[GB] Atom68 Alu | MX and capacitive compatible!

[DasGnome]

Lucky for you guys. I have to contact Niz. I am missing the rubber gaskets and screws for the PCB in addition to having a scratch on my plate.

[verity]

Lucky for you guys. I have to contact Niz. I am missing the rubber gaskets and screws for the PCB in addition to having a scratch on my plate.

I know that feel, they left the stabilizers out of my kit. 

[bakuretsu]

Ok, so I just got around to building this and I'm having some issues - some big issues that need fixing, some small issues that I've already fixed.

1. Big issue - Spacebar returns slower than the other keys (Video attached below)
This is not an issue with the stabilizers. Pushing down just the slider with the keycap removed, and comparing it to other sliders, it feels heavier and more sluggish to return. Has anyone else encountered this issue in their build? Is it possibly an issue with the size of the housing opening creating friction with the slider?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sb2PmiaXkN59E8gnOCU0_m32fR5bP3Ht/view?usp=sharing

2. Big issue - Backspace hits the stabilizers underneath, producing loud clack (Video attached below)
I'm using GMK keycaps, so this may be an issue only that's only noticeable with Cherry profile keycaps. It's strange to me that this could have been missed though, since NIZ keycaps are Cherry profile too. Is anyone else having this issue? I think it can be fixed by clipping off the tops of the stabilizer housings, since they seem to stick up much farther than necessary (especially compared to GMK or Durock stabilizer housings). Does this seem like a reasonable solution?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14B7cKKNQNE8xDw9bnL8-rMv3j2kaG9zu/view?usp=sharing

3. Possibly big issue - One of the screw holes in the case for the daughterboard is noticeably angled, making the daughterboard flex (Photo attached below)
I don't know how serious of an issue this amount of bending is for the daughterboard, but I assume it's not great. It looks like they messed up badly when drilling the hole and figured it didn't matter since you can't see it once it's assembled.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pYL1aK6CEJna7fiEdCDauMUwP3mDCIYB/view?usp=sharing

4. Small issue - Some housings not fully clicked into place, so their plastic tabs would interfere with the sliders' movement
Make sure to check the 2 plastic tabs inside each housing before putting this keyboard together. Several housings had 1 or both tabs not fully clicked into place, which would have interfered with the slider movement. To click the tabs into place, one at a time, carefully push them with your finger toward the upper surface of the plate and away from the center of the housing.

5. Small issue - Some improperly rotated slider housings
Make sure to double check all of your slider housings' orientations before putting this keyboard together. I found about 5 housings that were rotated 90 degrees off from their proper orientation. This was a problem for some of them because these particular housings were squeezed against the metal posts you use to screw the PCB to the plate, preventing their plastic tabs from clicking into place. The other 2 were improperly rotated because they were next to the two holes in the center of the alphas, and the way they were positioned prevented the protrusions in the silicone dome sheet from sitting properly between them.
(Photo from the bottom of the plate showing proper orientation of the housings after the misaligned ones were fixed is attached below. Please excuse the fingerprints on the plate.)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WiTKCzpXRxFJLGdDtTK5BThEjZKCAF5i/view?usp=sharing

6. Small issue, as long as NIZ fixes it - My order was missing the 2nd set of 45g domes I ordered.

[Two_Pinky_Ringz]

Just got mine today n built it and my space bar has chatter holding down it will spam it. I got the mx version

[kabocha]

My case came scuffed because the longer screws were packed on top of it. Rather unfortunate. Might look to get the top redone at a cerakoter.

[Nizkeyboard]

Ok, so I just got around to building this and I'm having some issues - some big issues that need fixing, some small issues that I've already fixed.

1. Big issue - Spacebar returns slower than the other keys (Video attached below)
This is not an issue with the stabilizers. Pushing down just the slider with the keycap removed, and comparing it to other sliders, it feels heavier and more sluggish to return. Has anyone else encountered this issue in their build? Is it possibly an issue with the size of the housing opening creating friction with the slider?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sb2PmiaXkN59E8gnOCU0_m32fR5bP3Ht/view?usp=sharing

2. Big issue - Backspace hits the stabilizers underneath, producing loud clack (Video attached below)
I'm using GMK keycaps, so this may be an issue only that's only noticeable with Cherry profile keycaps. It's strange to me that this could have been missed though, since NIZ keycaps are Cherry profile too. Is anyone else having this issue? I think it can be fixed by clipping off the tops of the stabilizer housings, since they seem to stick up much farther than necessary (especially compared to GMK or Durock stabilizer housings). Does this seem like a reasonable solution?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14B7cKKNQNE8xDw9bnL8-rMv3j2kaG9zu/view?usp=sharing

