[GB] Stainless steel universal TKL plates (ANSI 125)

[strict]

The intro

This is a group buy for ANSI 125 stainless steel uTKL plates. I've been wanting one for my Filco for a while now but got tired of waiting so I went out and found a local metal fabrication shop with a 5KW laser cutter that is willing to cut the plates from 16 ga. 304 stainless steel.

The plate

This is for ANSI 125 plates ONLY. I'm sure a lot of people are going to want other kinds of plates and if everything goes well enough with this initial GB I will likely do a second round and open it up to other plate designs.

This plate should fit TKL boards from Filco, QFR, Ducky, Phantom, PLU87, and possibly even a few others and will allow for switch top removal. Based on the CAD drawings (thanks jdcarpe!) I've sent to the metal fabricators, the final product should look just like this.



The orders

There is a MOQ of at least 36 plates for this to go to production. Cost per plate is $35. CONUS shipping is $6. International shipping is $25. Plates will be shipped via USPS flat rate envelopes for both domestic and international orders. I should be able to get a maximum of 2 plates per shipping envelope. If >4 plates I'll use a USPS flat rate box.

Pricing:
$35 per plate

CONUS
1-2 plates - $6 shipping
3-4 plates - $12 shipping
5+ plates - $18 shipping

International
1-2 plates - $25 shipping
3-4 plates - $50 shipping
5+ plates - $75 shipping

Payments will be collected via PayPal and all payments should be made in USD. Payments will be due within 72 hours from the time you receive the invoice. Orders will close a few days after we hit the 36 plate MOQ. Invoicing will start pretty much immediately after that.

I will also accept BroBots as payment

The fine print

I've never worked with this metal shop before so I'm not giving any estimates on lead times before I have the plates in hand or final quality. However, they are a very big, very well-known metal fabrication business that even does work for the US military so I'm going to assume the final product will be of sufficient quality and should be completed relatively quickly once production starts.

The metal fabricators have stated that the plates will have production markings (slight scratches and scuffs) so dont expect an art piece with a mirror finish. If you're going to be using costar stabilizers you will likely have to file down small sections of the plate where the stabilizers clip in for proper fitment.

The order form

Current total: 41 plates

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11P-1se5YWmoiRXjUiMwSLk8IlCiFT3oAgza2MTILzro/viewform

[jdcarpe]

Ordered!

[do_Og@n]

Order submitted....Thanks for putting this together.

[LechnerDE]

What a nice surprise to shorten the waiting time for the Toxic Launch

Ordered 2 plates

[danielucf]

Any chance they could sand blast finish afterwards?

[jdcarpe]

Any chance they could sand blast finish afterwards?

Do like I do and have a go at it with 80-grit sandpaper. I love how it looks.

[asdfjkl36]

Been waiting for this.

Think i just might grab one.

[gh_pp]

Ordered two

Need to build two Phantoms for all my incoming MX keycaps

[Techno Trousers]

Ordered my two. Thanks for running this GB! Is there any chance of a price break on the plates if this goes totally viral?

[Flyersfan1]

Thanks so much for running this group buy strict! I've been after one of these for a while now.

[pichu23]

This should technically work for the Ducky Shine II 9087 model right ?
I might get one

[mark0331]

Ordered one. Many Thanks.

[HendyZone]

Ordered

I will also accept BroBots as payment  )
^

[strict]

This should technically work for the Ducky Shine II 9087 model right ?
I might get one

From looking at pictures of the outside of the case I would guess it would work. I couldn't easily find pictures of the guts to be able to give a better idea than that though. You're best bet would be to open it up and compare it to a torn-apart Filco TKL.

[pichu23]

This should technically work for the Ducky Shine II 9087 model right ?
I might get one

From looking at pictures of the outside of the case I would guess it would work. I couldn't easily find pictures of the guts to be able to give a better idea than that though. You're best bet would be to open it up and compare it to a torn-apart Filco TKL.

IF you'd like I can take apart mine. But I'll have to look for some tools tho.. 

Edit : I found an old pic when i dismantle it last time

not exactly the clearest pic. can you sorta work it out tho ? 

[Dreamre]

This should technically work for the Ducky Shine II 9087 model right ?
I might get one

From looking at pictures of the outside of the case I would guess it would work. I couldn't easily find pictures of the guts to be able to give a better idea than that though. You're best bet would be to open it up and compare it to a torn-apart Filco TKL.

