Tai Hao 6.25x Space Bar GB [SHIPPED]

[elton5354]

UPDATE:

I will have to provide Tai Hao with an universal space bar for a sample.  I'd prefer the same profile as Tai Hao's, however I don't have one.  Can anyone sell me one?

Tai Hao is increasing the price for red/blue/yellow/green space bars to $2.50 USD.  Black will remain $2.00.  Their reason behind this is the paint materials is going to be wasted during the injection process, so they will have to factor the cost for the loss.

I am currently discussing the off centered caps lock with them. 

Good thing I removed the form before any more orders were submitted..

[bazemk1979]

awesome keep us updated

[yoon333]

I am not sure about this, but does this work for the reference design for the spacebar?

http://www.elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,cherrymxkeys&pid=sb_u2

[elton5354]

That's the exact same one I was referring to, but I don't really want to spend $11 shipped for it.

Well, if I happen to not get a hand on that specific one, I can always just send them one of my SP space bars for stem reference for Tai Hao.

[Halvar]

Oi... This is truly unfortunate news to us..
We might be investing in this group buy but we do need some time to re-evaluate our current funds.

Can you already tell us about if you are going to offer transparent keycaps in these colors anyway? It would help me in determining how much I'd like to order in this GB. Thanks a lot!

[Mad_Doktor]

Hey Elton,

Will you also offer a white space bar? I'm not really interested in one myself but I do remember a whole bunch of people asking in the main GB.

Will you also be organizing a local pickup for this GB?

Thanks,
md

[KeyPop]

imho $2.50 at 400 MOQ each is pretty overpriced...
Edit: We'll be purchasing some spacebars but not as much as originally planned.
We will be delaying the polycarbonate spacebar and waiting to see how this will turn out.
Our funds are currently tied up in 6 projects so we need to be careful for now.

[elton5354]

imho $2.50 at 400 MOQ each is pretty overpriced...
Edit: We'll be purchasing some spacebars but not as much as originally planned.
We will be delaying the polycarbonate spacebar and waiting to see how this will turn out.
Our funds are currently tied up in 6 projects so we need to be careful for now.

Yeah, but that includes the tooling/molding for the space bar they don't have.

Hey Elton,

Will you also offer a white space bar? I'm not really interested in one myself but I do remember a whole bunch of people asking in the main GB.

Will you also be organizing a local pickup for this GB?

Thanks,
md

I don't think they have white.  Even if they do, we already have a handful to reach MOQ for these 5 available colours.

[Halvar]

imho $2.50 at 400 MOQ each is pretty overpriced...
Edit: We'll be purchasing some spacebars but not as much as originally planned.
We will be delaying the polycarbonate spacebar and waiting to see how this will turn out.

I agree about it being overpriced (WASD sells single space bars à la carte in a bunch of different colors for $1.50), and the tooling and color changes are a lame excuse as I'm sure we're not the only customers and they could have totally avoided it earlier by doing it within the original GB production. The 6.25u is the prevalent space bar size in the western world, and the tooling is an inevitable investment for them, so to handle this like some kind of custom mold order is a bit sneaky.

Elton, on the other side, is handling this in an awesome way, I have huge respect for his spontaneous decision to make a second group buy for this after the gigantic first one. So I guess I'll be in for one of each color, while at the same time I'll wait for what keypop comes up with.
 

[dante]

imho $2.50 at 400 MOQ each is pretty overpriced...
Edit: We'll be purchasing some spacebars but not as much as originally planned.
We will be delaying the polycarbonate spacebar and waiting to see how this will turn out.
Our funds are currently tied up in 6 projects so we need to be careful for now.

Can you give an idea as to how many black space bars you may be purchasing?  I am going to purchase a full Tai Hao set from you and so it makes sense for me to order the space bar from you as well.

If funds are an issue maybe put up a pre-order option on your website?

[KeyPop]

imho $2.50 at 400 MOQ each is pretty overpriced...
Edit: We'll be purchasing some spacebars but not as much as originally planned.
We will be delaying the polycarbonate spacebar and waiting to see how this will turn out.
Our funds are currently tied up in 6 projects so we need to be careful for now.

Can you give an idea as to how many black space bars you may be purchasing?  I am going to purchase a full Tai Hao set from you and so it makes sense for me to order the space bar from you as well.

If funds are an issue maybe put up a pre-order option on your website?

We don't mean to deter this groupbuy in any way and will try our best to help make it happen. We can't be exact as to how many we will be purchasing but it will definitely be enough to cover the amount of sets we've ordered. We just simply wanted to express our opinion on the pricing.

We should be releasing a group buy for polycarbonate spacebars sometime next week for those who are interested.

[SeriouSSpotS]

Aw awesome

[Halvar]

We should be releasing a group buy for polycarbonate spacebars sometime next week for those who are interested.

Thumbs up! 

[elton5354]

UPDATE:

About the off-centered stepped caps lock, it seems like Tai Hao already have the mold for it.  Not sure if it fits the keyboards we have. 

Here's a top and underside picture.

