deskthority

I don't mean to be dense, but I don't understand the status from this post. Is it the status that we're still at the 100 completed reported last time?

Ellipse wrote: 17 Dec 2025, 03:28 DiscoMike the factory has completed the 100 or so B104's they noted last month. Now they are working on completing the remaining B104's and other models. It is going to take more time but they are aware of the high quality requirements and have been inspecting each keyboard for cosmetic defects, and discarding or repairing cases that do not meet the requirements.

While the laser/bending process to make the cases saves a huge amount of cost instead of making an injection mold (only some custom tooling is needed, as seen in the video posted some time ago), it is a far slower process than die casting as all the parts of the case need to be bent and welded together one at a time. There is always a tradeoff between time and cost, if we keep quality as a constant. These boards are already expensive so adding extra cost would reduce the number of folks who would be able to get one of these great old style boards.

DiscoMike wrote: 15 Dec 2025, 23:54 I placed my order end of last year or earlier this year.

I placed my order Wed, 11 Jan 2023. 3 years later, I still won't have what I paid for. $665.69 by the way. For a keyboard.
People in the GDR didn't wait that long for their Trabant cars to be delivered. It's ridiculous.

dodddummy I noted last month that they expected to finish the first 100 cases that month, which they did, and they have now completed assembly of around 100 B104 boards. They are making progress, albeit slowly. They are prioritizing completion of the B104 boards first while working on production of the other models' parts when possible. I expect to do a container shipment leaving just before the Chinese New Year so that the boards that were completed up to that time will be able to start shipping out to everyone once that shipment arrives to me.

blackbit I appreciate everyone's patience with bringing these keyboards to life once again. The Model F reproduction boards similarly took about three years to start going out, but production and assembly are now going at full speed and some of the B104 boards have already been completed. Crowdfunded projects often take longer to ship than stocked products, or products for which the tooling has already been completed, since the tooling needs to be made all again. For the round 2 boards, the tooling and injection molds had to be made again (see the update postings on the project website for the full details). That was successfully completed just this year, with the case tooling only ready to go late this year.