The Ripple TKL
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>> CHECK OUT THE NEWEST UPDATE HERE <<Note: "3d" weight will be available as an upgrade option. PVD limited to Special Edition units>> Please give us your feedback HERE <<I designed a TKL! While it’s not my personal favorite layout (my ranking - 75%, 1800, 60%, then everything else), I know it's a community favorite. And I wanted to take a stab at making a unique TKL. Just like with the Sat75, Chimera, and Balance, I designed everything from start to finish on this keyboard.
I’ve been using a prototype of the Ripple for almost half a year now, run a few prototype rounds, done quite a bit of testing and messing around with it, and I’m finally satisfied with the results - so without further ado, here is the RippleTKL!
InspirationI actually found the concept of “Ripple” for this keyboard while in the design process. For some boards, I start with a concept and design from there. For others - like this one - I played around a bit with drawings and design elements I could use before settling on the concept of a Ripple - the movement water makes when something is dropped in it. From there, designing the rest of the keyboard fell into place.
The contours of the top case and weight are meant to mimic water flowing, a very wavy look. The stepped corner cuts are meant to resemble expanding concentric circles like those found in a ripple, and the side cuts match the wavy-ness of the rest of the top case.
Design ElementsThere are a few elements that I knew I wanted to integrate into this design:
No large “forehead” - top and bottom and side bezels don’t have to be the same, but I wanted to avoid a large top bezel
Low front height and low typing angle - for this TKL, I wanted to go low. The keyboard has a 16mm front height and 6 degree typing angle.
Horizontal side cutouts - to make the keyboard easier to pick up
External weight - a bit of extra visual impact and heft - also a cool place to put a Ripple engraving. Thanks OCM for the art!
Note: Production weight will be sandblasted brass and not say "Prototype"Customizable badge - with a lot of TKLs, the top looks pretty similar. I thought adding a customizable badge would give people a chance to further customize their custom keyboard
And there was an element I tried that ended up not making the cut:
Internal weight (in addition to the external weight) - after testing with and without the internal weight, it didn’t really add much acoustic impact and just raised costs.
On top of this - I wanted the RippleTKL to have a unique mounting style. There are tons of TKLs out there that use the same plate / top mount / o ring gasket mount style (Jane V2 CE - thank you very much for your contribution to the hobby). And they’re legitimately great. But I wanted to do something different.
Mounting StyleThe Ripple TKL uses a unique mounting style to allow each person with a Ripple to help tune the sound of the keyboard to the way they see fit, without necessarily relying on stuffing the keyboard with foam, or using a layer of PE foam on top of the PCB (not that there's anything wrong with that!)
I wanted to have this keyboard to have a sound similar to raindrops when typed on, keeping in line with the Ripple theme. Whether or not this was actually accomplished… I’ll leave that to you to decide. But - it is really versatile in how it can sound, acoustically.
First - the plate. The plate has tabs that extend out and are compressed together by the top and bottom cases: These tabs were to help with typing feel - adding a little bit of bounce (amount of bounce varies based on plate material).
Note: Production plate will have expanded layout supportIf you look at the tabs closely, you’ll see that they have little indentations on each side of them. These are actually for small o-rings. Using small o rings on the plate here is my preferred configuration - but the Ripple also allows 1.5mm poron strips to be used instead of the o-rings.
But the plate modifications alone - whether o-rings or poron strips - are actually not enough to provide the compression necessary to keep the plate in place. For that - we actually have to add another layer of modification to the top case.
The top case has pockets meant to add another way to impact sound. For my prototypes, I tried 70A Silicone, Poron, PE Foam, and EVA Foam. Each impacted the sound in its own unique way, and will be included as potential mods with each group buy unit.
With the 2 plate modifications plus the 4 materials used in the top pockets - the Ripple actually has 8 ways you can set it up to achieve your desired sound.
I went ahead and actually made sound tests of each of these 8 methods, which are linked below:
Plate O-rings, EVA Foam Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate O-rings, PE Foam Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate O-rings, Poron Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate O-rings, Silicone Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate Poron, EVA Foam Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate Poron, PE Foam Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate Poron, Poron Top Mod, FR4 PlatePlate Poron, Silicone Foam Top Mod, FR4 PlateEach test was taken using the same microphone setup (Behringer XM5800 6” away from keyboard), FR4 plate, Mizu Mink switches lubed with 205g0, Cherry Clip in Stabs, and NicePBT keycaps.
My personal preference is using the o-rings as a plate modification, and poron as the top pocket modifier - though EVA foam is a close second..
Scrapped Ideas
One prototyping round we tried actually got rid of the top pockets - limiting the keyboard mounting style only to the plate modification (o rings or poron). While the keyboard felt and sounded good, I thought it was acoustically a bit too similar to many keyboards that are already out there, so I chose to go with the pocketed version of the top case.
OptionsPCBsThe RippleTKL will be available with either a solderable or hotswap PCB - your choice. And PCBs will be available as extras.