3. Possibly big issue - One of the screw holes in the case for the daughterboard is noticeably angled, making the daughterboard flex (Photo attached below)
I don't know how serious of an issue this amount of bending is for the daughterboard, but I assume it's not great. It looks like they messed up badly when drilling the hole and figured it didn't matter since you can't see it once it's assembled.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pYL1aK6CEJna7fiEdCDauMUwP3mDCIYB/view?usp=sharing

4. Small issue - Some housings not fully clicked into place, so their plastic tabs would interfere with the sliders' movement
Make sure to check the 2 plastic tabs inside each housing before putting this keyboard together. Several housings had 1 or both tabs not fully clicked into place, which would have interfered with the slider movement. To click the tabs into place, one at a time, carefully push them with your finger toward the upper surface of the plate and away from the center of the housing.

5. Small issue - Some improperly rotated slider housings
Make sure to double check all of your slider housings' orientations before putting this keyboard together. I found about 5 housings that were rotated 90 degrees off from their proper orientation. This was a problem for some of them because these particular housings were squeezed against the metal posts you use to screw the PCB to the plate, preventing their plastic tabs from clicking into place. The other 2 were improperly rotated because they were next to the two holes in the center of the alphas, and the way they were positioned prevented the protrusions in the silicone dome sheet from sitting properly between them.
(Photo from the bottom of the plate showing proper orientation of the housings after the misaligned ones were fixed is attached below. Please excuse the fingerprints on the plate.)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WiTKCzpXRxFJLGdDtTK5BThEjZKCAF5i/view?usp=sharing

6. Small issue, as long as NIZ fixes it - My order was missing the 2nd set of 45g domes I ordered.

1, 2 Question You can check whether it is the switch installation method problem (whether the buckle position is protruding, whether the push rod is installed in the correct position), you can check the accessories.
3. This position is because the PCB factory did not punch holes during the manufacturing process, so this is because the manual hole drilling in the later stage caused the hole position to be not very accurate. You can remove it to expand the aperture to solve this problem. (If the factory needs to solve the drilling problem at that time, the factory told me that it will take a week and I can’t wait)
The problems of 4, 5 and 6 are our mistakes in the assembly process, this is our mistake, I am very sorry. Later we will improve.
Please email me to reissue 45g silicone dome to you.

[tehfrawg]

I received mine today. I can confirm that there are a number of the switches rotated 90 degrees off, with the tabs pointing right-left rather than up-down. I have not had time to assemble (and there are NO assembly instructions unfortunately) so I have not tried rotating them yet, but hopefully this can be done without scratching the plate.

Another thing to note, I ordered two plates but only one of them came with stabilizers, not both. This may have been intentional, however the product page states that "Plate mount stabilizers are included for EC version mounting plates." which to me implies every EC plate ordered includes a set of stabilizers.

[bakuretsu]

1, 2 Question You can check whether it is the switch installation method problem (whether the buckle position is protruding, whether the push rod is installed in the correct position), you can check the accessories.

Thanks for the quick response. I reopened everything and re-checked the tabs on the spacebar and backspace housings. They were installed properly, and so were the stabilizer wires. I also tried swapping the housings from the spacebar and left shift keys, just in case there was a defect in the spacebar housing. Neither housing had any visible defects, though.

I did a simple test of the spacebar and left shift housings (video linked below). I had the plate by itself, suspended above a table in an upright position. In this orientation, sliders for unstabilized keys would fall out from their housings because they weren't experiencing any significant friction (see 1:43 in the video below). However, sliders wouldn't fall out by themselves from the housings for stabilized keys - especially the spacebar housing. The left shift slider took a small push to fall out. Pushing the spacebar slider with the same force, it would slide and stop again about halfway down its length, only falling out after another push (see the beginning of the video and again at about 2:00).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/177VExV5DebN_wj5vC-cDMfsfJTFy5CEz/view?usp=sharing

I believe there is an issue with the housings used for stabilized keys. I checked the openings in the plate to see if the plate was squeezing the housings and causing deformation in the housing opening, but the plate openings for the stabilized keys were the same size as the openings for the unstabilized keys - 13.90 mm front-to-back, according to my calipers.

