[GB] Cruciformer Pre-Order & Demo Video

I just wanted to share the video (apologies for the amateur editing) showing Cruciformer working on an old-tooling BOX Royal stem. I’ll be following up with more testing data later this week or next, but for now, it consistently trims stems to 1.28mm. My SP ABS caps (both SA and DSA) haven’t show any undue stretching.

LINK to Pre-Order the tool and the jig

Quick Info

  • This tool shapes new and old BOX stems and Nexus Sliders to 1.28mm in the right dimension
  • Precision CNC’d from 7075 Aluminum, un-anodized to be user resharpenable
  • Tool and accompanying jig (being redesigned based on testing) works with loose and mounted switches
  • Shipping end of April

Part | @100MOQ | @250MOQ | @500MOQ
---------|----------|----------|----------|----------
Cruciformer | $35 | $32.50 | $25
BOX Jig | $10 | $8.75* | $5.50*
Nexus Jig | $15 | $10.00* | $5.50*
^ *pricing for the jig is still being worked out as I add more features like a baseplate so you don’t poke yourself when using the tool on lose switches.

If we hit 420 orders by 4/20* then all price drops are active and possibly free shipping CONUS.
Partial refunds for price drops – you’ll get a partial refund after the pre-order phase ends!

*(This is what the youths refer to as memetic marketing, rudbear does not endorse the consumption of mind-altering substances, especially illicit ones).

For some more background, here are links to the
Update on r/MK,
r/MM IC,
r/MK IC, and the KeebTalk thread

6 Likes

Anything we should do if we already ordered with the pre-order link in the other thread?

1 Like

I’d like to know that as well. I already ordered a few days ago using the link on the IC (here, on Keebtalk).

Nope! I really appreciate your early support, I’ll try to keep updating everywhere. If we hit price breaks or if I can bring down the shipping costs, I will.

1 Like

Thanks for creating this Rud!
Ordered and anxious to review this. I’ve got just a few hundred Hako Clears to “clean up”.

We have the machine time to do the last corrective steps on Saturday and the jigs should be cut before then!

Just curious if there’s been any progress over the last 1-2 months?

Rud says here they started shipping. I haven’t received anything yet.

I do wish there was just one location to find updates on this.

1 Like

Sorry just wanted to confirm that there shouldn’t be any difference between using the Cruciformer on a retooled or a old box style switch right? It’ll just remove the nubs on both right?

1 Like

I got mine about a week ago, I used it on one board and it seemed like it did what it’s supposed to, haven’t had a chance to measure the stems with calipers yet.

1 Like

Nope! Should be the same, but slightly easier on the retools.

Update 6-20-19 (from another thread):
BOX jigs are more or less done and I’ve completed the post-processing cleanup for a couple dozen to ship but won’t be able to ship until next Monday evening. There is a lot more cleanup that needed to be done as the XY offset needed dialing in due to the challenges of machining polycarb. Still locked out by paypal so I can’t take more orders using PP express checkout or get any payout. There was a delay in getting some of the packages to the post office after missing pickup and all.

Update 6-25-19
Planning on shipping more orders on Wednesday. I hope to ship all the jigs and the rest of the tools but we’ll see how far we get. There was a delay of a day between when I’d printed the labels and got them to the post office last week but the tracking looks like the tools are en route or arriving (sorry to those stuck in customs).

Nexus jigs fit the slider but it’s either hard to remove or hard to hold the jig so we’re trying something overly clever that should fix both of those. We’re redoing some of the internals so they have the same face-matching purchase while reducing friction on the slider.
Again, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE A CHANGE OF ADDRESS! It’s not hard to change and I want to make sure your order is going the right place.

Update 6-29-19
Tool+Jig orders up to #1035 are shipped, all but a couple tool-only orders up to #1200 are shipped.
If you are in the dozen and a half orders that have shipping labels but haven’t moved, I’m sorry for the delay, work stopped me from getting to the post office while it was open so they’ve been waiting in the box.
Amazon Prime betrayed me and the packaging I’m waiting for didn’t arrive the last two days, but should be here by the time that I can get into the shop to ship.

14 bucks shipping kills it for me.
Even more so i’m not totally sold on the nexus sliders i still own will make a great switch.
Other then those i just have 80 box jades lying around.
I guess i’ll have to wait for some more reviews on those or if someone in germany
would lend me his cruciformer. shrug.

Look around for some key caps that people are saying are “too loose”. I had a happy accident with my WinMix SA Chalk set from Drop. They literally fell off of my Cherry MX Clears so I test fitted with my old Kaihl Box Blacks and they were a perfect fit.
Even so, most people are saying the tight fit is only known to crack GMK caps but PBT and SA are ok, but I don’t have first hand knowledge of that.

Some SA caps were affected too.

Yeah, unfortunately I’ve gotten it as low as I can, stripping all the extra packaging out – I even wind up paying the couple dollars difference, so I hate shipping too. I think that Mechboards.co.uk is still taking orders for their proxy if that would be cheaper.

ABS caps are most affected (cracking and breaking the stem) but my PBT caps are a lot looser after sitting on my BOX royals for a month. Some caps are naturally looser (WinMix SA Chalk are loose PBT already, iirc, so yeah, sometimes you just need to move with the flow, you know). SA caps are all ABS (except for Ice Caps and the new PBT set that just came out) and they hella crack on BOX stems.

1 Like

Mine arrived the other day and I’ve done a small batch of switches so far.

It’s working out pretty well! I have 200-400 more to go and one thing I’ve been asked to check is to see if there is any differences in tolerances between the first 50 I’ve cruciformed and the last 50. I think some people are curious to see if the cruciform ‘loses its edge’.

Hopefully I’ll have a video out sooner than later.

3 Likes

@rud Any update? I ordered it on Mechboards.co.uk, do they have their batch yet?

I thought SP’s & Maxkey double shot ABS SA caps were somewhat safe to use on older BOX switches? I used my Maxkey B&G set exclusively on royals & navies for the first year or so I had it & they didn’t get cracked or stretched too bad either. I also used my SA Pulse set & GMK Sky Dolch set on navies with the same results though, so maybe I just got extremely lucky?

1 Like

IIRC they typically don’t crack like GMK’s do but plenty of people were reporting stress marks on their stems when the problem was first discovered.

1 Like