44: A Good Two Weeks of Stress
Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost of Studio Neat discuss the production challenges of their Mark One mechanical keyboard, specifically a nickel plating defect on the aluminum pin bodies that caused surface failures during sandblasting. They detail the engineering decision to nickel plate the inner diameter for wear resistance, which inadvertently created adhesion issues on the exterior finish. The team describes the stressful two-week period of developing new racking fixtures and manual sandblasting processes to salvage parts and meet their Kickstarter shipping deadlines.