[meiosis]

Well then it seems Tai Hao was keeping everything from us..


Could have fit WKL and WK boards.. -.-

[elton5354]

For the right off-centered stem caps lock, the stem should be 10mm from the left of the key cap.

It doesn't really look like that at all. 

[Halvar]

EDIT: You're right, they seem to have a wrong mold.

(Cherry dyesub PCB caps lock)

[elton5354]

The picture with the ruler is my picture I took with SP caps lock.

It seems like it won't fit.  Tai Hao's caps lock is 12~13mm from the left.

This one is from Tai Hao.

[babychoy]

imho $2.50 at 400 MOQ each is pretty overpriced...
Edit: We'll be purchasing some spacebars but not as much as originally planned.
We will be delaying the polycarbonate spacebar and waiting to see how this will turn out.

I agree about it being overpriced (WASD sells single space bars à la carte in a bunch of different colors for $1.50), and the tooling and color changes are a lame excuse as I'm sure we're not the only customers and they could have totally avoided it earlier by doing it within the original GB production. The 6.25u is the prevalent space bar size in the western world, and the tooling is an inevitable investment for them, so to handle this like some kind of custom mold order is a bit sneaky.

Elton, on the other side, is handling this in an awesome way, I have huge respect for his spontaneous decision to make a second group buy for this after the gigantic first one. So I guess I'll be in for one of each color, while at the same time I'll wait for what keypop comes up with.
 

We take the tooling from Tai Hao when all of this is over. We paid for it so everyone gets a piece of it... like a souvenir or something

And kudos to Elton for bringing forth to Tai Hao the idea of the universal spacebar. We're potentially gonna be paying extra for the tooling, so we might as well give them extra work.

The picture with the ruler is my picture I took with SP caps lock.

It seems like it won't fit.  Tai Hao's caps lock is 12~13mm from the left.

This one is from Tai Hao.

Show Image

At least TH can still argue their CapsLock is, indeed, off-centered.  :p

[do_Og@n]

I can't get the google doc to work but I am down for the following:

Yellow - 3
Red - 2
Black - 1
Green - 3
Blue - 4

[Halvar]

I can't get the google doc to work [...]

Really?
 

...
ORDER FORM - Closed for now until I finalized everything.
...

[do_Og@n]

Really really...something wrong with my ocular settings.

[Bencze]

This thread is good news, gotta bookmark it.
Now what to do with useless 101 keys and 7 sized spacebar...

[xpistalpetex]

theres always getting a winkeyless board -.-b. or raffle or etc.
i wonder what other tai hao mysterys there are

[elton5354]

Do you guys want the caps lock or not?  If the majority doesn't want it, I'll just do the space bar only.

[LechnerDE]

Do you guys want the caps lock or not?  If the majority doesn't want it, I'll just do the space bar only.

I don't need it, but it technically belongs to the 7x spacebar and the 1.5 modifiers so it would complete the set I guess.

Wouldn't mind paying extra for it, but the spacebars have priority for me.

[Tarzan]

Do you guys want the caps lock or not?  If the majority doesn't want it, I'll just do the space bar only.

I don't need it, but it technically belongs to the 7x spacebar and the 1.5 modifiers so it would complete the set I guess.

Wouldn't mind paying extra for it, but the spacebars have priority for me.

+1

[SeriouSSpotS]

Do you guys want the caps lock or not?  If the majority doesn't want it, I'll just do the space bar only.

I don't need it, but it technically belongs to the 7x spacebar and the 1.5 modifiers so it would complete the set I guess.

Wouldn't mind paying extra for it, but the spacebars have priority for me.

Same here

[elton5354]

Yeah, but with most people only looking for the space bar, the additional cost may deter them from joining.

I've talked with TH about adding the caps lock with the space bar as a set. It'll be $4 for a space bar and a caps lock at 400 MOQ.  I've added it as a set because there is no way caps lock will meet MOQ at any colours.

Well here's a direct quote.

I have discussed with my engineer.
We can remove the stem of our current caps lock key to be 10mm from the left.
Such kind of tooling fee is cheaper. The letter and shape is the same following ours..
Just wonder if this is OK to you?
 
Please find the following offer.
 
1x6.25 spacebar + 1x1.75 caps lock: USD4.00 / per set / Ex work (Taiwan)
MOQ: Total 2000pcs
Color Option: Black/Red/Blue/Yellow/Green
MOQ per color: 400~500pcs
Tooling Time: 45 days
Lead time: 1 month after finishing the tooling

It's kind of expensive..

[LechnerDE]

Yeah, I think we should just stick to the spacebars. I mean 4$ is not expensive in itself, but it is kinda expensive if you consider the costs of the whole set.

I mean we started at 5$ or something and now we are at 9$ + spacebar. I think the price is the main appeal of the set, so we should just add the spacebar and that's it.

[Halvar]

Yeah, I think we should just stick to the spacebars. I mean 4$ is not expensive in itself, but it is kinda expensive if you consider the costs of the whole set.

I mean we started at 5$ or something and now we are at 9$ + spacebar. I think the price is the main appeal of the set, so we should just add the spacebar and that's it.

