



GB START: November 2, 2022 | 8:00 PM (PH)
GB END: November 16, 2022 | 8:00 PM (PH)
ETA: Q4 2022
A pair of hover (Ergonomic Maglev Wrist Rest) with retail price of US$60 will be included as gift per AFA order during the first preorder
AM AFA – the world’s first Alice keyboard with adjustable flex
Features:
Three-stage adjustable flex, 18 typing combos
Inspired by Macross VF-19
Ergonomic Alice with 65% layout
Wireless Charging
DIY RGB Lighting
Inspired by Macross VF-19
Macross, one of our team’s favorite mecha animes, served as the inspiration for AM AFA. Lightness, flexibility and the cool looking forward-swept wings make YF-19 and the subsequent VF-19 fighter designed by Masaharu Kawamori an impressive piece of kit.
After spending 17 years in outer space, it is ready to land on your desk in the form of next-level design, mounting system and craftsmanship.
AM AFA (Adjustable Flex Alice) uses a slightly forward-swept hollow metal frame crafted with 5-axis CNC high-precision machinery. Hollowing out its metal frame takes more than 7 hours. Its smooth edges are carefully cut and polished. Combined with 2-hour manual grinding and sandblasting of each single piece, AM AFA’s sophisticated craftsmanship adds a soft touch to its sharp appearance.
All modules and parts are installed independently in this hollow metal frame. This not only reduces the hollow sound while typing, but also gives a visual impression of a floating keyboard on your desktop. Combined with customized PCB lighting effects, AM AFA looks like a fighter jet ready for take off on your desk.
Lights on, ready for take off
Lighting up AM AFA on your desk is like an aircraft illuminating the runway. LED lighting simulates the flames coming out of the back of a fighter jet, prepared to join the fight.
Preset in-switch LED lighting effects
The in-switch LED lighting effects are inspired by two famous battle scenes from Macross Plus.
Space Fold
Speed up and let the green light burst as the fighter jet lands on your desktop.
In Space
The cabin shakes vigorously while falling out of the sky. The red glowing fighter jet and meteorites shatter when they finally reach the ground.
*The AM AFA VF-19 Advance colorway is inspired by the VF-19 Advance variable fighter from Macross. The lighting effect refers to the Macross Plus YF-19 battle scene.
More fun with DIY
In addition to the default built-in lighting effects, you can create your own unique and exclusive RGB effects. AM AFA supports custom in-switch LED lighting that you can edit according to your own preferences.
The world’s first three-stage adjustable leaf-spring mount
Height Adjustable Coilover Suspension has been used on racing cars as early as 1952. Coilovers allow for stiffness and range adjustment of the car’s suspension.
This setup, that has been popular on cars for over 70 years, is now available for your keyboard. It brings a wider scale of customization possibilities to tune your keyboard’s feel and typing sound.
Everyone has their own personal best setup. Some people like Top Mount, while others feel that Gasket Mount isn’t soft enough. In order to provide a wider range of adjustment to the feel and sound, AM AFA incorporates a completely independent PCB, plate and “key housing”. These bring a more consistent feel and minimize hollowness.
At the same time, the most important feature of coilover suspension is not missing either: the rebound stiffness and the range can be adjusted in both dimensions.
Rebound range: 3 gears
Rebound stiffness: 2 types
Rebound stiffness can be adjusted by switching between the two different leaf-spring materials: phosphorus copper and stainless steel.
In addition, conventional adjustment solutions, such as two sets of adjustment pads and an additional set of bottom pads, are also provided for mixing and matching.
* You can choose between three (0/1/3) pad hardness options.
3 gear 2 types 3 ways
positions of leaf-spring materials to use pads
Even without changing the switches and plate, AM AFA can combine at least 18 different kinds of feel and typing sound just through modifying the combination of gear position, materials, and adjustment pads. Solid feedback for competitive gaming, or soft flex for hardcore coding, it’s all possible with AM AFA. And if you want different strength between your left and right hands, you can adjust the flex separately for the left and right key housing, to find your own best typing experience.
