Latest update 14 May, ISS units for HK, Mainland of China, UK and KR already shipped/shippig. NA and AU in progressPhotos shot by Bokkey
Frusta FundamentalModularized 65% keyboard with multiple mounting systems
Designed by G14D from PicoLab, Hong Kong
IC ends at 28th-FEB-2021, IC form: Here
*If you are from Hong Kong or Mainland of China, Please DO NOT fill this form!*Background
Almond! Almond! This is G14D from Hong Kong!
Frusta is a project that I started since June 2020, I designed a number pad (Frusta Experimental) with the idea of assembling six frustums together, the same design language is now implemented to a 65% keyboard.
More
Frusta ExperimentalAs I encountered several issues with the original design, the development of the number pad was suspended. The major problem of the number pad is that it requires extremely high CNC accuracy, else there will be a significant gap between the frustums. The difficulty in developing this project will be mentioned later.
The IC of Frusta Experimental I posted in September last year
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=108425.0
Design InspirationsThe appearance of the current top frustum is inspired by NZXT H1, and the modularization design is inspired by the Cool Master Mastercase series.
Features- 65% layout by default, but can change to 60% by replacing the top frustum, plate and PCB only, cost less than $100
- Support gasket mount, top mount and plateless tray mount
- Switch between different mounting systems smoothly, no extra part is required
- Comes with 7-degree typing angle by default, bottom frustum with different typing angles will be manufactured in the future
- The PCB supports QMK, VIA and also support firmware and GUI editor developed by PicoLab
- Top cover(frustums) are sold separately, down to $40 for each
- No weight, it's under the bottom, you cannot see sh!t when typing, it's useless
- Well-known project in the Hong Kong Mechanical Keyboard community
ModulazationI often found inspirations from PC cases, the MasterCase series made by Cooler Master is the first PC case of mine, I bought it when I was 16. The reason that I'm mentioned it is that the MasterCase series provide a noticeable modularization experience. Buyers get a lot of freedoms to modify the position of different components inside the case. I would like to provide the same modularization experience to you guys using Frusta and I believe that will be the future of DIY mechanical keyboards.
I want to design a keyboard that can be modified, can be upgraded using as fewer parts as it needs.
So one of the signatures of Frusta Fundamental is that it switches smoothly between multiple mounting systems and no additional parts are needed during this process. I designed some removable mounting columns which make the keyboard compatible with tray mount. Besides, a tiny square was cut out on the right-up corner of the middle frame, It's reserved for an encoder.
KittingAlthough the design had slightly changed, the middle frame is no longer assembled by 4 frustums. The concept of modulization remains. To achieve modulization, different parts of the keyboard are sold separately.
All of the kits below:
Core
The kit includes:
- 1 Middle frame
- 1 Plate
- 1 Solder/Hotswap PCB
- 30 gaskets and some spares
- 1 Foam
- 1 pakage of screws
Materials, Colour Options and PCB Specifications:More
Materials:- Middle Frame:
- Plate:
- 6063 Aluminium (anodized/electrophoresis)
- Brass with anti-oxidant coating (half/ full coverage)
- Polycarbonate
Colour Options:- Middle Frame
- Black
- E-white
- More colour options in the future
PCB Specifications:- Designed by PicoLab
- Solder/Hotswap
- Multi layout support for solder PCB
- RGB per key for hotswap PCB
- Support QMK
- Support VIA
- Support firmware and GUI editor developed by PicoLab
- With ESD protection
- Support Type-C-to-C connection, fully functional when directly plugged into a mac
PCB Layouts:
Top Frustum
The kit includes:
- 1 Top Frustum
- 1 pakage of screws
Materials and colour options:More
Materials:- 6063 Aluminium (anodized/electrophoresis/cerakote)
- Brass with anti-oxidant coating
- Titanium
Colour Options:- Black
- Crimson
- Olive
- Orange
- Sky blue
- E-white
- Cerakote pink champange
- Cerakote sun flower
- Brass (matte)
- More colour options in the future
