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.
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!
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 :)
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?!”
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.
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?
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.
UPDATE: Granite in currently on sale on PimpMyKeyboard.
Honestly, I had enough of Granite. We had four uber successful batches, everybody got a chance to grab a set by now but it seems I have no control over Granite after all. It lives a life of its own.
There’s still too much interest around the two-shades-of-gray keycaps and many are eager to take advantage of the success of this set. At the point where I thought we could have moved on to the next project I’ve been basically blackmailed: either I run more or someone else will. It already happened to other of my works and I don’t want Granite to pop up on Alibaba with some shady bootleg name (Graneat? Cranite?) and poor overall quality.
I just got a final sample of the WhiteFox and it’s simply fantastic. The barebone kits will start shipping in a few days and I’m so excited to get your feedback. I hope you’ll like it as much as I do, it has been a long and exhausting endeavor but it was totally worth it!
Assembling the WhiteFox is easy but there are a couple of things you should be aware of so I compiled this quick how-to guide that will bring you to a safe build. Even if you are an experienced DIYer you might find some interesting pointers, so give this a quick read anyway. Let’s get started!