[GB] Weight Insert for Octagon V2 - All Orders Shipped

[merlin64]

Can't wait for extras to be available!

Sorry to break it to you, but due to the increased pricing and limited nature of the Octagon V2 keyboard, there won't be any extras unless people choose to sell theirs.

[merlin64]

UPDATE - Looks like I'll be able to pick up the units this coming Saturday!! Hurray.

Here's some pictures of the manufacturing process.

[aaron6301]

UPDATE - Looks like I'll be able to pick up the units this coming Saturday!! Hurray.

Awesome, thanks for the update! Should we expect shipping to start next week?

[merlin64]

That is what I hope to accomplish. Hope all goes smoothly.

I'll be sending out invoices as I weigh the packages.

Keep an eye on the order tracker as it will notify you of when your order gets shipped.

[-musubi]

That is what I hope to accomplish. Hope all goes smoothly.

I'll be sending out invoices as I weigh the packages.

Keep an eye on the order tracker as it will notify you of when your order gets shipped.

Awesome perfect timing to sync up with r3!

[merlin64]

-musubi, heard you were at the meetup, but I didn't get a chance to meet you, or maybe I did. Too many people haha.

Yah I'm still trying to get my Octagon Plate done! Hopefully that will be finished shortly as well.

[chili14]

-musubi, heard you were at the meetup, but I didn't get a chance to meet you, or maybe I did. Too many people haha.

Yah I'm still trying to get my Octagon Plate done! Hopefully that will be finished shortly as well.

Are you still planning on running a GB for the Octagon plate?

[merlin64]

For sure. I just need to actually get a prototype finished and verify that it fits. Once that's done, I'll run another GB. It's going to be small though, I doubt too many people will want to desolder their existing Octagon V2s and risk damaging the PCB just to have this. This will be mainly for the R3 people and those who still haven't built their boards. As it is a small run, I'm expecting it to be fairly pricey.

[-musubi]

-musubi, heard you were at the meetup, but I didn't get a chance to meet you, or maybe I did. Too many people haha.

Yah I'm still trying to get my Octagon Plate done! Hopefully that will be finished shortly as well.

I know shucks I definitely went by too quickly for me to fully utilize the time I was there, hopefully there will be another one in the near future though.

On the talk of the octagon and how it fits, is it necessary to place the weight in before soldering the switches and assembly? Or is it pretty easy to put in the weight without doing any desoldering and just unscrewing the case if it is already built? (Pardon me for the ignorance I'm haven't completely researched how the Octagon is assembled yet, was just going to wing it when I saw the parts in person).

[billhicks]

Based on the pictures on:

http://duck0113.tistory.com/125

It looks like the PCB + plate are attached with screws to the top housing, which would mean it would be easy to switch out the weights, but I am not an expert.

[E3E]

-musubi, heard you were at the meetup, but I didn't get a chance to meet you, or maybe I did. Too many people haha.

Yah I'm still trying to get my Octagon Plate done! Hopefully that will be finished shortly as well.

I know shucks I definitely went by too quickly for me to fully utilize the time I was there, hopefully there will be another one in the near future though.

On the talk of the octagon and how it fits, is it necessary to place the weight in before soldering the switches and assembly? Or is it pretty easy to put in the weight without doing any desoldering and just unscrewing the case if it is already built? (Pardon me for the ignorance I'm haven't completely researched how the Octagon is assembled yet, was just going to wing it when I saw the parts in person).

From what I've seen, it's just like the Orion v2--the relief for the weight is cut into the aluminum bottom, which means that it doesn't matter at all if you've built the board already.

All you have to do is unscrew the bottom from the top (which has the PCB and plate mounting), and put the weight into the bottom relief, and then reassemble. I've done this with my Orion a few times. 

[cirrus82]

For sure. I just need to actually get a prototype finished and verify that it fits. Once that's done, I'll run another GB. It's going to be small though, I doubt too many people will want to desolder their existing Octagon V2s and risk damaging the PCB just to have this. This will be mainly for the R3 people and those who still haven't built their boards. As it is a small run, I'm expecting it to be fairly pricey.

+1 for the plate. I actually got an extra PCB as my Orion came with a bad SMD LED way back when, so I'm actually quite interested in your plate buy too. I keep looking down at mine and notice the PCB peering through the universal cutouts in the plate, and it's surprisingly distracting. I would've never noticed it if you hadn't brought it up (or someone did in the original Octagon thread). Awesome marketing, now I have to have one.

[boo]

+1 for the plate. just  got my R3 octagon yesterday but waiting on this plate and R4 zeals to start the build

[-musubi]

Based on the pictures on:

http://duck0113.tistory.com/125

It looks like the PCB + plate are attached with screws to the top housing, which would mean it would be easy to switch out the weights, but I am not an expert.

