This project is indefinitely on hold due to vendor issues
Introduction
While I've been in the hobby as a collector for a while, it was only about half a year ago that I started considering designing my own keyboard. After many many iterations and drafts, I think I've finally landed at something I really like and want to share with the world.
I present, for your consideration: Jimi (机美).
Overview
Jimi (机美) is a linguistic amalgam of the three cultures/languages I grew up with: Korean, Chinese, and of course, English. It means mechanical beauty.
I love curves in keyboards. The trouble is that these curves are seldom found in boards that don't cost an arm and a leg. My biggest goal with Jimi is to make a board with unique visual cues that isn't prohibitively expensive.
I'm leaving out the extra frills that define more premium keyboards in order to achieve this objective: no external weight, minimal design work/machining time committed to places people won't be seeing most of the time, and a curated set of 3-4 colours.
Details
- Layout: Tsangan 60XT (WK or WKL options)
- Mount: Tadpole
- Materials: Aluminum 6063, Brass internal acoustic weight
- Typing Angle: 7 degrees
- Front Height: 17.1 at top of lip, 14.1 at bottom (~21.1mm EKH)
- Plates: Aluminum, FR4, PP
- PCB: Custom, uses Unified C4 daughterboard
Additional details:
- will be using 8mm 3M bumpons
- 6x M2 case screws, 4x M3 daughterboard screws, 3x M3 weight screws
Mount and Layout Info
Tadpole mount cross-section
Plate with mounting points
PCB supports Stepped Caps Lock, 1.75U RShift, and split Backspace
Exploded view (updated 30/11/2023)
Pricing
aiming for $350, depending on interest
GB & Vendor Information
Ano Colours
Silver
Dark Blue
Black
Project Timeline
Interest Check
Prototype
Group Buy
Special thanks are owed to my friend ziltoidthealtoid, who designed the PCB for this board and tolerated me incessantly bouncing ideas off him, as well as lampmk, stinky, and chu for their help and guidance.
A big thank you is also owed to ImperfectLink for making KRK and taking so many steps out of the Blender process.
Live changes:
working on internal weight design, acoustics optimisation (29/09/2023)
Change log:
Added placeholder exploded view (01/10/2023)
Added WKL top case (not pictured yet) (01/10/2023)
Updated exploded view (04/10/2023)
Overhauled IC (30/11/2023)
Cleaned up IC (13/12/2023)
Vendor inquiries:
@loganchoi on Instagram
logan.choi on Discord