Luckily, the spacebar seems to somehow be performing better after reassembling the keyboard. However, I still have the same issue with the backspace - it makes a loud clack sound when pressed. I checked the backspace housing tabs and stabilizer wire when I had everything disassembled, but they were all installed properly. Again, I believe the noise is caused by the excessively tall stabilizers making contact with the underside of the Cherry profile backspace keycap. Do you have an assembled Atom68 Alu that you could use to test the backspace with a Cherry profile keycap? Because it's a 2u keycap, the outer stabilizers are very close to the left/right walls of the keycap.

I asked in my previous reply, but please let me know if this problem can be solved by clipping off the top corners of the backspace stabilizer housings ("stabilizer housing" = the part of the stabilizer that clips into the plate). Would clipping off those upper stabilizer housing corners negatively affect the performance of the stabilizer? Since the kit didn't come with any extra stabilizers, I'd worried to try it, but I think it's the only solution.

[Nizkeyboard]

1, 2 Question You can check whether it is the switch installation method problem (whether the buckle position is protruding, whether the push rod is installed in the correct position), you can check the accessories.

Thanks for the quick response. I reopened everything and re-checked the tabs on the spacebar and backspace housings. They were installed properly, and so were the stabilizer wires. I also tried swapping the housings from the spacebar and left shift keys, just in case there was a defect in the spacebar housing. Neither housing had any visible defects, though.

I did a simple test of the spacebar and left shift housings (video linked below). I had the plate by itself, suspended above a table in an upright position. In this orientation, sliders for unstabilized keys would fall out from their housings because they weren't experiencing any significant friction (see 1:43 in the video below). However, sliders wouldn't fall out by themselves from the housings for stabilized keys - especially the spacebar housing. The left shift slider took a small push to fall out. Pushing the spacebar slider with the same force, it would slide and stop again about halfway down its length, only falling out after another push (see the beginning of the video and again at about 2:00).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/177VExV5DebN_wj5vC-cDMfsfJTFy5CEz/view?usp=sharing

I believe there is an issue with the housings used for stabilized keys. I checked the openings in the plate to see if the plate was squeezing the housings and causing deformation in the housing opening, but the plate openings for the stabilized keys were the same size as the openings for the unstabilized keys - 13.90 mm front-to-back, according to my calipers.

Luckily, the spacebar seems to somehow be performing better after reassembling the keyboard. However, I still have the same issue with the backspace - it makes a loud clack sound when pressed. I checked the backspace housing tabs and stabilizer wire when I had everything disassembled, but they were all installed properly. Again, I believe the noise is caused by the excessively tall stabilizers making contact with the underside of the Cherry profile backspace keycap. Do you have an assembled Atom68 Alu that you could use to test the backspace with a Cherry profile keycap? Because it's a 2u keycap, the outer stabilizers are very close to the left/right walls of the keycap.

I asked in my previous reply, but please let me know if this problem can be solved by clipping off the top corners of the backspace stabilizer housings ("stabilizer housing" = the part of the stabilizer that clips into the plate). Would clipping off those upper stabilizer housing corners negatively affect the performance of the stabilizer? Since the kit didn't come with any extra stabilizers, I'd worried to try it, but I think it's the only solution.

I have checked your video, can you remove the switch and take a picture to show me? Refer to my picture.

[radsan]

Just got mine about an hour ago. I’m so happy. Everything was packaged really well and the anodization on my case is perfect. Has quite a bit of weight to it and feels so high quality. Always thought niz keyboards  offered a really good typing experience but this case really seals the deal as a endgame worthy keyboard.


Had some issues with some of the sliders clacking due to the prongs in the slider housing being bent in. Also having that same backspace clack another user had as well.

Other than those minor issues I’m extremely happy with the end product! Thanks Niz

Here’s a photo of it! Black case gold plate with GMK oblivion

[bakuretsu]

I have checked your video, can you remove the switch and take a picture to show me? Refer to my picture.

I've attached the photos you requested below. Also, please let me know - would shortening the outer corners of the backspace stabilizer housings eliminate the clacking sound when pressing the backspace key? I am convinced the backspace noise problem is caused by the stabilizer housing, not the slider housing. I cannot use this keyboard until this issue is fixed.

[gordonderp]

I have checked your video, can you remove the switch and take a picture to show me? Refer to my picture.

