geekhack

geekhack Marketplace => Interest Checks => Topic started by: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:47:07

Title: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:47:07: I've been working on this for a little while now, so I thought it was time to make a thread about it. As some of you have seen, I'm working on a board that I call the Zlant. The idea is a uniformly staggered 40% board using the Planck layout. Personally, I love ortho boards, but I know they're not for everyone. By making a board with a stagger, typing feels a lot more natural for people who can't adapt to ortho typing. Using all 1u keys allows the board to stay nearly as compact as a 4x12 ortho and retains the benefits of that layout. Personally I feel 4x12 makes the fewest sacrifices of any small form factor, and there are quite a few key sets out there with Planck kits already, which means you don't have to make as many, if any, concessions for using the correct keycaps for the layout.

Without further delay, here are some pictures of one of my completed prototype builds:

[attach=1]

[attach=2]

[attach=3]

I've since moved to making a PCB, and I've been working on it for a few weeks. Today I hope to be submitting the files to get some prototype pcbs. Here is a quick and dirty render of the PCB:

[attach=4]

So, any thoughts, comments, or questions would be appreciated! I'm really excited about this, and I hope I'm able to go into production within the next few weeks.
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: prod on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:49:12: like it
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: jacobsmirror on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:52:35: Sexy...
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: salasource on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:54:22: Looks good. But what about the case? Can we have high quality CNC case?
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:05:58: Quote from: salasource on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:54:22
Looks good. But what about the case? Can we have high quality CNC case?

This is a rough mock-up of what I envision for a case. Keep in mind, I did this pretty quickly and it’s not the right geometry, but you should get an idea of what I’m going for. In this case, the green area would be the plate made of diffused 3mm acrylic. The pcb has upward facing rgb leds so the glow would extend out to the edges. Ideally I may initially sell it as a sandwich style case, but then run a buy on milled cases that would just use the existing plate and not the bottom.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180313/f37a37ec9efd3c43dd07abd207329577.jpg)
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: donut_sauce on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:12:22: yay! finally excited to see this up. remember seeing it when you first made it back on r/mk.

is the chip gonna be atmega32u4?
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:17:23: Quote from: donut_sauce on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:12:22
yay! finally excited to see this up. remember seeing it when you first made it back on r/mk.

is the chip gonna be atmega32u4?
Yes
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: NiceAndCreamy on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:53:27: Don't forget that the 3mm plate has cutouts for the switch clips! Maximum rigidity
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: Jae-3soteric on Tue, 13 March 2018, 12:40:38: Looks great - I was super tempted by your prototype on MM...
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: jdcarpe on Tue, 13 March 2018, 13:24:03: Just slide those bottom two rows to the right by 0.25u haha
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 13:39:12: Quote from: jdcarpe on Tue, 13 March 2018, 13:24:03
Just slide those bottom two rows to the right by 0.25u haha

I debated that... but it would kill the symmetry. Still close enough that I don’t think it feels weird.
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: jimirolln on Tue, 13 March 2018, 14:07:44: Quote from: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:05:58
Quote from: salasource on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:54:22
Looks good. But what about the case? Can we have high quality CNC case?

This is a rough mock-up of what I envision for a case. Keep in mind, I did this pretty quickly and it’s not the right geometry, but you should get an idea of what I’m going for. In this case, the green area would be the plate made of diffused 3mm acrylic. The pcb has upward facing rgb leds so the glow would extend out to the edges. Ideally I may initially sell it as a sandwich style case, but then run a buy on milled cases that would just use the existing plate and not the bottom.

Show Image
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180313/f37a37ec9efd3c43dd07abd207329577.jpg)

this case is so lit...it looks like a coffin...do you do a 60%?
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 14:34:46: Quote from: jimirolln on Tue, 13 March 2018, 14:07:44
Quote from: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:05:58
Quote from: salasource on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:54:22
Looks good. But what about the case? Can we have high quality CNC case?

This is a rough mock-up of what I envision for a case. Keep in mind, I did this pretty quickly and it’s not the right geometry, but you should get an idea of what I’m going for. In this case, the green area would be the plate made of diffused 3mm acrylic. The pcb has upward facing rgb leds so the glow would extend out to the edges. Ideally I may initially sell it as a sandwich style case, but then run a buy on milled cases that would just use the existing plate and not the bottom.

Show Image
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180313/f37a37ec9efd3c43dd07abd207329577.jpg)

this case is so lit...it looks like a coffin...do you do a 60%?

