With round 2 of my Cooler Master cases arriving on people's doorsteps this week, people have very kindly been messaging me to do another round. And so here we are. :)
Order page for Norbauer Cooler Master cases, Round 2.5The case has been verified to fit the following Cooler Master TKL models (and, as yet, no others)
- Novatouch TKL
- Rapid-i ("small" model)
- MasterKeys Pro S ("small"/"80%" layout)
I've been humbled that
feedback from rounds 1 and 2 has been insanely positive, and you can just
Google around for images of the boards of happy participants.
I'm calling this round "2.5" (rather than 3) since I'm only offering two anodized finishes this time: aerospace aluminum (a natural aluminum color similar to Apple products) and tactical black. The reason for only two anodizing colors is that r1 and r2 experience has shown me that these are the two colors with by far the lowest defect rates, and for small-run products like this I honestly just can't really afford to over-order by a large number or to scrap a lot of cases. And I really hate having to disappoint people who ordered late in the queue telling them that they have to get a refund instead of a case because theirs showed up with a cosmetic defect. =\ This is a good reason to order early on in the GB, by the way. ;)
However, to compensate a bit for the limited anodizing colors, I've expanded the range of powder coat finishes available this time. Honestly, in round 2, I threw those options in as a sort of curiosity--a kind throwaway extravagance--thinking very few people would opt for them given the relatively high cost I had to charge for them. But they ended up proving really popular. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The reason they're more expensive, incidentally, is that a lot more work goes into preparing them, and expense in coating them. The work is done both by me (prep and threading) and the coating by a high-end metal finishing shop here in Silicon Valley.
Here are the anodized finishes ($219)
And here are just some of the powder finishes. ($329)
This last one is a special finish designed to evoke the characteristic color and finish on housings of computer consoles in TNG. It is meant to go with the forthcoming
Galaxy Class set by Roddenberry.com, set to be available on Massdrop sometime this fall.
I personally inspect and pack each case and check it thoroughly, and whenever I've found problems from the factory I've always worked with the participant to find a satisfactory resolution, as I think all previous participants would attest. Quality is always my prime concern (even when it means a slightly delay); it's very important to me as a personal point of honor not to ship products to folks that have defects. For whatever that's worth. :)
Full details are available on the
Group Buy order page, but of course feel to use this thread for any questions. And I'll also post updates here every step of the way, as I've done with previous rounds and their respective GH threads. See also the
Reddit thread.
Thanks everybody. <3
