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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: eugenius on Fri, 10 April 2009, 03:48:56
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For those that don't know what I'm talking about, it's the Soldam / Windy Allfeel HG - the best quality non-ergo cherry kb in existence.
Link:
http://windy-online.com/pc_parts/input/alfeel_hg/index.html
Soldam / Windy = absolute best quality aluminium cases. Better than Lian-Li (I have a slightly modded Lian-Li Blue Ring PC-B25B, it's VERY good btw).
My question is: does the black one come in an english layout?
(http://windy-online.com/pc_parts/input/alfeel_hg/images/top.jpg)
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That is a stunning looking metal case.
I will try and find out about an English layout.
Looks like just a JP layout to me.
Nothing on the site anywhere about any other layout.
Sorry. Perhaps someone else may have more insight.
I love the PC cases too. Very stylish stuff.
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Nice lines. Yea, looks like only Japanese layout is available. Comes with a real "Made in Japan" price too :)
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They only come in JP Layout.
Soldam/Windy is considered to be the top of the line in the computing case market.
You guys should check out their Mediterranean Blue or Black Knight series.. simply wonderful.
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Those do look nice, but I'm just not interested in another brown cherry board, since I don't like to type on them.
You guys should check out their Mediterranean Blue or Black Knight series.. simply wonderful.
Do you have any links? I did a quick search but didn't find anything.
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Around $250 not including shipping
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I want.
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Those do look nice, but I'm just not interested in another brown cherry board, since I don't like to type on them.
Do you have any links? I did a quick search but didn't find anything.
Here they are, for your maximum viewing pleasure.
FYI, these are EOL models, all Soldam models are only for a limited only, meaning that they are only there for a limited run, maybe around 50-100 pieces before they are archived.
http://windy-online.com/case/alcadia_zr/2000_bk/index.html
These are the current ones :
http://windy-online.com/case/altium_vr/2000gmb_i_mdr/
http://windy-online.com/case/alcadia_fx/2000r_bksc/
http://windy-online.com/case/altium_vr/2000gmb_i_bksc/
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Wow those are some very nice cases. But boy are they expensive and would cost an arm and a leg to get shipped over here. Not sure I want to spend quite that much on a case though but still very nice.
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I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...
...but I can't afford to spend a ton of money importing it, when I can get a fine case for pretty cheap in the US. But, the Black Knight looks sooooooooooooo cool!
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This thread is not for Soldam drooling .... :)
Would you pay 1000$ for a case, a keyboard shelf and a nice keyoard? :)
Actually, would you pay 320$ + shipping for a plastic keyboard? :D
The japanese layout kills it for me, sadly. :(
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I've known about Soldam for a number of years now, I think I even posted one of their keyboards here at some point. Their cases are second to none; understated and beautiful. I would say the same about their keyboards except for that embarrassing "engrish" text they've decided to etch onto the lower edge.
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I was just studying the keys on the keyboard, and it looks like, to me, that this is another Costar 'board (maybe just the guts).
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Here's another "stylish" keyboard that's been out for years. It's made by Onkyo who are respected more for their high-end audio than their PC peripherals. It's looks OK to me but bulky (heavy too, if you believe some sites that quote the weight at 1.8KG) and appears to have scissor-switches, judging by the shallow keys. The translation also claims a switch lifetime of "800,000,000", but that seems highly unlikely.
Link (http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B000N3T4I8%253Ftag%3Deuvo-22%26link_code%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26dev-t%3D1CR2KCSDNRVJY76AMX82&prev=/search%3Fq%3Donkyo%2Bwavio%2Bkeyboard%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26hs%3Dkwy%26sa%3DG&usg=ALkJrhgI4mzPDnKNCxBFM7GqD0vkH-KNsQ)
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Yeah, I couldn't do the Japanese layout, even if it was free.
No, I can't pay that much for a case, either. :)
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I like the blue colour http://windy-online.com/pc_parts/input/alfeel_hg/images/feature/key_07.jpg
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Isn't this GeekHack? We have any cad people on here? I say we make our own keyboard housing. All you would need is a good cad drawing of one then you could take the guts from a RealForce or a Filco and put it in. I know you can find good quality metal shops around most towns that could make the case. But we would need a good cad drawing of it first.
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Isn't this GeekHack? We have any cad people on here? I say we make our own keyboard housing. All you would need is a good cad drawing of one then you could take the guts from a RealForce or a Filco and put it in. I know you can find good quality metal shops around most towns that could make the case. But we would need a good cad drawing of it first.
