[IC] Vortex Model M SSK KIT | Preorder started |Vendor list updated

[vortexkeyboard]

Preorder information [2022,11,16]

Hello everyone, we are very excited to announced that our Model M SSK Kit is finally available for PREORDER on November 17th 18:00 PM (GMT+8)
It’s our FIRST DIY KIT and supports QMK/VIA/Vial.

Price and Preorder
Preorder Price starts from 199.99 USD  (Shipping fee and VAT are not included) 

Notice!!  After it becomes available(in stock) the price will change to 269.99 USD   
(Price may vary from different vendors due to VAT, currency difference and other reasons) 

Preorder starts: November 17th 2022 18:00PM (GMT+8)
Preorder ends: December 25th 2022 (for all vendors including us)

It will be available in:
- 4 colors : Black, Blue, Space Grey and Silver 
- ISO and ANSI
- 6.25u WK(TKL) and 7u WKL
The kits includes:
- Aluminum Badge x2 (Vortex Logo And "VTK")
 *Additional badge-"VTK" is only included in preorders
- Top And Bottom Case x1
- FR-4 mounting
- Plate x1 Hot-swap
- hot swap PCB x1
- USB Daughter Board x1
- Plate Foam:3mm x2 (Main PCB And F-row)
- Poron switch Pad:0.3mm x2 (Main PCB And F-row)
- Bottom Case Sound-dampening Foam:3mm x1 (Main PCB)
- Gasket Set x1
- Scerw Set x1
- Rubber Feet set x1 set
- Carrying Case x1

Does not include:
- Stabilizers
- Switches 
- Keycaps 
- Cable 
- Switch puller 
- Keycap puller

Add ons:
- Aluminum mounting plate (Compatible with both ANSI and ISO)
- Brass mounting plate (Compatible with both ANSI and ISO)
- Solderable PCB 
- Hot-swap PCB (already included in the kit)
- Foam set (already included in the kit)
- Carrying Case (already included in the kit)


Vendor list will be announced tomorrow
Vendor List[2022,11,17]

Asia:
✈️India
StacksKB
✈️The Philippines
Rotobox
✈️Singapore
Pantheonkeys
✈️Vietnam
Bach Phong
✈️Hong Kong
Keyboard Hell
✈️Korea
Monstargear
✈️Japan
Yushakobo
✈️Indonesia
mechanicalkeyboards.co.id
Oceania:
✈️Australia
Keebz N Cables
Africa:
✈️South Africa
Control Shift Escape
Europe:
✈️United Kingdom:
Keebcats
Mechboards
✈️Germany:
Candykeys
KEYGEM
Geekboards
✈️The Netherland
Clickeys.nl
✈️Spain
Eloquent Clicks
✈️Russia
Geekboards
North/South America:
✈️USA:
Mechanical Keyboards
✈️Canada:
BlueSCSI of Canada
DeskHero
✈️Argentina:
LatamKeys

2022,7,26

We would like to thank all of you who had responded and gave suggestions to us. Your opinion matters a lot!
Right now, we would like to know WKL or TKL do all of you prefer more.
Don't worry, both layout will be available no matter which layout got more votes!
The link to the questionnaire will be posted down below
(No email required, just one question)

WKL or TKL ?

IC is still live, don't forget to check it out and give us suggestions if you want!
Thank you all in advance!

IC Form | Our Website | Discord

Last year, we shared one of our render, which is Model M
Right now, we are closer to making it come true.
So, are you interest in Model M SSK kit?





Units, Pricing, Vendors are not yet decided
Since this is still under product development, some information are still unsure and missing
We will update those once we gathered all the information!
And please give us more opinion on this product if possible
All of your suggestions could possibly be in our products' final decisions!

IC has started on our website and more renders will be available there
Go check it out and share your opinions if you are interested

IC form is really short, it will take you less than 1 min!


Specifications
-Layout Options: ANSI/ISO
-Hot Swap PCB
-QMK / vial Firmware
-Gasket Mount Structure
-USB-C Interface
-RGB
-Case Material : Aluminum
-Case Color Options: Black/Space Grey/Silver/Blue/Green/Pink/E-Retro White
-Weight: Approximately 2kg
 
Includes
-Aluminum Case x1 (Top and Botton)
-PCB x2 (Main PCB And Upper Row PCB)
-Aluminum Plate x1
-Poron PCB Foam x2 (PCB and Case)
-Gasket x1 set
-Vortex Aluminum Badge x1
-Screws Set x1
-Rubber Feet x1
-Hex Key x1

For more details, please check the product information on Vortex Keyboard's official website or vendors’ website on Thursday, November 17th
Vendors will be announced on November 17th

Thank you all in advance for joining our IC !
Vortex

Instagram | Discord | Facebook

UPDATE

2022.08.17th
Prototype is here! In the color Black.
Our Model M SSK KIT comes with a carrying bag.

