类型: IC
作者: upas
发布时间: 2022-07-22 16:06:19
更新时间:
2022-11-14 16:05:55
原链接:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=117864.0
The Ripple TKL
Click this title to see our coming soon page
>> CHECK OUT THE NEWEST UPDATE HERE <<
Note: “3d” weight will be available as an upgrade
option. PVD limited to Special Edition units
>> Please give us your feedback HERE <<
I designed a TKL! While its not my personal favorite
layout (my ranking - 75%, 1800, 60%, then everything else),
I know it’s a community favorite. And I wanted to take a
stab at making a unique TKL. Just like with the Sat75,
Chimera, and Balance, I designed everything from start to
finish on this keyboard.
Ive been using a prototype of
the Ripple for almost half a year now, run a few prototype
rounds, done quite a bit of testing and messing around with
it, and Im finally satisfied with the results - so without
further ado, here is the RippleTKL!
Inspiration
I
actually found the concept of Ripple for this keyboard while
in the design process. For some boards, I start with a
concept and design from there. For others - like this one -
I played around a bit with drawings and design elements I
could use before settling on the concept of a Ripple - the
movement water makes when something is dropped in it. From
there, designing the rest of the keyboard fell into
place.
The contours of the top case and weight are
meant to mimic water flowing, a very wavy look. The stepped
corner cuts are meant to resemble expanding concentric
circles like those found in a ripple, and the side cuts
match the wavy-ness of the rest of the top case.
Design Elements
There are a few elements that I
knew I wanted to integrate into this design:
No large forehead
- top and bottom and side bezels dont have to be the same,
but I wanted to avoid a large top bezel
Low front height and low typing angle
- for this TKL, I wanted to go low. The keyboard has a 16mm
front height and 6 degree typing angle.
Horizontal side cutouts
- to make the keyboard easier to pick up
External weight - a bit of extra
visual impact and heft - also a cool place to put a Ripple
engraving. Thanks OCM for the art!
Note: Production weight will be sandblasted brass and
not say “Prototype”
Customizable badge
- with a lot of TKLs, the top looks pretty similar. I
thought adding a customizable badge would give people a
chance to further customize their custom keyboard
And there was an element I tried that ended up not
making the cut:
Internal weight (in addition to the
external weight) - after testing with and without the
internal weight, it didnt really add much acoustic impact
and just raised costs.
On top of this - I wanted the
RippleTKL to have a unique mounting style. There are tons of
TKLs out there that use the same plate / top mount
/ o ring gasket mount style (Jane V2 CE - thank you
very much for your contribution to the hobby). And theyre
legitimately great. But I wanted to do something
different.
Mounting Style
The Ripple TKL uses a
unique mounting style to allow each person with a Ripple to
help tune the sound of the keyboard to the way they see fit,
without necessarily relying on stuffing the keyboard with
foam, or using a layer of PE foam on top of the PCB (not
that there’s anything wrong with that!)
I wanted to
have this keyboard to have a sound similar to raindrops when
typed on, keeping in line with the Ripple theme. Whether or
not this was actually accomplished
Ill leave that to you to
decide. But - it is really versatile in how it can sound,
acoustically.
First - the plate. The plate has tabs
that extend out and are compressed together by the top and
bottom cases: These tabs were to help with typing feel -
adding a little bit of bounce (amount of bounce varies based
on plate material).
Note: Production plate will have expanded layout
support
If you look at the tabs closely, youll see that
they have little indentations on each side of them. These
are actually for small o-rings. Using small o rings on the
plate here is my preferred configuration - but the Ripple
also allows 1.5mm poron strips to be used instead of the
o-rings.
But the plate modifications alone - whether o-rings
or poron strips - are actually not enough to provide the
compression necessary to keep the plate in place. For that -
we actually have to add another layer of modification to the
top case.
The top case has pockets meant to add another way to
impact sound. For my prototypes, I tried 70A Silicone,
Poron, PE Foam, and EVA Foam. Each impacted the sound in its
own unique way, and will be included as potential mods with
each group buy unit.
With the 2 plate modifications
plus the 4 materials used in the top pockets - the Ripple
actually has 8 ways you can set it up to achieve your
desired sound.
I went ahead and actually made sound
tests of each of these 8 methods, which are linked below:
Plate O-rings, EVA Foam Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate O-rings, PE Foam Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate O-rings, Poron Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate O-rings, Silicone Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate Poron, EVA Foam Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate Poron, PE Foam Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate Poron, Poron Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Plate Poron, Silicone Foam Top Mod, FR4 Plate
Each test was taken using the same microphone setup
(Behringer XM5800 6 away from keyboard), FR4 plate, Mizu
Mink switches lubed with 205g0, Cherry Clip in Stabs, and
NicePBT keycaps.
My personal preference is using the
o-rings as a plate modification, and poron as the top pocket
modifier - though EVA foam is a close second..
Scrapped
Ideas
One prototyping round we tried actually got rid
of the top pockets - limiting the keyboard mounting style
only to the plate modification (o rings or poron). While the
keyboard felt and sounded good, I thought it was
acoustically a bit too similar to many keyboards that are
already out there, so I chose to go with the pocketed
version of the top case.
