[IC] Nice60 - A seamless wedge, oring / top mount 60%

[Chuuu]

Project is shelved for the time being. Thanks everyone for the support. This will return next year

Nice60
Original IC https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/vumcy9/ic_nice60_the_low_angle_low_front_height_seamless/
Because 6.9° boards are overdone and I really wanted a travel friendly, wrist friendly board



Interest Check Form!  Discord!


Nice60 aims to deliver the typing sound and feel only found in limited, high end keyboards in a nice, competitive package.
Nice60 draws inspiration from the mounting system in the OTD 356 mini and the low front height, seamless look of Noxary products.



Mounting system / exploded view


The sandwich o-ring mounting system lends itself to being a firm, yet pleasant typing experience.
Relief top mount was added on a whim with this proto revision, however I ended up liking it!




Proto pictures!

Side note, these protos are from the final manufacturer and I am stoked for the finish quality. Normally I'm a huge Karen when it comes to qc but I truly could not find anything wrong with the anodized unit.
Another note, on the raw unit, they accidentally started processing it, so it isnt *as* shiny as it should be. It's a proto and I didn't want to make them re-machine an entire new case so it is what is.


Specs:
- Target Price: $250-300 Alu bottom, $300-350 Brass bottom
   * Price is a bit high for full alu, but I'm very pleased with the quality of the board compared to my proto from a cheaper manu. There's def room for negotiation with higher quantities.
- Above price is based on MOQ: 100
- Lead time for manufacturing: 60-90 days
- Material: Aluminum Top, Aluminum/Brass Bottom
   * Brass bottom will be sandblasted and matte coated
- Typing Angle: 4.20°
- Front Height: 16.9mm
- EKH: 20.5 mm
- Rear Height?: 25.1 mm
- Weight:
   Aluminum Bottom: Approx 900g / 2lb built
   Brass Bottom: Approx 1700g / 3.75lb built
- Mount: Gasket O-Ring with compression ("sandwich oring"), Relief top mount
- Colors: TBD
- Layouts: WK/WKL 60%, Tsangan bottom row, Split/Full Backspace, Split/full right shift, will look into ISO support.
   * Only tsangan bottom row is "officially" supported by this case (there's cutouts on the lower case walls where the oring would protrude from the stab housings, as well as cuts on the bottom case to prevent bottom out)
   * subject to change based on ic responses
KLE screenshot will be available when my PCB designer wakes up (s/o merro60 pcb)

If you want an idea about how low profile this board is

More

Side note, Pandora is a gorgeous board, even for today's standards. koobs is the goat

Proto albums: https://imgur.com/a/m0QQYM9 https://imgur.com/a/MkgpRfE




Vendors

NA: TBA 




Sound Tests: (there's a lot and more will be added)

More

Rev 1 proto sound tests: Recorded on a Shure MV7 + Scarlett 2i2
Alu bottom:
Meteor whites on PP oring mount: https://voca.ro/13ylkGX7h7Re
Gateron Inks on Alu Full top mount: https://voca.ro/139eW3tjvVb5
Gateron Inks on Alu Full oring mount: https://voca.ro/1hypThfsJjWJ

Brass bottom:
Cherry Blacks on Alu Half top mount: https://vocaroo.com/1m7owIvBuBxu
Cherry Blacks on Alu Half oring mount: https://voca.ro/13koyC7hvteV
Gateron Inks on Alu Full top mount: https://voca.ro/1ipwsp7Uw5cM
Gateron Inks on Alu Full oring mount: https://voca.ro/1j9FZW7WZ6t7

Special thanks to Enigo (formerly PhilJB) for the degen hour design talks, dks for steering me away from throwing random curves on a keyboard, New England Keyboard Discord for the feedback during meetups, everyone that has supported me along the way, and lastly a special shoutout to kabocha, because he'd probably complain if I didn't



TODO:
Finalize colors
Finalize pricing, pricing was quoted for a 100 unit run, but there's definitely room for negotiation if there's enough interest.
A fun engraving
International vendors?