These photo are just for references, switches and keycap are not included in our Model M SSK KIT.
more photos and details will be updated later!

2022.10.21th

Our latest prototype for the case in the color space grey and details of the badge.



Brass and Aluminum plate prototype

2022.8.24th

We would like to know which plate material do you like the most for our Model M SSK KIT
please join our Discord to answer the poll
If you don't have a discord, you can answer it on this Google Form

[MIGHTY CHICKEN]

Oh boi do I love this

[Faraday]

Looks fantastic! Hope you go with the WKL layout.

[sagarsiddhpura]

Posting an IC without an IC form is just an ad that does not belong in IC section. Post has no details on units, pricing, vendors etc. If everything is on your website, why even bother posting here

[sabre]

Pls make a plastic version. Also will there be wkl version? The colour options renders show wkl.

[Mecxs]

This is just a drawing of a keyboard.

What the hell.

[Pyroo]

A solder pcb a target pricing and an actual ic showing internals and mounting would be neat

[clickyblob]

+1 for plastic version.

[CoolPenguin1]

Plastic version would be nice and I'd like to see a solder PCB as well, I'd also update this IC with some more pictures (especially the beige version) adding in a target price is needed too imo.

[vortexkeyboard]

Posting an IC without an IC form is just an ad that does not belong in IC section. Post has no details on units, pricing, vendors etc. If everything is on your website, why even bother posting here

This IC form is a quick survey, details on units, pricing, vendors has not yet decided. Once we gathered all the information, we will update it here!
Thank you for reminding us, we will update this post about the undecided part!

[Fraaaan]

Solder PCB please

[LMarci]

The design looks amazing but more info please

[Gepriester]

I really like appreciate vortex as bigger company doing vintage inspired keyboards with these mounting styles, dampening, etc. I hope hotswap ISO will be possible like the kbt:re.
I've seen many disliking bigger companies doing ICs here, but if they provide all the IC information and more importantly listen to suggestions, then I think it's fine.
One thing that confused me when ordering the kbt:re was that there were many different renders (especially for the keycaps) and I still don't know how the caps of the board I ordered will look like in the end. I hope everything here will be updated before the sale goes live when things are decided in the end.

[linell]

I was expecting it to be plastic
would look great in black ano tho

[Homiezoned]

If E-Retro White is beige then very interested 

[1391401]

Your boards are my favorite prebuilts but I don't really want more email so I won't complete the IC - however I will for sure buy a black and e-retro-white. 

My feedback is always the same - offer these as kits or barebones too!

edit - I have not looked at your site in a while, I see the PC66 is now available as a barebones!  Ordering now

[Puddsy]

tbh very cool

[EdgeOfInfinity]

awesome, i've been waiting for another chance at an alu model M type board!

[Zyrophr]

yes

[vortexkeyboard]

I really like appreciate vortex as bigger company doing vintage inspired keyboards with these mounting styles, dampening, etc. I hope hotswap ISO will be possible like the kbt:re.
I've seen many disliking bigger companies doing ICs here, but if they provide all the IC information and more importantly listen to suggestions, then I think it's fine.
One thing that confused me when ordering the kbt:re was that there were many different renders (especially for the keycaps) and I still don't know how the caps of the board I ordered will look like in the end. I hope everything here will be updated before the sale goes live when things are decided in the end.

Thank you for liking us! we are sorry that we had confused you in the past, This time, we will make sure that once our final prototype is ready, we will post it here and let every one knows!

[vortexkeyboard]

Your boards are my favorite prebuilts but I don't really want more email so I won't complete the IC - however I will for sure buy a black and e-retro-white. 

My feedback is always the same - offer these as kits or barebones too!

edit - I have not looked at your site in a while, I see the PC66 is now available as a barebones!  Ordering now

This time we will offer as kits or barebones! Thank you for your suggestions and support!

[vortexkeyboard]

awesome, i've been waiting for another chance at an alu model M type board!

Please stay tuned with us!

[vortexkeyboard]

We will be updating about this project soon !


After finishing updating, we will be looking for vendor all around the world!
If you want to be our vender, please message us directly through our Instagram, Facebook or Discord!
We will discuss more detail after we receive your request 

[Ensaum]

I think this looks really interesting. Would you consider making a solderable option for the pcb though? I and I think a lot of other enthusiasts who would be interested in this board would prefer them to not be hotswap.

Please also consider sending one or two out to a content creator for a build stream so we can get an idea of the relative colors, build process, sound with varying levels of foam, etc.

