[GB] Eclipse - gasket mount, FRL custom keyboard (Currently shipping)

[snurrebassen]

Mods: Let me know if anything is up/missing from this and I will fix it asap.

E c l i p s e
by snurrebassen
Discord | Instagram
Twitch

Hello and welcome to the GB page for the Eclipse!

I've been working on this for well over a year. It started as a 40% "Mini TKL" project just for fun, but ended up with a more versatile keyboard, aimed for the keyboard enthusiasts who don't necessarily delve as deep as the 40% sizes.

It features a seamless design with a shell-like top part, covering a solid bottom part with an Eclipse-inspired weight. The two aluminium parts are dampened with 6 silicone gaskets for the bottom part and a sheet of silicone hugging the plate and covering the top part, for a soft and flexible typing feel. With a 7-degree typing angle, this keyboard will hopefully be used by those who can't say no to dedicated arrow keys, but still like to keep the layout and size to an elegant minimum.

STATUS:
- May 2023: PCBs are still in factory. Plate files are on github - Total 150 units + extras

A few words to the buyers of Eclipse, May 26th 2023:

As most customers of the Eclipse GB know, this has been a pretty bumpy ride. I just want to make it as clear as possible that I'm deeply saddened by how the excitement and joy from this hobby is now mostly just frustration and confusion. You paid money for a product I designed and had produced in collaboration with MyKeyboard.EU, with the promise that this would be delivered within a reasonable timeframe.

This reasonable timeframe is LONG gone and passed, and it is not even jokingly funny how long overdue it is and how ridiculous it is that something should take so long. A lot of people have cancelled their orders and this is completely understandable. My hope for the project was that MyKeyboard, who had been a vendor since 2016, would deal with payment, orders and logistics and so I thought it was reasonably safe, especially since I was aiming at the 150-200 unit mark, based on the interest and comments I received during the IC.

Mykeyboard has certainly not managed their GB projects properly, and I don't know what I could have done to make any difference but ultimately, my own choices has lead the project down a path where everything is now in a state of limbo. It feels like a never ending project. For the past year, I've naively been hoping to "finally seeing this GB completed and out of the way" but the completion of this project will be anything but satisfying.

I started this project being a newbie to keyboard design and manufacturing, so I don't feel I have a solid and confident foundation to lean on, and I have seen even competent GB runners experience issues when assembling all the final pieces together. The scale of how much of a disaster the project will be, if a tiny part of the case collides with another part, just because it wasn't tested properly accumulates with each week that passes. This is what keep me up at night. Of course I checked and tested everything, and we have a working prototype, but with this much time having passed, I can't NOT worry about it.

The cases and PCBs will probably one day be ready to ship, but the whole project feels like a heavy rock in my chest and it will never be fulfilled the way I hoped it would be, but when it does, I hope it will be a decent keyboard to use and look at. I have no plans on leaving the hobby and I want to continue designing stuff, and while it's been pretty discouraging, I'm pretty excited about what's in store moving forward and I feel I've received a lot of support throughout the years which I'm really grateful for.

Features:

► Gasket mount ◄
► Seamless ◄
► Indicator LEDs ◄
► Centered USB-port ◄
► 7 degree typing angle ◄

The Eclipse will come with the choice of either a blocked or a standard top, and an adaptable PCB which supports both ANSI and ISO, with options for split backspace, split right-shift, tsangan and a split spacebar bottom row.


The kit will consist of:
- Top case
- Bottom case
- Brass weight (sandblasted and coated)
- PC/POM Plate
- Daughterboard
- Solderable PCB

The PCB is compatible with both ANSI and ISO, with mods such as split right shift, split backspace and bottom rows such as tsangan and split spacebar (2.75x1.25x2.25).





Note: Physical colors of the cases might vary from the 3D rendered images.

Colors to choose from will be:
- Dark Grey
- Green
- Lilac
- E-White

Prototype photos:


Dark grey


Dark grey with GMK Oblivion by Oblotsky


Note: Prototype color only, will not be part of the GB raffle.

Typing test on POM

Assembly video

Pricing

The price for a kit is: 390EUR.

