The Coarse60 is a premium mechanical keyboard, designed with ergonomics and market fit in mind. It sold through with over $75,000 in revenues on the popular keyboard vendor Keebsforall.com.

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Read the Article on the Design Thinking behind the Coarse60

Timeline
Photos
Customer Feedback

Timeline

December 2020 → February 2021

First Draft of the Coarse (v0)

The v0 design of the Coarse60, never prototyped. This version still used two pieces of aluminum, but you can see the “racing-stripe” on the side of the keyboard become an idea.

Designing and prototyping the first Coarse60

Negotiated prices with Sinorise, a Chinese CNC factory.

Negotiated profit-share and vendor agreement with Keebsforall, a popular mechanical keyboard vendor with over 10,000 discord members

Keebsforall in turn coordinates with international vendors

CAD drawings of the Coarse60 v1. The racing stripe has been incorporated using the acrylic panel on the bottom of the keyboard. The general idea is there, but there are a host of issues including a massive volume due to the chunky design, a ludicrously large USB port hole, and an overly flexible plate design.

February 2021

Released the first interest check for the Coarse

Received mixed/negative feedback
16,000 views

Back to the drawing board!

The first prototype. A bit blocky.

April 2021

Redesigned, re-prototyped

Improving manufacturability
More streamlined aesthetic

CAD Drawings of v2. You can see the visual design is mostly there, but the plate leaves way too much space in between the leaf-spring arms and main body of the plate. This resulted in the plate rattling against the frame of the keyboard when a key was pressed, which was fixed in v3 by smaller leaf-springs and rubber o-rings between the plate and frame.

Released second interest check

Received mostly positive feedback
24,000 views

Polled Keebsforall Discord members

The Coarse60 v3, and the second prototype. Much more streamlined, and we found a factory that did excellent electrophoresis coatings, which resulted in a beautifully muted shade of white.

September 2021

Andy V Nguyen streams a build of the Coarse60 on Twitch (now unavailable) + records youtube video

Feedback generally positive; flaw spotted with plate flexibility
Flexibility issue fixed in final plate prototype

Final plate prototype ordered to fix over-flexibility issue pointed out by Andy V Nguyen

In the final update to the plate, we made the leaf-spring gaps significantly smaller, leading to less flex, and added holes in the plate allowing the user to add extra screws for a firmer typing experience.