[IC] Bahrnob 65: Gasket Mounted 65% Keyboard

[kalakos]

Introducing the Bahrnob 65

Renders:

Introduction:
Aesthetics and functionality. The board was designed with these two things in mind. We tried to strike a balance between size, practicality, and novel features, all while maintaining what we believe is a sleek, clean, and minimalist form factor. The Bahrnob 65 features a rotary encoder knob, magnetic pen rail, and separate arrow cluster, all in a compact, gasket mounted 65% keyboard.

Specs:
-5 degree typing angle
-Rotary encoder knob
-Aluminum/Brass magnetic pen rail (Dimensions: LxWxH 314.33mm x 5mm x 8mm) - the bar
-Separated arrow cluster
-Dimensions: LxWxH 324.33mm x 119mm x (22mm @thinnest, 32mm @thickest)
-Weight: depends on materials used

EDITS: 11/15/2020
- 7 degree typing angle
- Front height is now 18mm
- Pen rail headspace changed from 8mm to 12mm
- Outer corners have been more rounded
- Bottom weight is now the actual bottom of the case (look at exploded view for reference)
- Rotary encoder now is no longer flush with the bar and is raised
- Plate has been updated and mounting notches have been moved
- Discord has been made! Please join for more immediate updates and renders.
DISCORD LINK : https://discord.gg/SXUhGFqxRf



Assembly:






Plate:
The plate will be available in either aluminum, brass or carbon fiber. The plate will be gasket mounted. For the brass and aluminum plate, there will be no mounting notch below the space bar while the carbon fiber plate will have the mounting notch.



Silicone rubber insert:
Goes between the pcb and plate for sound dampening.

Top and bottom casing:
The middle and top casing will sandwich the plate and be screwed in via 8 screws. Material will be aluminum, available in black, grey, and white colors.

Bar:
Dimensions of bar - LxWxH 314.33mm x 5mm x 8mm (it will stick 5 mm out of the case)
The bar serves as a pen rail, but adds an aesthetic touch to the top of the board. Available in either aluminum or brass. Attaches to the top casing via 6 magnets (3 in the top case and 3 in the bar).

Rotary Knob:
It’s a knob yo. Available in either aluminum or brass. Knob height will be flush with the height of the bar.

PCB:
In the works. Will post here once finalized. Hotswap possible depending on feedback.

Cost and Vendors:
TBD, this is just an IC to see what kind of interest there is for this.

More info:
We are in the works of ordering a prototype, but we wanted feedback to see if anything needs to be tweaked or to see if this layout is as clean as we think it is. Please fill out this google form to help us out.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1Pe7cJplxd4SLfWLNN_ByW-FbeeW0cALVD2ZDLSkm6F2RSg/viewform?usp=sf_link

[kalakos]

After going through all the feedback and suggestions, some very valid concerns about the internal design were brought to our attention. With our inexperience, we rushed the IC and showed off an incomplete product. We plan to take more time to study and research proper keyboard design so that our board doesn't feel and type poorly. The layout will remain more or less the same with a few functional changes. This does not mean that the project is canceled. My team and I truly want this to happen and we will work our hardest to do so. We are very happy that most of you enjoy the layout and hope you will try to stick with us throughout this journey.

[Fineko]

well at least it's not another keycult copy

[gatinas]

uhhhhhhhh

[stein3]

This one might literally check all the boxes!

[darthcapn]

Hot! I am in!

[grabmienutz]

Hotswap pls looks clean as hell

[Ustinj]

thick, GLWIC - some may recommend removing the mounting under the spacebar, and the left/right mounting.

[kalakos]

thick, GLWIC - some may recommend removing the mounting under the spacebar, and the left/right mounting.

once prototypes are in, that was something that I wanted to test to see how it would feel. Thanks for the input!

[chaoticgood]

Down for this if you get the price to something reasonable and it begins GB sometime end of this year or early next year, you might just pull me away from the fuji 65!

[sartori24]

Internal corners will be impossible to CNC.

[Baionlenja]

I recommend spending a bit more time on practicing the fundamentals of case design and CAD, before putting out an IC and bothering manufacturers with your files.