Optional (additional) parts are:
Extra PCB / 45EUR
Extra PC/POM Plate / 35EUR
Extra Brass plate / 41EUR
Extra stainless steel weight (mirror polished) / 65EUR

The GB will be a raffle of 150 units. You can join in from anywhere in the world.


The raffle for this keyboard unfortunately passed (May 31st, 2021), since I was too late to post this GB thread. (I had no idea it took so long for it to be approved  )

This thread will be used for information and updates regarding the production of the units that was raffled.

Huge thanks to:
- w3bb0 for helping me start this project and for the original PCB design
- David at mykeyboard.eu
- Full for general support and aid
- persocom for general support and aid
- All you supporters and commenters of my posts and being active in my discord server
- Poesjuh for the build stream and rose gold prototype photo


I tend to forget minor/important information out of these things at first so let me know what I've left out and I will answer and add it here.

[snurrebassen]

I keep my discord updated first - then geekhack for bigger updates.

Update

Here's the latest:

GB units are finally shipping - extras will be ready in December!

Long story short:

After the cases were finished from the factory, the original PCB manufacturer who was expected to produce the PCBs had gone awol. For reasons unknown to me, there were no attempts to try to find an alternative PCB manufacturer during the time the cases were being made so this process started a while after the cases had arrived at MKEU's warehouse.
The new PCB manufacturer took their time with checking files, back and forth - way longer than expected. At one point we should have changed supplier but I guess the MKEU team thought we were in too deep to change at that time - my guess is this was because of a shortage of mcus for the PCBs and MKEU having a certain kind in-stock with said factory, but don't take my word for it, I have no details on these things.

Once the new supplier shipped the full amount of PCBs to MKEU, they discovered a fatal mistake with the files - leaving no option but to have them redo the PCBs. This took another few months to complete and the current status is that these are now on their way to MKEU, due to be picked up this week. The reason that these seemingly simple steps are taking so long is most likely due to MKEU's liquidity problems during the past year. As per an update posted a few months ago, MKEU got new owners of the company and they seem to be slowly working towards getting up to speed with refunds, support tickets and other issues.

I received one of the sample PCBs of this final batch, along with a Lilac unit - so there will be some new photos and videos posted soon. For the time being Tom and the team at the MKEU HQ will be checking and packing the orders the following weeks and we should see them shipping out very soon.

When it comes to the question about your requests for refunds - If you still haven't heard about your request, I think the best thing is to just try and reach customer support at contact@mykeyboard.eu again and ask if they can process it, before it ships. There might be a huge backlog of refunds with them right now due to all the delays and issues.

I completely understand it if you have requested a refund for Eclipse, and I sincerely hope you get it back with no big ordeal. That being said, I'm really happy with the result, seeing the finished product and I hope you will reconsider

Here are some pictures of the Lilac unit with GMK Monochrome:

[snurrebassen]

bump

[HoffmanMyster]

Approved Unfortunately the raffle window has passed, but snurrebassen would like the thread maintained for updates.

[maximm]

I need this in my life. Please let me join!

[azzipa]

such a great looking board! was really exciting to watch this develop over the last year. kudos for taking such a methodical approach. also, i'm selfishly looking forward to joining #greenteam when this gets delivered. 

[QuackerJ]

Team #green! Can't wait to throw CRP on it

[adsfqwer]

Looking forward to R2, whenever it may be.

[snurrebassen]

Update:
(I keep forgetting to update my geekhack page! I deeply apologize if anyone has been waiting for updates here on geekhack. I post smaller updates in my discord channel.)

The 1st of November I was told all the units finished CNC milling and are being checked and tested before heading onto anodizing.
Thank you all for your patience! <3

[snurrebassen]

Time to actually update this thread. I keep my discord updated first - then geekhack for bigger updates.

Update

May 2nd, 2022 - All units have been shipped from the factory.

While we wait for shipping, we will arrange for the remaining parts

For those who missed it here are some photos photos of the cases.

[snurrebassen]

Update

6/11/2022 - Keyboards arrived in port, QC and packaging next. Extras TBA.

The keyboard cases have arrived in port and are scheduled to be unpacked and forwarded to mykeyboard soon. We are looking at shipping mid July, if all goes well 👀

Going forward I will be preparing the last parts for packaging, plate files etc.