The cases shown here will require a lot of work if you don't want to build special tooling.
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The cases shown here will require a lot of work if you don't want to build special tooling.
Not really. You could do this with sheet aluminium and bend it to shape. Take a closer look at that keyboard case. One piece top no sides(Left and Right) bent to form front and back of the keyboard key holes cut out with a router. Bottom done the same way I bet but the bend would form the left and right sides. Small (4)L brackets spot welded to top piece used to screw the bottom to the top at the right and left sides. Now all that is left is designing the board holder on the inside and again you could do that with readily available parts.
Any halfway decent local machine shop could do this with their existing tooling. I know I've done stuff like this many times about 12 years ago when I was a SMT (Surface Mount Technology) process engineer. What I don't have is the cad skills needed to create the drawings. When I did this stuff I just drew up a rough drawing of what I wanted and had the Metal fab shop do the cad work. I would get the drawing back and verify they got it right then have them make it.
Oh another thought you could also make this out of a solid aluminium block as well just as easily which would make the whole thing much stiffer but it also increases the cost or at least it did back when I was making custom support tooling for SMT chipshooter and pick and place machines.
I'm going to have to think about this as I may still know some people that could do the cad work for me.
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I debated if I'm going to buy the Enermax Aurora Micro some time ago ... if it was tenless (had dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdn) - I would have two by now, both silver and black. :)
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=214&Itemid=65&limit=1&limitstart=3
(http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/input_devices/enermax_ceasar_aurora/Enermax_Aurora_Micro_Upright_Angle.jpg)
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And about making your own aluminium case - it's a pipe dream.
Either you are so good metalwork that you have already done things that make a keyboard shell a joke, and then I trust you can do it
/ or /
you will spend a lot more money and end up with a case that's a lot uglier than the Soldam one, with the engrish and all. :)
PS: That Enermax above is laser cut, than precision can't be matched by hand. Even if you are a Jedi level metalworker. :)
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You could CNC a solid block and then make a base for it no problem.
My uncle has one as he makes a lot of machines. If someone can get a cad drawing I could see what he thinks it would cost for the metal etc.
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Yes, but the edges, the brushed finish, I don't think you can do it ... it's way easier and cheaper buying a case from those guys ... maybe other Filcos fit ... :)
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I debated if I'm going to buy the Enermax Aurora Micro some time ago ... if it was tenless (had dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdn) - I would have two by now, both silver and black. :)
I looked at that keyboard, too. It looks like a nice keyboard, if you like scissor switches. Personally, I don't like the short action very much.
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Yes, but the edges, the brushed finish, I don't think you can do it ... it's way easier and cheaper buying a case from those guys ... maybe other Filcos fit ... :)
It's not a brushed finish it is anodised really smooth and very hard. After you anodise it you use a laser to cut the logo which exposes the underlying aluminium. Not all shops have the etching lasers though. And yes having a shop build you one would not be cheap I would guess around 300-400 easy. But then again I have not asked around.
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You could CNC a solid block and then make a base for it no problem.
My uncle has one as he makes a lot of machines. If someone can get a cad drawing I could see what he thinks it would cost for the metal etc.
That is what I was debating with myself about. Either solid block and CNC machine it (likely cheaper). Or sheet and bend to shape. I will keep you in mind. It will be about a month before I can get a filco (needed for the guts). Until I get the guts I could not work on finding someone that could do the cad work but I might actually be able to do it myself for CNC type of work. And I think you could do the bottom out of block material and use sheet for the top. Got to think about it some more....
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I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...I want the Black Knight...
I don't.
Only three 5.25 bays. I can readily fill five outward-facing bays, plus hard discs.
The rear fan looks like 2x80mm or 2x92; I prefer 1x120 (or better yet, 2x120)
The duct over the cards would block large video card coolers (i. e. many fanless coolers)
The finish is nice, but it's not 40,000 yen nice. For half the money, you can buy a Lian-Li or CoolerMaster aluminium full-tower with few, if any of the compromises; or for one-quarter the money, a nice steel EATX server-tower. The money you save could be used to hire someone to give it a metal-flake red finish.
The Onkyo keyboard, frankly, doesn't seem that much of a winner-- it seems like they didn't do a lot of work styling it, but rather took a fairly conventional keyboard and snapped it inside a big metal frame and called it a day. The Enermax at least looks like they bothered making a case to fit around the key layout.
