[IC] Pluto - FRL with Dual Mounting

[saab]

PLUTO


Pluto, an affordable frl. The main purpose of this board is to introduce more people to the best layout.
This board was originally designed to be O-ring gasket mount only, Top mount was added to make the board whole.
Sticking with a mimal design, the engraving of planets was replaced with the Logo surrounding with pluto moons and planets.
Pluto now also features an accent Piece with an engraving of Pluto Symbol below the nav cluster.

Please note : This is an extremely early interest check, more info found at bottom in the FaQ section.

IC FORM
DISCORD

Specs
Typing Angle : 6 Degrees
Front Height : 17.10mm
Dual Mounting : O-ring Gasket & Top Mount
Layout : WKL & WK
Top & Bottom Material : Aluminium 6063
Internal Weight : Sand Blasted Stainless Steel
PCB : 1.60mm

Price
Price Point = $250
Vendor : KBDFans

Design

This is the new design for the Top Piece, it features an engraving and a stainless steel accent piece.
The engraving is for the planet symbol for Pluto, suits the keyboard and the theme. It was requested
in the IC response to do something for the Top piece, so here we are.








Exploded View


Brass Bottom



For those who like their board heavy, the bottom piece fully made out of brass should be the perfect solution.
feedback is greatly appreciated regarding the brass bottom, if it should be made into a reality or not. The acoustics of the entire board
will be affected due to the material difference. The aluminium bottom piece will be with the base kit, Brass piece will be offered for extra
cost. The price of the brass piece is not sure yet.

Layout



Possible Colors
More colours will be added as we continue getting more responses from the IC, suggestions are welcomed.
As we are still in an early IC phase, more colours can be chosen.







FaQ
Why do you not have a prototype before posting an IC?
This was out of my control, as ive decided to go with kbdfans for this project. They want to do an IC before the prototype,
its really not up to me unfortunately.

You already have one IC, why? and whats going on with it.
The Hira70 is getting to GB stage slowly and surely, as for why another IC? Because i originally i wanted to create a frl tkl
that was less than 400$ which was Hira70 but the price shot up as i made changes. this means more FRLs!!

Will hotswap pcb be offered
yes.

Dual Mounting?
yes, you can either use it top mount by screwing in the plate to the top piece. or you can put an oring around the pcb/plate
and seat the pcb without having to screw it to the top.

Thank you for checking out my IC for Pluto, once again if you could please fill in the Interest Check form it will help this project sail smoothly and will concrete the decisions.
Suggestions for colours are appreciated greatly <3

[saab]

Reserved for updates

[B_D]

this looks really cool will def follow 

[LosTaquitos]

Definitely keeping an eye on this! Love the design of the three planets. I notice that foam is not mentioned or shown at all, is foam simply not planned for the Pluto or has it just not been added to the IC yet? I'd like to at least have the option to add case and/or plate foam, even if for extra cost. Looking great so far!

[saab]

Definitely keeping an eye on this! Love the design of the three planets. I notice that foam is not mentioned or shown at all, is foam simply not planned for the Pluto or has it just not been added to the IC yet? I'd like to at least have the option to add case and/or plate foam, even if for extra cost. Looking great so far!

Hey, thanks ive read your response in the IC form, just added a question to see how many people prefer foam.
Foam isnt expensive, if its done extra. I will be able to add it <3

[Friendship]

Looks cool! Can you show the oring/top mount points?

[NihonCK]

will other plate options be available?

[Sieglinde]

How about a white color for the Pluto since the white ver of the Hira did not make it?

[saab]

will other plate options be available?

Yes, Aluminium and PC are the main focus at the moment. Since its an early IC, the response from the IC will help reveal more plate options to add

How about a white color for the Pluto since the white ver of the Hira did not make it?

would love to do that, the response from IC will help determine it.
However, most likely e-white will probably one of the options.

Looks cool! Can you show the oring/top mount points?

[yuzuu_]

Just wanted to say I love the pricing of this, and the fact that it can o-ring mounted and top mounted which is not something you see at this price point.

Is there any chance for WKL? And if WKL, would be cool to have some engravings of Pluto on the blockers or something like that. I'm sure it would add to the cost a little but it would make the board even more unique.

GLWIC!

[Robert.Lussier5]

Would it be possible to provide gaskets to go over the top mount mounting points? Similar to the Sonnet?

[o3okevin]

Looking nice!

[Jho]

Looks intriguing. Love the weight. Will watch for a prototype with a sound test if possible! Just want to get a general sound for the board. The mounting styles are promising for for what I'm looking for so very curious about the sound on each.

[Mr Chrome]

This is a few of my favourite things.

