10 x Torx button screw M3 x 6mm in A2 stainless steel (plate)
5 x Torx button screw M3 x 6mm in A2 stainless steel (accent)
6 x Torx button screw M3 x 12mm in A2 stainless steel (case)
2 x Torx countersunk screw M3 x 5mm in A2 stainless steel (badge)
1 x Instruction manual
OGRN kit contents:
1 x Top Case - 6063 Aluminium
1 x Bottom Case - 6063 Aluminium
1 x Accent - 6063 Aluminium
1 x Plate - Carbon fiber
1 x Badge - 6063 Aluminium
1 x Solder PCB - Black FR4 with green solder mask
1 x EVA plate foam
4 x AKB Bumpons - Injection molded silicone
1 x Bottom sticker
4 x Torx button screw M3 x 6mm in A2 stainless steel (plate)
4 x Torx button screw M3 x 6mm in A2 stainless steel (accent)
4 x Torx button screw M3 x 12mm in A2 stainless steel (case)
2 x Torx countersunk screw M3 x 5mm in A2 stainless steel (badge)
Layout Support:
Two tops will be available - one for 7u bottom row with dual 0.75u blockers, and one with a single small blocker for 6.25u support.
(https://i.imgur.com/aDzhzgC.png)
The OGR-N PCB has support for regular and southpaw configurations, as well as the option to have a full 1u setup. The plate available will support the regular and southpaw layouts, due to its reversible design.
(https://i.imgur.com/li1ORcu.png)
Special Thanks:
Blacksimon for running the OG Summer competition, and playing a crucial part in bringing this board to life. Without that kick up the arse I may not have caught the designing bug I have today.
Martin for his excellent work on the PCB designs.
Flexerman (FLX) for his crucial input with the board’s design and improvement.
Koen for his beautiful photos of the prototype.
Lulzthax for his great build stream.
Laur for his excellent renders.
ThereminGoat, Hot Trout, Lewis, BK, Archetype and countless others for their support throughout.
(https://i.imgur.com/KUq054J.png)
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Pontus on Fri, 06 May 2022, 12:13:39
Amazing project! Nice to finally see a GB post
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: ankit on Fri, 06 May 2022, 12:21:13
Getting to hear how much time and effort was put into this project was pretty enlightening. Hopefully everything runs smoothly James!
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Pyroo on Fri, 06 May 2022, 12:49:25
hell yea
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: severin on Fri, 06 May 2022, 13:08:48
So beautiful.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: hankyul33 on Fri, 06 May 2022, 15:09:37
:thumb:
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Rob27shred on Fri, 06 May 2022, 16:10:04
Very nice board, love the G80 inspiration! GL to those entering the raffle & hopefully I can enter too!
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Enemy on Fri, 06 May 2022, 16:16:58
So in on this
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: zedbraxmen on Fri, 06 May 2022, 22:04:35
imagine ALPS on this...
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: eyedrop on Sat, 07 May 2022, 00:03:52
James, is it possible to find out the result of the raffle before the numpad for the GB closes? Or extend the numpad GB end date by a day so people that won the keyboard can get the accompany numpad?
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Sat, 07 May 2022, 04:51:47
James, is it possible to find out the result of the raffle before the numpad for the GB closes? Or extend the numpad GB end date by a day so people that won the keyboard can get the accompany numpad?
Yep good point - I've now noted that the numpad preorder will be open until all raffle spots are paid up :thumb:
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: herbologist on Sat, 07 May 2022, 19:58:41
Gimme James, thanks
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: whirlwind on Sat, 07 May 2022, 20:55:42
Boomers unite, our time is now!
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: hottrout on Sun, 08 May 2022, 03:32:08
Pure FIRE!
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: TjarleN on Mon, 09 May 2022, 00:50:33
Love the design but I can't justify/afford the price right now. Good luck to everyone entering the raffle.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: alexpor on Fri, 13 May 2022, 02:54:11
:cool: :cool: :cool:
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: fokka on Tue, 24 May 2022, 17:30:24
can't wait
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Lil on Wed, 25 May 2022, 19:35:28
Banger
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Full on Thu, 26 May 2022, 11:46:38
Finally! After years of waiting for a opportunity to buy this board! I am ready! :-*
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Sat, 28 May 2022, 10:01:51
OGR RAFFLE NOW LIVE!