I've attached the photos you requested below. Also, please let me know - would shortening the outer corners of the backspace stabilizer housings eliminate the clacking sound when pressing the backspace key? I am convinced the backspace noise problem is caused by the stabilizer housing, not the slider housing. I cannot use this keyboard until this issue is fixed.

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You can try putting some material underneath the backspace key to see if that is the cause of the noise. Maybe some foam or just some tissue stuffed underneath the backspace might be enough to diagnose it. You're posts made me order some gmk plate mount stabs in case I had the same issues as you. Hopefully I don't need to use them though.

[redline]

Will there be extras for ordering? If not, is there going to be a release 2? Is there somewhere recommended that I buy this from other customers?

[tehfrawg]

Atom68 Alu
- Black case
- Black aluminum plate
- NiZ 45g domes
- EnjoyPBT Tada68 keycaps

Leopold FC660C for comparison

[gordonderp]

Does anyone else have problems with screwing the whole thing down? I don't know if it's because of the e-white coating affecting the screws but I can't close the fkin thing lol

[bakuretsu]

Does anyone else have problems with screwing the whole thing down? I don't know if it's because of the e-white coating affecting the screws but I can't close the fkin thing lol

Mine is a bit tight when screwing it together. I don't know if that's because of the case itself, or the plate. I noticed that my plate is slightly curved, so the force necessary to flatten it when screwing the case together could be what's causing that.

Also, did NIZ just vanish after their last reply almost a week ago? I'm still waiting on a reply to my question about the stabilizers.

[verity]

Does anyone else have problems with screwing the whole thing down? I don't know if it's because of the e-white coating affecting the screws but I can't close the fkin thing lol

Have any luck getting it closed? I have an e-white case with e-white alu plate and I'm also having trouble.

[gordonderp]

Does anyone else have problems with screwing the whole thing down? I don't know if it's because of the e-white coating affecting the screws but I can't close the fkin thing lol

Mine is a bit tight when screwing it together. I don't know if that's because of the case itself, or the plate. I noticed that my plate is slightly curved, so the force necessary to flatten it when screwing the case together could be what's causing that.

Also, did NIZ just vanish after their last reply almost a week ago? I'm still waiting on a reply to my question about the stabilizers.

Hey went through a whole ordeal with the stabilisers, massive headache lol I wish NIZ just went with costar stabs in the end.

I bought GMK plate mount stabs to replace the ones niz sent because they were a pain in the ass. Turns out the plate only accepts these specific NIZ stab housings so GMK stabs do not fit. So I decided to try and make the best out of the NIZ housings.

The first thing I wanted to improve was the inserts as removing any of the stabilized keys would just pull the inserts too. I had some spare C3 inserts (v1 not v2) lying around so I tried them inside the NIZ housings and they worked great, they're a little larger than the NIZ inserts but they still fit and don't fkin pop off. I'm sure you could use other stab inserts like clipped GMK or Durock but I'm happy with the C3 inserts.

The next thing I wanted to address was the height of the NIZ stab housings. When I compared them to the GMK housings they were slightly taller, possibly explaining the stab noise that other people have posted about. So I rather recklessly I just clipped the NIZ housings to be shorter. I wasn't very precise with my clipping so some stab housings are uneven and shorter than the GMK housings now (just a bit tho) but it surprisingly worked out. The noise I got from a lot of the keycaps was gone. Except for one stab, where the housing clipped further than where I wanted so try and be more careful if anyone reading is going to try this.

After that I lubed the stab wire with dieletric grease more lightly than I would with my normal MX boards as the same amount of lube I would use with MX PCB mount stabs led to return problems with the NIZ plate mount stabs. I also lubed the part of the stab wire that touches the switch housing. I did do the fabric tape/bandaid mod where I put tape where the stab wire and plate meet though I'm not sure this does anything lol.

I also have a weird sound on my spacebar but I'm pretty sure it's due to the overclipped stab, I'll probably ask NIZ for a replacement. Flipped spacebar with these stabs is a no go too on this board which . Sucks that the stab situation is so bad with this board coz holy **** the switches feel amazing and it sounds like butter.

Does anyone else have problems with screwing the whole thing down? I don't know if it's because of the e-white coating affecting the screws but I can't close the fkin thing lol

Have any luck getting it closed? I have an e-white case with e-white alu plate and I'm also having trouble.

Nope lol kinda gave up on that lol. It closes well enough that I'm okay with it. Do you have two leds that are constantly on? I'm preety sure it's related to the bluetooth but I don't know how to turn it off.
 

