Bahrnob65 Groupbuy Updates: 4/10/2021

We are back with some updates! Thanks again for being so patient with us. This will be another pretty hefty update (and will most likely be the last announcement before our group buy). 

TLDR for GB

• GB opens April 20th, 2021 at 8:00 AM PST for 2 weeks
  
• 1 per customer, 2 per household FCFS
• $350 for the base unit, upgrades will cost extra
• 300 units will be available (case and weight)
• PCB, plates, bars, and knobs will be unlimited
• Estimated fulfillment late Q4 2021

IMPORTANT NOTE: This post will contain ALL of the up to date information and should be the main reference for any questions you may have for the board. We know that many people are using our original geekhack post/initial website announcement for reference for a lot of things, and we want to make it clear that many things have changed and they are for the most part, outdated 

Prototypes (<-- Click here for more images!) test

We originally promised that protos would come in two weeks, however things ended up taking longer than expected and took double that time. We were constantly waiting in anticipation for the prototypes. However, they are FINALLY here in all their glory.

We are extremely happy with these protos and we want to let you all know that these will be representative of the final product. We tried to get photos from as many angles as possible, but if there are any more that you would like to see we will be having a BUILD STREAM on Saturday, April 17th at 5:00 PM PST.

The link to that can be found here.

During this stream, Kalakos will be building one of these prototypes, and doing a typing test, and some of our team (RubeDogg, Spoopy, and Kalakos) will be in the chat answering any questions that you all might have. We are very excited for this as this will be the first time that we get to actually interact with all of you live and we can all have a good time and just chill. 

More Updates 

Throughout these past few weeks, we have noticed a lot of questions in our discord that we wanted to address and a few other things that we wanted to talk about. 

1. Silicone Spacer - In our original blow up photo, we showed that there was a silicone spacer that would act as plate foam for the board. After testing out these prototypes, we found that it wasn’t necessary (we actually liked it better without it). Therefore, we decided that the Bahrnob will no longer come with this foam. We can include an open source template for the spacer if you decide that you want one for yourself. 
2. Soldering - We again want to stress that if you purchase the hotswap pcb for this board, you will still have to solder the encoder (if you want it to function properly)! We know this might be a little daunting to those who have never soldered before, but it is only 5 pins and you can buy a cheap soldering iron on amazon for $20 that will get the job done. If you realllllyy don’t want to do it, bending the pins to the contact points will make it work, but the connection will be very unreliable. 
3. Weight - We will show y’all the weight of the board on the build stream. 
4. Stabilizers - They are not plate mounted. They are pcb mounted and are compatible with either screw in or clip in stabs. 
5. Gasket material - Closed cell silicone sponge
6. The Bahr - We ditched the magnetic mounting system for the bar as if the magnets are inserted in the wrong direction, it can cause issues. So replaced it with a screw mount in system that is accessible from the back of the case.
7. Layouts - We have edited the plate files so that it supports all of the intended layouts. The layouts can be found here:

We also want to make clear that if you are getting the hotswap pcb, you will only be able to use the default layout shown above.

1. How many will be sold? - 300 units FCFS
2. Colors - For the knobs and the bars, we had purchased 4 colors (gold, silver, white, and black). The reason we didn’t get more colors was because it would have gotten exponentially expensive because the manufacturer would have had to anodize a tiny little bar and knob in like 7 different colors. Instead, we have purchased a booklet from our manufacturer of their anodized colors that they offered us. We wanted to show you photos of these so you can see exactly what the colors for the bar and knob will be and make your decision of what color based off of that.
   
3. New color option: Raw/sandblasted aluminum - Many members in our discord mentioned that they would like the option to anodize their own board and we want to support this customization! Thus, we will be adding a raw/sandblasted aluminum option. DISCLAIMER: YOU MUST GO TO ANOTHER MANUFACTURER TO GET THIS ANODIZED/CERAKOTED YOURSELF. Please only purchase this if you know exactly what you are doing. We will not be liable for any damages or mishaps that may happen if whatever anodizer you go to messes up. 

Group Buy Info

How to Purchase

There will be a minimum of 3 items you will need in your cart to be able to checkout. The case & weight kit, the accessories kit, and the GB pass. Each kit will contain the following,

• Case & weight kit : Choice of case finish and choice of weight material and finish.
• Accessories kit : Choice of PCB type, choice of plate, and choice of bahr & knob finish.
• GB pass : A zero cost item that only serves the purpose of checking out.

*Any changes to your order must be done within the time period of the GB or your order may be finalized and unchangeable. Please refer to our policies page for more info about refunds, order amendments, and other policy concerns.

All extra accessories purchased will be in the extras section of the store and not in the GB section. Extra accessories purchased will be shipped at the same time as the GB items.

If you missed the beginning of the post, the GB will be one per customer and two per household. This is our final decision as we feel it is the most fair to our customers. All orders will be manually reviewed and a refund will be issued to those who try to order more than 2 kits to the same address.

All prices listed will be in USD, please be sure to do your own conversions before moving forward! Base price of the kit will be $350, extra options such as e-white coating or brass weight will cost extra. Please refer to the charts below to calculate your options correctly. All parts are made form 6061 aluminum unless otherwise stated.

Plate Options

PCB Options

More PCB Info

• QMK and VIA support have both been tested and working
• It will be connected via a JST connector to the daughter-board that follows the unified standard
• Color of the PCB will be matte black
• The hot-swap PCB will be limited to the fixed layout shown below and the extra layout options will only be available to the soldered PCB
• The rotary encoder will have to be soldered on regardless of PCB
• Extra daughter-boards and JST cables will be sold separately for $10 a kit