Alumaze60 thoughts

[junior stag]

I just got the alumze60 aluminum case (just black) and built it with a hotswap pcb. I do not have a 60he.

Things I like

1. Universal 60 compatibility.
2. The design. I quite like the accent piece. I think it looks a lot better than tofu, or any other in stock tray mount case at the moment. I'm gonna customize the accent piece and strap soon, and I'm pretty excited for it.
3. Anodization is really pretty on the black case.

Things I didnt like

1. The mounting posts on the edge of the case. The two posts on the top of the case are fine, but theres only 1 post on the bottom of the case. This makes the typing feel slightly even. This is especially true with the middle two standoffs are removed. It was acknowledge that the friction fit(with the large gummy oring) mod was pretty popular among the keyboard enthusiast community (for good reason), better mounting point placement would be great. The popular open source bakeneko60 does it pretty well.
2. The champfer on the bottom of the case. Admittedly, I probably wasn't the target audience for this case because I don't have/use a 60he. I was planning to get a tofu60 alternative and attempt to use a merro60 pcb in it. However, the chamfer near the bottom will make contact/bottom out with it.
3. The feet aren't the same shape. It'll look a little cleaner if they were the same shape. Though I'm sure there's a reason for this design decision that I'm missing.

Overall, I think its a great product. I think people who plan to use the 60he on this would like it. I originally intended to friction fit mod this case, but unfortunately I'll have to look elsewhere.

[torpid heart]

youre saying that you cant do a burger mount with the alumaze60????!

[junior stag]

burger mount is doable. i should've clarified. the gummy oring mount i'm talking about is the same type as done on the bakeneko60 (aka friction fit)

[torpid heart]

well, im still waiting for my order from sep 29th lmao

[split crest]

DM me your order number.

[storm basin]

@junior stag thanks for the feedback also glad to read somebody got it without the 60HE. You are also a target audience.

You mentioned the chamfer on the bottom was touching your PCB. Could you let me know where it’s hitting with a picture

[storm basin]

Concerning the posts only have 1, did you mean it made the typing feel slightly uneven instead of even?

Could you also elaborate more on this

[nimble reef]

are you talking about the standoffs? cus i dont see any "posts"

[storm basin]

We’ve gone through a few versions of the case, when the pictures were made we didn’t have the final version of every color.

You don’t see them on this black model.

Try the gray one

[nimble reef]

ok let me take a look

[storm basin]

You can see the two on top and one on left bottom now

[nimble reef]

am i horribly blind
i cant see the bottom one hahaa

[storm basin]

Yeah that one is more difficult to see

[nimble reef]

ah nvm i see it

they said when installing the module
the typing experience was uneven?

[storm basin]

Yeah, they did. And mentioned when removing the standoff it’s the case. So I can imagine what is meant but

Why is it relying on the posts to start with

Gummy mount but then missing one of the posts?

[nimble reef]

its not stable i believe

[storm basin]

I need to grab the reference drawing

[nimble reef]

One of the cases tirade sent me

[storm basin]

Yeah but when tray mounting it doesn’t matter but gummy or friction fit it would

[nimble reef]

hmm 🤔

[storm basin]

Omg so many of them

[nimble reef]

do you want me to install the module and take out the keycaps to get a visual

[storm basin]

It depends on how the user here installed it. But without the spacebar standoff, I can see it becoming uneven over time

[nimble reef]

i gummy mounted my 60he

[storm basin]

Need this users’ specific feedback on it.

I learned that it’s only gummy mount if it exposes the oring with an opening in the PCB to allow the oring to rest on the posts. Otherwise they refer to it as friction fit or oring mount? Can’t keep track of 😛

I’m looking to create friction fit compatibility since we won’t be able to easily modify the PCB for a gummy mount. In addition, if we make a custom ring, we can create a whole padding around the pcb edge

Alumaze needs the posts on the gummy mount spots.

[nimble reef]

Normal gummy oring mounted keyboards have pcb cut outs along the edges for the gummy oring mount to rest on the case post which gives a bouncy feel depending on the oring's hardness/
Friction fit is having the module tightly fit into the case with the oring, it kind of gives a bouncy feel but not as much as gummy mounted keyboards but more then burger mount.

