Project Updates - Late June 2021

JULES

At this point in time, our manufacturer has given us an ETA of early July for the remade VARIABLE plates. 

Allowing time for the plates to ship to our warehouse, fulfilment of solderable/VARIABLE plate Jules can resume in mid-late July.

The majority orders of the hotswap/FIXED plate Jules have now completed shipping.

It has come to our attention that member(s) of our support team have mistakenly informed some customers that the draft version of Jules was approved for production by its designer. 

The details of the situation were misinterpreted by our support team as the information passed through multiple people. This is not true and we apologise for any confusion caused.

KARA

Our manufacturer has informed us that the KARA production run of W01-A Internal Weights has still not left port since the 2nd of June due to ongoing issues with port availability.

The freight forwarder has even attempted to transport the container by truck to an alternative port with no success.

Currently, the shipment is expected to depart on the 26th of June and arrive by early-mid July.

Given the amount of time customers have now been waiting, we have decided to ship all KARA orders and then ship the W01-A weights separately once they have arrived.

Customers who have not yet received their KARA order can expect to receive a shipping confirmation within the next 1-2 weeks.

U80-A SEQ2

The partial batch of U80-A SEQ2 mentioned in the late May update is on the same shipment as the W01-A weights.

M50-A

Fulfilment of M50-A will begin as soon as possible alongside KARA.

ZENITH

The same port issues with W01-A/U80-A SEQ2 are also affecting Zenith. Once we have an expected shipping date, it will be posted here on the updates blog.

NEMO DECOMMISSION 2 + RW01 NIGHT EDITION

Shipment of all NEMO DECOMMISSION 2 and RW01 NIGHT EDITION orders are due to complete within the next 1-2 weeks.

RW PEN A

RW PEN A

Jules Statement

Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that a manufacturing error has occurred with the production of Jules.

Some customers who ordered a solderable Jules have received VARIABLE plates that do not fit into the enclosure.

After some investigation, below is the chain of events that led to this situation:

  • Jules draft files were sent to the manufacturer for initial quoting.

  • Zambumon made some small changes to the model, creating Jules final files.

  • Jules final files were sent to the manufacturer to produce prototype units. These are the units shown in photos and videos.

  • Jules final files were sent to the manufacturer for the final production order.

  • The manufacturer produced Jules enclosures and FIXED plates using the Jules draft files instead of the final files.

  • Once RAMA WORKS received the units at our warehouse, we discovered that the VARIABLE plates were not made at all. The manufacturer has failed to explain why this happened. 

  • The manufacturer was immediately notified and VARIABLE plates using the final files were rush ordered.

  • Due to this, QC and test assembly was only performed using the (draft file) enclosure, FIXED plate, and hotswap PCB. As a result, the incompatibility between the draft file enclosures and final file VARIABLE plates was not observed at this time.

  • RAMA WORKS begins shipping Jules.

  • Once RAMA WORKS was made aware of the incompatibility, shipping was halted until the situation was fully understood.

The differences between the draft Jules files and Jules final files are primarily cosmetic:

  • One plate mount position (left of the spacebar switch) was moved.

  • Enclosure screw positions were moved away from the top/bottom enclosure seam.

  • Minor changes to the case bottom “wedge” to accommodate the change to case screw positions.

  • The entire final enclosure is approximately 2mm larger in both width and depth.

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The images above show the draft version on the left and final version on the right.

RAMA WORKS has worked with this particular manufacturer for a long time and there was full confidence in their ability to produce products to the level of quality that RAMA WORKS and our customers expect. 

The units produced are of the quality that we expect but are not made using the final design Zambumon submitted for prototyping and production.

The use of incorrect files is a serious oversight on the manufacturer's part. However, RAMA WORKS also accepts responsibility for this situation. We are very disappointed and sincerely apologise. 

Given the amount of time customers have already been waiting for Jules and the fact that we have all of the (draft) Jules enclosures on hand, the most viable option is to remake the VARIABLE plates from the draft files. This is expected to take 2 weeks.

If you would no longer like to receive Jules, you can instead opt for store credit. Please contact our support team by emailing support@rama.works or submitting a ticket at https://support.rama.care/ with your order number.

In 2-3 weeks, Jules will resume shipping to customers.

We’re extremely appreciative of everyone’s continued support. This situation has led us to make drastic changes to our processes and ensure this cannot happen again in the future.

KATE Keycaps, M65-B ICED Bases, and WAVE SEQ2 Br Keycaps

KATE Keycap storage

We're excited to showcase our stackable storage system for our upcoming KATE caps! Each unit will be custom moulded and labelled to suit each set, allowing for a quick and easily recognisable archival solution.

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M65-B ICED Bases

After some additional QC of the M65-B ICED bases, we have found that some units showcase the machining lines within the base more than others.

The machine lines are visible in some cases from the variance/inconsistency in the finishing process with bead blasting.

We understand that this is not up to the usual standards that our customers expect. To compensate for this, we will be including a free W02-A Internal Dampener. If you already have a dampener or weight in your order, then a random artisan keycap (neutral colour) will be included instead.

Given that the machining lines only appear on the bottom/base, the appearance of them is essentially hidden by the dampener.

Below are images showing a unit with the machining lines, and the appearance after the dampener is installed. The images were taken under lighting to purposefully emphasise the machining lines for clarity.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support team by emailing support@rama.works or submitting a ticket at https://support.rama.care/

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WAVE SEQ2 Br Keycaps

It has come to our attention that the MOON and GOLD WAVE SEQ2 Br keycaps were incorrectly finished and some units have shipped out already. Instead of a PVD polished finish on the outward facing sides, the entire keycap was bead blasted instead.

We are reproducing the keycaps in the correct finish. Customers will all receive the correct keycap. For anyone that has received a keycap(s), there is no need to return them.

THERMAL + M65-B Arrival

The Rama Works team hopes everyone has had a happy and safe holidays and Happy New Year! We’re super excited to show off our new projects, lots to look forward to 🤗

We’re also catching up on our backlog of orders for in-stock items, this includes orders from mid-late December. Keep an eye out for shipping confirmations!

THERMAL + M65-B

The rest of the Thermal units and the M65-B (minus ICED) units have finally arrived at our warehouse!

The timing is a little awkward as we’re expecting delivery of hardware (packing benches, shelving etc.) and installation of pallet racking this coming week.

Access to the workspace will likely be interrupted during this process. The safety of our fulfilment team is important to us and as such, we are aiming to begin shipping the remaining Thermal units the week starting 18th of January, and the M65-B units shortly afterwards.


A message from Wilba, designer of the Thermal:

Thermal features leaf spring plate mount, an innovative plate mount design utilizing thin strips of the plate to act as a leaf spring between the plate and the case. Due to how this design works, some of the Thermal keyboards from this production have a different sound signature to the pre-production samples. There is some resonance that occurs when typing on some keys. In order to remedy this, I added some small foam pads between the ends of the leaf spring and the top part of the case. These effectively shorten the length of the leaf springs and make them slightly stiffer. Even though this change came about from fixing a problem, I think it is an improvement to the typing feel and sound of Thermal, which is why I decided it was important to make it available now.

The foam pads will be included in all Thermal orders yet to ship. If you have already received your Thermal order without the foam pads, you can contact RAMA WORKS support to arrange shipping the foam pads to you free of charge.

yeti

Stay tuned for more updates on our other projects soon!

KATE