[GB] Universal TKL plate (Filco/phantom/CM quickfire compatible)

[WhiteFireDragon]

Ok let me clarify. Anodizing will probably happen, but I'm not sure on anything yet. If there will be anodizing, I'll post up another form, and it'll cost extra to anodize it. The $35 shipped covers only the plate material, the laser guy cutting the plates, and shipping. I don't even have my prototype plate yet so I can't test out the anodizing. There will be a separate form to fill for anodizing AFTER I get all the plates. That's when you can decide for sure if you want it anodized or not. The anodizing option in the current form is only to gauge interest if people want color/hard coat on the plates or just the bare metal.

Again, payment is only for the un-anodized plate, and anodizing will be a separate cost.

[fl0w3n]

Ordered!

Thanks!

[daerid]

Question: Doesn't preventing the switch from latching into the plate compromise the stability that plate mounting switches give you? Or am I missing something?

[gizzard]

Signed up for the buy.  What's the payment PayPal?

[WhiteFireDragon]

Question: Doesn't preventing the switch from latching into the plate compromise the stability that plate mounting switches give you? Or am I missing something?

I'm not sure I fully understand your question. All 4 sides of the switch are held in by the plate. The full top and bottom of the switch is "latched" onto the plate, and the corners of the sides of the switches are also latched onto the plate. You won't be able to move it up or down,  or side to side.

Signed up for the buy.  What's the payment PayPal?

It's in the order form, but I also just PMed it to you just in case.

[fl0w3n]

It's in the order form, but I also just PMed it to you just in case.

Oh, whoops I missed that somehow too...filled out a form but have yet to send payment, I thought you had asked us to wait for some reason. 


So, you don't have these made yet, correct?  You will be having them made at the end of the month, and will ship at that time?  Those of us who opted for possible Anodizing will also be contacted as far as a price, before it's shipped out?

Do I understand that correctly?

[Larken]

can I check how much it would be to ship one or two of these to Singapore?

[TheQsanity]

Tempting.

[Larken]

order put in and paid.

[cgbuen]

Very interested, as we near the deadline. A couple of questions.. do you happen to have a very very general ballpark about the cost of anodizing and the possible end date? I have no clue what to expect out of either and would just like to get some kind of idea about these points..

[WhiteFireDragon]

Very broad range of price, it will be more than $10 but less than $40 for each plate. Professional dye cost more than $10 per color already. I will contact you guys after they're made for anodizing option, but that won't be for another couple weeks. It really depends on Best and the laser cutter guy. I also need a variable power supply, so I'm deciding to build one or buy one. The premade ones in the $100 range are pretty weaksauce. They only provide 3 amps max.

Shipping to Singapore or any other international country is the same as domestic shipping.

[fl0w3n]

Will you alert us as to when you believe they will be ready to go into production so we can pay? 

Can't wait for these to happen

[cgbuen]

I re-read the whole thread, but I wasn't sure if this was answered.. Are the plates going to be different across different boards? If I fill out Quickfire Rapid on the form, would I be able to use it in a Filco?

[WhiteFireDragon]

Will you alert us as to when you believe they will be ready to go into production so we can pay? 

You can start paying right now. Order will actually close soon, and payment deadline is in a little more than a week.

I re-read the whole thread, but I wasn't sure if this was answered.. Are the plates going to be different across different boards? If I fill out Quickfire Rapid on the form, would I be able to use it in a Filco?

It's only 1 plate design that's made to fit various TKL keyboards, not a different design for for each keyboard brand. So yes, you can put CM quickfire in the form but if you decide you want it for a Filco instead, that works too. That question in the form is only so I can see which keyboards generate the most interest for this plate. So far, all orders are for Filco or CM quickfire, except for 1 order.

[cgbuen]

Sweet, thanks for all the info! Signed up and paid.

[NikoGasm]

Put my order in. I plan on paying on Monday.

I'm really excited for this.

[Sifo]

hoping anodizing won't cost too much I've really always wanted a blue plate.

[gameaholic]

Payment sent for 2.  Lemme know about anodizing. 

[nolliepoper]

Completed order form and sent payment

[bw]

Paid.  Hope you can get the anodizing worked out.

[fl0w3n]

You can start paying right now. Order will actually close soon, and payment deadline is in a little more than a week.

If I already submitted the order, and just didn't pay, is it as simple as just sending $35 to your PayPal with my user name noted?  Or should I do it all over again from the Order form?

Also, once you know the price of anodizing...we'd just pay the difference then?

[WhiteFireDragon]

Ok I just received the prototype today. All edges and holes lines up with the case and switches well. The notches holds the switches snug from all 4 sides, while still leaving just enough room on the sides of each switch to open them up without desoldering. Biggest key point is that any type of stabilizer will fit without any compromise to tabs holding the switch or stabilizer. All switches can be removed with the stabilizers sill in without desoldering.

