GregE: GregE: When I read about the steps they took to replicate the key caps problem I would consider it abuse of the product and defiantly not normal use. Although they have never given exact numbers the way I interpreted the posts the key cap and flex problems only affected a small number of testers

I agree that there were some extraordinary measures taken to reproduce the key cap problem. I also know why that was the case. It is because WayTools was faced with several failures out in the field and they were trying to reproduce the problem using the normal mode of operation, typing.

I had two more key caps break on my TextBlade last week (a total of 4 so far) and that is when I realized that the broken caps had nothing to do with typing. When stowed, I usually keep two NanoStands on the TextBlade. When the key caps broke shortly after I had setup the TextBlade one day and had typed very little and very lightly, I realized that typing was not the cause. One cap was broken, but the second one right next to it was just cracked. When I pressed the top and bottom of the key cap it cracked the rest of the way. I then surmised that the root cause of the problem is squeezing the sides of the blade stack to pull off the second NanoStand-- which for some is a very normal, very every day use case. Because of the slanting edges of the keys, applying a compressive force to the top and bottom forces the key to buckle up in the opposite direction it would during typing. Over time, repeating this action would cause the cap to weaken and crack.

So, there are a couple of contributing factors to this particular failure. The first is the NanoStand itself. When WayTools adjusted the insulator and shielding layers, the TextBlade stack ended up ever so slightly thicker, which lead to a tighter fit in the NanoStand, requiring more force to push the stack in and pull it out. This may also have contributed to the frequent occurrences of cracked NanoStands. When WayTools strengthened the NanoStands to fix the cracking issue, they made the walls thicker and also had to make the interior pocket where the TextBlade stack fits a bit bigger. So, they have actually already corrected that aspect of the issue.

The second aspect of the issue is the key caps themselves. While they were very strong for typing, requiring abusive thumping to break, they were not so well strengthened for that compressive force from the top and bottom. It turns out that the changes WayTools made to strengthen the middle of the key caps actually work to strengthen it against the buckling caused by the compressive force as well.

So, two separate fixes for two separate issues work together to solve the original issues in a slightly different way than was originally intended. I should also note that I did not have new key caps or stands at the time all this happened, they were the original versions.