[IC] Y.6 60% Keyboard - Standard/HHKB - Group Buy Live

[yanwrld]

Y.6 - Group buy starting Oct. 29th 6PM Pacific. Ends November 26th






Overview

E-White/Teal and E-Black/Purple Options + Regular or HHKB Layout
Tadpole mount + polycarbonate full plate
Hiney H60 solder PCB + JST daughterboard
Screwless + seamless design

The goal of the Y.6 is to provide a unique typing experience, paired with a beautiful design. The side profile creates an interesting contrast of colour between the two parts.
ISO is not currently supported by the H60. The weight has been updated from the feedback I've received. It's larger and will be sandblasted brass.

Discord Server - Join Here | Instagram - Pictures

Alexotos has done a nice typing video of the E-White/Teal prototype. Check it out here


Case

Top - AL6063 - E Coating
Bottom - AL6063 - Anodized
Weight - Brass
Full Plate - Frosted PC
Half Plate Addon - Al6063 - Anodized








Prototypes

Prototypes are on hand and work flawlessly.
As expected, the tadpoles provided a lot of flex when paired with the polycarbonate plate. I prefer the softer 50A variant.
The brass weight gives it a nice sound signature and the board provides a nice and unique feeling with or without foam.

Changes going from proto to production:
Polished weight -> Sandblasted weight
Black half-plate -> Silver half-plate

The E-White/Teal prototype was assembled on stream. You can look for the VOD on Alexotos' Twitch page or wait for the hyper-lapse on Youtube to review the assembly process along with the internals.

In-House Typing Video | Images


Group Buy Details

FOR CANADIAN CUSTOMERS ONLY - Free half-plate since y'all have to pay tax

1x Top Case
1x Bottom Case
1x Weight
1x PC Plate
1x Hiney H60 JST PCB
1x Universal Daughterboard + JST Cable
1x PORON Foam Sheet
4x White SKUF Feet
2x M3 3mm Screws - Weight
4x M2 4mm Screws - Daughterboard
4x M2 6mm Screws - Case
8x Geonworks 50A Tadpoles

All figures in USD:

Y.6 Keyboard Kit - $380 (Before GST/PST in Canada)

Extra PC Full Plate - $30
Alu Half Plate Addon - $30
Extra Hiney H60 PCB + Daughterboard - $40

The Y.6 will be sold through ysix.net.
NA Shipping is $20-35 via UPS Standard. International rates will vary through DHL or UPS ($60 to EU and parts of Asia, $70 to AUS). The Y.6 will be packaged in a custom box (a preview is available on discord).

[yanwrld]

Mounting System - Details

The Tadpole mounting solution designed by Geon provides an alternative to the traditional top mount.
The rubber pin-like Tadpoles are inserted where screws would be to sandwich the plate between the top and bottom pieces of the case. There are eight mount points on the plate.
The overlap with the bottom case provides 0.2mm of compression.




Development

[Quilay]

Very Good

[mmayhem17]

looking good.
ne wkl/hhkb avail?

[yanwrld]

looking good.
ne wkl/hhkb avail?

I would have loved to offer such options, but with the seamless screw locations, only HHKB and full are possible. I'll add an HHKB question to the IC form! No promises however, due to the low qty of this run.

[MIGHTY CHICKEN]

Interesting to see a board make use of the tadpole mount


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[alternisciel]

Looks really good! Would be nice to include a render to showcase the side profile. Might be in for this one!

[_rubik]

huh.. haven't seen many tadpole mount boards. I'll keep an eye out for the build stream

[yanwrld]

Looks really good! Would be nice to include a render to showcase the side profile. Might be in for this one!

I'll work on putting up some renders with the side profile and an HHKB top in a bit

[P103]

ne proto pics?

[Swishy]

Could we get a better explosion of this, also since you have the tadpoles up side down and they dont really go into anything what is stop the plate from slowly moving down with use. I know that those tadpoles fit tight but... that is a lot to gamble on in a design. You may have something for that but its not very clear with the current photos

Edit: just realized the only explosion of you board has the plate flipped

 
Kinda goes to my first point please try to show the board a bit better you make a big point that its tadpole mount yet barely show how you integrated it.
Also I would love to see the r1 protos and what changes you made so that way I can see the progress of this board, hope this doesnt come off as being nitpicky I am just really interested.

[juniper37559]

Color choices sounds like an excuse to not make a proto before IC. There isn't any render to show the front of your keyboard. Your design is even confusing me if your internal render wasn't wrong. Where's your tadpole located at bottom case? And this design literally have no weight you want to charge people for $400? Which is almost $100 expensive than frog mini.

[lush_bunny]

What's a tadpole mount?

[_rubik]

What's a tadpole mount?

Frog TKL has a good explanation: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112882.0

But I agree with others though that this IC needs to do a much better job explaining. Not safe to assume everyone knows what this means.

[yanwrld]

Color choices sounds like an excuse to not make a proto before IC. There isn't any render to show the front of your keyboard. Your design is even confusing me if your internal render wasn't wrong. Where's your tadpole located at bottom case? And this design literally have no weight you want to charge people for $400? Which is almost $100 expensive than frog mini.

