Interest CheckKeyboards

烟Smoke - 65% keyboard

by SENSY LAB

geekhackenriched

0 followers0 bookmarks0 comments

bySENSY LAB

Description

烟Smoke

SENSY

The GB of Smoke will start on October 31st and end on November 30th

Hello everyone, this is SENSY. We are a new studio from China. In 2024, our core members XINGZHI and QIN collaborated with VERTEX to release our debut work "Seal". Moving forward, SENSY will operate independently to bring you new designs.

This keyboard draws inspiration from XINGZHI's favorite song, Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. The song's core elements—smoke, water, fire—inspired us to create a keyboard with rich curves and surfaces, breaking traditional symmetry. That's why we chose the inherently asymmetrical 65% layout.

Let's dive into the details.

Basic Info

Layout: 65%

Size: 320.1 x 124.6 x 38.4mm

Mounting: Top mount

Weight (assembled): ≈2.1-2.2kg

Given the weight, we've switched to custom oval rubber feet instead of 8mm round ones, based on user feedback.

Typing Angle: 9°

Front height: FH=18.5mm/EKH=22.5mm (excluding rubber feet)

Front frame width: 10.5mm (including front slope)

The front height features an asymmetrical curved design, akin to early ergonomic keyboards from brands like Microsoft. For this asymmetrical 65% layout, we shifted the center of gravity to the F/J key center, using complex curved surfaces to achieve ergonomics without widening the front frame. The overall design language also follows this shifted axis.Thanks to the 3-layer, screwless external design, the front height stays under 20mm (Front height is 18.5mm, with a 13.5mm low point in the ergonomic slope). This allows for a lower curved front edge matching the ergonomic arc.

Side profiles boast complex curves for seamless 4-sided connections, meeting G3 continuity standards. The top cover has a raised curved design, no pure flat surfaces here. Kudos to our engineers for devising a variable-curvature surface to replace tricky corner chamfers, solving the issue of connecting irregular curves.

These complex side curves extend to the cable port side, with a weight transition using two cut surface changes.

Materials & Craftsmanship

Manufacturing: DDS (Dadesin)

Case: Aluminum (anodized or electrostatic coating)

Weight: Sandblasted Brass/ Sandblasted Copper/Stainless Steel (All with AF coating)

Mid frame: PEI, original color with knife pattern

Nameplate: PVD SS / Damascene Ti / Damascene Cu

Pate: Anodized Aluminum Plate / PEI (original color with knife pattern)

PCB Support

Single-mode, compatible with Vial. Offering WK and WKL options.

Soldered

Hotswap

Other Details

On ISO

Three team members are vintage keyboard enthusiasts with over 3 tons in collection. Yet, we see no need for ISO in 65% layouts.

The middle frame's reinforcing ribs and filling design (with a complete logic) would be compromised by ISO support. Thus, we skip ISO but retain popular features like split backspace.

On the 1U Upper-Right Key

Our favorite 65% keyboards (and our engineer's preference) omit this 1U Delete key. The complex top cover design also makes it unnecessary. So, we've scrapped the planned 1U key.

Assembly Experience

We'll include custom magnetic perforated screws and a magnetic screwdriver to avoid issues with the 3-layer structure, like issues such as screw detachment/getting stuck or similar problems. Responding to market feedback, we're switching to a magnetic scheme to resolve cable length/softness problems.

Structural Design

Enhanced Top Mount

Engineers opted for 3 upper + 2 lower fixing points (common in 60% keyboards), which performed well in prototypes and will be used in production.

Smoke uses soft buffers: 70a and 90a options. Engineers adjusted buffer design to minimize torsional deformation during screwing, ensuring stability.

Mid Frame with Built-in Force Break

We favor 3-layer, screwless designs and now the brass middle frame has also become quite popular. But personally speaking, we don't have a particularly strong preference for brass middle frames. especially with a heavy weight. XINGZHI proposed a transparent hard resin middle frame to echo "smoke on the water":

• The weight represents "water," so the translucent frame evokes "smoke."

• It isolates top and bottom cases, acting as a Force Break.

• The hard resin's insulation lets us thicken the frame, reducing cavities for better filling.

Common Force Break designs risk increasing cavities or gaps. Our middle frame solution passed stress tests and prototyping. PEI was chosen over low-value PEEK or soft, deformable PC—our first mass-produced PEI middle frame.

4mm Plate (Optional)

Once popular, 4mm plates are less common due to complex design needs (early brass versions often caused finger fatigue). However, their filling effect and consistency outshine 1.5mm plates. Our engineers designed an optimized 4mm plate with improved support and logic, available as an option.

What's Included