Chanur
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Keyboards & Mice
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Haus
I am Big Balls!
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Somewhere buried in my workshops stockpile of gear I have an OG Old school model M. It's still the favorite feel of any keyboard I have known. But my neighbors thinking I'm firing an automatic weapon when I start typing fast became a drawback.
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Kharzette
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I kinda want to make something like this, maybe at 60% size:
It seems fairly cheap to make your own keycap legends with this method: My Journey Dye-Sublimating PBT Keycap Legends
But I almost never use a computer in light. Making keys that let light shine through so you can see the legends in the dark is alot harder.
It seems fairly cheap to make your own keycap legends with this method: My Journey Dye-Sublimating PBT Keycap Legends
But I almost never use a computer in light. Making keys that let light shine through so you can see the legends in the dark is alot harder.
Lanx
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Daidraco
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Lanx
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Control
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Kharzette
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Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm for 40 dollars I could try this thing out
I think that is what I should do. Find the cheapest one with that size. I shall contemplate this.
I think that is what I should do. Find the cheapest one with that size. I shall contemplate this.
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Kharzette
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Some of the vids I ran across use this "doubleshot" method for creating the legends or the lettering or symbols on the keycap.Yeah, silicone doesn't hold up well at all to even the lowest temps of molten metal.
If I were to try to make keycaps it would probably be along these lines :
This would definitely be some effort, I'd probably only do it for an accent key , like a kick ass looking ESC key.
- Print keycap on nice resin printer for best quality
- Sand print for additional smoothness
- use sandcasting to cast print in metal of your choice. (Easy paths would be zinc, die cast, or aluminum)
- Do minimal machining to clean up, the tricky bit would be the + hole where it seats onto the switch.
Maybe a different, slightly more redneck approach would be to :
That would be far easier from the metalworking standpoint unless you have a nice milling machine (which I don't... yet...) But also, if you have a nice milling/CnC capable of metal you wouldn't cast them, you'd just mill them.
- design and 3d print just the top of the keycap, cast that in metal (using the process above, but probably getting to mostly skip step 4)
- 3d print the "seating part" for the bottom of the key, probably in ABS, or on a resin printer in an ABS-like resin.
- Small dot of JB-weld to attach seating part to metal top cap
And now my autist brain has something I want to try out this weekend....
This is what the bottom should look like :
View attachment 601681
Then this is the top side :
View attachment 601682
If I were to do this to do a whole keyboard between the time designing all the keys, printing all the keys, sand casting all the keys, then hand finishing the keys, I would probably charge someone around $500-$750 for that set of keycaps.
If I had a good metal CnC/Milling setup? I would still probably charge $250-$300 for them in brass, but they would look absolutely glorious.
Now , on the other hand, your keyboard would now weigh probably 2-3lbs more.
They kind of make this mold that leaves part of the cap blank, then do a second pour that fills it in, making the symbols. The different pours are different colours, and I was thinking it would probably work with different metals.
If only blingy rappers knew how to read or type, you could probably sell them metal keycaps with gold letters
BTW, I started looking into switches... there are sooooooo many now! Last time I cared about keyboards at all there were just the main 3.
I am going to get a couple of the switch sample packs off amazon, where they send you like 20 in a bag with labels and you just try them out and find the one you like.
Haus
I am Big Balls!
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Well. The native steampunk part of my brain would probably start off with just brass with blackened areas. That's easy. You pour the key, rub this blackening stuff on it, rinse it off. Then sand/polish the top to remove that blackened area and expose the brass. It's what I did on my daily wear belt buckle...Some of the vids I ran across use this "doubleshot" method for creating the legends or the lettering or symbols on the keycap.
They kind of make this mold that leaves part of the cap blank, then do a second pour that fills it in, making the symbols. The different pours are different colours, and I was thinking it would probably work with different metals.
If only blingy rappers knew how to read or type, you could probably sell them metal keycaps with gold letters
BTW, I started looking into switches... there are sooooooo many now! Last time I cared about keyboards at all there were just the main 3.
I am going to get a couple of the switch sample packs off amazon, where they send you like 20 in a bag with labels and you just try them out and find the one you like.
Initial pour looks like this :
(left to right, Copper, brass, brass)
Then blackened and sand/polish the areas you want shiny and get something like this :
And that pic reminds me I need to polish my belt buckle soon...
Which reminds me that after making the keycaps I'd want to give them a clear coat so they wouldn't need polishing if in brass.
The "doubleshot" method you mentioned would be real tricky with the metals I work with as they have differing melt temps. And if you poured a metal hotter than the one the other part was made from it could get... problematic. This wouldn't be a problem with a curing resin, as you pour one part, let it cure completely, then pour the letter for it.
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