Rev 0 sound tests, renders, gallery:

More

Proto pics: https://imgur.com/a/zQip7TF
Renders (adjusted bezel size and screw placement): https://imgur.com/a/vlDUHRN

Rev 0 proto sound tests
GHV4 Inks on Alu Half: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10-70jraZwNBE_zA7IQ882lVxPfJx2yfM/view?usp=sharing
GHV4 Blacks on PP Full: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mK_1vcXUKnZ2AaPQvBzY6DEXSw53EPXQ/view?usp=sharing
Gateron Inks on Alu Full: oring mount https://www.twitch.tv/chuuu/clip/LivelyBloodyLlamaSwiftRage-IlGfKP2BK4V5kMV6
Popus on Alu Half: https://clips.twitch.tv/WrongSquareSalmonBudStar-DqC1zc01dZFeFyab
Razer oranges on Alu Half: https://clips.twitch.tv/CrunchyMoistShingleGingerPower-DrbYEfPNjGhRNUlV

Changelog:

More

v0 > v1:
- Raise sidewall height on bottom case for ease of alignment
- Add cutouts on the bottom case sidewalls for ease of assembly
- Add relief cut along plate tabs with top mount points to test
- Use 1mm fillets + dogbone instead of 1.6mm fillet

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I truly hope you'll enjoy nice (if you join the gb) as much as I have. It's quite literally the board I bring everywhere! 【=◈◡◈=】

[kobb]

reserved 

[Chuuu]

Reserved 

[Brian1321]

Nice

[hali]

yeah that's a keyboard

[scantron]

Nice.

[catamscott]

nice, simple design, nice angle, nice mounting, nice price. good stuff 

[sub0001]

love premium-leaning boards at budget prices, will be following this one! GLWIC!

[dks]

Nice!

[Jona_1153]

Very nice keyboard at a nice price!

[ankit]

looks really nice, glwic 

[chchchchalex]

Nice

[lbassett21]

Very good board. Highly recommend it after trying proto.

[B_D]

what is the weight of the board with the brass bottom?

[Chuuu]

what is the weight of the board with the brass bottom?

Its roughly 1.7 kg / 3.75lb fully built 

[B_D]

what is the weight of the board with the brass bottom?

Its roughly 1.7 kg / 3.75lb fully built 

damn thats heavy. If you do a brass/copper bottom version I will definitely be in for one 

[CaesarAZealad]

Baby blue with my badseed tactiles and a brass plate :Drool:

[Rafa_n]

Nice. I would love to get one with brass bottom.
 Also please consider having a EU vendor

[C_L | Soup]

Added relief top mount? Now im intrigued Mr. Chu

Do you with E-coats are on the table or would you want to stick with ano only?

[PigeonsLikeBread]

Great board and great designer, GLWIC 

[evillguy]

NICE

[irithyll]

nice

[nonuser]

  $300 all alu at 100 moq!  That's not so nice LOLOL  ) ) ) ) (you get it because its called NICE60 ROFLMAO ) ) ) )

[Peter6109]

chUwU

[Nonnegaard]

$300 all alu at 100 moq!  That's not so nice LOLOL  ) ) ) ) (you get it because its called NICE60 ROFLMAO ) ) ) )

most sane geekhack user

[Nonnegaard]

I could use a new doorstop. Nice work.

[Psyquack]

Looks good!

[conternecticus]

I really like the purple in the render in the IC. Is that Veri Peri?

[ABlazinBlueToe]

I really like the purple in the render in the IC. Is that Veri Peri?

TIL that Pantone has a "color of the year".

[pixelpusher]

I really like the purple in the render in the IC. Is that Veri Peri?

TIL that Pantone has a "color of the year".

Yep, you can check their website to see the color of the year back to 2000.  Interesting to look back and see that many of the colors chosen have been very close to previous colors.  For instance, this year's color looks extremely similar to the one from 2008.

