The crux of it is that I have been let down by a couple of companies who were going to be finishing Whimsy. The pink and white, the 2 most popular colours by a long way, have to be finished at a different location than the anodising and in the UK (where I'm manufacturing Whimsy), this is causing a bit of a logistical nightmare and without having samples/prototypes from these finishers, I'm not happy asking anyone to put any money down.

I have now found a company who is currently in the process of quoting and sampling the finishes alongside a prototype of the actual case that will go on sale. As soon as I have this in my hands, Whimsy will go live.

There's also been a number of questions asked about Whimsy and I'm going to do my best to answer them below:

Price

Whimsy will retail for:

• UK: £170 ◼︎
• EU: €193 ◼︎◆
• US: $235 ◼︎◆
• CA: $300 ◼︎◆
• AUS: $305 ◼︎◆

◼︎ Plus shipping

◆ Price conversion based on current exchange rates (the purchase price will be in GBP)

Quantities

Currently there is no hard limit on the amount of units available or able to be produced by my manufacturer... and logistically it can be handled. The only time i would decide to limit the buy would be if the factory couldn't produce the numbers in a timely manner based on me updating them during the buy month.

Colours

The original IC didn't contain the full breakdown of colours so hopefully this will clear things up.

• Pink (Cerakote - Bazooka Pink)
• White (Cerakote - Stormtrooper White)
• Clear Anodised (Silver)
• Black Anodised

Hotswap

The PCB doesn't support kailh hotswap sockets out of the box, but there is enough clearance under the PCB to add millmax sockets if you'd like. The original IC form contained an option for hotswap and from the feedback provided, it wasn't a very popular choice overall and so this option wasn't followed through.

Plate

The plate offered in the group buy will be laser cut, sandblasted brass. However, plate files will be offered to anyone looking to cut their own after the buy, free of charge.

Case

The case file for the 3D printed case will also be offered out after the group buy so anyone looking to just pick up a blank PCB to the cut their own plate and print their own case, can do so. Components will also need to be purchased separately.

Controller

Due to the OLED and Encoder, Whimsy uses an Elite-C as it's controller and this is what will ship with Whimsy. However, you could use a Pro-Micro, Nice!Nano or bit-c if you'd like, but you'd lose the OLED due to the missing pinouts on the bottom of the controller. This is completely your call during the build but it is possible.

Diodes

Whimsy will ship with through-hole 1n4148 diodes but there's nothing stopping you using SMD diodes as the footprint allows for these. They're just not an option in the GB.

Vendors

Pretty simple... The vendor will be myself (Fourteen). The purchase will be made through my online store (soon to be launched).

Fulfilment

The reason behind getting Whimsy manufactured in the UK is so that I can ensure a higher level of quality control during the manufacturing. The factory that i'm working with is about 20minutes away from where i live and I can be hands-on with during the machining (once current COVID restrictions are lifted in my area).

This should in theory mean that, as soon as the cases are finished, I would already have received all the contributing components/PCBs and I'd be hoping for a relatively quick turnaround from when I submit the manufacturing order.

Somewhere around July 2021 is what I'm being told currently (based on current workloads).

Buy date

The question it seems everyone is dying to know. As mentioned, once the prototypes are in and finished to the standard i expect, the buy will be announced. This was supposed to be early February 2021 and i'm still hoping that i can get this launched before the end of the month based on the information i'm being told.

As i said above, i won't launch the buy for Whimsy until everything is in place and i'm 100% happy with it. I want this group buy to be as smooth as possible.

Please let me know if you have any other questions and for the time being (whilst waiting for more information from myself) here's a quick look at the 3D printed case and some more renders by my incredible brother in arms, Ulliam.