ENTER OGR RAFFLE HERE (https://www.alchemistkeyboards.com/raffle-sale)
PURCHASE OGRN HERE (https://alchemistkeyboards.com/product/ogrn-numpad/)
good luck to all raffle entrants! :thumb:
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Fri, 03 June 2022, 11:40:09
Last day to enter the raffle!
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Starius on Tue, 07 June 2022, 20:30:18
I won a raffle! And hooooo boy is it expensive and totally irresponsible for me to buy right now 😅 but I've ordered a OGR and a OGRN. I have a weakness for "Endgame" keyboards and this is definitely one of them. 😄
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: mr_foggy on Sat, 11 June 2022, 17:07:16
I feel like I landed the fattest W to date with this gem. super happy
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB May 28th!
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Fri, 24 June 2022, 14:33:07
Important news regarding the OGR group buy:
TL:DR PayPal has left me in an impossible position, and rather than spending months disputing it I’m refunding everyone’s payments. I will be relaunching the GB again using Stripe once refunds have been processed and cleared. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience to everyone but I hope to make it up to you.
—
In the interest of transparency I’ll include as much detail as I am comfortable with (basically all detail but the exact numbers).
Initially the plan was to use Stripe as the sole payment option for this GB but after hearing that raffle systems of any kind were against their ToS (whether as part of the payment process or not) I was forced to consider other options. I’m familiar with PayPal’s UI so I got in touch with their sales team a few weeks before the GB to explain my situation and the circumstances surrounding this sale. Given that my account is a fully verified business account with a little history already, I was advised that as long as it was made abundantly clear on the website that this was a pre-order sale and that the lead times were also stated I wouldn’t have any issues.
Fast forward to the GB and when the payments started rolling in, after the first £10,000 or so came in my account was flagged. Given that this was Saturday night I couldn’t do much about it, and as it was the Jubilee weekend the UK customer service line wasn’t actually open again until the following Tuesday (7th); the payments were still coming in so there was no immediate cause for alarm, I figured it could be easily cleared up when I get in touch.
I called on the 7th to try and get some clarification for what’s going on, and what I could do to both give PayPal confidence in my process and thus remove the flag. Not much was said on the phone initially other than I would be given some instructions on my account, and once those were satisfied I would have full access to the funds. I was asked to verify some details regarding my company and to provide ID (all of this information was already on my account so it was a little baffling), as well as providing proof of purchase with the suppliers/manufacturers and also shipping tracking numbers for all transactions to date. Obviously due to the format of this sale it isn’t possible for me to provide these details so I called again, and initially I was told that there is no wiggle room in this and if I can’t provide those details then my funds would not be cleared.
I escalated this up the chain as I was caught in a frustrating catch-22 (the first of many) and eventually I managed to speak to someone who understood my situation, and he heard my case and said PayPal would be back in touch soon with further instructions, and once these are completed I will have my funds released. On the 10th I received instructions to explain my business and what it does, my business plan, my expected costs/profit margins on this sale and also to list the contact details of all suppliers involved in the production of the OGR. As frustrating as it was, I figured that a week turnaround on clearing up these issues wasn’t too bad so I just rolled with it and submitted the info the same day.
By Wednesday 15th I still hadn’t heard any update so I called again to chase with PayPal. Nothing noteworthy on this call but it prompted them to update my account. The flag notice was removed but the restriction was still in place. So I call again, speak to another agent and this time I’m met with a brick wall, where I’ve done as they asked every time but they continue to throw more hurdles in front of me. This time they didn’t specify any instructions, they just said that there’s nothing they can do. At this point I suggested that I get final invoices from a few of the suppliers (cases and pcbs, the largest bills) to show them as proof that I’m waiting to start production and this isn’t an elaborate exit scam. They said this would be sufficient evidence (again) so I obtained those invoices and submitted them to PayPal.
On Friday 17th the flag was finally lifted on my account, and instead they imposed a “reserve” on my account instead. My balance showed a portion of the overall amount as available funds, but around 80% of the revenue was held by PayPal. They didn’t mention this would happen at any point so I had to call again to find out what was going on now. They explained it was due to potential chargebacks or refunds, but I have accepted every refund request without argument til now, and you could speculate that holding my money and essentially doubling the lead time would surely guarantee more chargebacks in future so again I was put in an impossible situation.