[arr1]

Please, consider including EU vendors 

[Chuuu]

So it turns out I'm a massive clown and linked the wrong IC form lol...

https://forms.gle/a8YiFD23oX5cXDqL7

[Chuuu]

what is the weight of the board with the brass bottom?

Its roughly 1.7 kg / 3.75lb fully built 

damn thats heavy. If you do a brass/copper bottom version I will definitely be in for one 

Brass bottom is an option!

Added relief top mount? Now im intrigued Mr. Chu

Do you with E-coats are on the table or would you want to stick with ano only?

I haven't asked about ecoating with my manu yet. I can check, but I personally think this design looks best with an anodized finish

I really like the purple in the render in the IC. Is that Veri Peri?

The IC form actually features outdated colors, see my comment above about posting the wrong form 
If you're referring to the picture at the top of this IC, that's actually the lilac from my manufacturer!

Please, consider including EU vendors 

I was planning on reaching out to international vendors once I had more data from the interest check forms

[Chuuu]

Replying to some ic comments ~

ISO support please, and an EU vendor

I'll for sure offer it as a plate file, although I'm still on the fence about adding it to the plates available in gb. Depends on ic numbers!

(the) framing circle around the usb c cutout.. to me it looks a little cheap and worried it might not fit my Lindy cable very nice

I actually really love my lindy cables too! Any designs coming from me will always be compatible

also prefer the thinner side on the right proto in the picture.

the side bezel could stay as thin as it is on the 1.6mm example

I'll consider it! In hand, I'm currently liking the slightly thicker side bezels as it makes the board look a bit heftier than it really is

[lakeboredom]

Someone pls educate me, how does the mounting in this and the otd differ from a bakaneko or uninorn? I know there's tabs on the plate preventing it from being pulled out, but do they sit on the oring the same way?

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

[Chuuu]

Someone pls educate me, how does the mounting in this and the otd differ from a bakaneko or uninorn? I know there's tabs on the plate preventing it from being pulled out, but do they sit on the oring the same way?

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

With bakeneko/unikorn type oring mounts, the whole plate/pcb assembly is just dropped into the case, with compression coming only from the walls of the case

With mounts like the otd356 mini and nice, the top case actually presses against the tabs of the plate, applying compression on top of the oring. From my experience, this leads to slightly firmer typing experience, and unique sound signature, with more top/case sound

[disarmyouwitha]

The whole bottom (where the cutout of the JST is) is made of brass?

o.O

[arr1]

looks insane

[lakeboredom]

Someone pls educate me, how does the mounting in this and the otd differ from a bakaneko or uninorn? I know there's tabs on the plate preventing it from being pulled out, but do they sit on the oring the same way?

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

With bakeneko/unikorn type oring mounts, the whole plate/pcb assembly is just dropped into the case, with compression coming only from the walls of the case

With mounts like the otd356 mini and nice, the top case actually presses against the tabs of the plate, applying compression on top of the oring. From my experience, this leads to slightly firmer typing experience, and unique sound signature, with more top/case sound

Thank you, and with this style case are they compatible with the other style assembly also? Or do you kind of need the plate?

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

[bruin]

for those that still want an ogre.

[conternecticus]

The IC form actually features outdated colors, see my comment above about posting the wrong form 
If you're referring to the picture at the top of this IC, that's actually the lilac from my manufacturer!

Ah, I really like that color Somewhat unique, don't see that color as an option very often.

[selsik]

I'm positively tired of every single IC/GB board being 6 deg or higher. This is such a breath of fresh air.

Very much interested in this, and looking forward to it

[mr_foggy]

nice 60

if vendors help you get past the 100 moq so that prices can be lowered a little bit, you'll be having a banger board with multiple rounds ahead

[lampmk]

Really interested in this. GL!

[NassimO]

Very simple yet pleasant board!

[kennedystewart]

genuinely curious about this.

drift boss

[thocciness]

Hope you can hit that price point! That's great price for such a nice board!

[FrothBoss]

Very interested after trying it at a meetup. GL chuu!