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Hike News

【IC】Nexus Slider (Alps Slider With a Cherry Stem)

类型: IC
作者: BlindAssassin111
发布时间: 2018-01-05 22:13:12
更新时间: 2018-02-16 13:03:17
原链接: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=93403.0


Best Update So Far:
My sliders are once again compatible with clicky switches and in fact work with stabs. I will make a video maybe tomorrow going over what was found out. As well they work with SKCM Brown beautifully.
As well, I was asked a question over on deskthority about why an orange top housing wouldn’t fit on a brown switch. Below is my response:
I figured out the reason why it wouldn’t close, if you look inside of the top housing there are rectangular recesses on the back of the top side. On an SKCM Brown the housing is mirrored, meaning they are identical on both the switchplate side and tactile leaf side. This is not the case for all other SKCM switches. The SKCM Orange, and every other SKCM variants, matches my pictures where one side has two bars dividing that recess on one side only. The point of those bars is so the tactile/click leaf is held in place at the top and bottom better. These bars prevent the browns tactile leaf from fitting inside any other top housing.
Now because of this I have to make a modification to the top housing I designed in order to accommodate both, which will be pretty easy with an idea I have. I can’t do anything today as I have to build a new computer in order to do CAD again, as the last one decided it didn’t want to live anymore…So probably saturday or late tomorrow I can make the change.
We are rounding the corner of the design and testing phase and the GB will be opening within the next 2 weeks, all I have left to do is make some final adjustments to the slider and top housing and I can start taking orders. Please spread the new info. that they work on clicky switches so we can make sure to get the quantity of 11,000 needed for me to move forward with the production of both pieces.
Update:
Newest video going over the current prototype.
Product shot(s):
186677-0
For now this is all I will be sharing as the prototypes don’t really resemble the final product and don’t show detail very well. Product color is uncertain as I need to see what the manufacturers capabilities are.
Product Features:

  • Cherry MX mount

  • Compatibility with Linear, and tactile switches (soon to be compatible with clicky)

  • Product Description:*
    This is an Alps slider with a cherry stem, the slider is the colored part that keycaps mount into. It is a replacement alps slider, that allows you to use cherry keycaps, you open the alps switch up, remove the original slider, pop this one in, replace the top housing with either a modified top housing or the one I will be producing, and voila.
    Note: Top housing will need to be slightly filed down to make sure the keycap doesn’t catch when pressing the key. Only needs to be filed a tiny amount as the opening is almost the exact size of most cherry keycap stems.

  • Planned pricing and MOQ:*
    At the moment I am getting quotes for around 5,000-10,000, not sure how many people are wanting to jump in on this and will most likely be doing a couple rounds of ordering depending on the volume of interest.
    Quantaties will be as follows:

  • 50 minimum

  • 70 for 60% and similar sizes

  • 95 for TKL

  • 115 for fullsize

  • 130 for big ass boards that you may have or for those who like extra
    Currently planning on pricing of $0.50 - $0.80 for each slider, depending on what the quotes are(will update once I figure out which manufacturer I will be using). Price may be out of that range, so be prepared as that is just an initial estimate/goal.

  • Interest Form:*
    Will keep the form open for about 2 weeks or so and see how much interest I get, I will be the only person running this and if the interest is higher than I expected I may close it sooner so I don’t get too many people on the first run. Once I get pricing and the form is closed the GB will open and ordering will commence.
    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQlCswtGqZ-18CDlnNXohOpKMbDD3zNBGfpGcEBdBAKoH1zA/viewform?usp=sf_link

  • Alps top housing option:*
    Chyros wanted to know if I had a solution to the fact that cherry stems do barely fit inside the housing opening. He was not the first person to ask this and my answer was originally, and it can be seen at the top of this post, that you will have to file the housing slightly to fit the stem reliably. Now I know that not everyone will be willing to do so but that is the easiest most cost effective solution out there. In order to see if people would like me to produce a top housing that also allows clearance, I have made the below form to do so. Do note that this will ONLY WORK FOR ALPS, not matias switches as they are entirely different and those will have to be filed which isn’t that bad seeing as they are $0.25 switches, and you can replace them, where as alps can’t be replaced sadly. So that is why some of the questions make sure you acknowledge that fact.
    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSff4l1Q_vhLj5R7Jnf7j3KQS7VplZ0EWz9NkFtr6Db-PBfYUA/viewform?usp=sf_link

  • Update:*
    Currently we are at 4980 sliders, we are almost at the minimum for this to be a GB, I want to get closer to 7,000 just in case some people change their minds before ordering so we don’t drop below the 5000 MOQ. Plus the more people who get involved the price will drop significantly, ex. 10,000 is half the price of the moq for just tooling, manufacturing cost should also drop slightly and that means we can save a crap ton of money with more people. I don’t really want to make much money on this I just want to make a great product that people will love for a very long time.
    Keep the momentum up people!!! The response is awesome and way more than I expected in just 2 days.

  • Update 2:*
    We have now hit 5555 sliders, this is crazy how much people want this product, Today alone we have had almost 2000 sliders added to the list. Hopefully pricing quotes come tomorrow so I can figure out which manufacturer is the best fit and can start the GB by midweek or so.
    Seriously thank you to all the people who have showed interest, this is more than I could have ever imagined and I can’t wait to see what projects these go into.

  • Update 3:*
    We have now hit 7870 sliders, really happy to see the progress of this over the past few days. Up until now the quotes have been prohibitively high and made me worried that we would need to double that interest. Well I just received my 3rd quote and their pricing is way more reasonable for what we are doing. The last 2 quotes were using tools that would last 50,000 parts(shot) guaranteed and because of that the tooling was almost $5000 which sucks for almost any order quantity below 15,000.
    But the new quote came in and I can reasonably sell them at $0.45 per slider as the tooling is only able to do 10,000 parts(shot) guaranteed. Which means I will either have to cut the order off at 10,000 or do it in waves, where the first 10,000 are made and shipped and new tooling is made once the next 10,000 are ordered. I can avoid this round system by using the 50,000 shot tooling but I am waiting on a re-estimate on the quote as I changed the surface finish that was to be used and will see what the new cost is.

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