I really do think I should learn how to solder (one of my other hobbies is 3D printing, and being able to solder would also be handy there for making repairs on printers). Not to derail the thread, but I was just now looking at the TS-80 portable soldering iron and I wasn’t sure what shape tip would be best for this kind of thing (both soldering the microswitches to the FLASH PCB and soldering switches to a keyboard PCB).
I was in the same spot about a year ago - I got a 20 soldering kit from amazon and it works well. I also got a DZ60 PCB - which is a standard 60% pcb from kbdfans (~35).
Please excuse the photo quality, but I just wanted to report that I was successful in repairing my FLASH module! I bought a soldering iron and managed to solder the microswitches to the new PCB that ZFrontier sent me with nothing more than a few YouTube tutorials under my belt, and it is now working perfectly. Some of the effects are pretty cool, and others seem… less cool. But it’s great to finally have it working. I was able to get a green color that is a very good match for the under-key backlighting that is already on this board.
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Looks good! Is this one that was delayed? I’m still waiting to hear about my white one.
Oh no, I was fortunate enough not to have been hit with the delay. There is a little bit of funkiness on the rear side of the top corners but it’s pretty fine otherwise. Good luck with your white 600! The wait will be worth it!
I received an email from Zfrontier a few days ago saying that the white cases had been shipped back to grid and would be inspected and sorted shortly, after which they would be sent out to buyers. They said two weeks at that point, so I’m hoping to receive mine in early April.
In the meantime, I took another photo of my black version with the working FLASH module. I had to composite two images taken with different settings because otherwise the colors always ended up being blown out, but this is pretty much what it looks like in real life. Actually pretty cool!
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Got the same e-mail, the mention of another inspection’s got me a little bit nervous!
But fingers crossed we have our boards soon! Your working module looks amazing mate.
Just got a shipping notice from Zfrontier for the white Grid 600 case. Took a bit longer than expected but I’ll be happy if the quality is there.
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Epic! Mine arrives later today
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And here it is…! Seems pretty much perfect, quality-wise. I’ve been planning to put GMK Jamon on my white Grid 600 for months, but until that set comes out I thought I would see what SA Pulse Mitolet looked like on the board. This is a DZ60 with Tealios switches.
BTW since they shipped out my boards separately two months apart, they apparently included the extra plain modules I ordered with both orders, meaning that I now have one extra black and “green” module. If anyone is interested in trading for different types or colors of modules, let me know.
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This board deserves SA Honeywell.
Since I had an extra “green” module, I thought I would experiment with it a bit. I actually wanted to try painting it white, so I sanded it down first to try and help the paint adhere. But I didn’t have any etching primer at hand, so the paint didn’t stick and I removed it. But the sanded module actually looks quite cool, I think. I don’t have a keyset that really matches it, but it’s sort of a gunmetal color. Makes me wonder what the black one would look like sanded.
BTW Grid has published an STP file for the blank module on their site, which can be converted to an STL file for 3D printing, so I think I will also try printing one at some point.
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Nice… reminds me a little of some of the antique finishes TX is doing. I would try this on mine but I’m too worried I’d ruin it.
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I finally put SA Green Screen on my black Grid 600 yesterday, so I’ve been enjoying that. The FLASH module can produce a nice yellowish green color that is almost a perfect match for Green Screen.
BTW The forum software seems to think I am posting too much to this thread and is asking me “Are you sure you’re providing adequate time for other people to share their points of view, too?” Not sure this is the appropriate message to send when the alternative is to just have this topic die.
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Hmm weird. I suspect that’s just a default discourse message but we can look into it. Certainly keep sharing!
I contacted Grid about the possibility of buying additional modules, and they said that they were working with ZFrontier to make this possible sometime in the coming week. I would really like to buy another FLASH module.
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This would be amazing. Definitely could use a flash module.Hopefully they offer the rubber feet that didnt ship with some boards.