[IC] DIY keyboard Bundle {Value-Edition} (Palm Rest IC)

[GhostofHarry]

Pic for the whole keyboard
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=57948.msg1344671#msg1344671


Hi,   its me again.

I have had a thought of linking up the chinese market with the world before
and after a chat with berserkfan weeks ago, I am even more confident that this is gonna work.
It was about a plan to start up GB one in a short period about the chinese products that are cheap and fun

And this is the very first project that I have been working on since last month,
a value-edition DIY keyboard bundle that includes everything you need for a working keyboard other than keycap.

this is a bundle that may suit your need if you'd like to try and build your customized keyboard but you don't know where(or too lazy) to get everything, in a cheaper price
And its also an Aluminium Housing Keyboard that meets its price

I did not open any GB nor IC before as I would like to gather more information and samples before i start it, to show that I am kind of prepared before starting an IC
yet I am introducing this now because I found that ppl actually feel interested about this board
I would try not to let this project fail due to diluted orders 

As I have said      this bundle would include nearly everything that u originally might have to source from different places
I grouped all of them up from the China market and put them all in.
By the mean time, I would also like to introduce the products from china to you guys. There are these many options to build a board when sourcing china!
And if you guys would like, we can hold more GBs to get these with cheaper price

With a large batch, it comes with a pretty decent price!
The following are included

1.)Red Scarf II GH-DT version (Named : Red Scarf II ISO)

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In short, a GH and DT only version of Red Scarf II  with addition of an ISO layout to the PCB
So it is capable of doing all the things it can do now + ISO layout ( a more complete /versatile version)
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=57424.0
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=57976.0
77 key layout ,Runs Atmel 32U4, Fully programmable , full led support with 3 levels of light and a breathing mode
and its good with both PCB mounted and Plate mounted switches

The numpad part can be dislocated, to form a 60% keyboard.   
But it still can be soldered back to form a whole 77.

All IC and SMD parts are presoldered, the only soldering work need to do is to solder the switches and LED to the PCB!

The Red Scarf 2 is actually designed for the chinese market, it does not contain an ISO layout as most chinese uses standard ANSI layout

This is kind of the first custom keyboard with new layout that is designed originally in china, and is also for sale in the market
I think this is a pretty good product which is attractive with its layout and at the same time, do not touches the Copyright issue

As i have actually been playing keyboard for quite a long period of time in china, and 悬壶济世 is one of my very good friend
I asked him to provide me an ISO version of the 77 (red scarf 2) and asked for more anodizing options (more colours, as theres only 3 colours in china)
And he is nice enough to promise that this particular version will be exclusive for GH and DT

But as he is doing his GB in China, he said he will handle orders from us at late may or early June
but i will be getting some colour platesas as sample of the anodized aluminium soon!

2.)Aluminium Housing + MKC legs

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An Aluminium Housing (semi aluminium-housing to be precise) that comes in 3 parts

Top :  3mm Anodized  Aluminium
Middle : 12mm acrylic
Bottom : 3mm Anodized  Aluminium

Footings : MKC Metal Feets

For Chinese version, there will only be three anodizing colour : Red, Black and original Silver
For the GH-DT version (Red Scarf II ISO), we are gonna have more anodizing options
Samples will be sent to me very soon and i will update you guys ASAP

3.) Anodized Aluminium Plates

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1.5mm Anodized Aluminium Plates, similar to the case, originally with only 3 anodizing option.
And we have more options coming up soon that is exclusively for the GB in GH and DT

The plate will be ISO || ANSI compatible, but the 1800 and winkey|winkeyless layout will be seperated into two style


This is how the plate looks like at the ISO || ANSI compatible part

4.) 100 Plate Mounted Black Swithces

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I have only sourced black swithces atm, I will keep on trying to get more options

5.) Stablizers

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The brand new stabalizers are product from the Hammer, which u may have heard of his 60% case and plates
It comes with black wire in 7 2x , 1 6.25x  and 1 7x stablizer which can fit any layout you like!

