was more useful than originally thought. Plus, I got myself a new sculpture.  :lol:



I still don't have a case, but her keyboard is now completely assembled and fully functional. I need a 7x spacebar for her and a proper set of keycaps for the 1.5x mods, but at least it's usable. She wanted both styles of LEDs, so we put blue ones under the keys, Leopold-style, and violet ones in the frame, Filco-style. I couldn't get a good picture of the violet LEDs, but I used these.

[Tarkoon]

Have the euro parts been shipped to 7bit yet?

+1
Are they shipped?

[BiNiaRiS]

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone. I've been doing some stuff on the side and my time to get everything finished has been dwindling. Not to mention some huge bumps on my end.

Everything is in the mail to Europe split into multiple shipments. Customs can be a pain in the ass. At least 2 packages 7bit sent me took slightly over 30 days to arrive.

the rest of your orders are trickling out. there are still a few people who's switches haven't arrived yet. i'll be doing the final count to see who's switches are missing over this weekend.

thanks for being patient everyone, this has been a huge learning experience for all of us. this project was about 10 times bigger than i thought it would be when i initially got into it, but we're almost through.

[digitalleftovers]

Hi Biniaris, just wanted to confirm my change of address that I pm'd you. Thanks for all the hard work!

[telepete]

I know the people involved in this project are doing a fantastic job. I also know that my own custom Phantom is going to be worth the effort/money/wait. + the wait time has proven useful in figuring out how to program the teensy.