I will look into how we are looking for extras as soon as we have accounted for all the GB orders.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your orders, contact me or support@mykeyboard.eu / or through their or my own discord server.

Have a wonderful weekend!

For those who missed it here are the photos from the factory before they shipped.

[snurrebassen]

7/11/2022 -

No update yet, sadly. More info as soon as I know the status of the units. Thank you for your patience.

Stay tuned for more info and I hope you have a nice summer until the next update. 

[azzipa]

thank you!

7/11/2022 -

No update yet, sadly. More info as soon as I know the status of the units. Thank you for your patience.

Stay tuned for more info and I hope you have a nice summer until the next update. 

[snurrebassen]

Deepest apologies to all who are waiting patiently for this to ship - things are moving in syrup as usual.

Currently, gaskets are almost finished, and custom boxes are being prepared.

I feel the weight of every day that passes where Eclipse is not shipped to all customers heavily on my shoulders, and I absolutely can't wait for MKEU to have it shipped out to you all.

Thank you so much again for your patience, dear folks <3

Hit me up in discord if you want to vent or have questions, I'm around.

[hottrout]

Thanks for updating the GH thread.

[snurrebassen]

Hi all,

So a good 2.5 months has passed since my latest update. I literally have nothing new to update with, other than the fact that the buyers hopefully have gotten a few emails from Mykeyboard regarding the delays - with the information that we are still waiting on parts in order to fulfill and ship your orders.

I am not sure exactly what the holdup is, I'm getting the same amount of information as anyone else. I've been asking for updates along the way but without much replies. It seems mykeyboard have their hands full with a backlog of projects and me hassling them for short, empty updates isn't doing much good either.

In other news, during this wait, I've been trying to work on a new keyboard design, a classic looking 65-70% layout inspired by various retro Cherry keyboards. If you happen to be interested in this, I'll post updates on my instagram, and the vendor will most likely be Antipode Studio, located in Norway.

[ponchofreedo]

Hi all,

So a good 2.5 months has passed since my latest update. I literally have nothing new to update with, other than the fact that the buyers hopefully have gotten a few emails from Mykeyboard regarding the delays - with the information that we are still waiting on parts in order to fulfill and ship your orders.

I am not sure exactly what the holdup is, I'm getting the same amount of information as anyone else. I've been asking for updates along the way but without much replies. It seems mykeyboard have their hands full with a backlog of projects and me hassling them for short, empty updates isn't doing much good either.

In other news, during this wait, I've been trying to work on a new keyboard design, a classic looking 65-70% layout inspired by various retro Cherry keyboards. If you happen to be interested in this, I'll post updates on my instagram, and the vendor will most likely be Antipode Studio, located in Norway.

someone needs to bring some anarchy with them to mkeu to straighten them out or something at this point...

[snurrebassen]

Hello everyone!

As bummed out as I am about the whole shipping delay, I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays and gets to spend time with family, friends and loved ones <3

2023 is the year, folks.

Oh and a little heads up: It was brought to me that the plate files on github all have a fixed centered caps, so they don't have stepped caps-compatibility right now. I will fix it as soon as I can. I deeply apologise about it if anyone already had some plates made and wanted to use it with stepped caps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[snurrebassen]

A few words to the buyers of Eclipse, May 26th 2023:

Still no movement over at Mykeyboard's so I wanted to post a little write up, for whatever it's worth.

As most customers of the Eclipse GB know, this has been a pretty bumpy ride. I just want to make it as clear as possible that I'm deeply saddened by how the excitement and joy from this hobby is now mostly just frustration and confusion. You paid money for a product I designed and had produced in collaboration with MyKeyboard.EU, with the promise that this would be delivered within a reasonable timeframe.

This reasonable timeframe is LONG gone and passed, and it is not even jokingly funny how long overdue it is and how ridiculous it is that something should take so long. A lot of people have cancelled their orders and this is completely understandable. My hope for the project was that MyKeyboard, who had been a vendor since 2016, would deal with payment, orders and logistics and so I thought it was reasonably safe, especially since I was aiming at the 150-200 unit mark, based on the interest and comments I received during the IC.