IF you'd like I can take apart mine. But I'll have to look for some tools tho.. 

Edit : I found an old pic when i dismantle it last time

Show Image

not exactly the clearest pic. can you sorta work it out tho ?  :)

I'm pretty sure it works, but just double check the screw holes. Worse comes to worse, all you need to do is drill an extra hole.

[skcheng]

Exactly what I was looking for!!   Thanks much.   Ordered. 

BTW, can someone explain how this plate mount allows access to the switch case?   And how to open the switch case with a similar plate?   Thanks and sorry for the newbness....

[Dreamre]

Exactly what I was looking for!!   Thanks much.   Ordered. 

BTW, can someone explain how this plate mount allows access to the switch case?   And how to open the switch case with a similar plate?   Thanks and sorry for the newbness....

You'll need either Beast's switch tool opener:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36677.0

Or tweezers and a screwdriver.

[n0rvig]

Conus is $6 and shipping to Canada is $25? Yikes. Going to have to think about this..

[jdcarpe]

Unfortunately not much can be done about the prices USPS charges for international shipping.

[n0rvig]

Unfortunately not much can be done about the prices USPS charges for international shipping.

Yeah, I also haven't had much luck explaining to USPS how their international prices are wrong.

[pichu23]

Im gonna get some pics up later, hope its' compatible.

[Dreamre]

Im gonna get some pics up later, hope its' compatible.

Check out my thread:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51292.msg1128527#msg1128527

Hopefully those pics saves you the trouble.

[dorkvader]

Unfortunately not much can be done about the prices USPS charges for international shipping.

Yeah, I also haven't had much luck explaining to USPS how their international prices are wrong.

If there is enough canadian interest, it may be cheaper to ship to a proxy in canada for local distribution.

By the way, I am really happy about this. Enough of those lame aluminium plates! Stainless steel doesn't need to be shipped on a hardboard to prevent it from bending in the mail (though it helps). Stainless steel is awesome. I hope I can get one.

[Dreamre]

Unfortunately not much can be done about the prices USPS charges for international shipping.

Yeah, I also haven't had much luck explaining to USPS how their international prices are wrong.

If there is enough canadian interest, it may be cheaper to ship to a proxy in canada for local distribution.

By the way, I am really happy about this. Enough of those lame aluminium plates! Stainless steel doesn't need to be shipped on a hardboard to prevent it from bending in the mail (though it helps). Stainless steel is awesome. I hope I can get one.

A Canadian proxy sounds like a good idea.

[LechnerDE]

Is there another price tier in the ~60 plates range?

If so it might be worth waiting because it looks like we will get these 36 orders with ease

[mattics]

Any idea whether this would fit in a Leopold FC200R? I can tear mine down and take some pics if required.

[JaccoW]

Ordered two. Looking forward to making my Keycool compatible with all keysets.

[JayKthnx]

Ordered one. Thanks!

[CommonCurt]

Ordered one. 

If/when you do a round2, and/or a poker2 plate I will order some more.

[badboybry9000]

Ordered! Finally the time has come. I've been waiting for one of these group buys for a while.

[LechnerDE]

Is there another price tier in the ~60 plates range?

If so it might be worth waiting because it looks like we will get these 36 orders with ease

Wow, 28 orders already!

Any chance we might get a little discount if we reacher higher tiers?

[GeorgeK]

I'm tempted by at least 2...  If you were to buy these, would there be anything stopping you from dremeling out the bit of metal between the modifier switches on the bottom row to allow for different sized mods?  In effect creating a sort of "Universal" plate, to use the GH60 terminology

[jdcarpe]

I'm tempted by at least 2...  If you were to buy these, would there be anything stopping you from dremeling out the bit of metal between the modifier switches on the bottom row to allow for different sized mods?  In effect creating a sort of "Universal" plate, to use the GH60 terminology

If you have a PCB which supports PCB-mount stabilizers, then sure, you can do that. The reason this design doesn't incorporate that "feature" is that you lose the ability to use plate mounted stabilizers, which are needed by most of the TKL keyboards this is designed for, including Phantom.

[strict]

Is there another price tier in the ~60 plates range?

If so it might be worth waiting because it looks like we will get these 36 orders with ease

Wow, 28 orders already!

