In my opinion there's not even any need for discussion. Almost 1 mm is huge. Go for it, please.


I don't remember if Kimmo used Shapeways for toholed but I think so, and it looked like that (good enough in my opinion, and it was just a prototype, maybe Dirkvl will have better results on the final keyboard). The finish could further be improved with sand paper I think.

Coolio, I'll order some test parts.

Yes, we use shapeways, but that picture is not from sw, but made with regular hobby printer.

this is very blurry solartoh pic in black, do not have it laying around anymore for better pics

Sanding down shapeways prints will remove the colour.

Could look very nice, wood veneer and chrome works great together in cars*, but could also look messy.

I guess that lastu would do the cut outs? Magnets directly against the wood or a small plastic border inbetween?

* Those who don't want any wood to begin with will probably not be too excited about that...

I think it defeats the purpose of the wood - for the back side to look good.

I don't want to sound too radical, but I don't see the point in paying for Lastucase wood with two ugly holes on the sides. 1mm is not such big of a deal and I don't think that slimmer necessarily means better. What I know is that people on Kickstarter have pledged their money for a great keyboard with good looks and I don't think that everyone would pleased if one part of this was to change (I wouldn't, even though I care more about the usefulness than the looks).

If I had a choice whether to buy the original piece or a 1mm slimmer one with an ugly back, I would definitely go for the original, thicker one.

EDIT: Well, I have pledged 20EUR more just for a better, professional look. If I knew magnets were going to be visible on the outside, I wouldn't have gone for the custom colored version and stayed at the 100EUR mark.

no, the backplate is needed to cover the bottom side of the pcb. something has to cover it, the wood piece is just the slimmest, easiest, best-looking (opinions differ) way to do that.

okay, noted!

i agree with nodevel. although 1mm thickness reduce is much but i would prever to get my TOHKBD with a backplate without holes.

Wow, doubled the goal since 04/11/2014 :
"841 Backers, €110,920 pledged of €55,000 goal"

Dirkvl, can you ask from Lastucase if the could carve some space for the magnets (for example 0.5mm)? So the back would look 100% and we'd gain 0,5mm slimmer design. What do you think?

that is not possible. the wood is already paper-thin, 0.75mm. it is one thing or another for all.

That's too bad that opinions differ that much. I really don't like the wooden plate anyway (although I do like why it is optimal: it's thinner than the thinnest plastic wall), so I wouldn't mind if there were holes in it.

However, 0.9 mm, in addition to the 0.5 mm already shaved with the new magnets, is not negligible at all. I have a tohkbd1, I know how bulky it is and how much that bulkiness changes in awkwardness when you use it in front of people. Gaining 1.4 mm in thickness on a design already thinner than tohkb1, that would do a lot in "usability" of that keyboard. Being observed by people with awkward looks was one of the two main reasons why I didn't use tohkbd1.

Nothing says magnets would be ugly. It would just look like two metal parts that could be part of the chassis. Some people will find it nice, some will find it okayish, and some will find it ugly. Fair enough, but that's still an improvement in the design in my opinion, even though I admit the Kickstarter campaign was based on another prototype (which was still advertized as a prototype though).

For people in the latter category, magnets can be painted in black, or even better, covered by a 0.9 mm metal backplate the size of the keyboard for a full metal back, or covered by a glued 0.75 mm lastucase plate the size of the keyboard. Everybody would be happy and even those wanting a full lastucase backplate would shave 0.15 mm.