6.) Switch Stickers

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switch stickers designed and manufactured by hc3277738
they are made of PET or PVC, with varies kinds of colours which can be chosen in the bundle!
From my experience, PVC are more rigid and sticks better

7.)Lindy Cable

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Quality Cable!
Lindy Cable are very popular in china, mainly because of the style added to your board with its coiled cable
But as i know, ppl may need a longer cable rather than the 0.5m -ish coiled cable
therefore i have also sourced for options like 1m and 2m straight cables from lindy

8.) LED

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Very cheap in china, I will likely be ordering 2x3x4 LED
as normal 3mm LED may be too high and top cherry profile keycaps
though 3mm has more colour options, i think 2x3x4 LED are easily if its do no have much experience in this
4-6 colours will be available, eg Green, Red, Blue, White, Orange, Yellow

With the above bundle, what u need next is a set of keycaps that you would love to be on this set


This bundle will come at price around 150-200 USD + shipping and paypal fee, depending on the amount of orders we have
Accepts Seperate orders from the bundle (like  i only want item 1 2 3)


for shipping fee, you can take reference of the following price list
http://www.hongkongpost.hk/eng/postage/overseas/parcel/air/index.htm

As my taihao gb may arrive in similar time, i think its better for me to ship both this bundle and the keycap together if some of you ordered them both


This GB will start once i got the samples, (hopefully late may - early June(turbo on, asking 悬壶济世 to speed our progress up )to make sure everyone knows what they would get and for me to confirm everythings going according to the plan


Options of buying above item separately will be provided



Since the last IC , which is the Taihao GB, there are quite a lot of ppl judging me by the experience and period of time that i have join the community
I think the best way to prove myself is to work hard on every GB i start, and make sure everything's fine.

Sourcing the above is not an easy task for a beginner, which i hope somehow gives confident to you guys that im not that green
I have actually been playing keyboard in China for quite a long time and would like to provide more options to the community
and at the same time, to show u guys that there are decent products developed in china and hopefully in HK in the future!

Please feel free to show ur interest or ask question below!

[Sifo]

I'd be interested for ANSI :O but this is nice for ISO users.

[GhostofHarry]

I'd be interested for ANSI :O but this is nice for ISO users.

it supports both ISO and ANSI

i asked him to add ISO layout to the PCB

one of the beauty of this pcb is that you can use cheap 1800 doubleshots on it

[CommonCurt]

Possibly interested in ANSI.  When will you have pictures of the cases?

[GhostofHarry]

Possibly interested in ANSI.  When will you have pictures of the cases?

As 悬壶济世 have not even get the case himself.......

I will use the picture he take when he got his sample, to show you guys how the case looks like
(though his photography skills s___)

it is pretty much a 3 layers case, with a 12mm acrylic between 3mm anodized aluminium on top and bottom of it
MKC feet are needed or there will be two big holes at the bottom part of the case
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.0.0.hlC7TD&id=37977513691

[pasph]

Interested in ISO

[yicaoyimu]

悬壶济世 FTW.

[Puddsy]

I'm down

that price is pretty good, too

[intelli78]

悬壶济世 FTW.

Classic 悬壶济世.

[geniekid]

Interested...

[minho]

Super interested/excited

Thanks Harry! 加油 and stuff woot

[SL89]

I'd really like the combination provided here but I need ANSI.

[GhostofHarry]

sorry for my misleading title

The PCB in the IC is actually capable of doing both ISO and ANSI
18xx, winkey, winkeyless
its just that   the title of the PCB will be "Red Scarf II ISO",  addition of ISO to the board

so ANSI ppl has no worries

[nuclearsandwich]

I know you mentioned combining shipping for folks who do this and your Tai Hao buy but I think it might be better to do one group buy at a time. All inclusive group buys like this one can get fatally popular. Poor Sprit is still trying to sort out his entire round one half a year later. Make your Tai Hao buy ultra successful and use it to learn lessons and make mistakes with items of considerably smaller value than an entire keyboard kit. That would be my recommendation anyway.