Since this plate allows it, I'm going to have cherry stabilizers on my personal Filco. I think that's pretty unique .


Prototype bare plate



Plate overlay on top of a Filco just to verify all holes and cutout positioning. Haven't gotten the chance to solder switches and PCB on yet.



Here's a set of plate-mounted cherry stabilizer and costar stabilizers on the same plate, along with an empty stabilizer slot



closeup of plate-mounted cherry stabilizer and empty stabilizer slot




Now I just have to mention all the imperfections, which are only minor and doesn't affect the design or function.

There are a few "engraved" type scratches. Also, the slot between the stabilizer and switch are extremely thin so it makes that area look like 4 "pins", so it looks like they got bent during manufacturing. This isn't a problem though, I just bent them back with pliers. They actually HAVE to be bent back so that the cherry stabilizers can fit since everything is so snug.


Throughout the whole top plate, there are marks that looks like tracks. I tried scrubbing this off but it doesn't seem to come off. I might try degreaser to remove these marks.


On the back side, there are some areas that are heavily scratched.


Many of the cutouts has imperfections from the laser cutting. This is to be expected though. The laser cutter guy deburred the main outer edge of the plate, but I didn't expect him to smooth out all the inside cuts as well. A quick file on these inner edges gets rid of all these debris pretty easily. The first 4 pics with stuff installed on it had all the edges cleaned off already.



Overall, I think these scratches could have been avoided if there was more careful handling, but it's not a big problem. Lightly sanding the surface could fix that as well. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the design and how the laser cutting turned out. I'll update the OP with some pics.

You can start paying right now. Order will actually close soon, and payment deadline is in a little more than a week.

If I already submitted the order, and just didn't pay, is it as simple as just sending $35 to your PayPal with my user name noted?  Or should I do it all over again from the Order form?

Also, once you know the price of anodizing...we'd just pay the difference then?

Just send the payment, no need to fill out the form again. Anodizing is separate cost, you pay for that later if you want it done.

[The_Beast]

From the minute or two that I looked at you plate, he should have deburred the bottom of the plate (since the dwg you sent me was showing the top). The marks/track pattern on the top are from the "timer saver", basically a belt felt belt sander/deburrer.

What I did for my stainless plates was mirror the plate so the laser would be cutting the bottom so that the "time saver" would be sanding the top of the plate and giving an even sanded finish to the top, not the bottom. Look at the bottom of the plate to see if it's sanded (I'm pretty sure it was). This mirroring is something you may want to think of before sending me the final dwg.


I also noticed that the legs where the stabilizers go is really thin.

[fl0w3n]

Wow looks great. I'm not afraid of doing some TouchUp to the plate, that's perfectly fine, but if we are getting anodizing then it should be done before that.

I'm thinking maybe getting powder coating instead, but then tolerances will be even tighter

[fl0w3n]

Something else I was thinking about, have you tried throwing caps on everything to make sure it all looks right?  I know you said it was mathematically calculated to be exact...just thought it would be something good to double check before getting them all made. 

[danielucf]

The prototype plate is the same one for CM QFR or is there a slightly different plate for those?

[WhiteFireDragon]

What I did for my stainless plates was mirror the plate so the laser would be cutting the bottom so that the "time saver" would be sanding the top of the plate and giving an even sanded finish to the top, not the bottom. Look at the bottom of the plate to see if it's sanded (I'm pretty sure it was). This mirroring is something you may want to think of before sending me the final dwg.

I also noticed that the legs where the stabilizers go is really thin.

Yes I noticed the bottom was slightly sanded, because it had more of a brushed aluminum finish. It's good that he sanded the bottom, but regardless of which side is sanded, that's only top/bottom surface sanding. The debris and leftover metal shavings can't be removed from the inside cuts unless. This has to be done manually, and I don't expect him to spend 10 minutes for every plate doing this. But ironically, there are more scratches on the sanded side, so it must have happened post-processing. I'll consider having the original DWG file flipped, although I'm going to try experimenting with sandblasting so not sure if flipping it will matter at that point.

Yeah those legs that you're referring to are the the "pins" I was talking about that separates the cherry stabilizers from the switches. They are thin indeed, and I honestly didn't expect them to stay on after the laser cutting, so I'm glad they're actually present after the whole process. But after installing everything, these pins are clamped in between the switch and two stabilizer, so everything is pretty sturdy after installation. The fragility of it might be a problem during the manufacturing step though.

Wow looks great. I'm not afraid of doing some TouchUp to the plate, that's perfectly fine, but if we are getting anodizing then it should be done before that.