I do agree with both you and swishy, the internal render is not very clear. I'll update it to better reflect the mounting system and show some more angles. Regarding prototypes - I understand why you are concerned, and they will be coming. As for pricing, it is a comprimise for sure. My aim is for a small, quality run. The quantity is the deciding factor here, not some big weight. It was just not a feature I was looking to incorporate at any stage in design. The same goes for many other keyboards. Thank you for your feedback.

For those interested, I'll put up some details regarding the design process, along with the first prototype.

[Swishy]

Color choices sounds like an excuse to not make a proto before IC. There isn't any render to show the front of your keyboard. Your design is even confusing me if your internal render wasn't wrong. Where's your tadpole located at bottom case? And this design literally have no weight you want to charge people for $400? Which is almost $100 expensive than frog mini.

to add on the the OP you cant just compare, a small designer to a person with a cnc shop the cost are gonna be different and Geon’s goals with the frog series is for them to be for entry consumers. This is a personal project that has different goals in mind and the OP has the right to name what ever price they want. If you dont like it dont pay or ask why it’s valued there. You have the right to not like the pricing and disagree, but you cant tell someone how to value their work.

[lush_bunny]

What's a tadpole mount?

Frog TKL has a good explanation: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112882.0

But I agree with others though that this IC needs to do a much better job explaining. Not safe to assume everyone knows what this means.

Interesting. So apart from the ridges on the actual tadpole, I assume the bottom pushes against it as well?

[_rubik]

What's a tadpole mount?

Frog TKL has a good explanation: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112882.0

But I agree with others though that this IC needs to do a much better job explaining. Not safe to assume everyone knows what this means.

Interesting. So apart from the ridges on the actual tadpole, I assume the bottom pushes against it as well?

Yeah it sandwiches between case halves. The ridges do create a tighter fit, but it generally isn't tight enough to keep everything locked in.

[AstralYT]

Inspired from F1-8X? I would expect a slightly larger weight for a sub 400$ 60% board.

[joshuarubin]

Pretty board. Seeing the pics of the mount though, I'm not sure I'd call it a "tadpole" mount... There are certainly other words that come to mind though!

[Pyroo]

please consider making the pcb support iso

[tngpq]

Pretty board. Seeing the pics of the mount though, I'm not sure I'd call it a "tadpole" mount... There are certainly other words that come to mind though!

The designer of the mounting system and the rubber pin nicknamed it tadpole. Looks like a tadpole and was first applied on the Frog TKL. Go figure.

[yanwrld]

First Update

Hey all. I'd like to provide a bit of an update, one week later. The two combos have been chosen, although a small change has been made. The stainless weight will now be either nickel-plated steel, or polished brass. It is much larger, and should do a lot more to the sound than the previous version. Protos are on their way. Check out the new renders, purple is slightly different.

Shilling the discord server, once again. https://discord.gg/zGKRxw82tG
Pics will be on instagram too when the time comes.

For anyone who has seen Kurosimons IC battle royale stream, the Y.6 was designed in three iterations. I understand that the final iteration may look similar to the Dharma by Janglad to some, but it is not a copy. More of a false equivalence, since it was pitted against the fake TGR. I could see why though, the contrasting colours are iconic. The original combinations were to be a white cerakote top with a robins egg blue cerakote bottom, and a black ano top with a copper bottom. Quite pricey, so the current combos are much more realistic. (Also, the coral option wasn't red!!! Buy a new monitor already)



White and turquoise is a very nice combo and I expected it to win the IC poll. It was my first choice too. Looked really pretty on the 1/60 and the Bauer. Black and purple was the winner for the dark option. It too is quite nice. Purple was suggested by a friend, and it's the "lean" colour after all. Might look good paired with white too. Some of the design elements of the Y.6 were inspired by another (gag) project of mine, a 60 which can hold one photocard. It was semi-inspired by the Bauer, with design choices such as the upside-down daughterboard, and angled sides. Essentially, the Y.6 is just a nice-looking board, designed to cater to my preferences. That is all there is to it. (Below is the other keyboard, one which won't get made. Just a stupid idea I had.)



Recap:

- Bigger (albeit different) weight! Ask, and you shall recieve. Maybe only this once though.
- Final colour combos chosen. White and turquoise, black and purple. Renders are updated and a half plate is shown too.
- New protos coming. Will be a while though. Keep an eye out for any updates through Discord.

Information about the first proto, and the development from that point on will be posted. Not sure when, got a few things going on so I can't exactly go out to take pictures ATM.

[soleebit]

I need that sweet HHKB!

[yanwrld]

Second Update

Hi everyone! New update for the month of October, some news and group buy information.

Alexotos will be building a regular E-White/Teal Y.6 on Tuesday the 19th at 7pm eastern time!

• Please see the main post up top for updated renders. They are all new. There are also some notes about the proto.
• There are two new options now! Light HHKB and Dark HHKB. The layout was actually quite popular in the IC survey.
• Black anodization on the top case has been changed to E-Black for the sake of consistency between the two color combos. All 4 variants will cost the same.
• The color of the aluminum half-plate has been changed from black ano to silver/clear ano. In my opinion it looks much nicer that way.

As far as group buy info goes, I have decided on a date and time. October 29th at 6PM pacific time. Website link TBA as it is still under construction.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this update, the next will come in about a week. As always, please join the Discord server to stay up to date. Links are in the main post.