-musubi, heard you were at the meetup, but I didn't get a chance to meet you, or maybe I did. Too many people haha.

Yah I'm still trying to get my Octagon Plate done! Hopefully that will be finished shortly as well.

I know shucks I definitely went by too quickly for me to fully utilize the time I was there, hopefully there will be another one in the near future though.

On the talk of the octagon and how it fits, is it necessary to place the weight in before soldering the switches and assembly? Or is it pretty easy to put in the weight without doing any desoldering and just unscrewing the case if it is already built? (Pardon me for the ignorance I'm haven't completely researched how the Octagon is assembled yet, was just going to wing it when I saw the parts in person).

From what I've seen, it's just like the Orion v2--the relief for the weight is cut into the aluminum bottom, which means that it doesn't matter at all if you've built the board already.

All you have to do is unscrew the bottom from the top (which has the PCB and plate mounting), and put the weight into the bottom relief, and then reassemble. I've done this with my Orion a few times. 

Great to hear! I was assuming the pcb/plate and top would be completely detachable from the rest of the body leaving just the insert for the weight in the bottom, glad that this seems to be the case. I get mine today so I'm really excited to get it built asap

[breitling]

Great to hear! I was assuming the pcb/plate and top would be completely detachable from the rest of the body leaving just the insert for the weight in the bottom, glad that this seems to be the case. I get mine today so I'm really excited to get it built asap

You can definitely can put the weight insert after the board has been fully assembled by just removing the base. I think the confusion came in when merlin was talking about the switch top removal plate GB (not insert) and was talking about how people wouldn't want to remove their switches just to install it.

[-musubi]

Great to hear! I was assuming the pcb/plate and top would be completely detachable from the rest of the body leaving just the insert for the weight in the bottom, glad that this seems to be the case. I get mine today so I'm really excited to get it built asap

You can definitely can put the weight insert after the board has been fully assembled by just removing the base. I think the confusion came in when merlin was talking about the switch top removal plate GB (not insert) and was talking about how people wouldn't want to remove their switches just to install it.

Yeah that is exactly what through me off XD makes a lot more sense haha

[Namkhanhv]

Glad to see progresses from the GB. I've just received the kit and switches, just need this one and I can complete my first Korean KB 

[ctrlX]

I have an Octagon from 1st batch and I am still interested in a plate. Just in case I will desolder it in the future.

But is a Orion plate also planned, or just for Octagon?

[merlin64]

UPDATE - Confirmation for pickup tomorrow! I'm somewhat tempted to find a nice leather briefcase, lay out the brass plates in it, and take a photo. To replicate this:



Pretty excited to be picking these up and mailing them out to you all. It's my first GB and I'm quite happy that things are rolling smoothly. I'll be sure to take photos and put them up here.

For those interested in the Octagon V2 plate I've alluded to, I'll make a formal announcement on a different thread when I have the weight inserts in my possession. Do expect it to be pricey as it's going to be a smaller run and not as "easily" manufactured as the weight inserts.

[boo]

+1 for plate 

[gaiden]

UPDATE - Confirmation for pickup tomorrow! I'm somewhat tempted to find a nice leather briefcase, lay out the brass plates in it, and take a photo. To replicate this:

(Attachment Link)

Pretty excited to be picking these up and mailing them out to you all. It's my first GB and I'm quite happy that things are rolling smoothly. I'll be sure to take photos and put them up here.

For those interested in the Octagon V2 plate I've alluded to, I'll make a formal announcement on a different thread when I have the weight inserts in my possession. Do expect it to be pricey as it's going to be a smaller run and not as "easily" manufactured as the weight inserts.

when you say plate maybe expensive could you give a safe guestimate on about how much we are looking at per plate? would there be CF option for it?

[merlin64]

UPDATE - Picked up the units, there is good news and bad news.

Good news first

1. The units look awesome, when holding the stainless steel and the brass the brass is noticeably heavier but not by much. I have pictures!




The stainless steel hasn't been polished, so maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Either way I have until Sunday night to back out or not.

Bad News: I blame a certain someone for congratulating me on a "perfect GB" for jinxing me this morning. LOL. I'm kidding of course.

Issue 1: Stainless Steel units are done, but not polished. Polishing head needs to be replaced as the brass units pretty much wore it out. So polishing of Stainless Steel will begin on Monday with deliver to me next week. My supplier was kind enough to mail it to me for free.

Issue 2: There are a bunch of micro scratches on the brass plates. These scratches are only visible under a certain angle and a certain light, and only if you are looking less than a foot away. I believe they are a cause of the polishing process. The mirror finish I feel accentuated the scratches. Some units are more badly scratched than others, and I can feel the scratch. I will be certainly asking to have those more deeply scratched units redone. I am concurrently writing a complaint as I write this to see what can be done about this issue. 