(All the colour currently available are shown in the renders section, check them out below)
Bottom Frustum
The kit includes:
- 1 Bottom Frustum
- 1 Foam
- 10 removable mounting columns and some spares
- 1 pakage of screws
Materials and colour optionsMore
Materials:- 6063 Aluminium (anodized/electrophoresis/cerakote)
- Brass with anti-oxidant coating
- Titanium
Colour Options:- Black
- Crimson
- Olive
- Orange
- Sky blue
- E-white
- Cerakote pink champange
- Cerakote sun flower
- Brass (matte)
- More colour options in the future
(All the colour currently available are shown in the renders section, check them out below)
Price
Complete Keyboards:Frusta Fundamental Standard Kit: starting at $329Icluded items:
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- 1 Core Kit
- Default goes with anodized black middle frame, alu/PC plate, solder PCB
- +$30 upgrade the middle frame to e-white
- +$20 upgrade the plate to brass
- +$10 upgrade the PCB to hotswap
- 1 Top + Bottom Kit
- Default goes with anodized black, crimson, olive, orange
- Sky blue is reserved for instock units
- +$20 upgrade finishing to e-white, exempt if upgrade the middle frame to e-white already
- +$100 upgrade frustums to cerakote champagne pink or sun flower
- +$250 upgrade frustums to matte brass, with anti-oxydant coating
($11 cheaper than buying each item separately)
Icluded items:
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- 1 e-white middle frame
- 1 plate
- 1 PCB
- 1 e-white bottom frustum
- 8 top frutums
- Anodized black
- Anodized crimson
- Anodized olive
- Anodized orange
- Anodized sky blue
- Cerakote pink champange
- Cerakote sun flower
- Matte Brass, with anti-oxydant coating
($66 cheaper than buying each item separately)
Icluded items:
More
- 1 Middle frame
- Default goes with anodized black
- +$30 upgrade to e-white
- 1 Plate
- Default goes with aluminium or PC
- Can choose between full plate and half plate
- +$20 upgrade the material to brass
- 1 PCB
- Default goes with solder
- +$10 upgrade to hotswap
- 30 gaskets and some spares
- 1 foam
- 1 pakage of screws
Icluded items:
More
- 1 top Frame
- Default goes with anodized black, crimson, olive or orange
- Sky blue is reserved for instock units
- +$20 upgrade finishing to e-white
- +$60 upgrade the finishing to cerakote champagne pink or sun flower
- +$75 upgrade the material to matte brass, with anti-oxydant coating
- A titanium version will be released later
- 1 pakage of screws
Icluded items:
More
- 1 bottom Frame
- Default goes with anodized black, crimson, olive or orange
- Sky blue is reserved for instock units
- +$20 upgrade finishing to e-white
- +$60 upgrade the finishing to cerakote champagne pink or sun flower
- +$200 upgrade the material to matte brass, with anti-oxydant coating
- A titanium version will be released later
- 1 Foam
- 10 removable mounting columns and some spares
- 1 pakage of screws
Icluded items:
More
- 1 Top Frustum, 1 Bottom Frutum
- Default goes with anodized black, crimson, olive or orange
- Sky blue is reserved for instock units
- +$30 upgrade finishing to e-white
- +$100 upgrade finishing to cerakote champagne pink or sun flower
- +$250 upgrade materials to matte brass, with anti-oxydant coating
- 1 Foam
- 10 removable mounting columns and some spares
- 1 pakage of screws
($20 cheaper than buying each item separately)
Extra PCB: $29 for solder, $39 for hotswapTaxes, transaction fees and shipping fees are not included in all prices, the final price of every region can be slightly different according to the tax rate of each country. The estimated cost is starting at $380-400 for each buyer, including tax and shipping fee.VendorsNA: PicoLab
UK: Kibou.store
EU: TBA
CN: PicoLab
KR: Swagkeys
SEA: PicoLab, Thic Thock
AU: Escape keyboardThere will be 50-100 instock unit worldwide in early March Mid April 2021b]
The store of PicoLab will be within MAY 2021. However, the ISS units will be delayed for a while as we must ensure the qualityThere're some spot reversed for PicoLab, and will sell in April
Other vendors have the right to open pre-orders for these instock units.
The Estimated GB date is after the instock sales[/size][/color][/b]
PrototypesAt the moment you saw this IC, I had make 3 rounds of prototypes for Frusta Fundamental already If prototypes for Frusta Experimental is counted as well, I made 5 rounds of prototypes in total.