I'm thinking maybe getting powder coating instead, but then tolerances will be even tighter

Something else I was thinking about, have you tried throwing caps on everything to make sure it all looks right?  I know you said it was mathematically calculated to be exact...just thought it would be something good to double check before getting them all made.

If it's going to be anodized, I'd have to do all surface touch ups before anodizing, otherwise all the surface marks will be permanently etched into the anodized layer. Blemishes will show up pretty well after anodizing. Powdercoating won't work. It adds a tiny bit of thickness of the surface, so installing the switches might scrape some plastic or rub off the powder coat layer. If it's to be powdercoated, I'd have to make the original cutouts a fraction of a millimeter wider to account for the powdercoat layer.

Yea of course, I'll make sure I physically install everything before sending off the rest of the GB order. I only had about 15 min to play around with it yesterday.

The prototype plate is the same one for CM QFR or is there a slightly different plate for those?

If you looked at a few posts above and in the OP, I mentioned it's only 1 universal plate, so this prototype plate will work with both Filco and CM quickfire TKL. All the different holes you see between the function row and the number row, along with the cutout for the controller is what makes it universal to accommodate standoffs and screws of the different TKL keyboards. I'll physically double check that it works with several keyboards when I have time.

[danielucf]

I have two QFR to test it on if you want to sell me the prototype

[Sifo]

Lookin' good! Can't wait to have this finalized.

[fl0w3n]

Yes that's what I was figuring as far as anodizing, you'd likely have to be doing the touch ups pre-anodizing vs sending it to us, having us touch up, then sending back and anodizing, then sending to us again. 

Also, that's exactly what I meant when I said powder coating would make the tolerances too tight.  However, I figured sanding the inside edges of each hole would fix that (would even look kinda cool if the Aluminum became exposed again) kinda how we'd have to do to fix the burs, but that may be just too tight of a sanding job.  I didn't consider height of the plate. 

[WhiteFireDragon]

I have two QFR to test it on if you want to sell me the prototype

I only have 1 prototype plate. If you take full responsibility of making sure it fits other TKL keyboards, anodizing, and sandblasting, I'll sell it to you 

[tipo33]

is this still open?

[fl0w3n]

Payment just sent, sorry for the delay.  Looking forward very very much so to this.  Basically all of my mods to my Filco are revolving around whenever I receive this plate

Is there any chance you'll do another run of these at a later date? 

[Magna224]

I hope there is another run I completely missed it =(

[WhiteFireDragon]

is this still open?

I hope there is another run I completely missed it =(

Lucky for you guys, I have not submitted the order yet because something came up that delays this GB for a few days. I'll let late orders until I submit the orders to be made.

Is there any chance you'll do another run of these at a later date?

I would already have my own plate by then, so probably won't be interested in running another one. I'll order a few extras though for people that missed it.

[danielucf]

Can you invoice me or do I need to send payment on my own?

[tipo33]

Whew...  just put in an order and paid.

[WhiteFireDragon]

Plate fits everything well. Costar stabilizers are extremely tight because plate thickness is a tad over 0.060". Pictures shows plate-mounted cherry stabilizers though. Don't mind the non-uniform switch colors


Plate with switches, cherry stabilizers, mounted on a CM quickfire PCB.



Everything inside a closed quickfire case.



Same plate inside a closed Filco case.

Can you invoice me or do I need to send payment on my own?

We're all big boys now. You can send payment on your own  . Instructions were in the form and OP.

[durainello]

Very nice.

[Magna224]

Well I need to be sure I have enough money for rent first before I order one. Will it still be open on the 2nd of december?

[danielucf]

Payment sent for two plates.

[cgbuen]

Something just crossed my mind - for the QFR, are the switch tops for Caps Lock/Scroll Lock/Windows Key Lock (the keys that have LEDs) removable without desoldering?

[jdcarpe]

You have to desolder the LED first. Unless you mod the switch housing so it will clear the LED.

[remmeh]

This GB is way closed, right? Or else I'd be in for one...

[hluo87]

can i still get one

[WhiteFireDragon]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been extremely busy had haven't logged in the forum for a couple days. Orders are closed but I ordered a few extras. If you want one, you need to PM me first.

Switches with LEDs needs to be desoldered before removing the switch, but you can mod those switches so that the LEDs can be left on.

[fl0w3n]

Any ETA?

Are these gonna be rolled in with the phantom plate production?

[akuJIWA]

Any ETA?

Are these gonna be rolled in with the phantom plate production?

Sir,

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38623.0

[fl0w3n]

Yes, I've already placed my order there.

My question is, will these be manuf. separate from the phantom plates, or are they on hold till the phantom plate order is ready as well and then everything will be done at once?

[cgbuen]

Curious to hear about an update as well.. I've been itching to put my QFR back together soon, and I'd love to hear more about anodizing as well.