Overall awesome idea. I love vintage inspired boards and will be following where this goes.

[vortexkeyboard]

I think this looks really interesting. Would you consider making a solderable option for the pcb though? I and I think a lot of other enthusiasts who would be interested in this board would prefer them to not be hotswap.

Please also consider sending one or two out to a content creator for a build stream so we can get an idea of the relative colors, build process, sound with varying levels of foam, etc.

Overall awesome idea. I love vintage inspired boards and will be following where this goes.

We will be having two options for PCB, solderable and hotswap version.
We will defiantly sending our Model M SSK KIT to content creators for them to give reviews on it.

hope you could be patient with us and stay tuned for it!

[MattVortex]

Looks great!

What's the typing angle?

[WaynaPawiasek]

Proto looks good but the gaps are too large imho. Needs another prototype with smaller gaps!

[Kokaloo]

the gaps around the keys are really large, reducing them would be wonderful, or at least pictures using other keycaps (gmk, epbt, etc) that are more commonly used would help gauge if the spacing needs to be changed or not

[vortexkeyboard]

Looks great!

What's the typing angle?

it is about 7 degree
Remember, the keyboard is a bit curved in the middle

[vortexkeyboard]

Proto looks good but the gaps are too large imho. Needs another prototype with smaller gaps!

the gaps around the keys are really large, reducing them would be wonderful, or at least pictures using other keycaps (gmk, epbt, etc) that are more commonly used would help gauge if the spacing needs to be changed or not

the gaps between the switches and keycaps are actually normal, it is because of the color of the plate that makes it looks larger and magnified it in some angles.

[WaynaPawiasek]

Sorry, I should have been more clear with my reply. The gaps between the keys and board borders are too large. It is especially evident with the Arrow keys. The gaps between the keycaps/switches seem fine.

[vortexkeyboard]

we are now asking your opinion on which plate material do you guys prefer?
please join our Discord and join the poll to tell us which one do you prefer!
Vortex Keyboard Discord:
https://discordapp.com/channels/1006452977403433011/1011164152955408465

[Fraaaan]

Please let us vote without joining your Discord.

[vortexkeyboard]

Please let us vote without joining your Discord.

Thank you for your suggestion. We understand that some of you do not have Discord, so we decided to open a google form for people who want to answer.
Here is the form, no email required!

https://forms.gle/V4rWvza1gKCVgpHYA

[vortexkeyboard]

We just updated our latest case prototype, and M0110's very first prototype has also arrived in our office!

[Handke]

Poly plate or flexible plate is a must. I've used keyboards with a steel plate and I hate them.

iso + wkl + stepped caps lock

[ThreadyKeycaps]

yummyy! love that bend, very unique!

[mini_ninja_64]

I hav been looking forward to this

[IO Sam]

Beautiful!!! And I have to join the "plastic version" chorus here and say that, if you guys ever offer one, it will be an instant hit!

[KBKlon]

Please consider selling the case separately.

[lakeboredom]

WK or WKL. 
Both layouts are TKL. 
Feels weird correcting someone that is designing something. You should know this, do some proof reading.

[soundstage]

Is this per key RGB? Just stating that it is RGB doesn't give exact specifications.

[FlitzDeelman]

Sorry if I missed this information somewhere. Will the PCB take MX-compatible switches? Or will this have some hall effect magic or something?

[Fraaaan]

Sorry if I missed this information somewhere. Will the PCB take MX-compatible switches? Or will this have some hall effect magic or something?

When it comes to custom keyboard in 99% of cases it's MX compat if not stated otherwise.

[thefarside]

Sorry if I missed this information somewhere. Will the PCB take MX-compatible switches? Or will this have some hall effect magic or something?

When it comes to custom keyboard in 99% of cases it's MX compat if not stated otherwise.

My guess is MX compatible switches, but it would be super cool if they were buckling springs!

[EdgeOfInfinity]

will any streamers be getting their hands on this before GB over?

[Roguesoldier77]

Just preordered a WKL Silver one on mechanicalkeyboards.com

[NassimO]

Any plans for a 104 or 108 version in the future?

[WHAT!?]

Hit up the preorder. Pretty excited for this one. Model M has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I like the buckling springs of the original but I've also just always thought it was a nice design. MX compatible with modern options in this is just way too good to pass up. I'm a little bummed the e-retro white color didn't make the final cut. (but blue did somehow?).

At any rate I ordered one in black. It's going to be awesome with GMK Dracula and the nightmode set. Haven't ran larger than 60-75% boards in a while. It'll be fun to come back around to TKL again.

Stoked.

[1391401]

shipping is something like 60 dollars to the US - is it recommended we wait for GB and buy from one of the US vendors?