geekhack
geekhack Marketplace => Interest Checks => Topic started by: Kingk22 on Wed, 25 November 2020, 07:52:47
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Bean
Simple MX-HHKB 60% with a soft and flexible typing feel
ic form (https://forms.gle/CWiPouvxNzyJEGwU9)
(https://i.imgur.com/N1hHCka.jpg)
Prototype 1
Hi geekhack, I was recently on the hunt for a board that fit my very specific wants and after a fruitless search I decided to make my own and so, Bean was born.
Details
layout: mx-hhkb, fixed split backspace, fixed split right shift, support for fixed/stepped caps lock
plate/mounting: aluminium half plate, 4 point top mount
typing angle: 6.9 degrees
front height: 14.94mm typing height from bottom of case to the front of r4 keycaps
materials: 6063 aluminium case and half plate, copper rear accent
colours: black case, red plate, red pcb, raw copper accent
pcb: custom 1.2mm pcb designed by Zephyraeon, horizontal flex cuts, usb-c, mx/alps support
kit weight: approximately 800g (case + plate + pcb)
price: under 350usd (high estimate at a very low moq)
sale type: tbc
Plate Design and Mounting
(https://i.imgur.com/SfPn2kB.png)
With forced split backspace and split right shift, the board has an almost completely symmetrical layout, allowing for 2 evenly spaced plate mounting points on the top and bottom to give an even typing feel across the board. The impact of this isn't as noticable due to most of the keys being unsupported with the half plate but it gives the mods a pleasant feel.
The other main consideration was the spacebar, a lot of material has been removed under the key as well as a large cutout coming from the bottom, making the switch relatively unsupported and avoiding a harsh bottom out.
Prototype Issues
As expected, there were a couple of issues with the prototype.
1. plate screws hitting the inside of the bottom case - something I didn't account for in the initial design, redesign has already been done to accomodate, pending second prototype
2. rear case screw holes are too tight - the current hole size is too small for the socket head screws i'm intending on using so the diameter will be increased to at least accommodate for that, still considering whether or not to make them much larger for better screwdriver compatibility
3. usb port hole position - still need to confirm final port positioning with another round of PCB protos, currently a cable will plug in fine but the port isn't exactly centred
A second prototype will be on the way shortly.
Images
(https://i.imgur.com/rwJ08q2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NKaRn6Y.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/htleDTO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pik3WTe.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bACxjQa.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/9YN0MEx.jpg)
More Renders
(https://i.imgur.com/Ti5CDPf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/hx0qlvq.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/3U7JJuJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/aqMGhDe.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jrmfRbD.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Om6jLHF.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2di1bi0.jpg)
Questions?
Feel free ask any questions you have or leave any feedback that's on your mind.
I'm also reachable on Discord at Kingk22#2222, updates about this project will be posted in this thread and on my discord server. (https://discord.gg/svzZ45X)
ic form (https://forms.gle/CWiPouvxNzyJEGwU9)
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reserved for sam
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.ooooh yes
Great to see a passion project coming to fruition; it's honestly just refreshing and a joy reading someone who's obviously put a lot of time and love to their work.
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Yes.
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helo bean is very beautiful board, ever since i saw your post on geekhack i must have it. If you are running a private run i would like to be in it my friend
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B E A N
E
A
N
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hello, please bean dn
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
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Give me pc half plate or give me death
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beans :-*
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i like beans
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Oh man this is great. Nice job ;)
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Seems a bit overpriced when compared to other hhkb/60% board
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The perfect companion to Paw!
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Noice
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+1 for superior layout and half plate
In conclusion, take my money.
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Interesting project going on.
I'm curious as to how much room you are leaving between the bottom of the PCB and the top of the bottoms tray. Having a 1.2mm PCB with a flex cut is going to result in a fair amount of movement, for sure.
Considering you have functional proto and haven't run into any issues of pins hitting the tray; I'm assuming that there is ample room?
Also, It'd be a real shame if this got even close to 400usd if it were to go to GB.
Best of luck with your IC!
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nice, very cute
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this should be like $250 max, not close to $400.
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Interesting project going on.
I'm curious as to how much room you are leaving between the bottom of the PCB and the top of the bottoms tray. Having a 1.2mm PCB with a flex cut is going to result in a fair amount of movement, for sure.
