Project Updates - April 2022

RAMA WORKS has invested our time and resources to continuously improve and bring the best quality products to our customers. Although we have constantly been trying our best to push all the products out on our end, we are unfortunately stuck with limitations. The Global Covid Pandemic has caused more delays this year, with businesses and logistics being completely shut, then reopening with reduced capacity causing a backlog. Understandably we know this is frustrating. However, we will continue to do our best and keep everything moving and work out ways to avoid this in the future.

Our team has been working on new and exciting ideas, which we want to source and produce locally to avoid any further halts to production due to the pandemic while supporting local businesses. So stay tuned to the magic our team has been working on!

Doubleshot Keycaps:
After receiving the last batch of samples a few weeks ago, we were not 100% happy with the quality. We made some adjustments to the doubleshot tooling, which is more involved due to the material shrinkage and material flow between the legends. The samples with the new adjustments will arrive soon, and we are confident they will meet our high-quality standards and proceed with production.

We’re also adjusting the case to have an extended internal hinge - we’ve received the updated sample of this and are happy with it, and it is what will be utilised for the end product.

Jar: Production nearly completed
After adjusting the top lid mould to increase the draft angle by 2 degrees to apply a heavier texture finish to improve the grip, we have also opted for a translucent finish for better wear, which would hide any visible scratches over time. Hopefully, if there are no further logistical delays due to covid restrictions with the supply chain, we should be on track to get these out in the next month as they are currently being all moulded.

For any further clarifications on your JARS order, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us at support@rama.work

Here’s how the finish is changing:


M6-C:

The M6-C PCB’s have finally arrived at our warehouse and are going through a rigourous quality check. We have the M6-C Dandy enclosures and GRID caps in our Melbourne Warehouse and will be ready to ship these shortly. We expect the remainder of the M6-C enclosures to be completed in 1-3 months. We’ll also make available in stock the new GRID colours we made for these.

RW KEYBOARD BUILD - SNAP AND WIN A U80 ⌨️ 😍 📸

Have you built your own RAMA WORKS Keyboard and want to add a U80 to your collection?!  💛 ⌨️ 🎁  

All you need to do is take a creative photo of your own RAMA WORKS Keyboard Build and share it on either Instagram, Facebook or Twitter & tag @ramaworks  including the hashtag #RWxMyKeyboardBuild. 

 The winning photo will be re-shared on all our social platforms 🥳

Our support team will get in contact with the winners via the information provided to organise your prize - we will do our best to provide the preferred colour keyboard to the winners - subject to availability ⌨️💛

👇Enter👇
Photo Competition Entry

Things to come:

👀


Global Updates:

Our manufacturing partners in Shenzhen / Shanghai have been placed under strict lockdown to curb the current COVID outbreak. This means that the global supply chain across all sectors will be disrupted for the foreseeable future. We are closely monitoring the situation and will continue to do our best under circumstances out of control. Thank you to all our loyal ongoing clients for their patients during these difficult times. We understand the delays can be frustrating, and in the ideal setting with no supply chain issues, we would be able to get the products to you in a timely manner. The past year has shown us how quickly things can change, so we are also adapting our Business by looking at new products we can source locally to avoid these issues and continue providing high-quality products.


Other Updates:

Timelines from the previous March update on our other products are still valid.

U80-A Arrival / MK Accessories / RW x RW M6 / NEMO

U80-A Arrival

The U80-A’s have arrived in our warehouse and will begin shipping on Monday! We’re super keen to get these packed and out of the warehouse as quickly as possible and have extra hands joining in to speed up the process. If you need to change the address of your order, please reply directly to your order email. Or DHL can be contacted to adjust the address when the item is shipped.

M6-C RW x RW Edition

The RWxRW edition has arrived and will be packed and shipped as soon as possible! The base for this edition came out fantastic.

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MK Accessories

The remainder of the 135 canisters have finally arrived, we’ll be assembling them this week. The silver hot shoes also came within the same shipment!