[kimchijody]

I don't like to criticize layout, pen rails, knobs, or whatever else people want to put in their boards. While they're not personally for me, it is their board they can add features they want to add. However, I do see several things that raise a few flags.

Your assembled board renders imply that the legs are made of brass and compromise the whole bottom portion of the case. Yet your exploded view shows that it attaches to the alu bottom case instead.
I can see that in the final picture, you have the brass bottom screw into an aluminum bottom. This is more or less just a giant brass weight/foot that screws into the bottom aluminum case. This is not actually a brass bottom, as that implies the entire bottom case is made of brass. A brass bottom case will affect how the board resonates with it's sound and feel, this is essentially a full alu case. Also in the final picture, there appears to be 4 screw holes on the bottom alu case, which I assume screw into the top case. While this would, theoretically, allow for consistent force to be applied to all the gasket areas for even compression, it just seems unnecessary to have two separate pieces designed like this. This will likely increase lead times with the manufacturing process as well as QC. It is overall easier to design a heavy weight into the bottom of your board than the current design. Not to mention brass at that size will be more expensive to cnc than if you simply had a larger weight; the perceived weight difference would be minimal.

Furthermore, there should be screws rendered in the directions they will be mounted in to give a clear indication of how the whole board is assembled. Between the description of the board and the renders, the internal design and functionality is not very clear.

The mounting points on the front and rear of the case being different sizes, along with their positioning, make me concerned that this will have a fairly inconsistent sound and typing experience. I also noticed you put gasket mounting tabs on the left and right sides of the plate. This is fine if your intention is to have a full gasket isolated board, but I do not believe that is the case here. The reason why many designers who make gasket boards do not put mounting tabs on the sides of the plate is because it reduces the flex inherent in those areas necessary to make a keyboard sound and feel very consistent across the entire typing area. For example: how many top mount boards do you see that have mounting points on the sides of the plate? This can be solved by redesigning the mounting tab sizes and positioning. I would suggest looking at the Polaris, Key65, Iron165, any Keycult keyboard, and Constellation65 to see how their gasket isolation mounting systems are implemented.

If you are going to design a pen rail into your board that is your decision. However, I would look at the J-01 and see how that forehead design allows for multiple sizes of pens to be held. The forehead on this seems rather small to hold anything larger than a cheap thin plastic pen.

The plate design is not very accurate to how a vast majority of plates are cut, especially around the stabilizer cutouts. Why are they plate mount?

While these points may seem pedantic, they are crucial for allowing people to understand the design of your board an make informed decisions accordingly. I understand this is an IC and should be used to receive feedback. But design decisions such as the points I mentioned above should really be fleshed out before the IC is posted. As is, the design of the board shows a fundamental lack of understanding in regards to overall keyboard design, mounting structure, and accurate conveyance of information. I would suggest refining the design a bit more and coming back with an updated IC at a later date.

[atlanticise]

technical issues aside, i like that this board pretty much combines a lot of nice features that other unattainable boards have. good luck with developing this design into something workable, i also agree that the forehead needs more space to accommodate actual pens.

[powwu]

sides make it look like it's floating, you sure this doesn't violate the laws of physics?

[Kokaloo]

Damn this **** is just getting tiring
Ready for the parodies!

[fishbiscuit13]

Not sure what's aesthetic or functional about a front height that massive, let alone a pen rail that can't hold a pen, or a knob you'll hit every time you delete.

And I second the worries about you being so new to the hobby. Sure, the board you want doesn't exist. But that doesn't mean you're capable of delivering it with zero experience beyond a Tofu a month ago. Can you get prototypes delivered before an IC? Can you stick to a price point and reasonable timeframe? You say you've tried out "quite a lot of boards" in the last month, are any of them actually comparable to this or did you just build several other tofus?

This is not the kind of thing that anyone should feel comfortable supporting without a lot more work invested into the project and development beyond a few renders that are more fanciful than descriptive. For instance, why don't any of them actually show the board flat on a surface instead of tilted back? Kimchi had a lot of great points about the design of the board that suggest inexperience with what actually makes good boards good, and seem more driven by naive structural assumptions. And if you're going to actually make this real. I suggest you use something a little more refined than Swill's plate generator, especially because you didn't even switch from the cherry+costar option.