[SpAmRaY]

I know you mentioned combining shipping for folks who do this and your Tai Hao buy but I think it might be better to do one group buy at a time. All inclusive group buys like this one can get fatally popular. Poor Sprit is still trying to sort out his entire round one half a year later. Make your Tai Hao buy ultra successful and use it to learn lessons and make mistakes with items of considerably smaller value than an entire keyboard kit. That would be my recommendation anyway.

^^ much wisdom.

OP I'm sure you mean very well and am glad to see people wanting to get us things that might normally be hard to get however you should take it slow and not get in over your head. Because even though your new and unknown some people will still throw money at you, that puts you in a dangerous spot. We don't need more failed buys around here.

[GhostofHarry]

no worries

i have back ups with me 

At the stuffs comes in the designated packings.
We wouldn't have to count too much of them

It is too risky and too greedy to do two gbs alone

I'm not alone doing all these:)

[SL89]

sorry for my misleading title

The PCB in the IC is actually capable of doing both ISO and ANSI
18xx, winkey, winkeyless
its just that   the title of the PCB will be "Red Scarf II ISO",  addition of ISO to the board

so ANSI ppl has no worries

Good to hear, I'll stay tuned in here and the Qtan / Taobao thread.

[ebacho]

Interested in ANSI.

[minho]

Interested in ANSI.

Just FYI, it's all the same - he called it the Red Scarf 77 ISO because the regular edition is only ANSI compatible, while this special edition is compatible with both layouts.

[Harrowed]

Very interested in red scarf Now, where do I get all the money I need for your group buys... 

[Zombly]

Interested in ANSI. <3

[feizor]

Also interested. Bringing us all the good stuff Harry

[GhostofHarry]

thinking to put this as one of the giveaway in the GB...

A beta sample from the designer
Good enough to be a stock product
Cherry MX compatible capacitor board
you cannot buy this anywhere atm

i think some of you may feel interested about it

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[jdcarpe]

So the Universal 77-key plate will look something like this, correct?

[rsheldiii]

noob here so forgive me if this is dumb, I was just wondering, is the numpad hot swappable? or does it have to start attached to the board? I've been looking for something unique for a first board project and I think a 60% with a breakaway numpad is damn well unique enough

[geniekid]

So the Universal 77-key plate will look something like this, correct?

Show Image

That appears to match very closely to the pictures in the OP.  Impressive!

[GhostofHarry]

So the Universal 77-key plate will look something like this, correct?

Show Image

yes

i am not sure about the bottom left part though, at the left Ctrl and alt
悬壶济世 planned to put two 1.5x ctrl alt beside the spacebar.
making it similar to the 1838

[SpAmRaY]

So basically this is a GH60 with an attached GHPad?

[jdcarpe]

So basically this is a GH60 with an attached GHPad?

That's exactly what it is, Ray.

i am not sure about the bottom left part though, at the left Ctrl and alt
悬壶济世 planned to put two 1.5x ctrl alt beside the spacebar.
making it similar to the 1838

You're right, I forgot to add the 1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1 layout.


This is better:

[tinlong117]

So basically this is a GH60 with an attached GHPad?

That's exactly what it is, Ray.

i am not sure about the bottom left part though, at the left Ctrl and alt
悬壶济世 planned to put two 1.5x ctrl alt beside the spacebar.
making it similar to the 1838

You're right, I forgot to add the 1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1 layout.


This is better:

Show Image

iso 1.25 shift

[jdcarpe]

iso 1.25 shift

It's there.


Of course, I can't be sure my stabilizer holes are pointed the right direction, or are 180-degrees rotated, without seeing the actual PCB with stabilizer holes drilled.

[GhostofHarry]

noob here so forgive me if this is dumb, I was just wondering, is the numpad hot swappable? or does it have to start attached to the board? I've been looking for something unique for a first board project and I think a 60% with a breakaway numpad is damn well unique enough

The numpad can only be attached at the right hand side of the 60%
the connection can also be soldered back later on .