[geaktior]

cool board will pay continuous attention to it.
would you consider adding more screws in the middle? 4 small screws for this long boy seems too less.

[saab]

cool board will pay continuous attention to it.
would you consider adding more screws in the middle? 4 small screws for this long boy seems too less.

Thanks <3,  4 screws are fine for this seamless board. if any concerns are raised, i can make changes before i get a prototype made

Would it be possible to provide gaskets to go over the top mount mounting points? Similar to the Sonnet?

Not at the moment, it will probably increase the price of the board having to get custom sock/gaskets made.

Just wanted to say I love the pricing of this, and the fact that it can o-ring mounted and top mounted which is not something you see at this price point.

Is there any chance for WKL? And if WKL, would be cool to have some engravings of Pluto on the blockers or something like that. I'm sure it would add to the cost a little but it would make the board even more unique.

GLWIC!

Yes 100% WKL is a must have. In the specs, ive mentioned layouts : WK & WKL.
ill add in a render soon <3

[pixelpusher]

PC plate, top mount, seamless, hotswap, FRL TKL with a space theme?  For 300?  Sign me up. Looks like perfection to me.

[leggoeggoninja]

The bottom is very similar to the Mercury 65 in design with the two tone engraving showcasing planets surrounded by stars. I think it draws too much inspiration from it personally with how it is styled to the point it seems copied.

[pixelpusher]

The bottom is very similar to the Mercury 65 in design with the two tone engraving showcasing planets surrounded by stars. I think it draws too much inspiration from it personally with how it is styled to the point it seems copied.

I see what you're saying, b/c I bought the Mercury 65 as well.  I kinda assumed this was going to get run by the same manufacturer, and they know the process at this point 

[saab]

The bottom is very similar to the Mercury 65 in design with the two tone engraving showcasing planets surrounded by stars. I think it draws too much inspiration from it personally with how it is styled to the point it seems copied.

Hey, the inspiration for engraving came from solar system tattoos and geometrical planets. "it seems copied" I strongly disagree, bold statement. Ive messaged the designer of Mercury65 to get their opinion to see if ive "copied" the design, two very different designs to begin with. I always show the process of my designs in my discord so everyone knows whats going on.
you can see the process of the engraving.

[en_tr0P]

Love the look, nice and simplistic with a beautiful bottom. Would love to see some more etching between the arrows and nav cluster to pull it all together

[treeleaf64]

everyone and their mother has become an FRL

Edit : FRL good

[Toptiginn]

wow, the space theme is just super 

[EminXIII]

Saab, that's a gorgeous looking board!
GLWIC

[Aethelberht]

FRLTKL with O-ring / Top mount = sign me in.

[twitchytheinsideman]

Oring, FRL... good stuff.
Interested to see more.

GLWIC 

[Rew23]

Love FRL layouts and the space theme is wonderful. What colors are you planning to run in?

[hirashidan]

Not sure about affordable here, custom keyboards have gotten a lot better and an MOQ of 500 is rather ambitious given that there is not that much new being brought to the table.

[saab]

Not sure about affordable here, custom keyboards have gotten a lot better and an MOQ of 500 is rather ambitious given that there is not that much new being brought to the table.

The price isnt 100% solid, the price went from 300$ to 250$. Ive also made some changes to current design to improve the design a bit more
Ive stuck with the main goal : if the pluto gets above 330$ i will cancel the project.

[ArkOberon]

Def interested, looks like the bottom design got changed. If we're not going to get the original design for the bottom is there any chance for a plain bottom instead (not a big fan of the pluto text)?

[saab]

Def interested, looks like the bottom design got changed. If we're not going to get the original design for the bottom is there any chance for a plain bottom instead (not a big fan of the pluto text)?

I can defenitly look at that, see if we can have an option for plain bottom.

[DatuDatu]

I would love to see a bronze or dark brown case color. I feel like there are very few keyboards out there in those kinds of colors. I'm overall super excited for this board.

[TjarleN]

I preferred the previous bottom engraving a lot. The small engraving on top is cute but the accent piece bothers me. Before it was a very clean looking top with the cool engraving on the bottom and now it feels like the top does a bit too much while the bottom does not do anything. These are obviously all design choices and up to personal preference.

Would be cool to have the old engraving as an option or as someone mentioned before a bottom without text. Still for me the accent piece is just not my cup of tea.

[irithyll]

It would be amazing if the target price point can be achieved. GLWIC!

[Mr Chrome]

I preferred the previous bottom engraving a lot. The small engraving on top is cute but the accent piece bothers me. Here. Before it was a ver clean looking top with the cool engraving on the bottom and now it feels like the top does a bit too much while the bottom does not do anything. These are obviously all design choices and up to personal preference.

