What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
Finally, regarding payment. Please note that we will be collecting payment at the end of the July. This is to allow us to start creating the die-cast tools which is extremely time intensive and we’d like to have an extra buffer to ensure contingencies are covered. If this is an issue for you, please make sure to join the drop after July 31.
(Preemptive) Q : Why is the ship date so long? A: SA doubleshot lead time is a bit long currently. This is one of the things that's affecting the ship date. The longer lead time also gives us more buffer to make sure our first die cast keyboard will meet the standards you will all expect.
Q: Other layouts? PCBs? A: We decided to stick with ANSI 60% this round to minimize any additional complexities. B
Q: Will <insert part here> be offered separately? A: Not at the moment, none of the parts will really work well without the rest with the exception of the keycap set. However, the designer's vision had always been for it to be paired with this keyboard.
Q: What's up with the arrows kit when it's a 60% keyboard? A: The idea behind the arrow keys is to put them in place of alpha keys like WASD or IJKL or HJKL for when you chord them with FN to produce arrow navigation. By providing the arrows in all row profiles, users are free to place them anywhere in the main alpha block they want (programming a key layer accordingly), like so:
Thanks for creating such a beautiful object! I can't wait to get one.
That caught my eye. I have to admit, I'm less familiar with die-cast versus milled, or stamped, cases. Is there any particular reason you guys are going for die-cast instead of milled? From my understanding, a die-cast case can be just as thick/thin as a milled one. But, with die-casting you need to create the tooling. Whereas, with milling, it's more a matter of creating the program (and having a CNC mill, obviously).
We're making this using die casting because it'd be immensely inefficient and costly trying to make this using CNC machining. If we had to use CNC machining and keep the same delivery lead time, I'd say we would only be able to offer a few dozen units instead of hundreds (or possibly thousands, depending on how well this drop goes...!). Machining something with as many curved surfaces as this design features requires orders of magnitude more machining time compared to other aluminum cases that we've offered. (Those cases are more or less variations of the rectangular billets that the material starts in.) I threw the top half of the case in a CAM program to get an idea of just how intricate the machining tool paths would be. The image shown below is already a few hours of machining time:
Cherry or generic plate mounted.
Maybe post will garner a response....