(Pre-Order) AM AFA Keyboard Kit

This is a Pre-Order, please read our guidance on Pre-Orders here: FAQ's

Pre-Orders will ship immediately after Group Buy Orders - See updates for latest position of every Group Buy:

https://prototypist.net/pages/updates

AM AFA - the world's first Alice keyboard with adjustable flex

Inspired by Macross VF-19

Macross, one of our team's favorite mecha animes, served as the inspiration for AM AFA. Lightness, flexibility, and cool-looking forward-swept wings make the YF-19 and the subsequent VF-19 fighter designed by Masaharu Kawamori an impressive piece of kit. 

After spending 17 years in outer space, it is ready to land on your desk in the form of next-level design, mounting system, and craftsmanship.

AM AFA (Adjustable Flex Alice) uses a slightly forward-swept hollow metal frame crafted with 5-axis CNC high-precision machinery. Hollowing out its metal frame takes more than 7 hours. Its smooth edges are carefully cut and polished. Combined with 2-hours of manual grinding and sandblasting every single piece, AM AFA's sophisticated craftsmanship adds a soft touch to its sharp appearance.

All modules and parts are installed independently in this hollow metal frame. This not only reduces the hollow sound while typing, but also gives a visual impression of a floating keyboard on your desktop.
Combined with customized PCB lighting effects, AM AFA looks like a fighter jet ready for take-off on your desk.

Lights on, ready for take-off

Lighting up AM AFA on your desk is like an aircraft illuminating the runway. LED lighting simulates the flames coming out of the back of a fighter jet, prepared to join the fight.

Preset in-switch LED lighting effects

The in-switch LED lighting effects are inspired by two famous battle scenes from Macross Plus.

Space Fold

Speed up and let the green light burst as the fighter jet lands on your desktop.

In Space

The cabin shakes vigorously while falling out of the sky. The red glowing fighter jet and meteorites shatter when they finally reach the ground.

*The AM AFA VF-19 Advance colorway is inspired by the VF-19 Advance variable fighter from Macross. The lighting effect refers to the Macross Plus YF-19 battle scene.

More fun with DIY

In addition to the default built-in lighting effects, you can create your own unique and exclusive RGB effects. AM AFA supports custom in-switch LED lighting that you can edit according to your own preferences.

The world's first three-stage adjustable leaf-spring mount

Height Adjustable Coilover Suspension has been used on racing cars as early as 1952. Coilovers allow for stiffness and range adjustment of the car's suspension.

This setup, that has been popular on cars for over 70 years, is now available for your keyboard. It brings a wider scale of customization possibilities to tune your keyboard's feel and typing sound.

Everyone has their own personal best setup. Some people like Top Mount, while others feel that Gasket Mount isn't soft enough. In order to provide a wider range of adjustments to the feel and sound, AM AFA incorporates a completely independent PCB, plate, and "key housing". These bring a more consistent feel and minimize hollowness.

At the same time, the most important feature of Coilover suspension is not missing either: the rebound stiffness and the range can be adjusted in both dimensions.

Rebound range: 3 gears

Rebound stiffness: 2 types

Rebound stiffness can be adjusted by switching between the two different leaf-spring materials: phosphorus copper and stainless steel.

In addition, conventional adjustment solutions, such as two sets of adjustment pads and an additional set of bottom pads, are also provided for mixing and matching.

* You can choose between three (0/1/3) pad hardness options.

     3 gear                                  2 types                                3 ways 

    positions                  of leaf-spring materials                 to use pads

Even without changing the switches and plate, AM AFA can combine at least 18 different kinds of feel and typing sound just by modifying the combination of gear position, materials, and adjustment pads. Solid feedback for competitive gaming, or soft flex for hardcore coding, it's all possible with AM AFA. And if you want different strength between your left and right hands, you can adjust the flex separately for the left and right key housing, to find your own best typing experience.

This wide range of adjustment options take customization of typing feel and sound to the next level.

* We recommended that after adjusting the gear position, you install the inner assembly in the upper and bottom cover of the key housing first, and test the typing feel after tightening the screws. You can try out multiple setups to find the most suitable one before installing the key housing with your final gear setup into the frame. For more information, please refer to the Disassembly Instructions.

Separated key housing

Alice gives us the opportunity to create two separate PCBs, so naturally, we took advantage of that. This reduces the load of the PCB and plate on the mount by half, providing a more consistent feel.