Would be cool to have the old engraving as an option or as someone mentioned before a bottom without text. Still for me the accent piece is just not my cup of tea.

^ I liked how the first version was lowkey on the top, and the bottom engraving was a 10/10. Shiny accents are a bit fingerprint/scratch magnet for me, and I think too many boards already have sans serif board name engravings.

The little pluto symbol is cool though, maybe that would make a better bottom engraving than text?

[audax989]

I like the brass bottom option. I agree with the top ss piece. Would be cleaner without it but keep the symbol engraving. All in all a great design and price point.

[saab]

I preferred the previous bottom engraving a lot. The small engraving on top is cute but the accent piece bothers me. Before it was a very clean looking top with the cool engraving on the bottom and now it feels like the top does a bit too much while the bottom does not do anything. These are obviously all design choices and up to personal preference.

Would be cool to have the old engraving as an option or as someone mentioned before a bottom without text. Still for me the accent piece is just not my cup of tea.

I like the brass bottom option. I agree with the top ss piece. Would be cleaner without it but keep the symbol engraving. All in all a great design and price point.

Hey, thank you for the feedback. For the Top piece i did a poll in my discord between 3 top pieces. The current version is the one that got the most votes. The plain top barely recieved any love.

[TjarleN]

Hey, thank you for the feedback. For the Top piece i did a poll in my discord between 3 top pieces. The current version is the one that got the most votes. The plain top barely recieved any love.

Show Image

Option of engraving without accent wasn’t an option?

[saab]

Hey, thank you for the feedback. For the Top piece i did a poll in my discord between 3 top pieces. The current version is the one that got the most votes. The plain top barely recieved any love.

Show Image

Option of engraving without accent wasn’t an option?

Personal Preference, just an engraving is done too much.

[TjarleN]

Fair enough, did not mean to ***** around

[o3okevin]

Liking the new top accents, would prefer the old engraving on the bottom

[Sieglinde]

I would prefer no engraving with the accent piece.

[Jho]

Kind of bummed about the bottom engraving change, loved the first one. This one is still nice on the eyes, but it's just not my cup of tea. Although, if that's where the price difference came from, then I completely understand why that was done. I would also be interested in that plain bottom option if the old design is gone. Love the top Pluto symbol engraving though!

[ylothar]

The initial idea of the project - keep it simple - combined with a beautiful engraving on the bottom was fantastic!!!
Having removed the initial engraving, and added IMHO superfluous details (accent and top engraving), I have the impression that this project has lost sight of the initial premises (price included).
Too bad (for me), but of course GLWIC!!!

[saab]

I would prefer no engraving with the accent piece.

Hmm, maybe there could be an option for that. We are miles away from a prototype and solidfying the decisions.

Kind of bummed about the bottom engraving change, loved the first one. This one is still nice on the eyes, but it's just not my cup of tea. Although, if that's where the price difference came from, then I completely understand why that was done. I would also be interested in that plain bottom option if the old design is gone. Love the top Pluto symbol engraving though!

Thanks alot for your feedback Jho, yea unfortunately old engraving is gone. It wouldve required two tone anodisation to make the engraving fully visible.
 

The initial idea of the project - keep it simple - combined with a beautiful engraving on the bottom was fantastic!!!
Having removed the initial engraving, and added IMHO superfluous details (accent and top engraving), I have the impression that this project has lost sight of the initial premises (price included).
Too bad (for me), but of course GLWIC!!!

Hey ylothar, thanks for your opinion. sorry that you dont like the accent with top engraving. Ive added the question regarding the new top piece and i am still getting feedback from it. I mean there is a reson we do interest checks as for Price 250$ is still lower than 330$ <3

As for Pluto right now, ill be waiting for a prototype and conduct testing. See how it feels, sounds and most importantly the quality.

[Rew23]

Definitely preferred the original bottom design or even blank over the current. The top engraving and the accent piece is a really cool change though. GLWIC.

[mr_foggy]

any chance you could consider offering Pluto in teal/aqua color?

[infinitum]

honestly preferred original engraving and no accent, but that's just what i think
anyways glwic!

[Keeblet_257]

hey there are a few things I am missing and hope that will get updatd before the Pluto (I know its in a early stage of IC) goes into GB.
pictures of the protos so we know what the product looks irl instead of renders. Renders are one thing, but seeing actual protos are another one. My concern comes from keycap renders that in the past had problems matcing the renders. So I would apreciate actual proto pics.
the next thing would be the PCB, are there flexcuts? I didnt find that on the kbdfans IC nor here. Would love to know if it has or doesnt have cuts. And if it has cuts then I would like to know where.

[TypeBis]

very nice, love the specs and the colors you went for.  good luck!