This time I truly hit a dead end as I had spoken to multiple agents and was met with the same response every time: “There’s nothing we can do. Your account is eligible for review in February 2023”. I issued a complaint through the site and was given the same response. I took the weekend to try and work out a plan and the best idea I had at the time was to speak to a financial advisor, to see if they had any insight that I didn’t consider and they advised that I speak to a financial ombudsman.
I did that on Tuesday 21st, and they understood my situation entirely and explicitly said that while their actions can be covered by their terms and conditions, they aren’t all necessarily legally binding so with some legal pressure they can change their position. The issue is that even with a financial ombudsman fighting my case, the process will still take months with no true guarantee of a resolution in my favor.
So I took a couple days out to weigh up my options and I came up with three realistic choices:
Wait it out, pray that PayPal cuts me some slack in February and surely piss people off in the process.
Try and take out a business loan with a bank, but interest rates are really high so I may end up losing money in the end and I’d rather not be beholden to the whims of 2 financial institutions. 1 has been more than enough so far.
Be honest with people, refund their orders in full and start over using Stripe.
So my current plan is to refund everyone on PayPal starting this weekend, this might take me a couple of days as I have to do them one by one. I’ve done a couple of refunds for the mod team and their money hasn’t cleared immediately so I’m going to give it a couple of weeks before re-launching the sale, just to ensure that all people who want to purchase again will have ample time for their refunds to fully clear.
I will then relaunch the sale using Stripe instead of PayPal. This means that in order to keep them happy there will no longer be a raffle system and instead it will be a FCFS sale. I understand if some of you will no longer be interested so with the aim of giving everyone the fairest shot possible this time round I will be putting a soft cap of 250 units next time round. I’ll need to work out the specifics of the sale but once the PayPal refunds have been processed I’ll then make the move over to Stripe. I’ll need a few days to implement the plugin and test accordingly so I’ll make a further post later once those details are final.
I just want to say I’m very sorry for this disappointing outcome. I wanted to approach this GB with relative transparency but I didn’t want to let you know while I was still in the midst of it, and I wanted a plan ready rather than leaving it up in the air. I fully intend on seeing this GB through to completion and fulfilling my obligation to all of you. I hope you all can understand and appreciate my position, and I hope to see you all ready when the GB relaunches soon.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: Rob27shred on Fri, 24 June 2022, 16:12:28
Thank you guys for doing it right & being fully transparent about what issues the GB is currently facing. With the many KB GBs that are in limbo right now with no communication from the designers/runners this is a breath of fresh air! Keep up the good work guys! :thumb:
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: hottrout on Mon, 27 June 2022, 03:01:39
Thanks for taking the time to explain all of this clearly. Lets get this hurdle cleared and then look forward to getting it run again. Chin up.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: SwitchKeys on Wed, 29 June 2022, 21:43:05
Standard Paypal stuff unfortunately. Shop Pay can be just as bad (Source: Had something like 70% of our funds held for the first 6 months we went live).
Sucks but alarmingly common - and i'd make sure Stripe won't do you just as dirty.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Sat, 09 July 2022, 18:42:33
Now that (most of) the refunds have been processed I want to update you all on what has happened since the previous email, and how I plan to regroup and proceed with the OGR group buy.
TL:DR relaunching the sale in roughly two weeks. Make sure to look out for emails for your chance to get dibs before it’s opened up to the public.
The majority of customers have had their refund now. Due to the fact I had to cover the entirety of the PayPal fees when refunding customers I had run out of refunds before the last 11 refunds were processed. Because of this I had to borrow money to cover the remaining amount (a little over £7000) and I have already initiated the transfer of these funds to PayPal to square up the remaining orders. Unfortunately PayPal treated this as an e-cheque so I was quoted 7 working days for the money to hit my PayPal account (which lands on Friday July 8th). Once these refunds are processed tomorrow I want to give those all time to reach the customers before I launch the sale.
As for the sale itself, it makes the most sense to me that previous customers get first refusal on purchasing again. In order to achieve this I will send emails to all raffle winners with links to purchase their board and they will have a 48-hour window of priority to do so. After the 48 hours have passed the sale will open up to the wider public and will run until we hit the magic number. That magic number will be higher than the initial 250 as I would like to recoup the money I had to borrow for the last few refunds. Let’s say a “soft cap” of 300 and see where we go.
I will make sure that you all have adequate warning before this all happens, and please consider this the first step in that process. I think 2 weeks notice is enough to make sure you’re ready for when it eventually happens.
