I just sent my Z in as the warranty is almost up and I have all the issues: double trigs, encoders popping out, and my unit us extremely bowed.
I’m wondering if getting a metal backplate made would improve structural integrity and keep the new one they (hopefully) send me from turning into a banana. Has anyone else thought of this or looked into it?
seems like a worth while try, assuming you can get a custom thin metal plate made for you.
Are you thinking of getting rid of the opz? Just curious because i think i am still within the return period and with all these problems folks are having it seems like i may want to bail (even though i love the device). Do you mostly use the OPZ by itself? my unit isn’t bowing yet but i almost always have a midi keyboard connected so i rarely use the trig buttons
Yeah… I might try it out. I do want to keep it. Although it sucks that it is not built like it should be, I love making music with it. I pretty much use it by itself, and when I’m not using it, it’s in a hard shell case. But yeah, I think repeatedly applying pressure to the keys must be causing the whole thing to bend. I wonder if it would help if I just took the screws out of the back so it would lay flat rather than have room to bend…
Instead of removing the screws I would rather add two rubberfeet to the middle of the backplate to prevent bending. I think the height of the screws might be quite common for some standard flat rubber feet.
Oh that’s a great idea!
I would love CNC the entire case. But that would require the drawings from teenage engineering. Anyone have ever tried to bend it back into shape?
Even if you could create a metal body, you would need to come up with some solution to attach the keyboard to it, since the original case uses melted plastic poles for that, not screws.
That plastic is very strong. The bending problem is caused by manufacturing process I believe. Maybe it is not cooled properly once it’s taken out from machine or something… Actually, I was thinking about making just a metal back plate for OP-Z, just to make it more stiff.
i agree i do not think the bending is from pressing buttons, Mine is already bending after 2 months and i almost always use a midi keyboard with live record ie. i hardly ever press the opz buttons them selves.
I’ve also never left it in a hot car or anything like that. It has to be a manufacturing defect, which is a real shame. For us and TE because we are pissed about the money we spent and TE is pissed about the money they loose in warranty and lost sales/bad rep.
Oh damn, I didn’t even think about that. I wonder if the strength of the metal would help it resist its tendency to warp, or if it’s just destined to do so eventually. I’m obviously not a materials guy 
i imagine some kind of metal, either 1/8 or 1/4 inch steel maybe, could be used as some sort of back plate, and the opz fastened to it with some metal brackets. This might even give the Z more heft 
I returned my OP-Z because it was bent. Unlike many others, mine came bent out of the box, noticed it after using it for like 5 sec. it’s a shame because the Z is a great device.
I’m thinking some spare feet and drilling the stock backplate might do the trick. My Z bowes from old age, haha.
I just thought the same idea and came here to check if someone had tried it.
Doing some research, found this service ( https://sendcutsend.com/ ) that does laser cutting on a big range of metals. This aluminum one seams rock solid (and hopefully light enough). Custom Laser-Cut 2024 Aluminum - sendcutsend.com
Wonder if someone had took the time to convert the measurements of profile and holes places. Also think in an elegant solution for the Bluetooth button.