[IC] Hubble Mira Custom TKL (GB is 3... 2... 1... launched!)

[Sygaldry]

MINT

[Rodgaroon]

My birthday is coming up in a week so I know what I will be buying for myself. I'm going need the assembly option so I hope this doesn't break the bank.

[joey]

Is there a white case/white plate render? 

[Zeal]

Is there a white case/white plate render? 

It's not possible to anodize white, so that's why there's never been a white anodized case.

[Puddsy]

full disclosure: too lazy to read entire thread

few questions

price?

gold colorway?

when?

if it's soon i might be able to pass it off to my parents as a birthday present

[HTN47]

full disclosure: too lazy to read entire thread

few questions

price?

gold colorway?

when?

if it's soon i might be able to pass it off to my parents as a birthday present

I think the goal is to have it be less than the Orion v2, which is $400, so basically less than $400... If possible? And it's probably happening around summer ^_^

[Puddsy]

well, that would mean selling half my collection...

might be worth it...

[joey]

Is there a white case/white plate render? 

It's not possible to anodize white, so that's why there's never been a white anodized case.

Can't you just render one for funsies?

[Puddsy]

for the record, i'd buy a white acrylic version

[HTN47]

well, that would mean selling half my collection...

might be worth it...

I think it's worth it ^_^
It's better to have 1 nice but expensive board that you enjoy and love rather than a bunch of affordable boards that you like but don't LOVE!

[theanyday]

Would love to get in on this especially if there is a NASA blue type color. Huge space fan here and am trying to throw my money at you right now. As I'm fairly new to the site aside from lurking a bit is there some sort of mailing list that I can be added to about this?

[sethk_]

I don't know what colorway I would go with. I do want to go with a color that is very versatile, but on the other hand, it would look badass if I got a blue case and made the Mira logo light up with red LEDs

[DrHubblePhD]

Would love to get in on this especially if there is a NASA blue type color. Huge space fan here and am trying to throw my money at you right now. As I'm fairly new to the site aside from lurking a bit is there some sort of mailing list that I can be added to about this?

Great to hear there are some more space nerds on GH! No mailing list, but I will post and significant updates or new photos in the first comment under the OP. 

[DrHubblePhD]

full disclosure: too lazy to read entire thread

few questions

price?

gold colorway?

when?

if it's soon i might be able to pass it off to my parents as a birthday present

I would suggest reading OP, TS  ) 

price: undisclosed, waiting on estimates

colors: were mostly just playing for now until we know our options. I have expressed that a hard anodizing option will likely be avalible along with one or two more "exotic colors'"

time: no time scale yet. Shipping some time in summer is a safe bet though.

[Pemdas]

Oh man a little late to the party but this is a freakin beautiful keyboard. Now I might have to seriously reconsider getting the lightsaver.......

[radio_killah]

Would love to have a nasa blue color with the red accents for the designs on front and back.

[pr0ximity]

Premium CNC milled logo insert would be baller as hell.

CNC milled out of what? A different kind of metal?

CNC machines are so precise and so repeatable that "wiggle" would be a non-issue. In fact, the acrylic insert is likely going to be CNC-machined to fit the cutout.

No, just out of ALU 6061 or whatever. I mean steel would be cool to go along with the rear weight, but it would probably look sweet to have a grey/silver case with NASA blue anodized aluminum insert. I think it would look much nicer than having an acrylic logo in the middle of a full aluminum+steel board, but I've also never really been a fan of lighted acrylic.

Unfortunately I don't think one of these is in the cards for me right now as I blew my keyboard budget a bit prematurely  )  Still fun to think of possibilities.

[slaction]

The renders look amazing!

[Velendil]

Count me in!

[KnivesM]

Premium CNC milled logo insert would be baller as hell.

CNC milled out of what? A different kind of metal?

CNC machines are so precise and so repeatable that "wiggle" would be a non-issue. In fact, the acrylic insert is likely going to be CNC-machined to fit the cutout.

No, just out of ALU 6061 or whatever. I mean steel would be cool to go along with the rear weight, but it would probably look sweet to have a grey/silver case with NASA blue anodized aluminum insert. I think it would look much nicer than having an acrylic logo in the middle of a full aluminum+steel board, but I've also never really been a fan of lighted acrylic.

