Hi KeebTalk, I am Milo. I am the founder of Kindakeyboards and designer of Conone, the mechanical keyboard that brought me here. This is the first ever keyboard of which I will be doing a Group Buy. But even though it is the first time that I’m putting one of my own keyboard designs out, me being confronted with the process of releasing a product isn’t a first for me as I live in an environment where product design and development is constantly present.
Conone
Conone is a mechanical keyboard that resembles the perfect equilibria between typing comfort and design. This keyboard is the end product of a design and development process that combined the best aspects of multiple concepts I’ve been working on. The idea behind Kindakeyboard’s Conone is that we want to merge an incredible typing experience and a unique design language into one particular mechanical keyboard. Conone.
Conone will consist out of two main aluminum parts with a keyplate in between of them. The two main parts will be precisely held together due to the implemented magnets in the bottom and top part. By keeping the keyboard together magnetically you will be able to open the keyboard up without too much of a hassle to go through. Mounting the parts together like this won’t have any compromises as the parts will form a strong whole. To make sure that the board won’t slide around your desk while you’re typing on it Conone also has two rubber straps on the bottom that will fit in perfectly. Alongside the rubber straps you will find a fine engravement on the bottom side of the Conone.
The two main case parts will be made by the bespoke Salvun, who’s workplace is located in Belgium. We went with Salvun because the CNC work he delivers is from the highest quality, he is the person behind the amazing DSA Magic Girl artisans and some beautifully made keyboard cases. Thanks to his recently purchased Haas CNC machine we will be able to produce Conone using 4 axes, this means that the complex case parts can be manufactured more precisely. The fact that Salvun and Kindakeyboards are based in the same country eases the direct communication and allows me to personally go and have a look at the production process of Conone, it will also be more convenient to do the final quality check.
The custom PCB and daughterboard for Conone are made by Maartenwut, he is an experienced and overall well known PCB-designer. The circuit board is designed in close collaboration between Maarten and Kindakeyboards.
Conone Case Material
The Conone case will be CNC’ed out of high quality 6061 aluminum because this is a strong material that can be anodized smoothly.
Conone Ano Colors
There will be a maximum of 90 Anodized Conones available, color options:
- Deep Black
- Fresh Silver
- Shady Green
- Oh So Pink
These were the colors that I had in mind, but if there are any other popular recommendations we will take them in consideration too. So don’t be shy to drop your propositions!
Plate
There will be a couple of plate material options:
- Aluminum
- Acrylic
- Copper
- Brass
Pricing
Even though nothing is set in stone yet, we can say that Conone will be available starting from somewhere around 400 euros, this will include the Conone case, plate and PCB. Some upgrades will be available too.
Time Frame
To give everyone who’s interested a time frame; We are hoping too finish the prototypes by the end of November/beginning of December, from then on we will be able to start the group buy. That would be by the beginning of 2020.
Possible Risks
Salvun is known for the insanely high quality of the final products he delivers, the anodizations of the keyboards he has made in the past were perfectly done in my opinion. This does not mean that there can’t go anything wrong at all, but in that case Salvun and I will do everything on our power to fix that what was done incorrectly. If we checked the quality of the parts and decide to put our brand on it, this means that the parts are in perfect condition.
Form
Please fill out this form! Thank you!
https://forms.gle/7bi48z3Sopv3rATA7
Photos
Kindakeyboards
Kindakeyboards is the brand I started about a year ago, it was right after I designed my first mechanical keyboard that I decided to dedicate myself to design my own line of keyboards. The brand’s mission is to look at keyboard design from a different perspective, to create high quality input devices that have been thought through and designed with attention for detail and most importantly, to deliver the best typing experience we can whilst still maintaining the aesthetics of a Kindakeyboards input device. We also believe that it is time to step away from the overproduced box-design mechanical keyboards and to consider more unique looking/feeling mechanical keyboards. Kindakeyboards hopes to bring all of this to you with its Conone!
Links
kindakeyboards website http://kindakeyboards.be/
kindakeyboards instagram https://www.instagram.com/kindakeyboards/
kindakeyboards twitter https://twitter.com/kindakeyboards
kindakeyboards discord server https Discord
salvun instagram https://www.instagram.com/salvun/
maarten instagram https://www.instagram.com/maartenwut/