Options
PCBs
The
RippleTKL will be available with either a solderable or
hotswap PCB - your choice. And PCBs will be available as
extras.
**Both PCBs will have:
**STM32 or
equivalent ARM processor
QMK and VIA (and vial)
support
Normal 4 pin JST-SH connector for Unified C3
Daughterboard
ESD Protection
**The Solderable PCB
will have:
**Multiple Layout Support
Optional
backlight LEDs
CAPS and SCROLL indicator LED support
(note if you use this, those two keys will not be part of
the backlighting)
**The Hotswap PCB will have:
**Kailh
or TTC hotswap sockets
Single Layout Support (7U Bottom
Row, Normal Caps, 2.75U RShift, Full Backspace)
Presoldered
CAPS and SCROLL indicator LEDs
Layouts
Both a WKL
and WK version of the top will be available. The default
plate will support 7U bottom row, split backspace, split
right shift, and stepped caps. We will also offer a
universal variant with 6.25U bottom row and ISO support as
an extra.
The keyboard will come with an aluminum plate
by default, but other plate materials will be available. PC,
FR4, and Carbon Fiber plates will be available as extras. We
need your feedback to determine if we should use any other
plate materials!
Colors
We believe the design
really shines with some lighter colors - you can see the
contours really nicely, so well likely run the keyboard in
blue grey and
lavendercolors. Navyis a
favorite of mine, so that will also be an option.
E-white and black are usual choices as well
and make the board very versatile. In addition to this, well
run an additional community chosen color.
The keyboard
is not 2-tone, so the top and bottom case will match. The
brass weight will be sandblasted and coated by default, and
feature the engraving shown above.
>> Please give us your feedback HERE <<
Badges
Wed like to allow folks to pick their own
front badge. Each keyboard will come with a Ripple engraved
front badge in sandblasted brass. Additional custom badges
will also be available - but well need to figure out how to
properly allow for a reasonable number of custom designs.
They’ll likely run at a later time, after the keyboard group
buy.
Special Edition
Were also going to be running
a few special edition Ripples. These will feature PVD coated
brass weights, as well as our special ripple engraving:
The front badge will also have a PVD finish - and
perhaps a special engraving as well.
Were still
deciding on the final configurations of the special editions
as well - and we are looking for more feedback there as
well.
Were thinking of running up to 3 versions:
All
black board with Glossy Black PVD finish (note - we tried
matte - its a fingerprint magnet)
E-white board with
Gold PVD finish
Navy board with Silver PVD finish
This
special edition will cost more. We may make the sandblasted
3d ripple weight available as an upgrade or addon for the
normal units. They’re more expensive due to the extra
machine time needed.
PVD finishes will be limited to
special editions.
Summary
To summarize, the RippleTKL has the following
features:
Hotswap or Solderable PCB supporting QMK and VIA
w/ ESD Protection
C3 Unified Daughterboard
Compatibility
Unique mounting style
O-ring and
Poron Plate Modifiers
Poron, Silicone, PE Foam, and EVA
Foam Top Pocket Modifiers
16mm front height
6
degree typing angle
Each kit will come with:
6063 Aluminum Anodized Top and Bottom
7U Bottom
Row Aluminum Plate (no ISO support) - Anodized Black
Sandblasted
Brass Front Badge
Sandblasted Brass External Weight
w/ Ripple Engraving (optional upgrade to 3d ripple
weight)
Your choice of solderable or hotswap PCB
(upcharge for hotswap)
Unified C3 Daughterboard and JST
Cable
O-ring and Poron Plate Modifiers
Poron,
Silicone, PE Foam, and EVA Foam Top Pocket Modifiers
4x6
Authenticity Card
Custom Silicone Feet (bumpon
compatible)
Screw Hardware and Hex Keys to use on the
Screw Hardware
CannonKeys Carrying Case (note - this is
meant to protect the keyboard, we wont replace it if it gets
damaged, but we may be able to provide a small store
credit)
Microfiber Cloth
And well sell the following as extras:
Custom aluminum/brass badges (designs TBD,
probably will happen after the GB)
FR4, Carbon Fiber,
Polycarbonate Plates in Fixed 7U and Universal Layouts
Solderable
and Hotswap PCBs
Daughterboard + JST cable Kits
Silicone
Feet
Extra plate modifier kits (o rings and poron)
Extra
top pocket modifier kits (EVA Foam, PE Foam, Poron,
Silicone)
Plate Foam (Poron, to put between the PCB and
Plate)
Pricing and Vendors
This keyboard will be
sold on CannonKeys only, worldwide. We dont have a group buy
date yet, but we hope to sell it this summer. It will be
released via CannonKeys Hype System.
We hope to set a
high cap on normal edition units (high enough that we hope
everyone who wants one can get one, but reasonable so we can
actually execute upon the GB)
The special edition units
will have a low cap (no more than 50, probably less)
Expected
pricing for the normal edition is in the
$475 ballpark range.
Special edition units
will likely be in the $600 ballpark
range.
>> Please give us your feedback HERE <<
We’ll try to get some of prototypes in the hands of
streamers soon! I’ll update the IC with more info when that
is arranged.
More photos available below:
More