Unfortunately I don't think one of these is in the cards for me right now as I blew my keyboard budget a bit prematurely  )  Still fun to think of possibilities.

Oooh yes having a 2nd color milled insert instead of acrylic would be awesome!

[techmattr]

Played around with some colour options last night.

Graphite/Dark Gray:

More

Show Image

Mint or Cyan?

More

Show Image

Attempt at replicating TA Mod colour (This one ran overnight for 500+ passes, some colour bleed on the plate as the original render turned out too dark, so I tried to fix it up in PS )

More

Show Image

All three of these look amazing.

[ccarlitos2]

The Graphite one is awesome! I really want it.

[Data]

Man, you gotta stop teasing with these badass renders.   

[monotagary]

I literally had a dream about owning this keyboard.

Silver housing, GMK Cyrillic, Red LEDs... It was so beautiful.

Glorious cosmonaut keyboard will be mine.

[Fire Brand]

Looking really nice all these renders, I would be sad now if you went live and by the time I woke up they where gone :X 1+ For NASA Blue though looks like it would be a real nice colour o:

[Cottonsox]

Looking really nice all these renders, I would be sad now if you went live and by the time I woke up they where gone :X 1+ For NASA Blue though looks like it would be a real nice colour o:

Yeah i would be sad also, i think DrHubble mentioned that the date of the GB opening will be posted somewhere in advance, i really hope the time is also. I know i will probably camp it as hard as people camped the redlenac thread that day. Missing out would likely make me cry

[rpeterclark]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

[HPE1000]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

[rpeterclark]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Is that the reason? Is 100 orders massive? I'm not disputing that it's a lot if work and financial investment from everyone involved. I just think that with the interest shown, people would gladly pony up the cash to support a larger buy if that was the limiting factor, rather than missing out entirely.

[sethk_]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Is that the reason? Is 100 orders massive? I'm not disputing that it's a lot if work and financial investment from everyone involved. I just think that with the interest shown, people would gladly pony up the cash to support a larger buy if that was the limiting factor, rather than missing out entirely.

Its the amount of work between soldering, sourcing parts, and managing all of the components.

[Cottonsox]

Interest does not always directly relate to actual participation in a GB, I know there is alot of interest. But, i know there has been things i have seen that at the time i was 100% sure i was getting in on, and for whatever reason financial, the next gb looked better. I did not participate. There may not even be 100 units ordered.

Having said that OMG I AM 100% IN TAKE MY MONEY NOW!

[DrHubblePhD]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Is that the reason? Is 100 orders massive? I'm not disputing that it's a lot if work and financial investment from everyone involved. I just think that with the interest shown, people would gladly pony up the cash to support a larger buy if that was the limiting factor, rather than missing out entirely.

At the potential cost of each keyboard, the buy will already be potentially worth a great deal of money. I have liability for all the parts and I don't feel comfortable running a buy that could potentially overwhelm me. Moreover the exclusivity of the buy will add to the resale value of each board, something that is important when you consider the investment participants in this buy will be making.

I promise that if you want a board, and are willing to camp out the group buy thread, you will get one. I cannot promise that someone who stumbles in a week after the thread launches will have the same luxury.

[DrHubblePhD]

If all goes well, I have another design, something smaller, more affordable that will be open to everyone.

[sethk_]

If all goes well, I have another design, something smaller, more affordable that will be open to everyone.

A 60% would be cool to have, especially if it follows the same general design

[DrHubblePhD]

If all goes well, I have another design, something smaller, more affordable that will be open to everyone.

A 60% would be cool to have, especially if it follows the same general design

Not 60% but be patient, it will surely apear in my signature at some point 

[rpeterclark]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Is that the reason? Is 100 orders massive? I'm not disputing that it's a lot if work and financial investment from everyone involved. I just think that with the interest shown, people would gladly pony up the cash to support a larger buy if that was the limiting factor, rather than missing out entirely.

