[GB] the Norbaforce Mark II

very cool!

Here’s a quick look at something I haven’t seen yet in this thread: my Norbaforce R2 has the Retro Refrigerator finish in the revised, more matte-look coating. Evidently, the success rate on the glossy finish was just too low, so the decision was made to switch to this more textured look.

It’s not the glossy finish I hoped to receive, but it’s still a stellar product. The new finish is pretty nice, too, with a bit of a robin’s eggshell vibe. Might be interesting to see to those of you who haven’t seen it yet.

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Did the color change in the revision too? Looks a little more green (as opposed blue-green) with a little more gray? I like the textured look. It’s visually more interesting than just a flat surface, but how does it feel to the touch, rough or smooth?

Super excited to build this up <3

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I doubt the color changed, tam, but I don’t have an example of the older Retro Refrigerator coating to compare. I will tell you that the light in this room is pretty yellow, due to the LED lights. Even though I tried to use a some natural light and custom white balance setting in the camera, the colors came out a bit more green than blue in these shots. I suspect this coating would look more blue in more neutral lighting.

The color is the same. By my eye, the photo above has a fairly strong yellow color cast to it.

I think @Damage put it well by saying that it has a sort of soft eggshell feel to it. It feels fairly smooth but not glossy.

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Hi, just wondering if I missed the restock email for Norbaforce MK II :frowning: hope not!

Not yet. I’m still waiting on the final small batch of powder coated Norbaforces from the factory, which will fulfill the balance of my original order. They continue to be under-staffed related to COVID, so the latest update is 2-3 weeks for these straggler housings I plan to get back. When I do have those in stock, I’ll definitely send an email to my list. I expect they’ll likely be K2, VHS, and perhaps a few of the matte Retro.

Nice, that’s a great picture, looks like it could be a product photoshoot. It kind of reminds me of metal housings on old vintage electronics equipment, but in a nicer color than just black.

Thanks, @tam … just wish I could have gotten the white balance a bit better. Here’s a larger shot of the whole board. Same lighting, though.

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I hadn’t thought about there being more units available. Now I’m excited to try to score a retro finish. Still kicking myself for not getting that desert sand one, too. Such a unique finish.

@Damage This is probably a bit more representative:

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Yep. Thanks for setting the white point there. I suppose I should have done that, but will probably just set up my tungsten lights at some point to capture truer colors.

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A new atttempt. Color unretouched.

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@norbauer Any chance we can start to talk about Mark III this year?

I’m afraid not, but I will get a few more of the standard housings at some point in the next few weeks in a random sampling of finishes. Stay tuned to my email list. :slight_smile:

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Just an update on the U2U. PCBs arrived few days ago, using it on 91u and it works as intended.

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Very cool.

Finally got around to building my Ghost of Christmas Future Edition. Everything is great except I forgot that the breakout board uses Mini USB and I don’t have a single Mini USB cable in the house. Time to shop some custom cable I suppose :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Btw @norbauer somehow an insert thread for the leg is missing in my case. I should have checked when I receive the case and let you know sooner but I just assume it’s all good and stash the case away until now. Can you include it in when you ship my next order please? Cheers!

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polycarbonate looks so good with just about any keycap set! Looks great, man. I don’t ever use the feet so I wouldn’t have noticed either, lol.

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