Go back to the drawing board. Make something a little less like a fat J-01 with a knob, with design choices more clearly informed by research and experience.

[Zanhana]

the front height alone means I wouldn't go near this with a ten foot pole

[Grandfunk]

I appreciate the work that went into this and hope you aren't discouraged by the critiques and negativity.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[treeleaf64]

[treeleaf64]

Sorry that was a little weird of me

What I meant - -

Side mounting not good because it adds rigidness to the sides . so creates uneven feeling.
Mounting right on the spacebar is not good either because the spacebar will be super stiff

[kalakos]

I appreciate the work that went into this and hope you aren't discouraged by the critiques and negativity.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Not at all! I'm actually glad we received lots of criticisms because that allows us to take a step back and really look at the errors within our own project. I appreciate everyone that has put in their input for the Bahrnob so far. A lot of the plate design issues have already been fixed, but we are waiting on prototypes to test the feel.

[treeleaf64]

I appreciate the work that went into this and hope you aren't discouraged by the critiques and negativity.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Not at all! I'm actually glad we received lots of criticisms because that allows us to take a step back and really look at the errors within our own project. I appreciate everyone that has put in their input for the Bahrnob so far. A lot of the plate design issues have already been fixed, but we are waiting on prototypes to test the feel.

Great work my friend. I suggest updating renders if that's possible so that you don't get more annoying comments like mine.

[UberPlatypus]

Interested in the board. Would follow what vets are saying about keeping costs and amount of effort in check by using so many elements. Make sure you don't have so many gasket tabs. Keep it simple.

[kalakos]

I appreciate the work that went into this and hope you aren't discouraged by the critiques and negativity.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

Not at all! I'm actually glad we received lots of criticisms because that allows us to take a step back and really look at the errors within our own project. I appreciate everyone that has put in their input for the Bahrnob so far. A lot of the plate design issues have already been fixed, but we are waiting on prototypes to test the feel.

Great work my friend. I suggest updating renders if that's possible so that you don't get more annoying comments like mine.

haha I've been working tirelessly to try to update everything but I will wait until my design is more flushed out to avoid making the same mistake. Also, your comment is not annoying LOL, it's actually so helpful!

[santela]

Okay this IC needs some more work for sure and constructive criticism is a good thing, but damn some people are just needlessly rude. This is not one of those zero effort ICs, OP apparently put in a lot of work for the rendering and design, they are not perfect but people need to at least have the decency to not be *******s.

[Dr-lipschitz]

If you're going to put a penrail on top, you should make the top edge deep enough to hold a pen

[wynects]

Definitely will get 1 if available in burgundy/deep navy, please do consider 

[chaoticgood]

JFC people need to chill this is in the IC still. Yeah he is new but you can come of less of a d-bags. A lot of you guys are hating on the guy for even putting out the idea and putting in the work of making the renders when none of you have even tried making the renders or boards themselves. Unironically so many freaking keyboard warriors in this thread. Treeleaf by far has been the most constructive so far.

[Nonnegaard]

well at least it's not another keycult copy

What boards are you referring to?

[Baionlenja]

A lot of you guys are hating on the guy for even putting out the idea and putting in the work of making the renders when none of you have even tried making the renders or boards themselves.

Don't make assumptions

[BouncyChillups]

JFC people need to chill this is in the IC still. Yeah he is new but you can come of less of a d-bags. A lot of you guys are hating on the guy for even putting out the idea and putting in the work of making the renders when none of you have even tried making the renders or boards themselves. Unironically so many freaking keyboard warriors in this thread. Treeleaf by far has been the most constructive so far.

You don't get it, do you? This. Hurts. The. Community.
The market is being flooded with endless ICs right now by people, who haven't even been long enough in the hobby to gain the slightest amount of experience. It's trying to profit off of the Zeitgeist, chasing clout, whatever you want to call it -
but people will be pumping out uninspired, copycat ICs in order to get any form of recognition in the scene.