This wide range of adjustment options take customization of typing feel and sound to the next level.
* We recommended that after adjusting the gear position, you install the inner assembly in the upper and bottom cover of the key housing first, and test the typing feel after tightening the screws. You can try out multiple setups to find the most suitable one before installing the key housing with your final gear setup into the frame. For more information, please refer to the Disassembly Instructions.
Separated key housing
Alice gives us the opportunity to create two separate PCBs, so naturally we took advantage of that. This reduces the load of the PCB and plate on the mount by half, providing a more consistent feel.
But with AM AFA, we even went one step further by removing the mainboard, battery, wireless charging coil and other hardware from the key housing. You no longer need to deliberately try to fill up the interior of the keyboard with various materials, because the independent key housings minimize the interior space to the maximum extent. And subsequently, this brings a significant improvement in reducing hollow typing sound.
Spread your arms
68 keys to meet your needs for daily text input. The unique ergonomic design of Alice has a relatively small learning curve compared to split ergo keyboards.
The spacing between the left and right key housing of AM AFA is nearly 13 times larger than the 5mm spacing of the original Alice arrangement. With its ultra-large 64.5mm spacing, there’s a significant opening angle between the elbow and the shoulder and thus excessive inward clamping of the elbow is minimized, and therefore the burden on the shoulders is reduced.
Keyboard inclination is 6.5°, and tenting is 5° on the left and right sides, suited to your typing experience.
4-layer cutout PCB
Using a cutout PCB usually means giving up in-switch LEDs and hot-swap functionality. But not with AM AFA.
With a thick 4-layer PCB compressed to just 1.2mm, cutout, in-switch LEDs, and hot-swap are all available on a single PCB.
Seamless connectivity
AM AFA retains the seamless connectivity originally found on CYBERBOARD: easily switch between Bluetooth and a wired connection without flicking a switch.
Four colors to choose from
Create your own team of strong fighters with Ranger, The Dark Night, Velocity, and VF-19 Advance leading your team.
VF-19 Advance
Inspired by the VF-19 Advance variable fighter from Macross. Sand color electrophoresis frame matched with black front panels form this powerful fighter.
Ranger
Inspired by Ranger, the futuristic sci-fi spaceship from the movie Interstellar. White electrophoresis on the front combined with an anodized gray frame, just like an advanced and mysterious spaceship wandering around in the galaxy.
The Dark Night
Inspired by the Batmobile from Batman: The Dark Knight. Anodized all-black, ready to be buried deep in the night.
Velocity
Inspired by the Bertone Stratos B A X concept car design from Hollywood-based concept car designer and color specialist Shane Baxley. We used a special paint process to combine retro white with bright orange to make it shine like a sports car should.
Hover Ergonomic Maglev Wrist Rest
AM AFA is relatively high on the front, which means it’s best used in combination with a wrist rest. That’s why we came up with Hover, an ergonomic maglev wrist rest, which perfectly matches the front height of AM AFA. And at the same time, they add a more flexible movement range to your arm and wrist.
Specifications
- Layout: 65% layout, supports hot-swap
- Mounting method: Angry Miao Three-Stage Adjustable Leaf-Spring Mount
- Typing angle: 6.5° keyboard inclination, 5° tenting on left and right sides
- Weight: Base Kit 2.00kg, Bundle 2.25kg
- Material: 6063 aluminum body with stainless steel front panel
- Dimensions: 445.7*156.5*56.5mm (front height: 22.5-36mm)
- Finish: anodizing, electrophoresis, baked paint
- PCB: 1.2mm 4-layer hotswap PCB with cutouts and in-switch LEDs. Bluetooth 5.0 and wired (USB Type-C, supports C to C) connectivity. Key map and LED lighting configurable via Angry Miao DIY site.
- Colors: VF-19 Advance (Desert Sand), Ranger (White/Gray), The Dark Night (Black), Velocity (White/Orange)
What’s in the box
Please refer to the gallery.