INSTRUMENT

A lot have asked on the status of the Instrument board. Over the past couple of months, we made developments on creating a low profile keyboard with our custom-moulded keycaps.

The initially designed keycap was for the Kailh Low-Profile switch - however after initial testing with 2U caps we found that it was not suitable and halted the project. We had an entire set of 1U and 2U keys prototyped for testing.

A lot of work was done in creating a complete package, below is the PCB designed by our Hardware Engineer, Wilba.

A new solution

After being in contact with Cherry we where able to procure one of the first samples of the Cherry MX Low Profile mechanical switch. The design of this switch has some major advantages over the Kailh switches we initially selected. It has a light-pipe which was designed specifically for SMD RGB LED's, the stem is much more stabilised which can handle 2U keys on its own and the switch supports normal MX keys (unlike the Kailh which is a proprietary stem)

What's next?

The low-profile switches haven't been released yet, but we're waiting on a prototype order of more units so that we can begin testing. The PCB will also be redesigned with the footprint for the Cherry MX Low Profile switch.

Stab

The design for our new stabiliser is complete and will begin the second round of prototying. We have added in the threaded-insert and adjusted some of the model dimensions. The base of the stabiliser is 'pre-clipped' and has a small landing pad to reduce 'bottoming out' noise. The current proposal is to produce the stabiliser out of POM due to its low coefficient of friction.