¶ Phoenix45
Phoenix45 is a 40% keyboard envisioned by projectcain as a rebirth of the classid JD45, with cases made by dingusxmcgee and P3D, and a pcb by Taylor. The premium version was nearly 4lbs with the included massive brass weight and features WKL or HHKB style tops, with a top mounted plate.
Phoenix45 by dingasaurusderp
Phoenix45 by cousin
Acrylic Phoenix45 case by P3D Store
¶ Availability
¶ Public Groupbuys
Multiple versions of the Phoenix45 were sold in 2020 and 2021, including a premium aluminum and brass version, a 3d printed case and an acryilic case. The boards were sold by a mixture of P3D and MechVault(projectcain).
¶ Open Source Cases
There is an open source 3d print case by dingusxmcgee here
¶ Spinoff PCBs
Alpha stagger drop in pcb here
Ortho drop in pcb by Checkerboards.xyz(nasp) (no longer available)
¶ Timeline
According to projectcain:
- Cain likes JD45's and has been using them exclusively for years
- Cain finds the 40% server one day and realizes that people are making their own pcbs here
- Cain commissions Taylor to re-create the JD45 pcb for the old cases since the JD45 pcbs are outdated and not available anywhere
- Cain names the new pcb the Phoenix for obvious reasons and launches an IC for JD45 owners only
- After seeing a lot of interest in the channel (from non-JD45 owners) dingusxmgee selflessly volunteers to design a case to fit the Phoenix pcb
- dingus' design is kicked over to Jake from P3Dstore to make the 3DP case. After a few prototypes (like the beige one) some tweaks are made and everything is ready to go
- Jake has the case in-stock for a while, and PCBs are available from Cain via google form
- Popularity increases and Cain decides to let Jake take over the production and sale of the PCBs
- Jake starts making acrylic cases to go with his 3DP versions
- Cain gets a couple dozen messages about bringing a metal phoenix case to GB, but doesn't have any design skills yet.
- Cain commissions dingusxmgee to adapt his 3DP case to a CNC design while changing up the bottom.
- IC/GB was launched and here we are