HIBIKI - Forged Carbon Fiber
Details
PRODUCTION TIMELINE 📅
- Pre-order open 14 November 2024
- Pre-order close 15 December 2024
- Manufacturing + shipping 6 - 9 months
- Estimated fulfilment October 2025
Important details:
- 65% layout
- 6-degree typing angle
- Isolation mount using 1.6mm PORON foam pads with a leaf spring plate (choose from aluminium or polycarbonate)
- Forged Carbon Fibre top
- Dyed Polycarbonate Base
- Thick CNC polycarbonate is post-machined to remove markings and is finished with additional polishing. Bead-blasted and dyed black
- wilba.tech WT65-H3-HIBI PCB (Hotswap) or WT65-G3-HIBI PCB (Solderable)
- Hotswap: supports full and split backspace, 7U and 6.25U spacebar
- Solderable: supports ISO, 6.25U+5 mods, stepped capslock
- Over-current and ESD protection
- Kailh hot-swap sockets rated at 5,000 cycles
- QMK and VIA support
- 4.0mm PORON foam sheet compressed between PCB and plate to optionally change the sound profile by filtering out higher frequencies to create a warmer tone
- OPTIONAL: Order extra PCBs here
Meet HIBIKI, our 65% keyboard, back in forged carbon fibre.
HIBIKI is a 65% keyboard with a strikingly curved profile and a visually stunning blend of exciting materials.
We've spent two years working with various suppliers and investing in different tooling and manufacturing methods.
Finally, we've landed on a forged carbon fibre top worth bearing the HIBIKI name. LIMITED EDITION
HIBIKI FORGED CARBON FIBRE is the first keyboard from HIBI's special projects division ('HSP').
As such, HIBIKI FCF will be extremely limited, with a capped production run.
We're also celebrating the launch of HIBIKI FCF with a limited edition of just 30 HIBIKIs in MATCHA. Available here.
You read that correctly. The top is made from actual forged carbon fibre, using a custom tool we have been developing for the past year. Unlike cheaper products that look like forged carbon fibre but actually aren't, this is the real deal.
As part of the R&D journey, we prototyped several rounds of an 'alternative' FCF process, which was essentially a carbon body wrapped in carbon fibre film.
With each prototype came disappointment. We couldn't settle, so we didn't.
We'll share a side-by-side between two prototypes, and you'll understand why this was never an option.
For example, the shimmering detail and interesting textures are unique to real carbon fibre, and there is no comparison next to a carbon fibre film.
And honestly, the textures and shiny details are the whole point.
The downside to using legit FCF is that the material is more brittle, which can develop little cracks between the layers of real forged carbon fibre. If perfection is for you, then this keyboard might not be.
Make no mistake: this premium material is expensive and difficult to manufacture. Every HIBIKI FCF is unique, as the patterns and texture cannot be duplicated.
Again, this edition will be extremely limited, so don't count on extras - but if you do - count on paying significantly more 'in stock'.
HIBIKI is named after our four-legged best bud, HIBIKI (the dog).
THE BASE
Like HIBIKI 'R1', we've used polycarbonate as the base material again. However, this time, we've changed the approach to achieve a smoked-out black look—the perfect complement to the FCF top.
The polycarbonate base is machined and then hand-polished to remove imperfections and prepare it for the dying process. The bases are then bead-blasted and dyed black.