Considering you have functional proto and haven't run into any issues of pins hitting the tray; I'm assuming that there is ample room?
Also, It'd be a real shame if this got even close to 400usd if it were to go to GB.
Best of luck with your IC!
Thanks for the concern. there's 3-4.7mm of space between the bottom of the PCB and the inside of the case depending on which row you look at, there is a decent amount of movement but with the PCB installed and soldered there's no contact under normal typing pressure. As expected, it is relatively easy to cause a short by pressing with a bit more pressure but i've been told this can be mitigated with some paper under the PCB to insulate.
I have been considering increasing the internal clearance but there isn't much room towards the bottom rows due to the low front height, I will be doing further testing with proto 2 and with some other people to ensure it won't be an issue with the final boards.
Regarding pricing, I hate ICs that give an unrealistic price estimate and while I'm faily confident I can be comfortably under 400usd, I've given the very upper pricing limit based on a low quantitiy run.
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very cute, nice!
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Interesting project going on.
I'm curious as to how much room you are leaving between the bottom of the PCB and the top of the bottoms tray. Having a 1.2mm PCB with a flex cut is going to result in a fair amount of movement, for sure.
Considering you have functional proto and haven't run into any issues of pins hitting the tray; I'm assuming that there is ample room?
Also, It'd be a real shame if this got even close to 400usd if it were to go to GB.
Best of luck with your IC!
Thanks for the concern. there's 3-4.7mm of space between the bottom of the PCB and the inside of the case depending on which row you look at, there is a decent amount of movement but with the PCB installed and soldered there's no contact under normal typing pressure. As expected, it is relatively easy to cause a short by pressing with a bit more pressure but i've been told this can be mitigated with some paper under the PCB to insulate.
I have been considering increasing the internal clearance but there isn't much room towards the bottom rows due to the low front height, I will be doing further testing with proto 2 and with some other people to ensure it won't be an issue with the final boards.
Regarding pricing, I hate ICs that give an unrealistic price estimate and while I'm faily confident I can be comfortably under 400usd, I've given the very upper pricing limit based on a low quantitiy run.
That sounds good to me man, as long as under relatively normal typing pressure everything is a-ok then there's no cause for change imo. The low front height(to R4) just gave me a slight bit of concern.
Do update us on the progress of future protos though! :thumb:
Regarding the price; I absolutely agree with you on unrealistic prices. I'd suggest shying away from stating a price in a fresh IC waiting it out until you have scaled quotes from your manu/vendor involvement, all to avoid some unsavory comments that have already been posted.
May I suggest some more colour options? Avail options like silver and grey will go a long way for me at least.
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I do remember that Polaris was about 300+ only, sth higher than that are completely unrealistic in my opinion. With that kind of weight draws me back from buying this mech, some pricing are needed to change to make it affordable. The design is good enough and doesn’t rly needed to change and I’m cool with it. hope my above opinion will be helpful for you.
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I do remember that Polaris was about 300+ only, sth higher than that are completely unrealistic in my opinion. With that kind of weight draws me back from buying this mech, some pricing are needed to change to make it affordable. The design is good enough and doesn’t rly needed to change and I’m cool with it. hope my above opinion will be helpful for you.
polaris was an ultra high production board, this is (im assuming) not
400ish is standard pricing for custom keyboards and has been for a very long time
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I do like :eek:
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Treeleaf approved good job I rly like it
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Oh **** yeah. I'd love me one of these
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What makes the pricing so high? Feel like it should be in the ballpark of let's say a gskt. The design is simple and shouldn't cost a lot to manufacture.
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this looks really, really nice. simple, but thoughtfully designed. if i could use hhkb layout i'd definitely be all over this
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I do remember that Polaris was about 300+ only, sth higher than that are completely unrealistic in my opinion. With that kind of weight draws me back from buying this mech, some pricing are needed to change to make it affordable. The design is good enough and doesn’t rly needed to change and I’m cool with it. hope my above opinion will be helpful for you.