[verity]

Nope lol kinda gave up on that lol. It closes well enough that I'm okay with it. Do you have two leds that are constantly on? I'm preety sure it's related to the bluetooth but I don't know how to turn it off.

Haven't put the case together in a bit, but from what I remember, when the board was assembled without screws, I had one led constantly on. Have no clue why it was doing that.

[gordonderp]

Nope lol kinda gave up on that lol. It closes well enough that I'm okay with it. Do you have two leds that are constantly on? I'm preety sure it's related to the bluetooth but I don't know how to turn it off.

Haven't put the case together in a bit, but from what I remember, when the board was assembled without screws, I had one led constantly on. Have no clue why it was doing that.

Pretty sure it's something to do with the bluetooth, it turned itself off though didn't even do anything to it.

[tehfrawg]

There's one LED that goes on when the battery is charging. Another comes on when you switch into programmed mode and it will start turned on sometimes if you left the board in that mode previously.

[DasGnome]

Anyone got a link to to the software?

[bakuretsu]

Anyone got a link to to the software?

You can find the manuals and software in the Google Drive, via the link in the Firmware and Upgrades section.

The link to the Google Drive with the software is on this page of the NIZ website:
https://www.nizkeyboard.com/pages/order
I haven't tried the software yet, so I don't know how well it works. Good luck.

[gordonderp]

Anyone got a link to to the software?

You can find the manuals and software in the Google Drive, via the link in the Firmware and Upgrades section.

The link to the Google Drive with the software is on this page of the NIZ website:
https://www.nizkeyboard.com/pages/order
I haven't tried the software yet, so I don't know how well it works. Good luck.

The software is pretty decent, doesn't have has as many options as QMK or VIA but it's pretty easy to use.

[DasGnome]

Anyone got a link to to the software?

You can find the manuals and software in the Google Drive, via the link in the Firmware and Upgrades section.

The link to the Google Drive with the software is on this page of the NIZ website:
https://www.nizkeyboard.com/pages/order
I haven't tried the software yet, so I don't know how well it works. Good luck.

Yeah, I already tried that one by downloading the Atom68 folder. It's recognizing that the board is plugged in but the programming doesn't stick? Not sure if I'm doing it wrong.

[gordonderp]

Anyone got a link to to the software?

You can find the manuals and software in the Google Drive, via the link in the Firmware and Upgrades section.

The link to the Google Drive with the software is on this page of the NIZ website:
https://www.nizkeyboard.com/pages/order
I haven't tried the software yet, so I don't know how well it works. Good luck.

Yeah, I already tried that one by downloading the Atom68 folder. It's recognizing that the board is plugged in but the programming doesn't stick? Not sure if I'm doing it wrong.

You have to press the write keys button on the program then it'll start programming the board. Don't forget to save the layout file too, you have to load the layout file each time you open the program to make changes.

[DasGnome]

I have tried all of that with the software. WriteKeys seems to go through and ends in "OK!!" but none of the keys actually change.

[tehfrawg]

Have you switched into programmed mode (FN + `~)? Even after flashing the board will start in the Office mode which had the default layout.

[remdell]

If anyone wants to part with their Atom68 Alu with capacitive internals, let me know!

[pixelpusher]

Niz is running a v2 of this board.  Anyone from the original GB wanna chime in?
https://www.keebtalk.com/t/ic-atom-68-ii/11815

I'd love to see a custom Topre option, but you guys scared me in the last few posts here.  Didn't seem worth the money and wait. 

[gordonderp]

Niz is running a v2 of this board.  Anyone from the original GB wanna chime in?
https://www.keebtalk.com/t/ic-atom-68-ii/11815

I'd love to see a custom Topre option, but you guys scared me in the last few posts here.  Didn't seem worth the money and wait.

This board definitely had some issues that I had to deal with (I posted about it earlier in the thread), but after using it for nearly half a year I'm very happy with the board. It's my favourite board I've ever used and as a tactile fiend I don't think I will go back to using MX tactiles. I'll probably go into R2 myself, and if they make a TKL I'll buy that too.

[asdds22]

Niz is running a v2 of this board.  Anyone from the original GB wanna chime in?
https://www.keebtalk.com/t/ic-atom-68-ii/11815

I'd love to see a custom Topre option, but you guys scared me in the last few posts here.  Didn't seem worth the money and wait.

The issues were bummer for sure. But I love the board and using every day. I will definitely buy the R2 board.