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NEMO Unboxing

Check out the unboxing our first edition NEMO! We’re excited to see what number edition each order receives 😍😍

M6-C / LNY Inventory 2 arrival / M10-C PCB

M6-C ICED / YOLK / RWxRW

The ICED / YOLK M6’s have arrived, and they are by far our favourite editions we’ve done to date! The top housings for the RWxRW edition was also included in this, but the bases are still to arrive.

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Inventory 2 LNY Aluminium / Titanium

The Inventory 2 LNY editions have arrived! We’re packing them now and they’ll go out as soon as they’re ready! We’re stoked with how the Titanium came out and the machining lines on it, we’re excited to see these filled with cards!

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M10-C

The M10-C PCB’s have been received in our warehouse and will be shipping out to those who ordered the PCB’s individually!

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THERMAL

Will be ready to pack and ship in a container next week 🚢!

ZENITH Typing Video / M6-C / U80-A Port Call

ZENITH Typing Video

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Keyboard: ION Zenith KURO
Plate: 1.5mm Aluminium, isolation mount
Keycaps: GMK White on Black
Switches: Gateron Black Inks lubed with GHv4
Stabilizers: Durock

U80-A

Ship records show the next port call is set to arrive in Melbourne on the 26th of June with our container of U80’s onboard!

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M6-C

All M6-C editions are enroute also to our warehouse for immediate packing and shipping once they arrive. This includes the RWxRW edition!

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M50-A Assembly/Typing Video + Extended / M65-B / GRID Caps / FILM / CANVAS

M50-A

We’ve extended the M50-A pre-order period to the 30th of this month, we’ve also created a quick video showcasing it! Unfortunately, with our move, we didn’t have everything we needed. But, either way - we hope you like the look of the board, we’re incredibly happy with the feel and size of it!

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We’ve also extended the GRID keycaps to the end of the month as well. The CANVAS XL are now being packed and shipped along with the FILM accessories + NEMO. M6 Milkshake will also be shipping out to the distributors shortly!

M65-B

The machining has completed for the Aluminium variants of the M65-B! We expect to freight the Aluminium units next month and the polycarbonate ones later (will update as we are closer to the date).

M60-A EDITIONS

We’ll be posting updates of the M60 EDITIONS (LNY / OLIVIA) soon, please stay tuned!

KARA

We’re super excited to show this as it comes together, aiming to show something late next month.

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U80-A/THERMAL PCB's + Buckle + Other updates

THERMAL / U80-A PCB

The PCB’s have arrived and we’ll be shipping out individual orders that have the PCB this upcoming week!

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FURTHER UPDATES / TIMELINES

WEAR Bracelet: Shipping April
Inventory 2 LNY: Shipping April/May
LNY Keycap: Shipping April/May
FILM Accessories: Shipping April
GRID Keycaps: Shipping April
NEMO: Shipping April
NEMO RW01 Car: Shipping April
M6-C: Shipping April/May
M10-C: Shipping May
U80-A/THERMAL: In warehouse April/May
M65: Machining completed roughly in June

As mentioned in previous blog updates, we’re increasing our manufacturing output with the addition of more CNC mills to the factory and aim to produce our products within tighter timelines!

RAMA WORKS® BUCKLE

We at RAMA WORKS®, love satisfying mechanisms and clicky things - so we designed a completely metal buckle with a new latch design. Suited for bags, belts, apparel and any other EDC. The first round of prototyping is complete and we can't wait to show more! We will be manufacturing these in a variety of sizes and offer them both at wholesale and our own retail channels, as we’d love to see these used on some great bag designs from other manufacturers! The design of the buckle mechanism is unique and enjoyable to use.

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JULES

Jules is available for pre-order until the 15th of April - we’ll also be posting a typing video when we receive new enclosures next week!

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NEMO / LNY & MORE

NEMO Packaging

The NEMO’s have completed machining and are in the final stages of surface finishing. The packaging has also arrived in our warehouse. We’re also working on extra inclusions to include with each order! The first batch release of NEMO is super important to us and we’re honoured to see these in peoples collections soon.

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U80-A / THERMAL

We’ll have updates on the U80 and THERMAL after Chinese New Year, in a few weeks!