Mykeyboard has certainly not managed their GB projects properly, and I don't know what I could have done to make any difference but ultimately, my own choices has lead the project down a path where everything is now in a state of limbo. It feels like a never ending project. For the past year, I've naively been hoping to "finally seeing this GB completed and out of the way" but the completion of this project will be anything but satisfying.

I started this project being a newbie to keyboard design and manufacturing, so I don't feel I have a solid and confident foundation to lean on, and I have seen even competent GB runners experience issues when assembling all the final pieces together. The scale of how much of a disaster the project will be, if a tiny part of the case collides with another part, just because it wasn't tested properly accumulates with each week that passes. This is what keep me up at night. Of course I checked and tested everything, and we have a working prototype, but with this much time having passed, I can't NOT worry about it.

The cases and PCBs will probably one day be ready to ship, but the whole project feels like a heavy rock in my chest and it will never be fulfilled the way I hoped it would be, but when it does, I hope it will be a decent keyboard to use and look at. I have no plans on leaving the hobby and I want to continue designing stuff, and while it's been pretty discouraging, I'm pretty excited about what's in store moving forward and I feel I've received a lot of support throughout the years which I'm really grateful for.

Snurrebassen.

[hottrout]

For those who don't want to add another Discord server to their list, please update this thread Snurrebassen with the latest outlook on this project.

[snurrebassen]

For those who don't want to add another Discord server to their list, please update this thread Snurrebassen with the latest outlook on this project.

Apologies for the negligence. Here is an update:

03.11.2023

After the cases were finished from the factory, the original PCB manufacturer who was expected to produce the PCBs had gone awol. For reasons unknown to me, there were no attempts to try to find an alternative PCB manufacturer during the time the cases were being made so this process started a while after the cases had arrived at MKEU's warehouse.
The new PCB manufacturer took their time with checking files, back and forth - way longer than expected. At one point we should have changed supplier but I guess the MKEU team thought we were in too deep to change at that time - my guess is this was because of a shortage of mcus for the PCBs and MKEU having a certain kind in-stock with said factory, but don't take my word for it, I have no details on these things.

Once the new supplier shipped the full amount of PCBs to MKEU, they discovered a fatal mistake with the files - leaving no option but to have them redo the PCBs. This took another few months to complete and the current status is that these are now on their way to MKEU, due to be picked up this week. The reason that these seemingly simple steps are taking so long is most likely due to MKEU's liquidity problems during the past year. As per an update posted a few months ago, MKEU got new owners of the company and they seem to be slowly working towards getting up to speed with refunds, support tickets and other issues.

I received one of the sample PCBs of this final batch, along with a Lilac unit - so there will be some new photos and videos posted soon. For the time being Tom and the team at the MKEU HQ will be checking and packing the orders the following weeks and we should see them shipping out very soon.

When it comes to the question about your requests for refunds - If you still haven't heard about your request, I think the best thing is to just try and reach customer support at contact@mykeyboard.eu again and ask if they can process it, before it ships. There might be a huge backlog of refunds with them right now due to all the delays and issues.

I completely understand it if you have requested a refund for Eclipse, and I sincerely hope you get it back with no big ordeal. That being said, I'm really happy with the result, seeing the finished product and I hope you will reconsider

Here are some pictures of the Lilac unit:

[Rob27shred]

A few words to the buyers of Eclipse, May 26th 2023:

Still no movement over at Mykeyboard's so I wanted to post a little write up, for whatever it's worth.

As most customers of the Eclipse GB know, this has been a pretty bumpy ride. I just want to make it as clear as possible that I'm deeply saddened by how the excitement and joy from this hobby is now mostly just frustration and confusion. You paid money for a product I designed and had produced in collaboration with MyKeyboard.EU, with the promise that this would be delivered within a reasonable timeframe.

This reasonable timeframe is LONG gone and passed, and it is not even jokingly funny how long overdue it is and how ridiculous it is that something should take so long. A lot of people have cancelled their orders and this is completely understandable. My hope for the project was that MyKeyboard, who had been a vendor since 2016, would deal with payment, orders and logistics and so I thought it was reasonably safe, especially since I was aiming at the 150-200 unit mark, based on the interest and comments I received during the IC.