[granite prairie]

https://discord.com/channels/167181566978555904/1169726936805806171

[storm basin]

Don’t want to waste your time trying something out now when we don’t have users specific feedback

[granite prairie]

this person managed to do a proper gu mmy oring mount

[nimble reef]

i mean some of us like me have done friction mount and are currently using it
but @digital monolith however took it to the next level and drilled the pcb to make it like a gummy mounted board

[storm basin]

Mother ducker

[nimble reef]

haha

[digital monolith]

You called 😏

[storm basin]

Okay, so perhaps we can just change the PCB cut out. I’ll review with my team

[nimble reef]

OH SHI

[storm basin]

You’re insane for just cutting into the pcb lol

[nimble reef]

idk if possible but here

[digital monolith]

Only had to sacrifice led traces 🤷‍♂️😄

[storm basin]

Okay that explains it

If we change any traces, we need to re-certify the entire board again

It’s a real pain.

[nimble reef]

damn

sorry about that but us nerdy modders has some desire for some shi like this

[storm basin]

Yeah, need to take it all in for a v2

[nimble reef]

if you plan to do this with the v2 ask the community first
cus im not sure if they want to wait longer for something like this

[storm basin]

Can you elaborate

[nimble reef]

theres alot of people at the moment that are waiting for the 60he v2 module
and im not sure if you meant try to talk to the team about re-certifying the entire board for gummy oring mount when you said "yeah, need to take it all in for v2" but i think people wouldnt like to wait longer for the v2 unless you ask the community for the thumbs up.

if i mis understood mb

[storm basin]

The 60HE module PCBA will be referred to as 60HE+

V2 is next level

[nimble reef]

ahhh

got it

[storm basin]

Module is currently in production.

[nimble reef]

well ig why not try to take it all in for v2 😁

[storm basin]

Yes

[nimble reef]

i was thinking of some ideas like making custom plates for gasket mount into a PSD60 gasket mounted case but im pretty sure tirade has done it b4

[nimble reef]

oo random question
do you think there will be a lekker 2.0
ik ive asked this 3 times but just wanted to hear from the man himself

it seems the pcb is either resting on the standoffs or the post, but since i put little rubber on the post it raises the pcb a mm off the standoff.
so technically for me the friction mount keeps the board in place inside the case whle giving the effect of balancing out the sound
if i were to put like little gaskets on the post it should give me the "bouncy feel" of a gasket mounted keeb im guessing

[granite prairie]

i might try that get some gasket padding on posts

[nimble reef]

Cutting adhesive neoprene foam to do it

I will post my result in keyboard modding

[granite prairie]

i think it should feel good

i already put extra padding that came with my redux

but its not soft enough

[digital monolith]

Def for v2 pcb design some cutouts in, idealy multiple, like unirkona and bakeneko v3 cutouts (have different standoff locations) would make the wooting even more used across the custom keyboard scene

For the alumaze, an idea I had when I started designing my case was an alternative way to get the o ring to work, by making a ledge all around the case, just enough for the o ring to rest on, but enough clearance for the pcb. Never tried it tho

[junior stag]

@storm basin hey, thanks for response to my feedback. im gonna clarify some of my points.

in tray mount, the pcb rests on the standoffs and the aluminum pieces that stick out on the edges (2 on top, 1 on bottom, 1 on left, 1 on right). if you take out the removable standoffs, in the middle, the pcb will rest on 1 side of the pcb near the bottom, thus the uneven typing feel around the spacebar

big disclaimer, i dont own a gummy oring pcb. i was planning on getting one, this is just what i observe after having alumaze in hand

but in gummy oring mount, its a similar story. the area near the spacebar will be slightly uneven. also, since the oring is soft, there will be a bit of give vertically. since theres no edge supporting the oring on the bottom right of the case in addition to the chamfer, the bottom right edge pcb will probably touch the case if you press hard enough. not sure if this will be apparent in regular typing though.

[storm basin]

Do you have reference drawins and/or products for these cutouts. Also focus on where they made the differences for the standoff, or just de "posts" on the edge?

[digital monolith]

There are some open source pcb designs with all the right cutouts for unikorn, bakeneko

Like the waffling: https://github.com/4pplet/waffling60#db-daughterboardbakeneko

Could take the measurements from there

[storm basin]

What's the difference between the unikorn and bakeneko mounting

bakeneko, also is still the one bought from cannonkeys, or is that behind on the v3

this is my reference https://github.com/kkatano/bakeneko-60

[digital monolith]

There is some history/controversy.
The bakeneko was originally designed with 1:1 unikorn mounting posts. But singakbd (maker of the unikorn) didn't like that is was open source like that. So the maker adjusted the design with new standoffs the v3 now.
Canonkeys uses the old bakeneko files, which should be unikorn mounting posts.