The numpad must be attached to the board to be used as it does not have a I/O port
The 60% part can still be used if u have cut away the numpad part

So basically this is a GH60 with an attached GHPad?

That's exactly what it is, Ray.

Sorry for letting you guys to think like so.

As far as i know, the PCB has difference in a few parts
As the numpad is added, it gives some new layout like 1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1  bottom row
also, the board is compatible with the two size of IC

i am not a pro to board designing but i will ask him to clarify if theres need of it

i dont mean to take advantage of the GH60 and GH pad design , or any kind of disrespect to the authors
if there are conflict of interest or so
I am willing to stop this project immediately

[jdcarpe]

Sorry for letting you guys to think like so.

As far as i know, the PCB has difference in a few parts
As the numpad is added, it gives some new layout like 1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1  bottom row
also, the board is compatible with the two size of IC

i dont mean to take advantage of the GH60 and GH pad or any kind of disrespectful
if there are conflict of interest or so
I am willing to stop this project immediately

Yes, I'm positive there are differences in the PCB. It's not a direct copy of the design, but a nice modification by 悬壶济世. I'm not offended, and I think this has a place in the community. He took two open source designs, combined them, and made some changes, such as the LED backlighting modes, controller ICs, etc.

I wouldn't want you guys to stop doing this project at all. On the contrary, please proceed when ready. This will have demand in the market, and if you can get them completed in a short amount of time, so much the better.

[rsheldiii]

noob here so forgive me if this is dumb, I was just wondering, is the numpad hot swappable? or does it have to start attached to the board? I've been looking for something unique for a first board project and I think a 60% with a breakaway numpad is damn well unique enough

The numpad can only be attached at the right hand side of the 60%
the connection can also be soldered back later on .

The numpad must be attached to the board to be used as it does not have a I/O port
The 60% part can still be used if u have cut away the numpad part

right, maybe my question is silly, but I was planning on wiring the connections so that I could reattach the numpad with a wire when I wanted to, and design my own cases for both pieces. You have through-holes on both sides of the break so it wouldn't be too hard, but I'm not an electrical guy, so I wasn't sure if that would mess something up

thanks for all your hard work on this by the way

[yicaoyimu]

So basically this is a GH60 with an attached GHPad?

That's exactly what it is, Ray.

Sorry for letting you guys to think like so.

As far as i know, the PCB has difference in a few parts
As the numpad is added, it gives some new layout like 1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1  bottom row
also, the board is compatible with the two size of IC

i am not a pro to board designing but i will ask him to clarify if theres need of it

i dont mean to take advantage of the GH60 and GH pad design , or any kind of disrespect to the authors
if there are conflict of interest or so
I am willing to stop this project immediately

Don't worry my friend. JD said that just to make it easier to understand what this project is. He's not saying this project is a copy of what's already there. And of course 悬壶济世 won't do that anyway.

[GhostofHarry]

Sorry for letting you guys to think like so.

As far as i know, the PCB has difference in a few parts
As the numpad is added, it gives some new layout like 1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1  bottom row
also, the board is compatible with the two size of IC

i dont mean to take advantage of the GH60 and GH pad or any kind of disrespectful
if there are conflict of interest or so
I am willing to stop this project immediately

Yes, I'm positive there are differences in the PCB. It's not a direct copy of the design, but a nice modification by 悬壶济世. I'm not offended, and I think this has a place in the community. He took two open source designs, combined them, and made some changes, such as the LED backlighting modes, controller ICs, etc.