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Not really. You could do this with sheet aluminium and bend it to shape. Take a closer look at that keyboard case. One piece top no sides(Left and Right) bent to form front and back of the keyboard key holes cut out with a router. Bottom done the same way I bet but the bend would form the left and right sides. Small (4)L brackets spot welded to top piece used to screw the bottom to the top at the right and left sides. Now all that is left is designing the board holder on the inside and again you could do that with readily available parts.
You're right the key holes don't have to be punched (which would require special tools).
Keep us updated. :)
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You're right the key holes don't have to be punched (which would require special tools).
Keep us updated. :)
Punching is only done for high volume work because it is very fast. But for low volume work you use a router.
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Well, you say the finish is nice but not 40000 yen nice ... BUT ... that is the best finished case you can gen anywhere, so IMO they can set the price. :)
Lian-Li's have the overall best price / performance / design cases you can find anywhere IMO:
Small atx case: PC-A05N (Highly recommended) and the older PC-A05 (I had this, modded with two 120mm blowholes in the roof - it's the BEST small case ever made with that mod - unreal temps, silence, easy to route cables with a modular PSU, easy access, very CHEAP - you can tweak it for exteme silence, extreme cooling, etc - as long as you don't need more than 3-4 HDD's it's the bomb!).
Please check out this 138+ page thread about the PC-A05 on hardforum:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1133290
Medium atx case: PC-A17 and PC-B25 (Now I have this, it's the best looking Lian-Li case IMO, and I'm a sucker for minimalist bling).
Full tower atx case: PC-A77 (the most flexible case in existence).
The ultra-high end Lian-Li's I'm not really a fan of, the PC-P80R is nice for the extreme bling fans, but the rest are flawed for the price. I expect perfection at those prices. :)
PS: I declare this thread the aluminium case thread, the Soldam keyboards are only for the japanese .. :)
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Lian-Li's have the overall best price / performance / design cases you can find anywhere IMO:
My big PC is in a 'Rocketfish' aluminium tower, which was apparently built by Lian-Li, but sold by Best Buy (who couldn't successfully sell high-end cases, and ended up closing them out at $48 each), and it seemed amazing how many places they picked stupid decisions. And many of them are not exclusive to the one model, but are visible in many Lian-Li cases:
1) Hard disc cages that are a pain if you want to bolt the drives down.
2) No cable management holes, on a huge, weakly laid out case.
3) A bottom-PSU design that demands a huge run of the ATX12v cable.
4) Aluminum case rattle. Rubber stoppers for hard disc vibration don't really resolve the fact that everything vibrates.
5) Nonstandard screws! Every other case manufacturer uses one size of screws for side panels and slots. Lian-Li decided to require a different size screw than everyone else, so I had to mail-order special thumbscrews to mount the cards.
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I'm sure it's a good case but all those holes worry me. Do they attract dust or let much noise escape?
Lately I prefer the Silverstone cases. I have an old Coolermaster 201B-SXT which is beautifully made and understated, but it's getting a bit small for my needs.
(http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200305/atc201b_nice.jpg)
This is an all-black variant:
(http://www.dansdata.com/images/cm201b/cm201_560.jpg)
The modern Coolermaster cases are very practical but damn, they're so ugly. I personally can't stand superfluous plastic decorations or that faux "ruggedised" look that is supposed to appeal to gamers I guess. I like the cases that BOXX Technologies use for their systems.
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I really don't get this need for huge cases, do you people all run more than 5 hdd's?
How many here have dual GPU's? I bet very few ... but you have to have HUGE cases, cause size matters? :)
The PC-A05 with the blowhole mod has been the most silent, low temp and easy to work with case I ever had. And I had some stuffed with noise damping, panaflo'd chieftec mega steel towers. :)
I think I'm going to get a PC-A05N if I ever get another desktop, but for now, the PC-B25B is perfect.
I don't use the stupid hdd cage though ... lian-li hdd cages are substandard at vibration control. I'm curious how the new system is, the one with the wide rubber cover ...
Anyway, no stock hdd mounting system is good enough for a silent pc geek, and Lian-Li is better than most.
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I keep the case on the desk ... it's a desktop. :)
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I haven't kept my case on my desktop since cases made the switch from horizontal ones that sat under the monitor. That being said, when I build my new PC, I will likely put it on my desktop.