By now you should know that we were working hard to find new ways to release the WhiteFox.

Massdrop is a great platform with a huge user base but of course you have to compromise when dealing with big companies. BUT. The WhiteFox is our baby, Input Club and I felt that we couldn’t keep compromising and we needed a way to finally release our keyboard the way it was always meant to be.

So the time has finally come. We are releasing the WhiteFox our own, under our terms and with our very strict quality control. With Massdrop we lost control over the production process and we ultimately had to agree with certain company policies. This time the sky is the limit and hopefully with your help we’ll make the WhiteFox better than already is.

So. In less than an hour the project should be available on Kickstarter. While you wait let me illustrate the main difference with the previous releases.

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This is the post you didn’t want to read and the one they didn’t want me to write, but I owe you an update on the WhiteFox next drop, so here it comes. I won’t be able to tell you 100% what is going on, but please try to read between the lines.

Every marriage has its ups and downs and the WhiteFox is a menage a trois: Massdrop, Input Club, myself.

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I just received the first full set of MT3 prototypes and I couldn’t hold myself, I had to show you the beauty of these things :) Bottom line is: they are better than I anticipated, and I’m usually very critical about my work.

Sorry for bad quality audio/video I just rushed it out.

By now you should know that I’m a retro-junkie. Signature Plastics SA keycaps are the closest we can ask to a vintage looking set but I’ve always seen it as an “hack”, not to mention that it is mostly an ABS set.

Few years ago Topre released the Hi-Pro keyboard which featured a wonderful set of high profile keycaps in a retrolucious beige colorway. I knew it had to be mine!

The keyboard was indeed sexy but the keycaps seemed still wrong, too high, too sharp and anyway still limited to topre switches. That got my maker-sense tickling and it is basically how the MT3 profile idea was born.

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Did you think Granite had nothing more to say? Well, think again :) With the collaboration of Signature Plastics I’m happy to announce the immediate availability of Granite High Contrast.

All kits from the previous batch of Granite are available in the new dark gray + white color scheme, including the international kit and monologends. Even better you can mix and match the new keycaps with any previous gray Granite you have: they go wonderfully together!

I hope you like them and Happy Holidays!

Go grab HC Granite!

Something I thought impossible just few years ago just became reality: Retro finally goes GMK and it’s ready to be purchased on Massdrop.

All started with DSA Retro. It was the first community organized group buy in DSA family. To tell all the truth Koreans had some DSA before us but it was limited to their market. DSA Retro was one of the most successful group buy of the time (we are talking 3-4 years ago). It was so popular in part because DSA was a novelty at the time, in part because we included a hell lot of options. It wasn’t so easy back then to cover less common or custom keyboards and Retro was basically compatible with all of them :)

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I’ve been skeptical about consumer grade 3d printers for long time. They were expensive, slow, required a lot of maintenance and quality was less than optimal. Things are moving rapidly, though and we’ve reached such a nice sweet spot between quality and price that I couldn’t simply resist the temptation.

First of all I had to understand if I wanted an FDM (fused deposition modeling) or SLA (stereolithography) printer. Without going too much into it, SLA generally produces higher definition prints but it is also more expensive to start with and maintain. You can find very cheap FDM instead and while the print quality is not as good, it is exceptional for quick prototyping. So FDM it is.

Only few months ago Prusa released the second generation of what is probably the most famous filament 3d printer in the DIY realm: the not-so-originally named Prusa i3 MK 2. It comes in kit or fully assembled, I was convinced to get an assembled one but it wasn’t available at the time so I went for the kit because “it can’t be that difficult, right?!”

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How much does a custom keyboard cost?

That is one of the most common questions I’m asked. There’s definitely a lot of interest around DIY keyboards and the main concerns are: 1) the technical/practical aspects, 2) costs.

Sometimes you just want to try an idea you have in your mind but you are not sure it is really going to work. Building a prototype may end up in the $150-200 range, but big part of the budget goes into the case.

Trying to cut prototyping expenses I wanted to test the feasibility of a cardboard case. Is it stiff enough? Do the switches fit nicely? Is the keyboard actually usable? Let’s go find out.

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You never know when a WhiteFox is going to strike! Stealthy and deadly she comes unexpected and hits with no mercy.

Honestly I myself wasn’t expecting her for another couple of months, but –you know– you can’t really tell her what to do. She comes and goes when she wants.

So, I’m pretty happy to let you know that the WhiteFox is available again on MassDrop.

How does round 2 differs from the initial release?

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I feel that I failed to explain why I care so much about the work I’ve done for Granite. Many new members of the community haven’t witnessed the creation of the set and the argument about intellectual property of a keycap set comes out every now and then.

Please do understand that the following is my personal opinion, likely a copyright lawyer would see things very differently.

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