Does anyone know if this is just what happens when you polish metal and there's no way around it, or did my guy just really mess up??

This is a picture of a unit that is badly scratched

[gaiden]

When I read SS don't have polished surface I was like nooooo. Then whew as I read on. Please remember some ppl can't take such dramatic news kindly this late on a weekend evening XD

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[boo]

I ordered SS and I don't mind the extra wait. Sometimes perfection requires time.

Thanks for the update

[omgar]

UPDATE - Picked up the units, there is good news and bad news.

Good news first

1. The units look awesome, when holding the stainless steel and the brass the brass is noticeably heavier but not by much. I have pictures!

(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)

The stainless steel hasn't been polished, so maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Either way I have until Sunday night to back out or not.

Bad News: I blame a certain someone for congratulating me on a "perfect GB" for jinxing me this morning. LOL. I'm kidding of course.

Issue 1: Stainless Steel units are done, but not polished. Polishing head needs to be replaced as the brass units pretty much wore it out. So polishing of Stainless Steel will begin on Monday with deliver to me next week. My supplier was kind enough to mail it to me for free.

Issue 2: There are a bunch of micro scratches on the brass plates. These scratches are only visible under a certain angle and a certain light, and only if you are looking less than a foot away. I believe they are a cause of the polishing process. The mirror finish I feel accentuated the scratches. Some units are more badly scratched than others, and I can feel the scratch. I will be certainly asking to have those more deeply scratched units redone. I am concurrently writing a complaint as I write this to see what can be done about this issue. 

Does anyone know if this is just what happens when you polish metal and there's no way around it, or did my guy just really mess up??

This is a picture of a unit that is badly scratched

(Attachment Link)

Thanks for the update. I didn't know they would be coming in a mirror finish so I'm totally okay with the scratches.

[billhicks]

Isn't the purpose of polishing to remove scratches? Can you take photos that are in focus please...?

[Spopepro]

Polishing can make scratches more apparent. When really wanting a mirror finish sometimes you have to get half way through sanding and buffing with decreasing grit, notice some deeper scratches are still there, and then start over. The only way to get them out is to take all of the material down to the bottom of where the scratch ends. I will sometimes repeat the process 3-4 times before something is flawlessly shiny. So a really good mirror finish is usually very expensive because of massive labor costs.

As for how they got there, could have been from manufacturing the stock, from the machining process, or contamination on the wheels.

[gaiden]

not sure when there would new photos but i went to circled the suspected 'micro scratches' on each photo to help those who has trouble seeing them. maybe ppl would get a better idea what they look like http://imgur.com/a/hcH0R

[merlin64]

I apologize for the out of focus photos, didn't realize they were that bad until I enlarged it haha. I've already packed them back up @_@. I'll see if I can pull them out again.

Meanwhile, we are working on solutions to the problem. Looking into going down to extra fine 2400 grit sand paper and using a jeweler's rouge. It will take longer to accomplish this so for those who were eagerly awaiting a shipping invoice, I must apologize yet again.

I'll provide an update once we know exactly what needs to be done.

I'm really hoping we don't need to re-run this, I also don't want to be stuck with a bunch of micro scratched plates. I suppose if that ends up being the case, I'll have quite a few extras in brass for those who don't care about scratches.

[aaron6301]

Thanks for the update Merlin. Sans the scratches, they look pretty darn sexy. 

[gaiden]

Hi Merlin, any updates on either type of plates? just wanna keep check once a week i figured. thanks.

[boo]

Any word on SS plates?

[merlin64]

Time for the weekly update! Trying a new way of polishing and will be examining the results this coming Thursday.

If this proves successful, we'll be doing the same process (re-doing or something) on the brass plates. Fingers crossed that this will be it.

[gaiden]

SS plates will be guinea pigs? *gasp* nooooooooooooooooooo   will be eager to hear the results

[merlin64]

UPDATE I regret to inform you all that I unfortunately did not have time to do any work regarding this GB this past weekend, currently waiting to hear back from my manufacturer when we can re-schedule and see how the SS plates turned out.

Actually I lied, I tried to do some polishing on the brass plates of my own, nothing as intense, just cloth rag and fluids. On the sample I tried to work on, if I got it super shiny, the scratches pretty much are invisible unless I look closely at an angle.

Weeks ago I also mentioned about using lacquer if you wanted to prevent your brass units from getting finger prints and oxidizing (it will take years for this to happen). I applied a thin layer to the same unit and it seemed to do the trick. The process is easily reversible using the same polishing compound I used, to polish away the lacquer.

[omgar]

UPDATE I regret to inform you all that I unfortunately did not have time to do any work regarding this GB this past weekend, currently waiting to hear back from my manufacturer when we can re-schedule and see how the SS plates turned out.

