What happened to the White Zinc Alloy Case

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Concerns regarding the 80HE white zinc case

We have two concerns regarding the white zinc case for the 80HE

1. A few white zinc cases were delivered with a small chip in the paint.
2. When grazing over the surface with a metal object, it leaves an erasable gray mark.

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We immediately decided to investigate the feedback, and just in case paused both the production and sales of the white zinc case. We concluded:

1. Small chips in the paint when the keyboard is received. This is covered by warranty.
   At some point during use you might bump it into a hard object and chip the paint. Past 30 days, this is considered regular wear and tear and not covered by warranty.
2. The gray marks can be removed with an eraser or a rough cloth. This is a normal occurrence for spray-painted cases. We tested other white metal keyboards on the market, they experienced the same issue.

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We offered everyone that ordered the white zinc case a choice:

1. Deliver your order with the white zinc case v1, you get 40$/40€ in store credit 30 days after delivery. (0-1 month)
2. Swap your white zinc case for a black zinc case. (1 month)
3. Stay on hold, wait for the white zinc case v2. (2-3 month)

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The case meets expectations, but we can do better

The white zinc v1 meets the expectations we had for the product. We could have continued production, but we know that we can do better, so we will. We decided to immediately start on a v2 of the white zinc case that can prevent these 2 occurrences entirely.

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White zinc v2 - Status report

We decided to explore 2 routes:

• E-coating + spray paint
• Spray paint + UV-coating

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The first route (E-coating) didn’t work out. The UV-coating however worked excellent in 2 ways:

1. A protective cohesive layer that wouldn’t chip.
2. A hardened smooth layer that prevented any object from leaving a mark behind.

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There are 2 disadvantages to the UV coating:

• The surface is smoother and has a slight shine.
• The UV alters the white colour to look darker and greener.

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The colour alteration is not acceptable to us. That’s why we’ll need another 2 weeks to test different UV coat mixtures to prevent or minimize the color alteration.