SPACEBAR UN****ER
I CANT READ MORE THAN 3 WORDS SUMMARY: In a nutshell, this is just an over-engineered sous-vide device for spacebars. You load your spacebar (or any other keycap that is warped) in, tighten the screws so that the bottom sits flat against the metal and you put it into a water bath at 75-78 degrees Celsius. Then you just leave it there until it cools down to room temperature. You remove it and boom, straight spacebar ready for use. IC FORMINTRODUCTION I started this as a joke with some friends from my server because we all had a lot of warped spacebars. People from my server as well as other places kept asking me to run it so well here I am, gathering interest to see if people are genuinely interested. This all happened about a year ago, but I had no funds nor time to run it. Now I have both. I reached out to Bowl and he was happy to help me sell this.
At the time I had seen people using 3D printer beds, dumbbells, books and many other thins to try fixing spacebars. The problem with those is that they are not very controllable and one small mistake can ruin the spacebars. With this, a kettle and a 5 dollar thermometer you can control things more accurately. In order to prevent mistakes when using it, I will use torque wrenches to figure out a way to instruct people on how much torque to apply to their screws.
Evidently, shift and enter keycaps have different heights due to being a different profile so the alignment and tadpole posts are removable and can be changed according to what keycap is being used to make sure proper tension is applied to the keycap. This is hard to show with photos so when we get prototypes we can illustrate how it works.
Why do I need this? Well you don't. You can achieve the same result by heating your keycaps with a blow-dryer and applying pressure but for those who are not comfortable yoloing things, I hope this will help.
Because we all love screw trays, I decided to make it so the top piece can be used like one. It has tadpoles that act as rubber feet. Refer to the below diagram for the features of this device.
TECHNICAL DRAWINGDIMENSIONS: 192.5x78 mm
NOTE: SURFACE IN CONTACT WITH TOP OF KEYCAP WILL BE POLISHED TO AVOID THE KEYCAP FROM BEING DAMAGED.
To test this, like I mentioned in a reply below I just took a spacebar, put it between 2 aluminum plates and clamped it down. Then dunked it in water and it came out perfectly. This is doing the same as using a blow dryer its just more convenient and controllable/repeatable. I will post a video/photo album of the prototype working as soon as it arrives. Me and Bowl rush-ordered it today.
RENDERSMe and bowl made some edits to the design, renders below. These changes were made to reduce the cost as much as possible. These changes have reduced the overall size by around 40%, so a sizeable reduction in cost is expected. We have also incorporated a one-size-fit-all design where any profile will work, and the whole unit can be packed and stored with the internal storage spaces for the spacers and screws, with the benefit of looking cute as hell.
And... because we know not everyone wants a screw tray there will be other top options as well. For example, we will also offer artisan tray tops or lube stations:
FEATURESThe Spacebar Un****er will offer the following functions:
- Straighten Spacebars
- Can be used to tune wires
- Top half can be used as a screw tray
- Can be used to balance wires
SALE INFORMATION- Small in-stock sale will happen at Bowl Keyboards: https://bowlkeyboards.com/
- if there is enough demand, after in-stock buyers use the product and feedback is received we will order more units with international vendors
- The target price is around 65-85 USD
- It will be made out of aluminum, raw with no anodizing
CONTACTMy Discord server:
https://discord.gg/nWXrcdX8uNMost updates will be posted on my server as well as Geekhack.