But with AM AFA, we even went one step further by removing the mainboard, battery, wireless charging coil, and other hardware from the key housing. You no longer need to deliberately try to fill up the interior of the keyboard with various materials, because the independent key housings minimize the interior space to the maximum extent. And subsequently, this brings a significant improvement in reducing hollow typing sound.

Spread your arms

68 keys to meet your needs for daily text input. The unique ergonomic design of Alice has a relatively small learning curve compared to split ergo keyboards.

The spacing between the left and right key housing of AM AFA is nearly 13 times larger than the 5mm spacing of the original Alice arrangement. With its ultra-large 64.5mm spacing, there's a significant opening angle between the elbow and the shoulder and thus excessive inward clamping of the elbow is minimized, and therefore the burden on the shoulders is reduced.

Keyboard inclination is 6.5°, and tenting is 5° on the left and right sides, suited to your typing experience.

4-layer cutout PCB

Using a cutout PCB usually means giving up in-switch LEDs and hot-swap functionality. But not with AM AFA.

With a thick 4-layer PCB compressed to just 1.2mm, cutout, in-switch LEDs, and hot-swap are all available on a single PCB.

Seamless connectivity

AM AFA retains the seamless connectivity originally found on CYBERBOARD: easily switch between Bluetooth and a wired connection without flicking a switch.

Four colors to choose from

Create your own team of strong fighters with Ranger, The Dark Night, Velocity, and VF-19 Advance leading your team.

VF-19 Advance

Inspired by the VF-19 Advance variable fighter from Macross. Sand color electrophoresis frame matched with black front panels form this powerful fighter.

Ranger

Inspired by Ranger, the futuristic sci-fi spaceship from the movie Interstellar. White electrophoresis on the front combined with an anodized gray frame, just like an advanced and mysterious spaceship wandering around in the galaxy.

The Dark Night

Inspired by the Batmobile from Batman: The Dark Knight. Anodized all-black, ready to be buried deep in the night.

Velocity 

Inspired by the Bertone Stratos B A X concept car design from Hollywood-based concept car designer and color specialist Shane Baxley. We used a special paint process to combine retro white with bright orange to make it shine as a sports car should.

AM AFA lights up much like how an aircraft lights up the runway. Of course, in-switch LEDs are also present. With full customization support on our DIY site.

Key remapping is also supported with AM AFA. Create your own custom keymaps through Angry Miao's DIY site. All keys can be edited except the FN key!

Hover

Ergonomic Maglev Wrist Rest

• Magnetic levitation

• Saucer shaped

• Waterproof fabric

Lifting up the foam pad and subsequently lifting up your wrist. This is how magnetic levitation works on the Hover Ergonomic Maglev Wrist Rest.

The separate left and right designs greatly improve versatility. Hover supports keyboards of any size, and can even be used in combination with the Magic Trackpad

Inspired by Back to the Future

Magnetic Levitation

Regardless of the angle of your keyboard, the inclination of Hover can be adjusted according to your requirements. With the elasticity provided by magnetic force, pressing, twisting or any other form of adjustment is smooth and quiet. And it is extremely stable and flexible at the same time.

Memory foam with slow rebound

The memory foam with slow rebound provides stable support for your wrist, alleviates pressure, and makes your wrist feel more relaxed and comfortable when typing.

Elastic waterproof fabric

After comparing different materials for over a year, Angry Miao found that the memory foam with the best feel is neither sweat-proof nor odor-proof.

That's until we got our hands on Toray's stretchy, waterproof and breathable fabric. This material is fully sweat resistant, and you can also wipe it with a wet paper towel without any worry.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 83*83*34mm
• Weight: 110g (per wrist rest)
• Materials: memory foam, Toray waterproof fabric, aluminum alloy, Teflon feet (additional silicone feet included)

Not located in the US?

Regional Vendors:

• Europe: Mykeyboard
• United Kingdom: Prototypist
• Oceania: Custom KBD
• Singapore: iLumkb
• South Korea: Swagkeys
• Japan: Yushakobo
• Vietnam: Mechkey Store
• Thailand: NTCH Keys
• Philippines: Zion Studios

Shipping Time and GB Agreements (PLEASE READ):
These products are set to be shipped out in Q2 - Q3 2023 but please check our updates for the latest information.

Please note that this is a Group Buy. There can be delays and set backs. The timeline is only an estimate. By adding this item to your cart and purchasing you agree that you understand everything above. You will be charged immediately for this item. There are no refunds or cancellations on these orders. Please do not purchase this item with other group buys. Only the items specified in each product picture are included with that particular product.