I haven’t made one yet, but if people like the style I certainly could. All of the 60 cases I’ve made to this point have been pretty vanilla with the exception of my hhkb style cases

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180313/c58bf3cfcd328385f731270d1b59b5c6.jpg)
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: livingspeedbump on Tue, 13 March 2018, 17:45:23: i actually really love this! :thumb: :thumb:
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: oh_chesteroni on Wed, 14 March 2018, 15:36:09: Quote from: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 14:34:46
Quote from: jimirolln on Tue, 13 March 2018, 14:07:44
Quote from: ziptyze on Tue, 13 March 2018, 09:05:58
Quote from: salasource on Tue, 13 March 2018, 08:54:22
Looks good. But what about the case? Can we have high quality CNC case?

This is a rough mock-up of what I envision for a case. Keep in mind, I did this pretty quickly and it’s not the right geometry, but you should get an idea of what I’m going for. In this case, the green area would be the plate made of diffused 3mm acrylic. The pcb has upward facing rgb leds so the glow would extend out to the edges. Ideally I may initially sell it as a sandwich style case, but then run a buy on milled cases that would just use the existing plate and not the bottom.

Show Image
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180313/f37a37ec9efd3c43dd07abd207329577.jpg)

this case is so lit...it looks like a coffin...do you do a 60%?

I haven’t made one yet, but if people like the style I certainly could. All of the 60 cases I’ve made to this point have been pretty vanilla with the exception of my hhkb style cases

Show Image
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180313/c58bf3cfcd328385f731270d1b59b5c6.jpg)

Would be in on a hhkb case in a heartbeat.
Love the simplicity of your case.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: tanvir175 on Wed, 14 March 2018, 16:23:53: I remember seeing this on reddit when you first handwired it. Super sick! Also that HHKB case looks really nice
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: UsualSuspectXXX on Wed, 14 March 2018, 21:55:43: I'd definitely be in for one of these!

Edit: any ideas on a price range?
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Thu, 15 March 2018, 22:02:27: Quote from: UsualSuspectXXX on Wed, 14 March 2018, 21:55:43
I'd definitely be in for one of these!

Edit: any ideas on a price range?

That is going to be largely dependent on how much assembled pcbs would be, and what I end up doing for the case. I want to try to make it as reasonable as possible, and ideally not do a group buy... but that may be the best way to go ultimately to get a better idea on pricing. So... I know that’s vague, but I’d say I should have a much better idea within a week or two.
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: UsualSuspectXXX on Thu, 15 March 2018, 22:26:55: Quote from: ziptyze on Thu, 15 March 2018, 22:02:27
Quote from: UsualSuspectXXX on Wed, 14 March 2018, 21:55:43
I'd definitely be in for one of these!

Edit: any ideas on a price range?

That is going to be largely dependent on how much assembled pcbs would be, and what I end up doing for the case. I want to try to make it as reasonable as possible, and ideally not do a group buy... but that may be the best way to go ultimately to get a better idea on pricing. So... I know that’s vague, but I’d say I should have a much better idea within a week or two.

Sounds reasonable to me. Will be looking forward to an update :)
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: nathanchere on Sun, 18 March 2018, 08:11:21: Love it!
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: MMKB on Sun, 18 March 2018, 13:31:38: Mind bending but really unique! :confused:
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ChrisSwires on Mon, 19 March 2018, 15:14:00: Interested. Staggered 40 I can cover with an ortho kit? Dreamy.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Title: Re: [IC] Zlant 40%
Post by: ziptyze on Thu, 07 June 2018, 00:09:34: So, it's been a while since I've updated this project. I thought I would share some progress. I just received the 4th revision of the PCB, and I believe this is what I am going to use for a group buy. It will be a factory assembled PCB with an onboard controller. The switch plate and bottom plate are made of tg4, same as the pcb.

[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
[attachimg=3]
[attachimg=4]

And here are some assembled pictures of the prototype

[attachimg=5]
[attachimg=6]

If anyone has seen any of my previous prototypes you'll notice that I changed the pcb design from a slanted edge. This change was made primarily so I could sell the board first as an inexpensive kit, but that it would be able to drop in to a milled high-profile case later without the need to desolder everything and move the pcb to another plate that would go into a multi-part assembled case.

If anyone has any questions, please fire away. I will be getting some quotes for factory soldered pcbs in the next few days and hope to start the group buy by the weekend.