At the potential cost of each keyboard, the buy will already be potentially worth a great deal of money. I have liability for all the parts and I don't feel comfortable running a buy that could potentially overwhelm me. Moreover the exclusivity of the buy will add to the resale value of each board, something that is important when you consider the investment participants in this buy will be making.

I promise that if you want a board, and are willing to camp out the group buy thread, you will get one. I cannot promise that someone who stumbles in a week after the thread launches will have the same luxury.

Great, thanks for the direct explanation. I will be camping.  :-)

[radio_killah]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Is that the reason? Is 100 orders massive? I'm not disputing that it's a lot if work and financial investment from everyone involved. I just think that with the interest shown, people would gladly pony up the cash to support a larger buy if that was the limiting factor, rather than missing out entirely.

At the potential cost of each keyboard, the buy will already be potentially worth a great deal of money. I have liability for all the parts and I don't feel comfortable running a buy that could potentially overwhelm me. Moreover the exclusivity of the buy will add to the resale value of each board, something that is important when you consider the investment participants in this buy will be making.

I promise that if you want a board, and are willing to camp out the group buy thread, you will get one. I cannot promise that someone who stumbles in a week after the thread launches will have the same luxury.

Well count me in as camping out.

[jonathanyu]

Unless the price is prohibitive, it sure looks like interest exceeds 100 units. I don't think there's any benefit to the community in arbitrarily limiting the run. Is it just to drive up the hype and exclusivity? I hope that if it comes to it, that they will just make a larger order.

You realize how difficult it would be to run such a massive groupbuy, right? Even 100 keyboards seems pretty difficult to handle. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Is that the reason? Is 100 orders massive? I'm not disputing that it's a lot if work and financial investment from everyone involved. I just think that with the interest shown, people would gladly pony up the cash to support a larger buy if that was the limiting factor, rather than missing out entirely.

At the potential cost of each keyboard, the buy will already be potentially worth a great deal of money. I have liability for all the parts and I don't feel comfortable running a buy that could potentially overwhelm me. Moreover the exclusivity of the buy will add to the resale value of each board, something that is important when you consider the investment participants in this buy will be making.

I promise that if you want a board, and are willing to camp out the group buy thread, you will get one. I cannot promise that someone who stumbles in a week after the thread launches will have the same luxury.

Well count me in as camping out.

+1

[baldgye]

these two have my very interested;

http://puu.sh/gTJH2/eb6a88d763.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gJHKfWa.jpg


but price is a bit of a worry and the fact i would have to organise assembly... look forward to more details (esp price lol)

[Data]

Interest does not always directly relate to actual participation in a GB, I know there is alot of interest. But, i know there has been things i have seen that at the time i was 100% sure i was getting in on, and for whatever reason financial, the next gb looked better. I did not participate. There may not even be 100 units ordered.

Having said that OMG I AM 100% IN TAKE MY MONEY NOW!

There are still many unknowns.  Costs, options, dates; if any or all of these factors don't line up for certain people they could drop out.  Interest doesn't count for much at this stage.

[baldgye]

Interest does not always directly relate to actual participation in a GB, I know there is alot of interest. But, i know there has been things i have seen that at the time i was 100% sure i was getting in on, and for whatever reason financial, the next gb looked better. I did not participate. There may not even be 100 units ordered.

Having said that OMG I AM 100% IN TAKE MY MONEY NOW!

There are still many unknowns.  Costs, options, dates; if any or all of these factors don't line up for certain people they could drop out.  Interest doesn't count for much at this stage.

there should be a cost goal though, what the person running is hoping/expecting... its how most things are made (to a price or budget)..

[njbair]

there should be a cost goal though, what the person running is hoping/expecting... its how most things are made (to a price or budget)..

Plenty of great choices for sure! I will try and align the GB so that it gives people some time to recover from the Orion if they would like to participate in it. I also plan for the cost of the Mira to be under the price of the Orion, not to mention the boards will likely be shipping from the US removing a great deal of cost from the buyer. 

[baldgye]

there should be a cost goal though, what the person running is hoping/expecting... its how most things are made (to a price or budget)..