M60-A LNY Edition

Following the short-run limited release of the M60-A OLIVIA Edition, we've introduced the M60-A LNY Edition. Featuring a bold RACE Anodised aluminium enclosure with the double-happiness enamel filled Brass backweight.

Backweights from all editions/releases of our M60 are backwards compatible.

Each LNY edition order comes with a RAMA WORKS® Red Pocket and LNY Sticker set

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M10-C

The M10 is BACK! This time it will be manufactured and solely sold through RAMA WORKS®. The PCB is backwards compatible with previous revisions and now features RGB LEDs and comes in hot-swap and solderable variants.

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M6-C

Our collaboration with Render Weekly is now available to preorder. Featuring design elements put together by the winner, @nachcastillo.designs.

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Wallpapers!

We've curated some of our recent images into downloadable wallpapers, follow the link below to download them. We'll expand and add to these as time goes on, and also add some more from our archives.

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RWxRW S4:W2 Challenge

RAMA WORKS® x Render Weekly

S4:W2

 
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The challenge is to redesign the base of the M6 and render the product. We will select our favorite design and produce a limited edition RWxRW M6. Consider which materials, colours and combinations you would like to use. Always consider manufacturing constraints with your design - the base will be CNC machined. You can use any materials you think would look best in combination - Brass with PVD coating, Anodised Aluminium, Titanium etc.

The winner will receive a free limited edition M6 from the production run. The 2nd and 3rd place designs will receive a discount to any products on the site.

Click here for more details!

M65-B Prototype MUTE / M6-C Bases

M65-B Prototype MUTE mount

The prototype for the MUTE mount platform has arrived, we’ve moulded the MUTE out of our ICED colourway to distribute lighting more evenly throughout the underside of the PCB.

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M6-C Bases

The M6-C bases have arrived, this has been the last thing we have been waiting on before we could start packing and shipping! We will begin packing the M6’s next week and promptly ship them as soon as we can.

Check out the updates on the GRID caps here: https://rama.works/prototype/2019/11/11/grid-caps-arrived-hi-seq2-shipped-wear-m60-a-seq2

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M6-C ICED Edition

A new edition of the M6-C is available in our ICED colourway. It features a Polycarbonate enclosure with a ICED silicone, same as the material seen above with the M65-B MUTE mount.
https://ramaworks.store/products/m6-c

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M6-C, M60-A SEQ2, GRID CAPS, U80-A, Inventory 2 SEQ2, Tray

M6-C

The M6-C enclosures have arrived, we have everything in stock except for the GRID caps & the M6-C Silicone bases. We expect these to all arrive this month though! Then all units will be shipped out if everything in the order is in stock.

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We have approved the latest batch of M6-C bases for production; several improvements were made since the initial design. On the left is the first production sample, but given the density of the material, it would cave in too much, so we made some adjustments so that it sits more flush around the PCB.

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GRID Keycaps

We’ve received the production polycarbonate colour samples of the GRID keycaps and have begun production on them! We’re looking forward to seeing these on keyboards and shipping them with our M6-C units.

PRODUCTION IS DUE TO COMPLETE BY 1st OF NOVEMBER

We have limited extra stock allocations from manufacturing available through our webstore.

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Inventory 2

Inventory 2 Aluminium & Titanium have arrived and will be packed early next week for immediate shipping - the brass units will be sent to us early next week to receive before next weekend.

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Tray

As with the Inventory, we’ve received the Aluminium trays in our warehouse and expect the brass ones to arrive early next week. They will be assembled with the silicone feet then packaged for shipping!

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U80-A Production

The U80 production is well underway! All the plates have been completed and have been mirror-polished and are now in PVD coating. A majority of the brass underweights have been machined and are off to mirror-polishing. The bases have mostly been completed - machining will soon begin for the top housings. We will also soon start production on the PCB’s.

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M60-A SEQ2

The M60-A SEQ2’s are all complete! We are waiting for the ZEIT editions to complete before they’re all sea-freighted to our warehouse for final packing and shipping! That is expected to be this upcoming week.

