Well, after we had some pictures of the keymat yesterday, it's time for some video today 
Sorry about the quality - I recorded it at home during last night, and it was too dark for the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/MmeOIYr4yjM?feature=oembed
Now - the most important thing: How does the keymat feel?
I'm happy to tell you that the keys itself feel great!
The flat plastic caps have rounded edges, so they're not too sharp, and the material feels very nice.
The look of it is also gorgeous.
The action buttons also feel great. They're not totally flat, they have a little convex curving which feels nice. They are a bit higher than the keyboard keys, but I probably want to make them a bit more high.
The mat itself is a bit less stiff than Pandoras mat, so the keys are a little lighter to press.
However, tactile feedback isn't great yet. It seems the travel distance for the keys and especially the action buttons is not far enough.
This can easily be proved: When the keymat is lying on a flat surface, the keys feel a bit squishy when you press them.
If you put the keymat on a flat surface but have a hole below the key you want to press, then it feels great. A perfect proof that the carbon pad reaches the PCB before the button is fully pressed.
My guess is that the manufacturer followed my design guide for the travel distance WITHOUT the carbon pads - and then, with the carbon pads added on top, the travel distance went lower.
That's no big deal though, I can easily measure how much travel distance is missing and it will be removed for the next sample.
After all, that's what samples are for - if you were sure everything worked from the very beginning, then you wouldn't need samples
So, all in all I'm very happy with the first sample. It looks great, it feels great, it fits perfect, the lighting works fine and only the travel distance needs to be increased.
That's a good start!
Sorry about the quality - I recorded it at home during last night, and it was too dark for the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/MmeOIYr4yjM?feature=oembed
Now - the most important thing: How does the keymat feel?
I'm happy to tell you that the keys itself feel great!
The flat plastic caps have rounded edges, so they're not too sharp, and the material feels very nice.
The look of it is also gorgeous.
The action buttons also feel great. They're not totally flat, they have a little convex curving which feels nice. They are a bit higher than the keyboard keys, but I probably want to make them a bit more high.
The mat itself is a bit less stiff than Pandoras mat, so the keys are a little lighter to press.
However, tactile feedback isn't great yet. It seems the travel distance for the keys and especially the action buttons is not far enough.
This can easily be proved: When the keymat is lying on a flat surface, the keys feel a bit squishy when you press them.
If you put the keymat on a flat surface but have a hole below the key you want to press, then it feels great. A perfect proof that the carbon pad reaches the PCB before the button is fully pressed.
My guess is that the manufacturer followed my design guide for the travel distance WITHOUT the carbon pads - and then, with the carbon pads added on top, the travel distance went lower.
That's no big deal though, I can easily measure how much travel distance is missing and it will be removed for the next sample.
After all, that's what samples are for - if you were sure everything worked from the very beginning, then you wouldn't need samples
So, all in all I'm very happy with the first sample. It looks great, it feels great, it fits perfect, the lighting works fine and only the travel distance needs to be increased.
That's a good start!
