hi folks!

[Chemoletter]

hi everyone!
i'm new here and thrilled to have found this awesome community. i've read several wikis and the glossary but i cannot find a way to buy a phantom kit
it says that i should contact the user phantom but i haven't had any luck finding him. do you have a shortcut for me how i can buy one of these kits so i can start soldering?

since this will be my first self built keyboard i decided the phantom would be a good start for a neat ISO layout keyboard. but correct me if i'm wrong.

thanks

[Pacifist]

You need to get a plate cut for the phantom. Otherwise you can just get the PCB, a generic tkl case, and then solder switches

[CPTBadAss]

Welcome to GeekHack!

1) do you have a shortcut for me how i can buy one of these kits so i can start soldering?

2) since this will be my first self built keyboard i decided the phantom would be a good start for a neat ISO layout keyboard.

1) http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=536

2) You should be able to get an ISO layout. If you want your keyboard plate mounted this might be trickier since I haven't seen many ISO Phantom plates. I didn't realize there was no cutout in the PCB for PCB mounted switches. You'll need to get a plate as others have said.

[Candyflip]

Hello and welcome to GeekHack!
I am not sure about the Phantom kit but the PCB was sold in a GroupBuy here on this forum. Luckily for you MK sells it: http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=536
Other than this you will need soldering kit, diodes, cable, case, plate, switches and keycaps. Be careful it can get expensive! GL

[stoic-lemon]

There aren't any group buys for kits currently running. You can get the pcb from www.mechanicalkeyboards.com though. There are one or two threads about plates that you will need. You may also be able to jump in on the group by for the Teensy 2.0 controller you'll need for it. Check the group buys section and making stuff together. Or skip all that and once you have enough posts ask for one in the classifieds

EDIT: I type too slow.

[Pacifist]

The biggest obstacle in making a phantom is the plate. Once you get that, all the other parts are a breeze

[stoic-lemon]

I think getting a nice non-plastic case is tough too.

[Pacifist]

I think getting a nice non-plastic case is tough too.

Vortex alum tkl case on mk.com isn't the best but its good enough. And you can buy it while getting the pcb and teensy from mk.com

[Candyflip]

The biggest obstacle in making a phantom is the plate. Once you get that, all the other parts are a breeze

He can find here on GH there are CAD files for many layouts and go to a local shop to cut his own plate, it shouldn't cost too much.

[Pacifist]

The biggest obstacle in making a phantom is the plate. Once you get that, all the other parts are a breeze

He can find here on GH there are CAD files for many layouts and go to a local shop to cut his own plate, it shouldn't cost too much.

Yea you'd either have to wait for a GB or get them made yourself. But thats always harder than just ordering them off a website and hitting buy

[SpAmRaY]

It's probably a good idea to know where the OP is located??

[Candyflip]

The biggest obstacle in making a phantom is the plate. Once you get that, all the other parts are a breeze

He can find here on GH there are CAD files for many layouts and go to a local shop to cut his own plate, it shouldn't cost too much.

Yea you'd either have to wait for a GB or get them made yourself. But thats always harder than just ordering them off a website and hitting buy

Yea they aren't available anywhere, I've always wondered why MK doesn't sell full DIY Phantom kits with teensy, diodes, plate and maybe switches included.

[Pacifist]

The biggest obstacle in making a phantom is the plate. Once you get that, all the other parts are a breeze

He can find here on GH there are CAD files for many layouts and go to a local shop to cut his own plate, it shouldn't cost too much.

Yea you'd either have to wait for a GB or get them made yourself. But thats always harder than just ordering them off a website and hitting buy

Yea they aren't available anywhere, I've always wondered why MK doesn't sell full DIY Phantom kits with teensy, diodes, plate and maybe switches included.

They're working on them iirc

[Pacifist]

It's probably a good idea to know where the OP is located??

mk.com can ship internationally so thats not a big deal

[Chemoletter]

thank you all for your fast answers, that has helped already a bunch. OP is located in berlin, germany - so i'm used to typing on an ISO layout.
Candyflip, do you mean the red on black "Phantom ISO 1.25x Mounting Plate Layout" i found on http://deskthority.net/wiki/Phantom_Instruction for a cutting scheme?