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WAVE Ti / M60-A SEQ2 / M6-C / Caps & more!

WAVE SEQ2 Ti

The Titanium Wave caps have arrived in our warehouse and will be shipping out once packaged. These, we think, are our best keycaps yet - the smoothness of the finish surpasses any we have made before. We’re excited for people to receive these!
We have a limited amount left in stock available to order.

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M60-A SEQ2 Starter Kits

As we await the M60-A SEQ2’s to arrive, we’re packaging a lot of the accessories that will be shipping with some orders. The M60’s are due to arrive later this month in our warehouse for order-packing and shipping.

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M6-B PCB’s

The M6-B PCB’s have arrived for the M6-C production. Orders of just the PCB will be shipped when packaged. We’re also awaiting the enclosures and GRID keycaps for the M6-C shipments to go out.

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Switchpuller XO

A large number of Switchpuller orders have gone out - and we’re looking forward to seeing these to good use! We have a large amount in stock for anyone who wants one.

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New packaging and TEAM Caps

The packaging we were waiting on has arrived and we have started to ship the TEAM Caps. If you have ordered a TEAM Cap alongside other in-stock items, it will be going out.

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Collaboration Keycaps - MIZU

The MIZU Collaboration keycaps have arrived and are being packaged to be sent to the distributors. We’re really happy with how these turned out and the blue glow!

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M6-C / WEAR

M6-C Bases

Our first tool samples of the base of the M6-C has arrived and we have put through the production order, we can expect these to be ready by early October.

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WEAR

Our long-awaited WEAR items are now available in a variety of colourways! Including the new WEAR PVD BRASS Bracelet.

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Packaging

New mailing bags!

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RW XO Switch Puller / Production Begins

RW XO Switch Puller

We have completed the final round of prototyping for our RAMA WORKS® XO Switch Puller. We’ve designed this product to easily remove switches as quickly and accurately as possible without damaging the switch or scratching your case. It’s made out of SS304 and powder coated in our signature YOLK colour then laser etched with the RAMA mark and product code.

These will be included with the M60-A SEQ2 and the U80-A.

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Distributor? Want to stock the XO Switch Puller? Please contact kate@rama.works (cc mail@rama.works)

Production Begins!

Inventory 2: Sourcing material for production
M6-C:
Sourcing material for production
U80-A:
Sourcing material for production
Tray:
Sourcing material for production
Grid Caps: T2 sample arriving next week
Film Canister: Design for Manufacture by end of July
Hat/Dust Bag: First manufacturing run in stock by August
Apparel: Awaiting latest sample - due in 2 weeks

M6-B Shipping / M60-A Extras / SEQ2

M6-B Shipping

All M6-B units have been shipped as of last week and we will have extras available this week!

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M60-A Extras

We have a number of units of the M60-A which will be first offered to the waiting list then open to the public shortly after. This is in very small supply.

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SEQ 2

The SEQ2 Wave caps will be available in stock, along side the M6-B and M60-A extras / with the KURO / MOON / SAGE / LAKE / DUSK colourways

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M60-A Shipping / KOYU / M6-B / XO Tool

M60-A Now Shipping!

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M60-A’s have arrived in our warehouse and we have begun shipping orders! As of today we have packed all Australian orders which will be picked up tomorrow. We will continue packing and shipping orders in batches - owners will receive a shipping notification email when the order is packed and ready! There is a lot to go through, so it will take some time to get through each order - we will however be going through them as quickly as we can.

First batch complete!

First batch complete!

KOYU RACE

The KOYU RACE prototype is in, see some pictures below! We also will have the HAZE prototype in the next few weeks.

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Circuits!

The prototype KOYU PCB is in alongside the M6-B production PCB’s.

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XO Switchpuller Tool

A Stainless Steel 304 Switch Puller. Laser-etched. XO detailing. Arriving next month along with our new Rama Wear apparel.