400ish is standard pricing for custom keyboards and has been for a very long time
not for a keyboard like this
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What makes the pricing so high? Feel like it should be in the ballpark of let's say a gskt. The design is simple and shouldn't cost a lot to manufacture.
i don't think op even really knows what the price will be, only says they're aiming for under 400. depending on manu and moq price will vary greatly. gskt was priced well, but also had an initial moq of 200. is gskt was limited to 50 units or so it likely would have been quite a bit more, or so i imagine.
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any possibility of adding lighting support of some kind? At the least just through hole led? I'm a real sucker for using led window keycaps for things like caps, esc, and function.
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Can we get more beans? Love the board, GLWIC!
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What makes the pricing so high? Feel like it should be in the ballpark of let's say a gskt. The design is simple and shouldn't cost a lot to manufacture.
i don't think op even really knows what the price will be, only says they're aiming for under 400. depending on manu and moq price will vary greatly. gskt was priced well, but also had an initial moq of 200. is gskt was limited to 50 units or so it likely would have been quite a bit more, or so i imagine.
I mean the theo60 was limited to 30 boards and was really well priced just as another example.
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BEANTIME
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M
E
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Cant wait for my special silver bean
love this ;D
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Bean me!
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Beautiful board, always happy to see projects that the designers actually care about make it into IC. Keep up the great work man.
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any possibility of adding lighting support of some kind? At the least just through hole led? I'm a real sucker for using led window keycaps for things like caps, esc, and function.
If there's enough interest I may consider some indicator LEDs on caps lock/esc.
Interesting project going on.
I'm curious as to how much room you are leaving between the bottom of the PCB and the top of the bottoms tray. Having a 1.2mm PCB with a flex cut is going to result in a fair amount of movement, for sure.
Considering you have functional proto and haven't run into any issues of pins hitting the tray; I'm assuming that there is ample room?
Also, It'd be a real shame if this got even close to 400usd if it were to go to GB.
Best of luck with your IC!
Thanks for the concern. there's 3-4.7mm of space between the bottom of the PCB and the inside of the case depending on which row you look at, there is a decent amount of movement but with the PCB installed and soldered there's no contact under normal typing pressure. As expected, it is relatively easy to cause a short by pressing with a bit more pressure but i've been told this can be mitigated with some paper under the PCB to insulate.
I have been considering increasing the internal clearance but there isn't much room towards the bottom rows due to the low front height, I will be doing further testing with proto 2 and with some other people to ensure it won't be an issue with the final boards.
Regarding pricing, I hate ICs that give an unrealistic price estimate and while I'm faily confident I can be comfortably under 400usd, I've given the very upper pricing limit based on a low quantitiy run.
That sounds good to me man, as long as under relatively normal typing pressure everything is a-ok then there's no cause for change imo. The low front height(to R4) just gave me a slight bit of concern.
Do update us on the progress of future protos though! :thumb:
Regarding the price; I absolutely agree with you on unrealistic prices. I'd suggest shying away from stating a price in a fresh IC waiting it out until you have scaled quotes from your manu/vendor involvement, all to avoid some unsavory comments that have already been posted.
May I suggest some more colour options? Avail options like silver and grey will go a long way for me at least.
Colour options are unlikely, as I mentioned in the OP, I wanted to make a board that fit my own very specific wants and black was part of that.
To address your comment and all the others on pricing, I do have multiple quotes from my manu and as I mentioned earlier the price estimate given is a very high estimate, this is based on an extremely low MOQ because I'm undecided on how I'll end up running this board.
Given that, I think it's a bit unfair to compare the price estimate to boards like the Polaris or GSKT that were priced at and sold at 10x the quantity I'm planning.
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nice work brother; good luck with the second round of PCBs
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very cute, very pog, glwgb
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my cat's name is Bean so I feel obligated to purchase one.
Looks good, very cute design on the back.
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Looks very nice, I'll be looking for one for my collection, probably as a shelf queen though because I need numpad for my work flow
For y'all complaining about price, if it's too expensive for you you're not the target market. Get some prototypes and manufactured boards made then come back and complain about other people's pricing.
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Beans yes
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Looks very nice, I'll be looking for one for my collection, probably as a shelf queen though because I need numpad for my work flow
For y'all complaining about price, if it's too expensive for you you're not the target market. Get some prototypes and manufactured boards made then come back and complain about other people's pricing.