The most probable result: A poorly-designed keyboard, that will sound bad - cause people don't even put enough effort in to prototype, let alone prototype twice, or in the worst case - and I'm not accusing OP of this, but rather as a general danger, an
IC that will be an absolute catastrophe; people will pay a lot of money and get a ****ty product in return - if they get anything at all.

[Lulzthax_]

Among other items, I would maybe take a second thought at having a 22mm front height with 5 degree typing angle. This would be rather awkward, at least for me personally, and others who don't hover type.

[kalakos]

JFC people need to chill this is in the IC still. Yeah he is new but you can come of less of a d-bags. A lot of you guys are hating on the guy for even putting out the idea and putting in the work of making the renders when none of you have even tried making the renders or boards themselves. Unironically so many freaking keyboard warriors in this thread. Treeleaf by far has been the most constructive so far.

You don't get it, do you? This. Hurts. The. Community.
The market is being flooded with endless ICs right now by people, who haven't even been long enough in the hobby to gain the slightest amount of experience. It's trying to profit off of the Zeitgeist, chasing clout, whatever you want to call it -
but people will be pumping out uninspired, copycat ICs in order to get any form of recognition in the scene.

The most probable result: A poorly-designed keyboard, that will sound bad - cause people don't even put enough effort in to prototype, let alone prototype twice, or in the worst case - and I'm not accusing OP of this, but rather as a general danger, an
IC that will be an absolute catastrophe; people will pay a lot of money and get a ****ty product in return - if they get anything at all.

I understand your sentiment and I personally would think the same when possibly spending a lot of money on a product from a new comer. We never intend to release this product if it does not pass our own personal prototype checks. We planned to have around 3 prototypes w/ major revisions done before even considering a GB. The IC was really to see if anyone was interested in the layout and we failed to realize how much information was lacking. Now that we know there is somewhat of an interest, much more of our time will be poured into the project to turn it into something the community will like. Thanks for the feedback, we welcome all comments good and bad!

[Ulei]

I really like the design aesthetics of this keyboard but I am also a little worried of the bar up top getting in the way when turing the knob given that they are on the same height.

[UberPlatypus]

This is an awesome concept and something I would consider IF it were increased to be at least 6 degrees. Personally having something that is 5 degrees is something that would have to be beyond all expectations. If you can deliver that I'm all in.

It is great to see creators being as responsive as you are, keep this up!

[kalakos]

This is an awesome concept and something I would consider IF it were increased to be at least 6 degrees. Personally having something that is 5 degrees is something that would have to be beyond all expectations. If you can deliver that I'm all in.

It is great to see creators being as responsive as you are, keep this up!

Thank you for the support, we really appreciate it! We just updated the design and increased the typing angle to 7 degrees! We had a lot of people saying that 5 was too low and we agree with that as well. We will post another IC soon with all the updated parts and prototype once they come in.

[treeleaf64]

I like knobs

[Doneover]

Love the design of this board. Should make a discord server to keep us updated!

[Tuathane]

Interested, especially with hot swap sockets.

[Operation Wolf]

I am loving all the brass options and the addition of a rotary. Looking forward to this one.

[kalakos]

Some updates have been made and a discord as well! Please join for immediate updates and other news!

[kk73715]

why is there a silicone dampening layer when the you don't even have the prototype yet?

[StrangPrisoner]

Posted this in the reddit thread already but thought I'd post it here too.

If you could find a way to incorporate the bottom case with the top case to get rid of that seam it would be flawless. Looks like you're using it to mount the pen rail. Can you possibly move the inserts to the weight? Not sure what that would do for machining costs. Other than that I've bee interested in the project and look forward to future updates.

[vinyldoodles]

Looks beautiful. I second the disappointment about not having a navy or burgundy colour option, but welcome the addition of ISO.

[roseuwu]

65% so sexc, rose gold renders?

[fluidin]

navy for case color would be REALLY great, considering how well the color goes with brass or rose gold

edit: o and i didnt include this in the IC form, but yes to hotswap

[lewisflude]

I know “nice X clone” is a meme at this point, but I think this looks a little too close to the J-01, J-02 etc. I think you’d benefit to reach out if you haven’t already. Good luck with the project!

[kr0_-]

Okay, just saw a comment about the added iso support. Thanks

Even I can't read anything about it