It's been a year since our last update post on things, as we've been developing so many new products and improving existing ones. Here's what's been going on lately:

Updates

ESD Protection

This past winter, we had a lot of customer issues come in about rows or columns of keys dying on their circuit board due to static shock. We've decided to cover this issue under our two-year warranty by providing replacement PCBs as needed.

Replacing PCBs every time this happens though isn't a viable long-term strategy, so we've been revising the PCB designs to add more ESD protection. Before our work, all over our PCBs have ESD protection for the USB port. But now, we've added protection in the following ways to avoid static electricity from damaging the microcontroller:

  • Addition of an ESD diode for each row and column to protect the I/O pins
  • Addition of an exposed ground pad on the PCB and a non-anodized area on the underside of switch plates - A conductive foam pad is added between those two spots to allow any static shock caused by touching the switch plate to flow directly to the USB-C port
  • Modification of the switch support silicone or foam to give space for the new conductive ESD foam pad
Added pads for ESD protection
ESD foam pad connecting switch plate to PCB

Here's the current list of PCBs getting the upgraded protection:

  • Iris Rev. 8 - All the PCBs currently being sold have this upgrade and are marked with "Iris Rev. 8.4"
  • Iris LM-K - Scheduled to arrive this week and are marked with "Iris LM-K Rev. 1.1"
  • Iris CE - In prototyping phase and first samples should arrive next week. These will be marked with "Iris CE Rev. 1.1"
  • Sinc Rev. 4 - Initial work completed on right half PCB, left half work to be started
  • BDN9 Rev. 3 - While upgrading the PCB to have hotswap sockets, the ESD protection was improved in the process

Other PCBs will be updated as they are reordered in the future.

Iris LM

The Iris LM is getting polycarbonate (PC) cases similar to those of the Iris CE. These should be available within the next week, as we are receiving the shipment of them very soon.

Iris LM Polycarb Bottom Pieces

We're pretty excited for this, as it'll allow us to keep Iris LM cases in stock more easily, since the lead time for PC cases is much shorter than that for the CNC'd aluminum cases.

Iris CE

Other than the additional ESD protection added to PCBs, both the aluminum and PC cases of the Iris CE now have silicone tray liners added to them. This allows for physical support of the hotswap sockets so they don't get ripped off of the PCB if a switch isn't inserted correctly, and it also improves the sound of the board as well.

Iris CE Silicone Tray Liner

Iris SE/Iris PE Case Parts

Like the Iris LM, the Iris SE is also getting a polycarbonate case. Development has just started on it, so it'll be at least 2-3 months out.

This case will be replacing the Iris PE sandwich plates + acrylic layer that have been used for many years, and the Iris PE case parts will be discontinued. Any Iris PE case parts we currently have won't be restocked once they sell out.

THT Keycaps

With the launch of the Iris LM came THT keycaps with MX stems. Initially, we stocked an ergo/ortho keyset, and more recently, we've added a 98-key THT set designed for use on staggered split keyboards like the Sinc and Quefrency. This new keyset is mainly intended to be used on the upcoming Quefrency LM and Sinc LM keyboards, which will support Choc V2 switches.

THT 98-Key set

We've also introduced a THT Colevrak Kit for people who want to use either Colemak or Dvorak layouts. In the kit are non-homing F and J keys, along with homing keys for T, N, U, and H.

THT Colevrak Kit

Split Spacebar Kits - Cherry-Profile

For the Sinc and Quefrency, we added a split spacebar kit that has 2.25u convex and 2.75u convex keys that are Cherry-profile. These work great if you have your own keyset already but are missing the split spacebars, as most normal keysets don't have them.

Future Keyboards

Here are some of the future keyboards we have planned to design:

  • Sinc LM - Low-Profile version of the Sinc that uses Choc V2 switches
  • Quefrency LM - Low-Profile version of the Quefrency that uses Choc V2 switches
  • Demod LM - A low-profile number pad

Those 3 above will probably start off with having aluminum cases rather than the sandwich case style we've done in the past.

  • Iris LM-KW - Wireless Bluetooth version of the Iris LM-K

The timeline for all of those is to be determined, as we had hoped to work on these earlier this year, but got sidelined due to all of the ESD mitigation work that needed to be done.