Both PCBs will have:
STM32 or equivalent ARM processor
QMK and VIA (and vial) support
Normal 4 pin JST-SH connector for Unified C3 Daughterboard
ESD Protection
The Solderable PCB will have:
Multiple Layout Support
Optional backlight LEDs
CAPS and SCROLL indicator LED support (note if you use this, those two keys will not be part of the backlighting)
The Hotswap PCB will have:
Kailh or TTC hotswap sockets
Single Layout Support (7U Bottom Row, Normal Caps, 2.75U RShift, Full Backspace)
Presoldered CAPS and SCROLL indicator LEDs
LayoutsBoth a WKL and WK version of the top will be available. The default plate will support 7U bottom row, split backspace, split right shift, and stepped caps. We will also offer a universal variant with 6.25U bottom row and ISO support as an extra.
The keyboard will come with an aluminum plate by default, but other plate materials will be available. PC, FR4, and Carbon Fiber plates will be available as extras. We need your feedback to determine if we should use any other plate materials!
ColorsWe believe the design really shines with some lighter colors - you can see the contours really nicely, so we’ll likely run the keyboard in
blue grey and
lavender colors.
Navy is a favorite of mine, so that will also be an option.
E-white and black are usual choices as well and make the board very versatile. In addition to this, we’ll run an additional community chosen color.
The keyboard is not 2-tone, so the top and bottom case will match. The brass weight will be sandblasted and coated by default, and feature the engraving shown above.
>> Please give us your feedback HERE <<BadgesWe’d like to allow folks to pick their own front badge. Each keyboard will come with a “Ripple” engraved front badge in sandblasted brass. Additional custom badges will also be available - but we’ll need to figure out how to properly allow for a reasonable number of custom designs. They'll likely run at a later time, after the keyboard group buy.
Special EditionWe’re also going to be running a few special edition Ripples. These will feature PVD coated brass weights, as well as our special ripple engraving:
The front badge will also have a PVD finish - and perhaps a special engraving as well.
We’re still deciding on the final configurations of the special editions as well - and we are looking for more feedback there as well.
We’re thinking of running up to 3 versions:
All black board with Glossy Black PVD finish (note - we tried matte - it’s a fingerprint magnet)
E-white board with Gold PVD finish
Navy board with Silver PVD finish
This special edition will cost more. We may make the sandblasted 3d ripple weight available as an upgrade or addon for the normal units. They're more expensive due to the extra machine time needed.
PVD finishes will be limited to special editions.
SummaryTo summarize, the RippleTKL has the following features:Hotswap or Solderable PCB supporting QMK and VIA w/ ESD Protection
C3 Unified Daughterboard Compatibility
Unique mounting style
O-ring and Poron Plate Modifiers
Poron, Silicone, PE Foam, and EVA Foam Top Pocket Modifiers
16mm front height
6 degree typing angle
Each kit will come with:6063 Aluminum Anodized Top and Bottom
7U Bottom Row Aluminum Plate (no ISO support) - Anodized Black
Sandblasted Brass Front Badge
Sandblasted Brass External Weight w/ Ripple Engraving (optional upgrade to 3d ripple weight)
Your choice of solderable or hotswap PCB (upcharge for hotswap)
Unified C3 Daughterboard and JST Cable
O-ring and Poron Plate Modifiers
Poron, Silicone, PE Foam, and EVA Foam Top Pocket Modifiers
4”x6” Authenticity Card
Custom Silicone Feet (bumpon compatible)
Screw Hardware and Hex Keys to use on the Screw Hardware
CannonKeys Carrying Case (note - this is meant to protect the keyboard, we won’t replace it if it gets damaged, but we may be able to provide a small store credit)
Microfiber Cloth
And we’ll sell the following as extras:Custom aluminum/brass badges (designs TBD, probably will happen after the GB)
FR4, Carbon Fiber, Polycarbonate Plates in Fixed 7U and Universal Layouts
Solderable and Hotswap PCBs
Daughterboard + JST cable Kits
Silicone Feet
Extra plate modifier kits (o rings and poron)
Extra top pocket modifier kits (EVA Foam, PE Foam, Poron, Silicone)
Plate Foam (Poron, to put between the PCB and Plate)
Pricing and VendorsThis keyboard will be sold on CannonKeys only, worldwide. We don’t have a group buy date yet, but we hope to sell it this summer. It will be released via CannonKeys Hype System.
We hope to set a high cap on normal edition units (high enough that we hope everyone who wants one can get one, but reasonable so we can actually execute upon the GB)
The special edition units will have a low cap (no more than 50, probably less)
Expected pricing for the
normal edition is in the
$475 ballpark range.
Special edition units will likely be in the
$600 ballpark range.
>> Please give us your feedback HERE <<We'll try to get some of prototypes in the hands of streamers soon! I'll update the IC with more info when that is arranged.
More photos available below:
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