Plenty of great choices for sure! I will try and align the GB so that it gives people some time to recover from the Orion if they would like to participate in it. I also plan for the cost of the Mira to be under the price of the Orion, not to mention the boards will likely be shipping from the US removing a great deal of cost from the buyer. 

ahh ok fair enough, prob should be in the OP tho

[JaccoW]

[...]
Great, thanks for the direct explanation. I will be camping.  :-)

Just wanted to add something here, not just for you but also for other people.

Most GroupBuys for custom boards on this forum are quite low volume. It hasn't been until the recent rise of Mechanical Keyboards and the influx of members to the community that we were able to even gather enough people to make projects like this affordable.

For example:

|Keyboard GB	|Year	|Price	|# Buyers
|Aluminum poker case	|2012	|$74	|26
|LZ-GH Edition	|2013	|$340	|44
|Geekhack 6th Anniv MX Keychain	|2013	|$3	|130
|Orion TKL	|2014	|$400	|13
|Lightsaver V2	|2014	|$295	|29
|Viper and Eagle	|2014	|$220	|76
|Octagon	|2014	|$295	|28
|TX1800	|2015	|$335	|60 (?)

Go ahead and take a look at the GB section from 2012. What you will find is the rise of Signature Plastics thin ABS novelty keys and the very first aluminum Poker cases.
Everything else was either buying hard to find keyboards like the Poker [Sic] or SP keysets in the classic colors.
Oh, and awesome Titanium spacebars. *WANT*

Before... let's say this year, it was next to impossible to buy any Korean Custom Keyboards unless you had the right connections. With the recent influx of Korean members heading over our way this has changed quite a bit.
This last 6 months alone we had almost 4 real Korean GBs and at least that many Western ones.

As for the list above; notice the dramatic decrease in buyers as the price rises above the $350 point?
There is a limit to how much people are willing to pay for a board.

The Hubble looks like a $400-500 board (or much more) with all the options for customization.
100 interested people might only translate to 20 actual buyers depending on other factors. When it goes on sale, competing GBs, Tax refunds, Vacation bonuses or how fresh/new a certain layout is all factor in to lead to the success of a GB.

It is awesome to see cool pics like Kin25's.


But the reality is that not a single one of the above mentioned GBs even hit 100 buyers and a board that might be as expensive as the priciest one, or even more, is certainly not going to hit that. No matter how cool it might be. 

[DrHubblePhD]

[...]
Great, thanks for the direct explanation. I will be camping.  :-)

Just wanted to add something here, not just for you but also for other people.

Most GroupBuys for custom boards on this forum are quite low volume. It hasn't been until the recent rise of Mechanical Keyboards and the influx of members to the community that we were able to even gather enough people to make projects like this affordable.

For example:

|Keyboard GB	|Year	|Price	|# Buyers
|Aluminum poker case	|2012	|$74	|26
|LZ-GH Edition	|2013	|$340	|44
|Geekhack 6th Anniv MX Keychain	|2013	|$3	|130
|Orion TKL	|2014	|$400	|13
|Lightsaver V2	|2014	|$295	|29
|Viper and Eagle	|2014	|$220	|76
|Octagon	|2014	|$295	|28
|TX1800	|2015	|$335	|60 (?)

Go ahead and take a look at the GB section from 2012. What you will find is the rise of Signature Plastics thin ABS novelty keys and the very first aluminum Poker cases.
Everything else was either buying hard to find keyboards like the Poker [Sic] or SP keysets in the classic colors.
Oh, and awesome Titanium spacebars. *WANT*

Before... let's say this year it was next to impossible to buy any Korean Custom Keyboards unless you had the right connections. With the recent influx of Korean members heading over our way this has changed quite a bit.
This last 6 months alone we had almost 4 real Korean GBs and at least that many Western ones.

As for the list above; notice the dramatic decrease in buyers as the price rises above the $350 point?
There is a limit to how much people are willing to pay for a board.

The Hubble looks like a $400-500 board (or much more) with all the options for customization.
100 interested people might only translate to 20 actual buyers depending on other factors. When it goes on sale, competing GBs, Tax refunds, Vacation bonuses or how fresh/new a certain layout is all factor in to lead to the success of a GB.

It is awesome to see cool pics like Kin25's.