Actually I lied, I tried to do some polishing on the brass plates of my own, nothing as intense, just cloth rag and fluids. On the sample I tried to work on, if I got it super shiny, the scratches pretty much are invisible unless I look closely at an angle.

Weeks ago I also mentioned about using lacquer if you wanted to prevent your brass units from getting finger prints and oxidizing (it will take years for this to happen). I applied a thin layer to the same unit and it seemed to do the trick. The process is easily reversible using the same polishing compound I used, to polish away the lacquer.

Thanks for the update. Is it possible to get our units despite the "polish issues". I plan to bead blast mine regardless.

[merlin64]

Well the thing is, I still don't know what the final resolution is yet. I'd hate to get them all re-done and know that I shipped you a sub-par product.

I made a commitment and received money for a mirror finish, until I have that in hand, I don't think I should be shipping any out.

[omgar]

Well the thing is, I still don't know what the final resolution is yet. I'd hate to get them all re-done and know that I shipped you a sub-par product.

I made a commitment and received money for a mirror finish, until I have that in hand, I don't think I should be shipping any out.

Understood. Thanks for doing this!

[airs]

Built my Octagon over the weekend. It feels great already but I am excited to add even more weight to it. Thanks for the update Merlin.

[roostrc0gburn]

Time for the weekly update! Trying a new way of polishing and will be examining the results this coming Thursday.

If this proves successful, we'll be doing the same process (re-doing or something) on the brass plates. Fingers crossed that this will be it.

what was the outcome of this?

[merlin64]

Update - It has been decided that rather than polishing the stainless steel, it would be more cost effective and time efficient to re-order pre-polished stainless steel and re-make the weights. The brass units are simply going to be re-polished. The new material should be arriving sometime this week.

[roostrc0gburn]

Update - It has been decided that rather than polishing the stainless steel, it would be more cost effective and time efficient to re-order pre-polished stainless steel and re-make the weights. The brass units are simply going to be re-polished. The new material should be arriving sometime this week.

what do you mean "pre-polished"? I assume this is means cutting the plates from finished stock. I just ran a GB for stianless steel plates, and i have learned a lot on finished stock and how hard it is to keep pretty through the manufacturing process. there are also lots of different kinds of stock finishes. here are a couple good guides:

http://www.worldstainless.org/Files/issf/non-image-files/PDF/Euro_Inox/Finishes02_EN.pdf
http://www.ssina.com/finishes/sheetsamples.html

it is nearly impossible to achieve a "mirror finish" on any metal without surface treatment after manufacturing. I have found that many of the fabrication shops in the PNW do not do surface treatment. it is labor intensive ($$$) and they typically dont want to be responsible for such craftsmanship.

If you have not had these conversations with the manufacturer, i suggest you nail down your terms. if a true #1 mirror finish is not possible, i think we should adjust our expectations. personally, i expect to do a few hours of polishing by hand anyway.

[boo]

Update - It has been decided that rather than polishing the stainless steel, it would be more cost effective and time efficient to re-order pre-polished stainless steel and re-make the weights. The brass units are simply going to be re-polished. The new material should be arriving sometime this week.

Any way to change the SS weights to Brass?

[merlin64]

@roostrc0gburn: What you have mentioned is perhaps the biggest learning experience for me in this GB. I didn't realize how hard it would be to achieve the unscratched mirror finish I had envisioned in my head. Currently working to get as close to that as possible. To be honest I'm very disappointed it turned out this way.

@boo: You can try asking again after the dust has settled. People may want to do trades.

[breitling]

The challenge on the mirror finish totally understandable to me. I collect a lot of custom knives, and getting a perfect mirror polish on a flat surface can be very difficult, especially with the hardened steels that they use. That's why you almost never see a mirror polish on and production knives.. its always bead/sand blasted, stonewash/tumbled, satin finished or coated. I was optimistic that maybe the brass stock was a very good finish to begin with or maybe because of how soft it is it would be easier but I guess not! Either way, thanks for the hard work, merlin64.

[merlin64]

UPDATE - Alright! Got notice that the stainless steel will be done this week! These are new units, different from the last batch. The materials for these were ordered to be pre-polished, so they should be significantly nicer than the brass units (which still have to be re-polished).

[gaiden]

 

[aaron6301]

Any updates available for the brass weights?

[merlin64]

UPDATE

My manufacturer had a little accident the past week hence he has been taking his time to finish the plates. He's finishing up the steel plates with some hand finishing and should be done later tonight.

The brass plates are still sitting with me, I'll probably make the exchange with him when I pick up the steel plates and send those out first.

[gaiden]

UPDATE

My manufacturer had a little accident the past week hence he has been taking his time to finish the plates. He's finishing up the steel plates with some hand finishing and should be done later tonight.

The brass plates are still sitting with me, I'll probably make the exchange with him when I pick up the steel plates and send those out first.

good to hear about the SS cant wait!