Also, as a few people somehow seem to have missed everything so far. Please make sure to check your spam folders, or if you’re a gmail user please check the promotions tab just in case.
I humbly apologise for my part in the bumpy road we’ve been down so far, but I can assure you that I won’t bury my head in the sand with any issues that face us with this project and whatever happens, we’ll push forward and make sure you get your boards. All this inconvenience so far is just another page in the long story of this board to date and I'm looking forward to moving ahead with it.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Fri, 15 July 2022, 10:14:17
The website is all set up and ready with the Stripe system, and I’ve run a handful of test orders which are working beautifully. With this in mind I shall be sending out email to all of the previous raffle winners first, with links to the products to buy.
These emails will be sent out on Friday 22nd July and your priority window will be open for 48 hours.
One additional detail that is worth mentioning to avoid confusion, the pricing is still $550 so while the GBP amount shown when purchasing will be different it will reflect the rough exchange rate when placing the order.
Once this window has passed, I shall post publicly that the sale is again open and it will remain open until the target is met. Please consider this another heads up and I’m looking forward to seeing you on the 22nd.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: hottrout on Fri, 15 July 2022, 11:39:24
Good work James, well done for coming back from this setback which was not of your making. Good luck for the re-run.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: Full on Fri, 22 July 2022, 10:43:48
I am E X C I T E D :-*
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: hottrout on Sat, 23 July 2022, 08:35:36
Board and numpad ordered again. Sooo looking forward to this combo once it arrives. End game stuff for sure. Dolch is sitting waiting for them to arrive :)
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Sat, 23 July 2022, 11:20:07
Public sale is up in roughly 48 hours (12PM EST Monday)! :thumb:
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad)
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Mon, 25 July 2022, 11:28:11
FCFS GB now live! Thanks to everyone who joined!
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB now live!
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Thu, 10 November 2022, 09:08:30
TL:DR - PCB is a different colour, carry cases will now be included, everything is on track.
A long overdue update here - I’m sorry for the lack of email updates so far. I’m glad to say though that not only is everything on track, but I think we may actually be (kinda) ahead of schedule a little bit, pending any potential speed bumps along our journey.
Getting the small bit of (relatively) bad news out of the way first: I came across a slight error with the PCBs - not in their function but rather their design. I had mistakenly assumed that the core on the prototype PCBs was black, and I had even listed it as such in the group buy details, but that wasn’t actually the case. As a result of this, the PCBs look different to what was shown off during build streams so I can only apologise for this.
The great thing is that they look damn slick and still oddly reminiscent of various PCBs from the past (though perhaps a little older than the original inspiration). I hope you aren’t disappointed with the final results because personally I am still very happy with them even if it wasn’t the original plan. I have attached images of a blank OGR PCB (no components), taken courtesy of Martin (PCB designer).
Now to the good news - you are now getting carry cases for both your OGRs and your OGRNs! I can’t show anything just yet as I’m still ironing out the details with the factory but as soon as I have samples to show I will fire out some images. It wasn’t part of the original plan as I didn’t know any reliable factories to use for this but thanks to CannonKeys I have been pointed in the right direction and thankfully it’s still within budget.
The third key bit of news is that the production for virtually everything is ahead of the original projected schedule. I don’t want to give false promises that I will be shipping this out earlier than expected though, as since the sale happened I have taken on full-time employment so I will need to take a little longer than usual to QC all of the items. My employers are aware of my situation though so when the time comes I will still be able to dedicate a part of my daily routine towards QC and packing and as long as everything is OK I should be able to comfortably meet the projected timelines still.
With these major updates out of the way, I can also say that everything required has now been ordered. Additionally, almost everything has already shipped and those parts are actually sitting in my house right now. The two key shipments I am still waiting on are the boards themselves and the new carry cases.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB now live!
Post by: hottrout on Sat, 12 November 2022, 04:05:25
Great update and personally I love the PCB colour and design, it fits well with the design of the KB.
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - GB now live!
Post by: neverfail on Tue, 15 November 2022, 04:22:47
I imagine Theodor Adorno typing on this keyboard. He would use OG doubleshots and vint blacks for the build of course
Title: Re: [GB] OGR by AKB - Retro 65XT (+OGR Numpad) - EXTRAS LIVE
Post by: Alchemist Keyboards on Sat, 15 July 2023, 09:51:42