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On Monday February 20 at 18:00CET (12:00EST, 09:00PST) I’m hosting a streaming on YouTube. We’ll talk about MTNU and PBS of course, I’ll show some samples and give you some insight on my two new keycap profiles.

We’ll also talk about PBT colors and color matching, so if you are interested in designing sets for MTNU be sure to tune in!

During the stream I’ll give away a Drop ENTR Elvish Keyboard to one lucky viewer :) Rules to apply will be disclosed during the stream.

The stream address is https://www.youtube.com/live/h5e1oV8Zmpc?feature=share

The video will be later available for anyone to watch.

In my last update I anticipated a long and difficult journey for PBS. Well, things took an unexpected turn and production will start sooner rather than later.

If you don’t know already PBS (Penguin Belly Slide) is my tribute to uniform low-profile keycaps. Think of it as DSA done right, because DSA is boring and PBS is all but!

It has been a pretty hectic year and as always I’ve dip my toe in way too many waters. I don’t blame you if you lost count, I did too, so as a sort of note-to-self let’s review past, current and future projects with their status update.

When I first announced the Elvish and Dwarvish sets I got inevitably asked about a Black Speech version. That is something that I always wanted to do and in my mind there was only one color way for such a nefarious incarnation: black-on-black.

This is probably one of the most important updates I’m going to do about MTNU (excluding the final release announcement of course). There’s a lot to cover so buckle up and let’s get started!

Last week I’ve finally met with the GMK guys in Germany to review the first injected MTNU prototypes and to decide on the next steps. I was expecting “corporate courtesy” and instead I got sincere kindness and a lot of fun.

Time flies when you are designing keycaps! 3 months have already passed since the announcement of my collaboration with GMK and MTNU has already gone through multiple revisions. I think it’s time for a well due update.

The main shapes and physiology of the profile are defined but small adjustments can still be done. We had a few prototypes 3D printed to check the overall look’n’feel and GMK is working on the tooling as we speak. The first batch of injected proto-keycaps should be manufactured in about a month, that will give us a better sense of what this profile will actually be. I don’t hide that I’m a bit scared but mostly excited :)

Few years ago we run the wonderful SA Retro keycap set, it was quite a small group buy but a few vintage computing addicts were able to grab what it is now a very unique and rare set. I used the keycaps on a 60% keyboards for a long time but I knew they deserved a better home so I designed a Commodore 64 case I could easily 3D print.

It’s a long time I wanted to release a fully open source keycap profile that is easy to customize and pleasing to the eye. It’s relatively easy to create a keycap with a parametric CAD software like Fusion 360 or Solidworks but this solution has some limitations. These software are generally expensive, some can be used only on Windows and often you don’t actually own your designs as they are stored on the cloud and the companies can alter their end user agreement at any time limiting or even denying access to your work.

By now the news is out but it’s time to make it official.

If you follow my Discord you know that MTNU (pronounced emty-new) is the code name of the new profile I’m working on since a few months. You haven’t heard much about it since the initial announcement because I was busy finding the right manufacturer.

I’m happy to announce that I not only found a manufacturer but also the perfect partner with years of experience in the keycap industry. The moment I reached out GMK they showed great interest in my new profile and I feel incredibly honored that they are willing to take this project under their wing.

By now you know that I’m a 3D printing freak. The evolution of resin 3D printers in these last few years has been exponential, not only from a technological point of view but also for accessibility and resin quality/range.

I’m being using 3D printing for prototyping since some time and with the right resin you can actually print fully functional keycaps you can use day to day and in any size you need. The only issue is the legends. How can you have doubleshot-like keycaps with 3D printing?