Metal faceplate for KP04

[garym999]

Having be fortunate enough to see this in the flesh I can say that it really does lift Comfort and start to give it the standing it is due.

Yes it is a simple bit of metal at the moment but serves as a discussion point on what is really required. It is up to us to show whether this is something that is needed or not. I for one say yes.

Issues yet to be addressed are back box, mic mounting, acoustic feedback prevention, and volume control operation.

Comfort is a fantastic system. Yet from the clients perspective all they see of the installed system is a plastic keypad. The plate brings Comfort out of the cupboard and allows pride of place.

Depending on feedback here I\'m sure if adopted, Cytech would look at other items such as doorphones etc. But let’s help get this of the ground first.

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[cgiltrow]

Hi, I think it looks great.

Can I make one more suggestion: Produce the result in both stainless steel and brass.  I find brass more suitable to the house in some circumstances.

Cheers.

[poweruser]

[user=84]Scott James[/user] wrote:

I thought that maybe the shape and style of the face plate and buttons could be edited and maybe also the material they were made from.

I have to agree - the ugly appearance of the current design (sorry) starts with the design, material and appearance of the buttons. No amount of work on the faceplate will fix that.

Hiring a professional third party to redisign the whole enclosure around the current PCB layout will pay for itself in no-time in increased sales.

[T C Tan]

I think if possible make it more slim and square, and the icon on the face plate instead of on the keypad button.

[ident]

Thats a positive suggestion!

Icons on the metal faceplate may not be easy to see, but perhaps ssilkscreen or some other process can work

By slim do you mean thinner? This will be flush mounted so it should be slim enough

Square not feasible because of the shape of the PCB (unless  the plate is wider to match the length

[garym999]

[user=40]poweruser[/user] wrote:

I have to agree - the ugly appearance of the current design (sorry) starts with the design, material and appearance of the buttons. No amount of work on the faceplate will fix that.

Hiring a professional third party to redisign the whole enclosure around the current PCB layout will pay for itself in no-time in increased sales.

Certainly redesigning this from the ground up provides all sorts of oppertunities. I have a list already . But I would imagine the costs would be high enough to drop it down the list and hence we are back to square one.

At least with a simple faceplate it starts to address the issue cost effectivley.

The major redesign can then be saved for the next generation of keypad.

What is coming out of this thread is the need for comfort to show its worth not just its technical ability.

[Scott James]

[user=40]garym999[/user] wrote: 

What is coming out of this thread is the need for comfort to show its worth not just its technical ability.

I agree,
the look of a product is just as important as its technical ability if it is to be competitive against it\'s competition!
People like things that look nice.

[Scott James]

Just me again,
now, I have very little skills when it comes to the design department but how about something like this?
Rectangle LED\'s (maybe even a trendy blue one!) and square or rectangle buttons.
I\'m sure that someone professional could come up with something allot better than this.

Would small changes like this be allot of work?

[admin]

Rectangular keypad buttons require a new mold for the rubber parts
Rectangular or blue leds would be a bit simpler
These are not out of the question

Other alternatves like a complete redesign are not ruled out but will necessarily much much longer

However as Gary says the mockup gives an almost immediate solution for those who can do with this. It may not suit everybody but then I am sure that whatever design is proposed will also have its detractors

By the way, the KP04 design was done by \"professional third parties\", ie an established  industrial  design  company even though many do not like the result.

[garym999]

Scott with your skills there is no need for mockups .

I like the idea of the central button cluster being one item. This means that the front panel only needs to have one or two rectangular holes cut which in turn means that it should be simple to adopt any front decor plate of your choice and a friendly laser cutter.

This is just what Dynalite do:



The laser is even used to etch the illuminated keycaps for a very modest fee.

Anyway back to where we are now. The exsisting prototype will work I think? The design could change, shape, finish etc. The biggest issue is the volume control as this will not suit a flush finish in its current form.