Hello all and welcome to the prototype writeup,
First off, I would like to apologize for the delay in posting this writeup. When I received the prototype three weeks ago, I quickly assembled the board and started playing around with it, excited to collect all of my thoughts and to share them with you. However, as I began writing about the issues with my prototype, I couldn't help but open Fusion to try to fix them. As one weekend turned into one week, I grew self-conscious about making this post without proposing the very fixes I was working on. One week turned into two as I took my midterms and had to turn my attention away from the Evolv and onto school. This break was a blessing in disguise: upon returning to the board model, I realized the fixes I was making were hacks to get around fundamental design issues of the board, so I ripped off the band-aid and redesigned the entire thing from the ground up. However, before I talk about the redesign, I must share my thoughts about the original prototype with all of you.
Let's start with the big one: the bottom of the board. I love it; I couldn't have been happier with how it came out; nevertheless, there is room for improvement. First is the side angle of the board, as seen in this photo:
Despite being the visual focal point of the board, a user of the Evolv cannot easily see the generative design of the bottom as the tendrils 'hide' underneath the top case of the keyboard, almost defeating the purpose of the design.
Aesthetics aside, most of my qualms with the bottom came with the manufacturing process. Not only is metal 3d printing exceedingly expensive (as in, I don't think I reasonably could've made the <$1000 mark if I had gone for this manufacturing solution), but I was also quite disappointed with the quality of the print. The images below demonstrate what I mean:
As can be seen in the red circles in the second image, the inside of the printed part shows clear printing defects. Despite the coating (mostly) covering those issues on the outside (look at the bottom of the left slot to see an easily visible defect), a board at this price point should be perfect inside and out. Furthermore, while the manufacturing tolerances I designed around were sufficient for making the parts fit into each other, I was still extremely disappointed by them, with straight lines in CAD being wobbly messes in person. Finally, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but AlSi10Mg sounds odd, seemingly amplifying structure born sound when typing, making the board a pingy mess (more on this when I talk about the integrated plate). Overall, the direction of the bottom was perfect, but it needed some minor revisions to be near the standards I'm looking for in this project.
Next comes the integrated plate, and note, the plate was not generated for this revision of the prototype: it sucked. The big issue with integrated plates, as many of you know, is they are incapable of dissipating the structure born noise caused by pressing a switch. Check out my very scientific diagram below comparing noise propagation through a case with an integrated plate vs. one with a full isolation gasket:
Every time you bottom out a switch, you cause the plate to vibrate at a certain frequency. When you integrate a plate directly into a case, nothing prevents those vibrations from propagating through the rest of the case and turning your keyboard into a resonator. However, when a gasket material is added between the plate and the case, it acts as a vibration dampener, preventing the propagation of structure born noise. With the Evolv, this was a particular issue, as these vibrations cause the 3d printed part to resonate, turning it into a pingy nightmare.
Finally, I personally found the Evolv's outer bezels to be too thin, evoking the look of a Tofu instead of a premium board.
So, what am I doing to fix these issues?
1: The Issue: The generative bottom is not visible enough from the side. The Fix: A complete redesign of the bottom, pushing the tendrils right to the edge of the board.
2: The Issue: Cost and Quality of 3d printing the bottom. The Fix: Investing into molds for casting the base, lowering per unit production cost by a factor of 5.
3: The Issue: Structureborn noise propagation with an integrated plate. The Fix: A full isolation gasket inspired by boards like the J-01 and Kepler.
4: The Issue: Thin top bezels. The Fix: Thicker top bezels, which as a bonus, accommodate the new mounting solution.
5: The Issue: Lack of plate layout options. The Fix: Separate plate with fixed layout options for ISO and ANSI.
The Evolv has truly evolved, and I want to thank all of you for your patience as I've worked through this redesign. Main OP will be updated with the new board design shortly, and following that, I will open a new IC poll with some questions I have for you, the community.
- Nathan <3
