Onigiri
A HHKB-inspired, low-profile keyboard with wireless connectivity and a 35-segment LED display.
Rationale
In terms of the general shape, I took a lot of inspiration from the shape and side profile of last-get MacBook Pro's.
The light bar on the other side, came from Audi's A6 eTron concept.
It's no secret I have generally been obsessed with low-profile boards. Until not too long ago my ideas were not really possible due to switch and keycap availability,
but thanks to brands like NuPhy or Keychron, the space has improved a lot over the last two or so years. Credit where credit is due.
That said, I still wanted something more premium feeling and looking. And so here we are.
Features
Low-profile (FR height of 11.5mm)
3.5° Typing angle
Cornerless layout
Integrated plate
Plate foam
Gateron KS-27/KS-33 switches
Hot-swap PCB, will be open-sourced after the group-buy
35-segment programmable LED strip
Wireless support (BLE 5.4, possibly a dongle)
FCC Certified Bluetooth Module
2000mAh battery
ZMK Firmware
Reset-button and debugger header hidden under the spacebar
Materials
Top case: 6061 Aluminium, E-coated
Bottom case: Milled Polycarbonate, Sandblasted and optionally dyed
Bottom plate: Steel / Brass, Laser Etching
Colors
Top case: White, Black, Blue, possibly more.
Bottom case: Neutral (undyed PC), Black
Bottom plate: Silver (mirror), Brass (mirror), Black(matte)
Design Choices
With a board this thin, there are bound to be compromises.
I'm going to be posting a blog series on the website to cover the entire design process in more detail,
but here is some context for the things I know will come up.
Integrated Plate
There is extremely little vertical space available in the design, and so any form of flex is not really desired,
as that would cause the PCB to bottom out against the case, or worse, strike the battery.
Layout
It's not a true or symmetrical HHKB, rather what I'd call a cornerless layout.
This is dictated purely by low-profile keycap availability, where most stick to the standard bottom row.
1.5u bottom row modifiers are hard to come by, I have yet to see a low profile 7u spacebar.
I'm possibly not the best person to say how it compares to a true HHKB, but I remap Caps Lock to Control on all my keyboards which is what this is really about, and HHKB does too.
If there is enough interest, a split backspace option will be offered.
Due to low-profile stabilizers needing relatively massive cutouts in the PCB and the plate, it's not physically possible to offer a multi-layout option.
These would be mutually exclusive. What you order is what you're stuck with.
Pricing
I'm currently expecting the price to fall in the $300-350 range, excl. taxes and shipping.
This is based on a quite conservative MOQ of 50.
I'm willing to sell more as long as you're willing to buy them, which could bring the price down more if enough interest is indicated.
Where I'm at at the time of writing this
The V1 prototypes have turned out really, really well. To the point where I'm happy and to proceed with this IC and follow-up with the GB.
That's not to say there haven't been any issues.
I'm currently waiting on a second batch of PCB's from a new manufacturer as I've had major quality issues with the ones I currently have. I also used this opportunity to further refine the PCB.
I will be ordering a few more samples for the diffuser layer for the display, I'm not entirely satisfied with the current solution for some of the colors. At this point it's a minor issue.
I will also be adding another foam strip to cover up the LEDs from underneath. There's minimal light leakage there, but it could bother someone, and it can be easily resolved.
Pictures
Blog
I started a blog to document and go in-depth on all aspects and details of this project.
More to come.
If you like this (or not), even if you're not necessarily considering it, please leave a comment.
Let's keep this thread going and make it happen.