I wouldn't want you guys to stop doing this project at all. On the contrary, please proceed when ready. This will have demand in the market, and if you can get them completed in a short amount of time, so much the better.

  phew   pressure released

I think i can actually start this GB even earlier than the Taihao im having,
because in this GB, i have better communications with all the parties and most of them are stock product.
it only takes 2-3 days to come to play place and i can start sorting them
i can start collecting orders that are similar to

The pcb and housing would take around 1 month though, but sorting these large component shouldnt be a difficult task

It feels good to contribute to the community and to be be recognized
i have been planning this with my fd
thinking of what product to be included and try to lower the cost as much as possible
calculating risks and expenses
if MOQ are enough, i can also order some latest project from hc3277738 and include them in every order

he is making some embossed led keycaps which looks really nice
and its fully customizable , applicable in spacebar, R1-R4  row a - row e

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its better than anything as long as you guys like it!

[GhostofHarry]

Don't worry my friend. JD said that just to make it easier to understand what this project is. He's not saying this project is a copy of what's already there. And of course 悬壶济世 won't do that anyway.

caomu....in the past few days, i couldnt sleep becuz i was so excited about adding different great stuffs from china to this bundle

haha   this is a really fun project and i love it

[SpAmRaY]

1.)Red Scarf II GH-DT version (Named : Red Scarf II ISO)
2.)Aluminium Housing + MKC legs
3.) Anodized Aluminium Plates

Will it be possible to buy only these parts?

[GhostofHarry]

1.)Red Scarf II GH-DT version (Named : Red Scarf II ISO)
2.)Aluminium Housing + MKC legs
3.) Anodized Aluminium Plates

Will it be possible to buy only these parts?

yes

will accept seperated orders in the GB

[sublime]

Interested in this for sure  However I may only order only certain parts of the order, ie PCB, plate, and case

[Pacifist]

any hard anodizing options?

[GhostofHarry]

any hard anodizing options?

its possible

but the price will not be as cheap as now it is

[Pacifist]

any hard anodizing options?

its possible

but the price will not be as cheap as now it is

I don't mind. Its hard finding hard anodized cases

[GhostofHarry]

any hard anodizing options?

its possible

but the price will not be as cheap as now it is

I don't mind. Its hard finding hard anodized cases

ok

i will see if i can make this happen

[mashby]

1.)Red Scarf II GH-DT version (Named : Red Scarf II ISO)
2.)Aluminium Housing + MKC legs
3.) Anodized Aluminium Plates

Will it be possible to buy only these parts?

yes

will accept seperated orders in the GB

Fantastic. If the PCB is available by itself, then I'm definitely going to buy one.

[Findecanor]

What is the matrix on the numeric keypad? Could I cut off a column or two from the right to make a semi-TKL and it would still work?
I have been planning such a keyboard for a while, and this might be perfect for it, I think. I already have everything but the PCB to put it together, having originally planned to hard-wire it.

ps. If this is a "GH-DT Version", then post about it on DT already!

[okwchin]

I am not familiar with the 1800 layout, but the idea of having most of a full keyboard in a fraction of the space is really attractive.

What seems to be missing though are three modifiers on the bottom left row as this is a win keyless?

There was mention of a win keyless and winkey variant of the 1800. I am trying to work out what kind of layout it would involve?

1.5-1.5-7-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1 - normal 1800?

1.25-1.25-1.25-6.25-1.5-1.5-1-1-1-1-1-1 - for a winkey 1800?

One way to add an extra modifier on the bottom, but obviously requires a mis-match in size, and a wide plate hole. But at least it preserves the standard 6.25 spacebar.

Otherwise, a collection of 1 units on the bottom right gives an extra winkey, but a busier look

1.25-1.25-1.25-6.25-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

[yicaoyimu]

What you suggested is only possible with an universal plate, which is still being designed. The possible layouts right now is what you see in OP.

[Pacifist]

is the controller reprogramble?

[GhostofHarry]

is the controller reprogramble?

yes it is

Will provide more info bout the GUI programming in gb

What you suggested is only possible with an universal plate, which is still being designed. The possible layouts right now is what you see in OP.

actually, i have suggested the plate that JD has draw early in this post to 悬壶济世
and i think we are gonna have a universal plate in our GB

Big thanks to JD!