Show Image

But the reality is that not a single one of the above mentioned GBs even hit 100 buyers and a board that might be as expensive as the priciest one, or even more, is certainly not going to hit that. No matter how cool it might be.  :cool:

Yeah the buy was originally going to be limited to 57 but because winkeyless offered a price drop on pcbs at the 100 mark, I figured I would open it up for the possibility.

[JaccoW]

[...]
Great, thanks for the direct explanation. I will be camping.  :-)

Just wanted to add something here, not just for you but also for other people.

Most GroupBuys for custom boards on this forum are quite low volume. It hasn't been until the recent rise of Mechanical Keyboards and the influx of members to the community that we were able to even gather enough people to make projects like this affordable.

For example:

|Keyboard GB	|Year	|Price	|# Buyers
|Aluminum poker case	|2012	|$74	|26
|LZ-GH Edition	|2013	|$340	|44
|Geekhack 6th Anniv MX Keychain	|2013	|$3	|130
|Orion TKL	|2014	|$400	|13
|Lightsaver V2	|2014	|$295	|29
|Viper and Eagle	|2014	|$220	|76
|Octagon	|2014	|$295	|28
|TX1800	|2015	|$335	|60 (?)

Go ahead and take a look at the GB section from 2012. What you will find is the rise of Signature Plastics thin ABS novelty keys and the very first aluminum Poker cases.
Everything else was either buying hard to find keyboards like the Poker [Sic] or SP keysets in the classic colors.
Oh, and awesome Titanium spacebars. *WANT*

Before... let's say this year it was next to impossible to buy any Korean Custom Keyboards unless you had the right connections. With the recent influx of Korean members heading over our way this has changed quite a bit.
This last 6 months alone we had almost 4 real Korean GBs and at least that many Western ones.

As for the list above; notice the dramatic decrease in buyers as the price rises above the $350 point?
There is a limit to how much people are willing to pay for a board.

The Hubble looks like a $400-500 board (or much more) with all the options for customization.
100 interested people might only translate to 20 actual buyers depending on other factors. When it goes on sale, competing GBs, Tax refunds, Vacation bonuses or how fresh/new a certain layout is all factor in to lead to the success of a GB.

It is awesome to see cool pics like Kin25's.

Show Image

But the reality is that not a single one of the above mentioned GBs even hit 100 buyers and a board that might be as expensive as the priciest one, or even more, is certainly not going to hit that. No matter how cool it might be.  :cool:

Yeah the buy was originally going to be limited to 57 but because winkeyless offered a price drop on pcbs at the 100 mark, I figured I would open it up for the possibility.

And that's alright. But always make sure you keep it manageable for yourself.

And if limiting it to a certain *magic* number makes you feel like an ******* but at least makes you sleep at night, be an *******. ;)

[rpeterclark]

Thanks for that background information and further explanation, it really helped me get a better perspective.

[JaccoW]

Thanks for that background information and further explanation, it really helped me get a better perspective.

No problem.

I enjoyed digging through the forum for a little history lesson. Learned quite a bit myself.

[FoC_Tow]

Played around with some colour options last night.

Graphite/Dark Gray:

Show Image

Love the Graphite! Its very dark tho, a less black flat gunmetal gray would be sweet!

I would probably end up choosing either a dark grey or bluish grey

OMG +1 yesh! A just ever so slightly bluish grey similar to this maybe?

At the potential cost of each keyboard, the buy will already be potentially worth a great deal of money. I have liability for all the parts and I don't feel comfortable running a buy that could potentially overwhelm me. Moreover the exclusivity of the buy will add to the resale value of each board, something that is important when you consider the investment participants in this buy will be making.

I promise that if you want a board, and are willing to camp out the group buy thread, you will get one. I cannot promise that someone who stumbles in a week after the thread launches will have the same luxury.

Oh Snap...
I better start camping on the group buy to start xD

If all goes well, I have another design, something smaller, more affordable that will be open to everyone.

That Sir, would be amazing! Will smaller design fit the acrylic tho? Ö_Ö

[sethk_]

In the renders it looks like this is a 6.25 spacebar model? Will there be a 6.25 model and 7 model?