That's not how it works buddy. You can complain about things just by comparing it to other, similar things
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Looks very nice, I'll be looking for one for my collection, probably as a shelf queen though because I need numpad for my work flow
For y'all complaining about price, if it's too expensive for you you're not the target market. Get some prototypes and manufactured boards made then come back and complain about other people's pricing.
That's not how it works buddy. You can complain about things just by comparing it to other, similar things
Seriously. I have no opinion about the price, but this is an IC. This is where the criticism needs to happen. Chastising other potential buyers for their issues in the product during IC phase is not a good practice.
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Bean is cute, but probably not for me.
Hhkb good. I like the low front height and the typing angle.
But if we are ballparking $400 I'd rather just spend the extra $50 and get something with a bit more heft and a little more rinterwsting and efined like the Kei.
The emblem on this reminds me of the back of the Southpaw75 v2
Not crazy about that seam.
Nothing about this really stands out to me. Maybe consider spicing it up a bit with something like a copper plate, copper seam around where the cases meet, or even a little copper bean on the topside?
GLWIC
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Looks very nice, I'll be looking for one for my collection, probably as a shelf queen though because I need numpad for my work flow
For y'all complaining about price, if it's too expensive for you you're not the target market. Get some prototypes and manufactured boards made then come back and complain about other people's pricing.
That's not how it works buddy. You can complain about things just by comparing it to other, similar things
Seriously. I have no opinion about the price, but this is an IC. This is where the criticism needs to happen. Chastising other potential buyers for their issues in the product during IC phase is not a good practice.
As you said it's an IC. I'm just voicing my personal opinion about the price. I'm not trying to deter anyone from buying it.
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Very cute, and also very clean
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thoughtful design :thumb:
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nice. i’m interested.
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Eyyy looks awesome. Very interested.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Let me stroke bean please
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Let me stroke bean please
Hi Peppy, we can stroke bean together
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Let me stroke bean please
Hi Peppy, we can stroke bean together
Oh yes!
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yes
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ne typing test avail
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ne typing test avail
I don't have good audio recording equipment but I may find someone to record one for me once I receive the second prototype.
But, my observations from using it for the last few weeks are that it has a very muted sound overall and the spacebar is poppy.
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Is the plan for now to just make it in black or are other colors on the table? I think this would be really cute in white with a pink bean.
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ne typing test avail
I don't have good audio recording equipment but I may find someone to record one for me once I receive the second prototype.
But, my observations from using it for the last few weeks are that it has a very muted sound overall and the spacebar is poppy.
sounds great :thumb: any eta on the second proto?
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Very nice and clean design. I would like to see how that 4 point top mount plate works out for the flex, cause I know a lot of the plates out there are 6 or 7 point top mount.
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Is the plan for now to just make it in black or are other colors on the table? I think this would be really cute in white with a pink bean.
Black only for now, my manu has shown me some decent e-white samples but I've had a very specific vision in mind for this board and black is part of that.
ne typing test avail
I don't have good audio recording equipment but I may find someone to record one for me once I receive the second prototype.
But, my observations from using it for the last few weeks are that it has a very muted sound overall and the spacebar is poppy.
sounds great :thumb: any eta on the second proto?
I'm just waiting to confirm final USB port height so I can adjust the cutout on the case as my current proto is slightly off, tentatively by the end of January but my PCB designer is pretty busy at the moment and this isn't a priority.
Very nice and clean design. I would like to see how that 4 point top mount plate works out for the flex, cause I know a lot of the plates out there are 6 or 7 point top mount.
Here's a really bad video I took when I first put the proto together to try and show some of the flex - https://youtu.be/eDOrpJEoHu0 (https://youtu.be/eDOrpJEoHu0)
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I'm so into this for the low front height and hhkb layout.
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Tiny approved from the great beyond. 10/10 she would have stepped on it.
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The price is big oof but beans are lit
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<3
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Would be in for this 100% if it had a split spacebar option.
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I like it. Will you be considering white as a case color option? That would be so perfect. Thanks!
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winning
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Glwic I like the bottom part and the pcb design is cute! Wish you all the best for this IC!
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Is this still happening or I missed it?
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Is this still happening or I missed it?
It hasn't happened yet.
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very sleek design, nice work!