^this.

Elton, can you estimate how many space bars you can ship in an $8 international letter? I wonder if it's worth to look into combined shipping with some fellow Europeans.

[elton5354]

The space bar is about 6g, and max weight for that price is 250g.

30 or so space bars (in a box).

USA is around the same price for that amount of space bars. The price in OP is only for letter size (less than 20mm in thickness).  For that price in OP, it'll only fit a few space bars if your order is small.  If US order is more than that, it'll be a parcel instead and will cost around $8 as well.

[Galaxy]

I vote that we just go with the spacebars. I have no interest in the stepped caps lock.

[KeyPop]

Including the capslock increases the minimum money required from $5,000(spacebars only at $2.50 ea) to $8,000(spacebars and capslocks @ $4).
It will be quite difficult to find enough users willing to purchase 2,000 center-stemmed capslock.
Although there is a demand for center-stemmed capslock, I do not personally believe the demand is enough to cover 2,000.

[elton5354]

Yeah, for that reason, I don't think I will go on with the caps lock.  Maybe in the future group buys with TH, the caps lock can be added to the set, but for now, I'll only focus on the 6.25x space bar..

Anyway, I'll resume order and hopefully we'll reach MOQ quickly.

[bazemk1979]

I was for the off center capslock no matter full touch or stepped, but seems that the capslock wont fit the off center Cherry boards and Korean boards, looks like the stem is of wack. Maeby next GB with different colors we can have the """""6.25 space bar and proper off center stemmed stepped capslock included in the sets?"""""

Hoping for different colors in next GB's purple,pink,orange,coffee,cream.... whatever!!! awesome price for full sets.

[bazemk1979]

I was for the off center capslock no matter full touch or stepped, but seems that the capslock wont fit the off center Cherry boards and Korean boards, looks like the stem is of wack. Maeby next GB with different colors we can have the """""6.25 space bar and proper off center stemmed stepped capslock included in the sets?"""""

Hoping for different colors in next GB's purple,pink,orange,coffee,cream.... whatever!!! awesome price for full sets.

BTW I like the stepped capslock, looks like Dell AT101 and Model M capslocks, the step is short and not as deep as the GMK,SP stepped capslocks

[elton5354]

BTW I like the stepped capslock, looks like Dell AT101 and Model M capslocks, the step is short and not as deep as the GMK,SP stepped capslocks

I like it too.  Much better than the Cherry/SP's ones.

[rowdy]

Ordered!

And I'll probably get the KeyPop ones when they are available too.

I am not too worried about the stepped centre-stemmed caps lock.

[do_Og@n]

Okay, now my order is placed. My ocular settings seems to be functioning better.

Quick question on the spacebars....have you heard any word on if they will be making them compatible with Leopold keyboards as well?

I do have a Leopold spacebar I can send you if you need it still?

[elton5354]

I'm getting them to make a universal space bar which has 6 stems.  Is that the one that fits leopold keyboards?

[do_Og@n]

I'm getting them to make a universal space bar which has 6 stems.  Is that the one that fits leopold keyboards?

That would be it. The closest stems from the outer sides are what would make them fit a Leopold. Knowing that this will be fitting the Leopold boards I might have to grab some more for a friend.

Thanks again elton5354!

[bianco]

ordered! thank you elton5354

[oaklandishh]

Thanks for hosting this! I really appreciate it.

[cyberwave]

do i have to order again if i ordered when the form first came live?

[elton5354]

do i have to order again if i ordered when the form first came live?

Nope. Unless you want to change your order, let me know.

[LechnerDE]

I'm getting them to make a universal space bar which has 6 stems.  Is that the one that fits leopold keyboards?

That would be awesome! I just got a Leopold FC700R and I love it, but the fact that it's incompatible to standard sets because of the spacebar is slightly annoying.

Will that universal spacebar be compatible with the FC700R? The universal ones from SP are only compatible with the old FC200R...

[elton5354]

I'm getting them to make a universal space bar which has 6 stems.  Is that the one that fits leopold keyboards?

That would be awesome! I just got a Leopold FC700R and I love it, but the fact that it's incompatible to standard sets because of the spacebar is slightly annoying.

Will that universal spacebar be compatible with the FC700R? The universal ones from SP are only compatible with the old FC200R...

It's going to be the same one as EK as well. Not sure. I don't own any Leopolds. On EK site it only says FC200R as well.

[LechnerDE]

Then it won't fit on the FC700R

I think it would be a good thing to produce something that fits the FC700R and the 660M since those are the current products from Leopold. I don't no anyone who owns a FC200R but many who have a FC700R. I am not even sure whether you can still buy a FC200R...

But since it's already decided I guess it's not worthwhile to discuss it any further.

Maybe next time

[Hyde]

Unfortunately Leopold changed the stem location AGAIN for FC700R, so it will not be compatible.  There isn't any custom spacebar at the moment that fits FC700R.  However the universal one will work with FC200R.  (Older Leopold models)

I don't know why they determine to make their spacebar non compatible.  It only hurts their business.