Any chance we might get a little discount if we reacher higher tiers?

Being that this is the first group buy I've ever organized I'm hesitant to potentially bite off more than I can chew with the number of orders. I'll leave this open for a little while after we hit 36 plates for anyone late getting to see this but I would like keep it small enough to get familiar with the entire process from start to finish before diving into the deep end.  My main priority is making sure this goes as smoothly as possible for everyone involved (myself included).

[LechnerDE]

That's understandable

Thank you for running this GB!

[pasph]

Hoping in an ISO version for the next round

[GeorgeK]

I'm tempted by at least 2...  If you were to buy these, would there be anything stopping you from dremeling out the bit of metal between the modifier switches on the bottom row to allow for different sized mods?  In effect creating a sort of "Universal" plate, to use the GH60 terminology

If you have a PCB which supports PCB-mount stabilizers, then sure, you can do that. The reason this design doesn't incorporate that "feature" is that you lose the ability to use plate mounted stabilizers, which are needed by most of the TKL keyboards this is designed for, including Phantom.

Awesome - I have an A.87 PCB coming my way and am tempted for that   Would want the other for my Filco though

[taylordcraig]

I'm interested but can we talk about a Canadian proxy?

[strict]

I'm interested but can we talk about a Canadian proxy?

Im totally fine with shipping to a proxy. If someone wants to volunteer just speak up and I will try to work something out.

[GeorgeK]

I'd act as a UK proxy if people are interested.  I've done similar things in the past and am familiar with posting things on this end.  I'm definitely in for one plate but no more than that I think

[LechnerDE]

I'd act as a UK proxy if people are interested.  I've done similar things in the past and am familiar with posting things on this end.  I'm definitely in for one plate but no more than that I think

Do you mean for UK only or would you ship to Germany too?

If this was cheaper than direct shipping from then US, I'd be interested

[GeorgeK]

I'll look into it for you

[LechnerDE]

I'll look into it for you

Thank you very much!

[GeorgeK]

The only information I would need is how much they weigh packaged up.  If it's less than 500g (which it should be right?) then it'll cost £4.95 (about $8) which added on to half the shipping cost from the US is just over $20 which would indeed save you some money

[LechnerDE]

The only information I would need is how much they weigh packaged up.  If it's less than 500g (which it should be right?) then it'll cost £4.95 (about $8) which added on to half the shipping cost from the US is just over $20 which would indeed save you some money

Well in my case we are talking about 2 plates, but even 2 plates shouldn't be more than 500g right?

[GeorgeK]

Depends on how many others we get involved as 3 plates (which is all we're at now) would cost too much.  I might have one other interested but he wants to know:

Will this fit a Leopold FC200R (which takes plate mount cherry stabs) ?

[animated]

ordered 

[strict]

Depends on how many others we get involved as 3 plates (which is all we're at now) would cost too much.  I might have one other interested but he wants to know:

Will this fit a Leopold FC200R (which takes plate mount cherry stabs) ?

It is compatible with cherry plate stabs but I don't know if it will fit the FC200R. I couldn't find readily available pictures of the guts of that keyboard so your friend or someone else would have to pop open the case and compare the existing plate to the picture from the first post.

Regarding international shipping, keep in mind I can only get 2 plates per envelope so for proxy shipping to even approach being worth it I think we will need at least 4 or more plates shipped in a large flat rate box ($75). Im guessing I could get close to a dozen or so plates into one of the large flat rate boxes.

The good news though is that we're up to 32 orders now!

[Flyersfan1]

Depends on how many others we get involved as 3 plates (which is all we're at now) would cost too much.  I might have one other interested but he wants to know:

Will this fit a Leopold FC200R (which takes plate mount cherry stabs) ?

It is compatible with cherry plate stabs but I don't know if it will fit the FC200R. I couldn't find readily available pictures of the guts of that keyboard so your friend or someone else would have to pop open the case and compare the existing plate to the picture from the first post.

Regarding international shipping, keep in mind I can only get 2 plates per envelope so for proxy shipping to even approach being worth it I think we will need at least 4 or more plates shipped in a large flat rate box ($75). Im guessing I could get close to a dozen or so plates into one of the large flat rate boxes.

The good news though is that we're up to 32 orders now!

Woohoo!! Almost there!