[Pacifist]

thank you all for your fast answers, that has helped already a bunch. OP is located in berlin, germany - so i'm used to typing on an ISO layout.
Candyflip, do you mean the red on black "Phantom ISO 1.25x Mounting Plate Layout" i found on http://deskthority.net/wiki/Phantom_Instruction for a cutting scheme?

yea that should work.

[SpAmRaY]

You can download the cad files from here

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47744.0

[Chemoletter]

i guess if there was another type of pcb or pcb-kit which allowed for an ISO shaped plate that would be nice for me too. i don't explicitly want a phantom, just want to build my own ISO TKL with blue switches ( cm storm quickfire rapid is not availiable in germany with ISO and blue cherrys )

[Chemoletter]

oh wow! thanks for the link to the cad files. now... what on earth does ISO 1.25 and ISO 1.5 mean?? sorry for the question but it is mentioned everywhere but i couldn't find any explanation.

[Candyflip]

It means the size on the bottom row, for example 1.5 means that Control and Alt keys are x1.5 of regular x1 size key and inbetween them there is sometimes x1 windows/menu key and sometimes nothing. 1.25 means that Control, Alt and Windows keys are  x1.25 size, this is more common on modern keyboards and it is a personal prefference on which you like, though I have to warn you that you will have harder time finding the desired key set you like with 1.5 boards.
Edit: Forgot to mention that 1.5 boards have x7 spacebar and 1.25 have x6.25.

[Chemoletter]

thanks a million times! 1.25x it'll be for me then.

[Candyflip]

Also since you are from Germany I am sure you can find plenty of good Vintage Cherry ISO boards on Ebay.de, they should be cheaper than building one on your own and they often come with original cherry doubleshot keycaps which are the nicest ones out there if you ask me.

[Chemoletter]

good morning! as i have almost collected all of my orders to place them finally, i need to know the exact thickness of the plate i will be lasering soon. does anybody know that?

[CPTBadAss]

i need to know the exact thickness of the plate i will be lasering soon. does anybody know that?

The plate needs to be exactly 0.060" in thickness in order for the switches and stabilizers to mount correctly. Recent plates have been made from 16-gauge stainless steel, which is 0.0625" thick, and it works fairly well, but sometimes you have to file the plate for the stabilizers to mount properly, etc. Stainless steel has the weight advantage over aluminum, as most people like heavy plate-mounted keyboards.

The original Phantom plates were made from 16-gauge aluminum, which was then sanded to spec, and then anodized black. Very nicely done, if you ask me.

Edit: As others have said, acrylic at that thickness is just too fragile. While installing the stabilizers onto my Epsilon's acrylic plate, I cracked the plate in a few locations.

Edit 2: Also, thicker acrylic plates won't work, as there are no PCB mounting holes for stabilizers on the Phantom PCB. Other PCBs (Korean) may be less of a concern.

[Chemoletter]

thanks - as yestarday extremely fast answer! 0,06inches converts to 1,524mm. the company i'm trying to do this with only provides 1,5mm OR 2mm thickness... i think 1,5mm will be alright. ( uuhm... will it? )

[CPTBadAss]

Only one way to find out...

Seriously though, I'm not sure. You might want to test that with cardboard or some easily obtained material to doublecheck.

[Chemoletter]

i'll go with 1,5mm. just had a look at this: http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/switches/key/images/mx_dim.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/switches/key/mx.htm&h=256&w=550&sz=8&tbnid=uh8I_jE4wi1A9M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=193&zoom=1&usg=__zzq3LWU55w1sbQs9LeO4TrynAgU=&docid=R4WFDoh38I-7cM&sa=X&ei=VZAHU6HwCITTtAbJzICYBw&ved=0CEoQ9QEwAg&dur=216

and it said: 0,06in +- 0,004in

so i think 2mm is not going to work at all because of the switch-gap-thing holding it in place. let's hope it works and doesn't move around in the end...

[filphil]

Welcome to GH