*No filters are added on the photos*
Frusta Fundamental Prototpye R1- Difference between this and Fursta Experimental prototype: The middle frame merged together
- manufacture date: Nov 2020
- Mouting systems: top mount, tray mount
- Material: full brass, heavy AF
- Surface finishing: Cerakote, clear coat on top and bottom, midnight bronze on middle
- Apperance: Poor
- Issues: The cut out for USB is too tight
- Status: abandoned, issue fixed
Also Fundamental R1, anodized and with some prototypes from Experimental R2
The middle frame of this one is Dark grey
Frusta Fundamental Prototype R2- Difference between this and the last prototype: the USB hole becomes bigger
- manufacture date: Dec 2020
- Mouting systems: top mount, tray mount
- Material: Aluminium case, brass plate
- Surface finishing: Cerakote, sunflower on top and bottom, snow-white on middle
- Apperance: average, but I don't think is good enough
- Issues: the CNC tolerance is poor, it use 3-axis CNC, there are still gaps between parts, the sound can get better too
- Status: abandoned, issue fiexed
The gap between bottom and middle has been FIXED in R3 already(Photo credits to Bokkey)
Frusta Fundamental Prototype R3- Difference between this and the last prototype:
- Add gasket mount support
- Reduced the hollow sound
- Changed to 4-axis CNC
- Changed the tray mounting columns from fixed to removable which makes the board compatible with gasket
- manufacture date: Jan 2021
- Mouting systems: gasket mount top mount, tray mount
- Material: Aluminium case, brass, alu and PC plate
- Surface finishing: Anodized sky blue on top and bottom, e-white on middle
- Apperance: stunning, I like it
- Issues: No issues found yet
- Status: accepted, 50 units are being manufactured for instock sell in March
Photos and typing demo will be uploaded next week.RendersAll by PicoLab
Black, GMK Dark
Matte brass, GMK Civilizations
Olive, GMK Olive
Orange, GMK Kaiju
Champagne Pink, GMK Oilivia
Sky blue, only sell in the form of instock, GMK Shoko
Crimson, GMK Red Samurai
Botanical, not for sale in the incoming GB
Questions You May Ask So...you guys may get confused why did I choose to work alone for such a long period?
Well, there are different sort of people in this world. I'm that sort of person who works hard in the corner, focus on my target, and expose my work to the community only when I feel that I'm well prepared. let's use League of Legends as an example, I'm that sort of top laner who play Nasus and farm till 30 mins, with over 1k stacks and win the game in one go.
Altho I main Jax and Swain, and seldom play Nasus lmaoAnyway, this is not a rush sh!t, I prepare this project for over half a year. I made 3 rounds of prototypes, calculates all the costs, dealt with vendors, started manufacturing the instock units and finally starts this IC thread. I didn't gain attention during the early stages of this project, from the moment I started an IC thread, I take responsibilities.
Not saying that I don't like to carry responsibilities, I simply hate the feeling of working under pressure. If anything goes unexpected during the early stage (There're lots of issues found in the prototype phase indeed), then I must work harder to fix it and try to complete the task ASAP, I don't like that. On the other hand, if unfortunately, things get wrong the GB will be delayed, I don't like delays, the community don't like delays.
So...That's the way how I work comfortably. When everything is done, I open an IC thread,...feeling great.
Believe it or not, I prepare this IC thread for over two weeks.
(More questions will be answered once you ask.)
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The Spirit of DIYAs the boundaries between DIY keyboards and mass-produced keyboards get blur in late years, I consider Frusta not only a keyboard project, it's also the reflection of the spirit of DIY. Let's be honest, I gain all the knowledge and resources that are used to develop this project from the internet, from the mechanical keyboard. PCB design tutorials by ai03 and Hadi, VIA tutorials by Merlin, PCB libraries, Plate generator, Firmware support by the QMK team and VIA team, keycaps models for rendering and tones of other resources. It's not being humble, I'm just telling the truth that this project won't even exist without this community.
And that's why I promise you I will open-source all the files of Frusta project, both case and PCBs. I hope the community goes better, and I do encourage you to learn how to develop your own mechanical keyboard,
as long as you do not copy my work or use it for commercial purpose.(I'll upload the files to GitHub when I'm free, most likely after the GB)
Progress UpdateTODO:
- Gain feedback
- Upload sound demos and more photos
- Update this list
Btw look at here Merlin, would you like to build a Frusta on your stream? 
NOTICE ME MERLIN SENPAI!Special ThanksJeffccy, Yoghurt, Hadi, Bokkey, Bryan from CFTKB, ai03(for the PCB tutorials and foot-print libraries)
All the brothers and sisters from the Hong Kong Mechanical Keyboard Community.