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M60-A / M6-B / TH 88 Caps / New collabs / Heavy Industry / KOYU

M60-A

All M60-A enclosures have been completed and will be shipped by sea-freight to our Melbourne Warehouse. A little delay has occured due to the Mid-Autumn festival/National holiday but they will be returning in the next few days to promptly pack and prepare the shipping container for shipment. Sea-Freight will take around 2-3 weeks to arrive to our bays in Melbourne, Australia. We will then package and ship in batches of colour and country and aim to complete this over the course of a week with the help of a few hired hands.

A freshly anodised M60-A Dusk

A freshly anodised M60-A Dusk

Meanwhile our team down under (Wilba, Kate & Rama) have been programming, testing and packing the PCB’s whilst we wait for the freight shipment of the M60-A enclosures to arrive. We appreciate the patience of everyone who participated in the pre-orders and we’re excited to see these unboxed and assembled in their own unique combinations.

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M60-A Manufacturing shots

During our visit to our manufacturers we where lucky enough to see some of the M60-A’s undergo the anodising process. Here are some photos of the enclosures receiving their perfect colour. The jigs are all custom made to hold the enclosures in such a way to hide the anode mark. Anodising is all about timing and craftsmanship by extremely skilled workers. Seeing the process in person really makes you appreciate the beauty of chemical reactions much more. First the M60-A goes through a number of cleaning baths to remove any contaminates which may be present on the surface, it then is placed immediately into an ultrasonic bath for a matter of minutes and directly placed into multiple colour tanks where it quickly starts to show its colour.

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M6-B

M6-B is well into production. We will be receiving the XO caps from Signature Plastics shortly, the PCB’s will be complete in 2-3 weeks and the enclosures after that. We have ordered many extras to stock on our site for those who missed out.


Pas that, the new XO pins have arrived! This time we laser-cut them out of mirrored stainless steel. These are much tougher and cleaner than the first iteration.

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TypeHype 88 Edition Keycap

Our limited edition Type Hype caps are starting to arrive to our international customers, very happy with how our first enamel filled keycap came out. A lucky 2 orders will also be receiving an unreleased yellow-enamel filled variant, we hope to see it on a board somewhere!

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New Collabs

Introducing our latest keycap release with the latest GMK set, GMK Chocolatier. We are offering the Blue PVD coated X/O caps in Cherry Profile and a ‘Golden Ticket’ in Gold PVD! These are available through various vendors who are offering the keyset.

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Heavy Industry

We finally launched the Heavy Industry keyset to be paired with our latest offerings, the KOYU and M60 keyboards. Check it out through the link below! It is also suited for other products on the market and can be accented with the yellow or more subtle without.

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https://rama.works/pbt-heavy-industry/

KOYU

New renders have been uploaded to their respective KOYU pages to show the colours of the board in its various colours.

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In other news!

We’re on Apple News! If you own an iOS device subscribe to the “Rama Works” news channel and follow these updates from there also.

U80 SEQ 1 PCB / M6-B Proto / Lumen Proto

U80 Prototype PCB

A lot of people have been waiting for an update on this project, along with us! Finally received in the prototype PCB's today. Will be doing fit testing this week so then we can move quickly with the vendor to getting the product to a production-ready state. Here are some pics of the prototype PCB & Enclosure.

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M6-B Proto

LEDs in action! Rainbow mode. Completely programmable via QMK and can be used to indicate a miriad of things.

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The M6-B is on it's final week for pre-order, get one now before it's too late:

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Lumen (Utility) Light Prototype

A few weeks ago, we teased a concept image of a product we are working on without revealing what it is. The Lumen is an RGBW utility light controllable via HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value/Brightness), the interface consists of two dials which can be clicked in to control different parameters, Hue / Saturation, Hue / Brightness, Pulse Rate / Speed etc. 

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Today Wilba (our Hardware Engineer) brought over the prototype test-board to play with and we are now confident we can miniaturize it and create a neat product from it.

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A lot of people have noticed the deskmat we have in the background of a lot of these images, we have stock arriving at our warehouses in the following weeks, expect something soon!

It's named the Canvas and it's perfectly ratio'd to compliment 60% sized keyboards.