Mykeyboard has certainly not managed their GB projects properly, and I don't know what I could have done to make any difference but ultimately, my own choices has lead the project down a path where everything is now in a state of limbo. It feels like a never ending project. For the past year, I've naively been hoping to "finally seeing this GB completed and out of the way" but the completion of this project will be anything but satisfying.

I started this project being a newbie to keyboard design and manufacturing, so I don't feel I have a solid and confident foundation to lean on, and I have seen even competent GB runners experience issues when assembling all the final pieces together. The scale of how much of a disaster the project will be, if a tiny part of the case collides with another part, just because it wasn't tested properly accumulates with each week that passes. This is what keep me up at night. Of course I checked and tested everything, and we have a working prototype, but with this much time having passed, I can't NOT worry about it.

The cases and PCBs will probably one day be ready to ship, but the whole project feels like a heavy rock in my chest and it will never be fulfilled the way I hoped it would be, but when it does, I hope it will be a decent keyboard to use and look at. I have no plans on leaving the hobby and I want to continue designing stuff, and while it's been pretty discouraging, I'm pretty excited about what's in store moving forward and I feel I've received a lot of support throughout the years which I'm really grateful for.

Snurrebassen.

Not part of the GB, but I have to say good on you for giving such a update. If some other GB runners/designers who ran into similar problems would've been as transparent as this they probably would have had a lot less heat on them. I think we all understand the name of the GB game in this hobby & are willing to wait longer than expected for a product if need be. However the runners or designers just going dark when things aren't going the way they planned has eroded a lot of trust from the community. So thanks for being up front, I know a lot of others would not have given such an update & just stayed quiet until they had good news.

[antipode-studio]

Realized I commented with the wrong account

[snurrebassen]

Not part of the GB, but I have to say good on you for giving such a update. If some other GB runners/designers who ran into similar problems would've been as transparent as this they probably would have had a lot less heat on them. I think we all understand the name of the GB game in this hobby & are willing to wait longer than expected for a product if need be. However the runners or designers just going dark when things aren't going the way they planned has eroded a lot of trust from the community. So thanks for being up front, I know a lot of others would not have given such an update & just stayed quiet until they had good news.

Appreciate it a lot - just happy to see this conclude so that we can all move on.


These are finally going out now, some people have received theirs already but there's still lots of orders to check on to make sure the addresses are updated. There are limited extras available, once all GB orders are shipped. I will keep the thread updated.

Here are some snapshots from users on discord who received theirs already:


Pic by steferd


Pic by klymen


Pic by Wavedepth


Pic by Ivangp

[azzipa]

Appreciate it a lot - just happy to see this conclude so that we can all move on.

These are finally going out now, some people have received theirs already but there's still lots of orders to check on to make sure the addresses are updated. There are limited extras available, once all GB orders are shipped. I will keep the thread updated.

Sad for me to see how sideways this GB ended. I requested a refund in June and received this message:

Hello, Your order was cancelled as requested,however the refund process could take several weeks to complete due to the processing queue and our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.Please feel free to contact us again through this ticket if you still haven't received your refund within the next couple of weeks. regards, Eugene

I have not received a refund after three follow-up messages. I also have not received a keyboard. Not really sure what else to say, except it's hard for me to move on atm.

[snurrebassen]

Appreciate it a lot - just happy to see this conclude so that we can all move on.

These are finally going out now, some people have received theirs already but there's still lots of orders to check on to make sure the addresses are updated. There are limited extras available, once all GB orders are shipped. I will keep the thread updated.

Sad for me to see how sideways this GB ended. I requested a refund in June and received this message:

I have not received a refund after three follow-up messages. I also have not received a keyboard. Not really sure what else to say, except it's hard for me to move on atm.

Azzipa, I'm very sorry to hear it's taken so long. I will try to push as much as I can to move it up.

[hottrout]

I can confirm that my Eclipse arrived safe and sound.  The finish on mine is very good.  Also the colour is really nice, the finish on the brass and chrome weight is also very good.  Looking forward to building this over the Christmas period.