Whi65 | Round 2 Prototpyes Ordered | (9/4/2021 Update)

Whi65
A 65% gasket mounted keyboard

Discord | Instagram

Let us know if you are interested in this board and if you have any feedback: >> IC Form (CLOSED as of 7/25/2021)<<



Hey everyone, we are two friends who are passionate keyboard hobbyists, and we also happen to be engineers. We started our company, 383 Boards, to bring our numerous years of product design and engineering expertise to the keyboard space.



With that, I present to you our very first board, the Whi65.

The biggest inspiration for this keyboard has been my Betta fish whose name this keyboard takes on, Whi. This fish, who refuses to die, has been with me for a very long time and has inspired the weight and badge designs. Whi was named after Kawhi Leonard in remembrance of him helping the Toronto Raptors win a NBA championship in 2019. Toronto has always been our home and we wanted to pay homage to the city and its basketball team, thus you will see subtle allusions to the Raptors logo as well as the hexagon corners of the board that represent the 6ix.




0. CONTENTS

• DETAILS
• STATUS
• VENDORS & PRICING
• PHOTOS
• SOUND TEST
• FAQ

1. DETAILS

• Isolated plate gasket mount
• Sleek screw-less assembly
• Typing angle: 7.0°
• Front height: 19.5mm
• Materials: 6061 Aluminum housings, Sandblasted brass weight, spacer, and badge
• Mass: ~2.0kg (total), ~0.5kg (weight)
• Plates: Aluminum & Polycarbonate (FR4 & Brass are being considered, TBD)
• PCB: Mill-max hot-swap and soldering versions - configurable with QMK/VIA, ESD protection
• Layout options:
  
  The soldering version of the PCB will support a variety of layout options: ANSI, ISO, split Left Shift, split Backspace, and stepped Caps Lock
  The hot-swap version will only support the ANSI layout.
  
  
  
  
• Color options:
  More
  E-White | Black | E-Lilac | Deep Blue
  
  
  
  
  All colors are meant to be as close to reality as possible. There may be some discrepancies between these renders and actual production units.
  
  

Design Revisions from V1 prototypes:

The following design changes were made after using and testing out the V1 prototype board as a daily driver. These changes will be tested in the second round of prototypes:

• Gasket strips have been made wider going from 2.5mm to 4mm to allow for easy application
• The space between the PCB and bottom case has been increased from 1mm to 2.5mm, to give more room for the board to flex without bottoming out
• Screws were added to the mid spacer to allow for an easier assembly
• Switched from Phillips M1.2 screws to Torx M2 screws to give more durability
• Plates were updated to add "leaf spring" type cuts around the edges to allow for easier flex
  
• The weight's mounting design also had to be updated to accommodate for the above changes
  

2. STATUS

First round of prototypes were delivered 05/06/2021, PCBs were delayed but were delivered 05/26/2021. We are currently in the process of putting together the board and creating some sound tests that will be uploaded to this thread soon.

Start Interest check Opened April 10, 2021
Order prototypes Ordered April 15, 2021
Test prototypes for appropriate sound profile and fitment Tested and made minor design revisions July 03, 2021
Announce Vendor partners Announced July 22, 2021
Finalize color options Original 4 colors finalized
Order R2 prototypes Ordered Sept 3, 2021
Test R2 prototypes
Send Prototype boards out to content creators
Finalize design and close interest check


For more regular status updates be sure to join our discord server


3. VENDORS & PRICING


Vendors

• USA - Space Cables
• CA - Ashkeebs
• EU - Mykeyboard
• UK - Proto[Typist]
• SEA - Zion Studios
• AUS - DailyClack

Pricing and Number of Units

• TBD

4. PHOTOS

V1 Prototype


Renders

• E-White renders:
  More
  
  
  
  
• E-Lilac renders:
  More
  
  
  
  
• Deep Blue renders:
  More
  
  
  
  
• Black & Gold renders:
  More
  
  
  
  

5. SOUND TEST




6. FAQ

• Estimated GB Date?
  Late 2021 Q4 - Early 2022 Q1
  
  
• How is the GB going to be run? Is it going to be FCFS, Limited, or Unlimited?
  It will be a limited FCFS group buy. Number of units per region is still TBD
  
  
• Estimated Price?
  No price yet, a few of our manufacturers are standing firm on not providing us mass production quotations till after our second prototype run is complete. This is due to the fast changing material prices and the global chip shortage. They want the quotation to GB date window to be smaller, which is understandable in today's market. Apart from speaking to manufacturers, we also need to speak to all our vendors and make pricing agreements with them once we have the quotations. Thus at this time we will not be releasing a price. It will only come after proto2 is completed.
  
  

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If you like to show support for this IC and our design, please do so by adding the following to your signature: [url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112229.0][img width=480 height=120]https://i.imgur.com/hKb4Cyp.png[/img][/url]
Thanks for taking the time to read through this, we appreciate any comments, suggestions or feedback you may for us. Don't forget to fill out the IC form as well!