zFrontier

[Pre Order] Smoke65% by Sensy

Name: [Pre Order] Smoke65% by Sensy
Brand: zFrontier
Price: 400.00 USD
Availability: InStock

$400.00 USD

Quantity:

Hello everyone, this is SENSY. We are a new studio from China. In 2024, our core members XINGZHI and QIN collaborated with VERTEX to release our debut work "Seal". Moving forward, SENSY will operate independently to bring you new designs.

This keyboard draws inspiration from XINGZHI's favorite song, Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. The song's core elements—smoke, water, fire—inspired us to create a keyboard with rich curves and surfaces, breaking traditional symmetry. That's why we chose the inherently asymmetrical 65% layout.

Let's dive into the details.

Basic Info

Layout: 65%

Size: 320.1 x 124.6 x 38.4mm

Mounting: Top mount

Weight (assembled): ≈2.1-2.2kg

Given the weight, we've switched to custom oval rubber feet instead of 8mm round ones, based on user feedback.

Typing Angle: 9°

Front height: FH=18.5mm/EKH=22.5mm (excluding rubber feet)

Front frame width: 10.5mm (including front slope)

The front height features an asymmetrical curved design, akin to early ergonomic keyboards from brands like Microsoft. For this asymmetrical 65% layout, we shifted the center of gravity to the F/J key center, using complex curved surfaces to achieve ergonomics without widening the front frame. The overall design language also follows this shifted axis.Thanks to the 3-layer, screwless external design, the front height stays under 20mm (Front height is 18.5mm, with a 13.5mm low point in the ergonomic slope). This allows for a lower curved front edge matching the ergonomic arc.

Side profiles boast complex curves for seamless 4-sided connections, meeting G3 continuity standards. The top cover has a raised curved design, no pure flat surfaces here. Kudos to our engineers for devising a variable-curvature surface to replace tricky corner chamfers, solving the issue of connecting irregular curves.

These complex side curves extend to the cable port side, with a weight transition using two cut surface changes.

Materials & Craftsmanship

Manufacturing: DDS (Dadesin)

Case: Aluminum (anodized or electrostatic coating)

Weight: Sandblasted Brass/ Sandblasted Copper/Stainless Steel (All with AF coating)

Mid frame: PEI, original color with knife pattern

Nameplate: PVD SS / Damascene Ti / Damascene Cu

Pate: Anodized Aluminum Plate / PEI (original color with knife pattern)

PCB Support

Single-mode, compatible with Vial. Offering WK and WKL options.

Soldered

Hotswap

Structural Design

Enhanced Top Mount

Engineers opted for 3 upper + 2 lower fixing points (common in 60% keyboards), which performed well in prototypes and will be used in production.

Smoke uses soft buffers: 70a and 90a options. Engineers adjusted buffer design to minimize torsional deformation during screwing, ensuring stability.

Mid Frame with Built-in Force Break

We favor 3-layer, screwless designs and now the brass middle frame has also become quite popular. But personally speaking, we don't have a particularly strong preference for brass middle frames. especially with a heavy weight. XINGZHI proposed a transparent hard resin middle frame to echo "smoke on the water":

• The weight represents "water," so the translucent frame evokes "smoke."

• It isolates top and bottom cases, acting as a Force Break.

• The hard resin's insulation lets us thicken the frame, reducing cavities for better filling.

Common Force Break designs risk increasing cavities or gaps. Our middle frame solution passed stress tests and prototyping. PEI was chosen over low-value PEEK or soft, deformable PC—our first mass-produced PEI middle frame.

4mm Plate (Optional)

Once popular, 4mm plates are less common due to complex design needs (early brass versions often caused finger fatigue). However, their filling effect and consistency outshine 1.5mm plates. Our engineers designed an optimized 4mm plate with improved support and logic, available as an option.

What's inside the box?

Aluminum top and bottom cases + weight x1
Badge set (1 large, 1 small) x1
Internal aluminum badge x1
PEI middle frame set x1
Plate x1
PCB x1
Magnetic DB x1
70a + 90a buffer blocks x5
Rubber feet set x1
Carrying case x1
Outer box
T6/T8 Torx screwdrivers
instruction manual

Timeline

Pre Order: Oct.31 - Nov.30 2025
This is a pre-order item, estimated shipping time is April 2026
Shipping calculated at check out
Please DO NOT purchase this item with other products.

zFrontier [Pre Order] Smoke65% by Sensy

$400.00 USD

[Pre Order] Smoke65% by Sensy

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