Hi all you treehouse fans and friends,
It's been a while since an we've had an update to the treehouse... rest assured that we've been working invisibly behind the scenes constantly - you may have seen a few bits and pieces moving along on the AEBoards instagram.
Last post we had an auction going for the fireys - this went way better than I had hopes and raised over 2000 dollars for the fireys who have risked their lives on the line for the Australia community. A bit thank you to those who entered, who won, and the support given to these living legends. We also thought that COVID19 wasn't going to impact too much on future plans - and now we see this isnt' the case a few months on when half the world is in isolation, manufacturing and jobs have reduced, and shipping is getting more difficult globally.
But there is some good news!
Constellation production models are here, and being tested by AEBoards and Taekeyboards. Expect a video/soundtest soon(tm). We have a influencer red unit, and our signature navy unit, and both look amazing. On top of that, we're testing the thicker polycarb and brass plates. There's still a few more logistics we have to face, sourcing some other components - there is still a bit of patience required.
EXT65 r2 PCBS are ordered and being manufactured as we speak. We'll be laser cutting our own stacked acrylic case soon to test fit, and releasing those files for anyone to cut their own case! There's a few tweaks to the PCB as well to celebrate this material - underglow RGB, additional bottom row layout support and OLED support. This PCB is compatible with the EXT65 case, and we'll also offer a handful of polycarb and brass places when they arrive.
Praxis prototype also arrive and it's looking gorgeous in it's lilac colour. Xelus will also be doing the pcb for this Alice-layout keyboard, which should be compatible with other Alice-like keyboards. The praxis will have a seamless side profile, lower keyboard height, and the PCB will be VIA compatible, USB C and underglow.
Another behind the scenes project we were working on was the exclusive Treehouse TMOv2. This comes in a green and gold combination (forest green and brass plate) - an Aussie colours combination that looks amazing. I fell in love with the TMOv1, and wanted to work with more makers (even outside of Australia), and I'm so glad it worked out and it happened. We have limited in stock units, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.
We've gotten some feedback about the shop, regarding stock, shipping, and general confusion about our mission and what the shop is about. The Keyboard Treehouse is a shopfront for different makers in the keyboard scene - so products are made and shipped by the specific maker. This means that you may want to bundle a few things from different makers but might have to pay additional shipping cost - think of this as shopping at different vendors. We'll try close the gap when we can, we're working towards having a base of operations but we all work day jobs and aren't full time keyboard vendors yet.
Shipping prices are being increased due to COVID19, with some places not even accepting shipments. This makes it increasingly difficult to be a successful storefront - but it is what it is. We use both DHL and Auspost, and currently only DHL is being able to ship internationally. We all have to stay healthy and hope that we can weather the storm. We know that people want Dawn60 PCBs, and we're working on getting a better way to get those to you!
The Keyboard Treehouse shopfront will be getting refreshed. We'll adding in plugins to help our makers add their wares to the site, and uplifting some things to help communicate our mission of helping makers get visibility and achieve greatness through our community. Onboard are a few Australian makers including:
- Idyllic (https://www.acrylicperipherals.com)
- Laser Ninja (https://kennui.com/w/Laser_Ninja)
We're also about to launch the Keyboard Treehouse discord (and splitting it away from the Australian Mechanical Keyboard discord). This makes it easier for all of us to talk to each other! Join the discord using this link keyboardtreehouse.com/discord
So that's about it - of course there's more things going on, but for now that's what we've been working on and our short term vision for Keyboard Treehouse. Thanks for sticking around and for the support, especially in this troubling and outright weird times.