User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:49 pm

Totally Agree. Don't get me wrong, because it's hard to judge emotion via messages, I am not thinking this was a total fail. I am also not trying to flame about it either. In the grand scheme it is an annoyance and thats all. If this is all we had I would be fine with it as they are. But knowing the amount of work that went into this by Jim and others that would totally bum me out. I am not worried wether this will be fixed, more my annoyance is 100% at the Company. While, yes if they were made in Germany or USA or Japan we just could not afford it because of the low volumes and high costs in this project.

That said, I am sure this company is capable of perfecting this and hopefully they will prove it here shortly.

Sometimes I read my messages that I wrote previously and think to myself, why the hell did I write that you sound like a whining brat. LOL. Sometimes I gotta remember to just stick to the facts.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Thu Jan 05, 2023 5:57 pm

That said, I am sure this company is capable of perfecting this and hopefully they will prove it here shortly.
I sincerely hope so.

Sometimes I read my messages that I wrote previously and think to myself, why the hell did I write that you sound like a whining brat. LOL. Sometimes I gotta remember to just stick to the facts.
Not at all. I've yet to inspect my caps closely but everyone's experiences here including yours have made it so I'm much more ready to accept (and expect) failures. What you said added value to the discussion.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:33 am

I spent about 1.5 hours this morning setting all of my keycaps out on the table and examining each as closely as possible w/o actually installing them onto keyboards.

Here's what I found.

Much like 3D-Vice, in some cases I can see small irregularities in regards to baselines (the lowest part of a letter form) being out of alignment, or some letters either being off-center or strangely slightly rotated.

However, out of my 4 sets there is really only 1 set that had some pretty jarring issues.

Here are my four sets.

EKH-Sets.jpg

My Notes:


Black set

slight rotations of some letter forms and inconsistent baselines - but nothing HUGE


“Breadbin” brown set

L - pethscii glyphs at an extreme angle
← (upper-left corner back arrow) wrong color: black instead of brown
C - baseline is higher than all others


White set

slight rotations of some letter forms and inconsistent baselines - but nothing HUGE
I - not centered
Int/Del, Run/Stop slightly thinner font weights than other keys


Blue set

U - baseline is higher than all others
I - baseline is higher than all others
O, N, = - slight rotations


Overall my brown and blue sets have the most obvious issues, with brown being the worst due to a completely wrong color for 1 key and the PETSCII glyps of another doing a wheelie.

Overall, though, most of what I'm seeing is just a lot of really small alignment and rotation issues. My black and white sets seem to be best of the bunch in terms of overall quality. I'll send my results to Jim.

User avatar
JimDrew
LHC, AZ

Posted Fri Jan 06, 2023 12:12 pm

Hey, make sure you guys email me with all of these pictures so I can get you replacements for the keycaps that are bad.

I don't want ANYONE having keycaps that have issues!

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Jan 06, 2023 5:41 pm

Jim has already seen this. I'm just posing some pics here for others.

[Note:

I want to reiterate that the actual keycap plastic is GORGEOUS and simply terrific. The keycaps themselves got knocked out of the park - total home run. It was the prints where things got a bit wonky.]


These types of alignment issues - especially with the white prints - are not uncommon:
keycap-alignments.jpg
In fact, I think the issues illustrated in the photo above are essentially something most folks would be totally fine with all things considered.

It's when you see a keycap like these when you may want to contact Jim and see if you can try to get a replacement:
rotations.jpg
dan-tootill.jpg

User avatar
JimDrew
LHC, AZ

Posted Sun Jan 08, 2023 2:53 am

The rotation issue doesn't affect all of the same keys, but it does seem to be more common with "L" and "=". I have had people send me pictures of their sets claiming everyone else is crazy because their set is perfect, and it is from looking at the picture.

I will be happy to put this all behind me so I can move forwards with the Blingboard64. Cost has gone up for this (like everything else on the planet). I expect the full replacement keyboard kits to be $99 (includes custom transparent/ported Mx switches, PCB with 70 RGB fully addressable LEDs and driver electronics, base assembly, and keycaps). Fully assembled would be $50 more. Stretch goals will include an option to make the keyboard USB and/or Blutooth capable for use with VICE, or for your normal every day PC. Other stretch goals would give full access to the keyboard's CPU from the C64 side to use for whatever you can dream up, video output, and other silly things that are free features when using a dual core 240MHz CPU platform.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 30, 2023 8:55 pm

Last weekend I decided to remove my original double-shot breadbin keycaps from one of my Mostly-New Commodore 64s. In theory I could make a 3rd some day and reuse those keycaps with my spare cream case, as shown here.

But for now that computer got a case swap to the blue Kickstarter case. This is what it looked like before I got started.

452D6878-5327-4A43-9E8B-10C05D07E1F8.JPG
Not too shabby if I do say so myself.


This C64 is pretty sweet.

It has:
  • Reloaded Mk 1 motherboard (originally a Mk 2, but I traded with a friend and got a Mk 1)
  • Original Mechboard, with Cherry MX yellows and solid metal bracket.
  • Upgraded PLA and mostly all-original NTSC chips. My SID chip started to malfunction recently so I put a brand new and affordable BackSID in there for the time being. I still need to tune it.
  • Original blue Kickstarter C64C case, before the original moulds were shipped overseas. (Woah - this case is already 8 years old! Where is the time going?)
For fun, and to match the case badge a tad closer, I decided to pull off the double-shot keys and go with a black primary and gray function key palette.

I must admit, as I was working my way around the keyboard, I became very conflicted with this situation.

IMG_1366.JPG

I decided to go with the "64" logo since there is real Commodore history there if you go back to the silver label days. I almost left the C= key on there since the color difference so fairly subtle and not easy to see in my dark computer room. But I knew it would ultimately bother me. So, I made the swaparoo.

Here she is now with all of the new keys installed.

IMG_1371.jpg
IMG_1372.jpg

It's just so crazy we can make new Commodore 64's in 2023!

Let's see some of y'alls creations!

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:10 pm

What is the procedure for reporting problem keys? Do we just email you Jim, at cbm stuff?

User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Mon Feb 06, 2023 1:28 pm

Zippy Zapp wrote:
Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:10 pm
What is the procedure for reporting problem keys? Do we just email you Jim, at cbm stuff?
Sending an email to Jim ist the best procedure. Make sure to attach pictures of the mistakes and/or missing sets/caps, since Jim is going to forward those to the Chinese factory.

User avatar
obitus1990
USA

Posted Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:37 am

Still haven't received mine, and after today's email update, I will NEVER, EVER support another crowd-funded project.





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