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Author Topic: Sharkskin Key Caps  (Read 3643 times)

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Offline Zekromtor

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Sharkskin Key Caps
« on: Sun, 13 July 2014, 23:10:46 »


It's not actual sharkskin, it's acrylic, but the micro ridges give it a grippy, textured feel like its namesake. These low profile alps key caps are CNC machined out of acrylic with an aggressive spherical indentation for finger location awareness. They're also a huge pain in the ass to make, and I'll be glad when I have enough of them to fill my keyboard.
« Last Edit: Mon, 14 July 2014, 00:09:39 by Zekromtor »
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 13 July 2014, 23:28:03 »
I'd like to hear what Halverson has to say about this!
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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Offline YoungMichael88

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 13 July 2014, 23:59:20 »
Interesting stuff.
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Offline Halverson

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 14 July 2014, 00:04:58 »
Quote from: rowdy on Sun, 13 July 2014, 23:28:03
I'd like to hear what Halverson has to say about this!

Was disappointed after I came here looking for literal shark skin caps only to find cool bowl-like grippy caps!
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Offline YoungMichael88

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 14 July 2014, 00:16:13 »

Quote from: Halverson on Mon, 14 July 2014, 00:04:58
Quote from: rowdy on Sun, 13 July 2014, 23:28:03
I'd like to hear what Halverson has to say about this!

Was disappointed after I came here looking for literal shark skin caps only to find cool bowl-like grippy caps!
What kind of sick bastard are you? Hoping for the harvest of your own kinds flesh as if it were some kind of religious sacrifice for the good of the keyboard cause...... Actually, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea now that I wrote it down and gave it a once over.
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Offline jacobolus

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 14 July 2014, 00:37:56 »
That dish looks pretty deep (deeper than any of the “deep-scoop” homing caps I’ve seen). It doesn’t get a bit annoying to pull your finger up and out of each dish to move to the next key? Have you tried a few variants?
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Offline Zekromtor

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 14 July 2014, 01:53:23 »
I'm still experimenting. It's .060" to the bottom which is deeper than I'd expect most people would want. If I made them for mass consumption I'd do .040 or .050.
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Offline gotofbi

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 15 July 2014, 22:48:08 »
I really wanna see the keyboard with full of this keycap!!!
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Offline awong

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 15 July 2014, 22:49:08 »
What profile is this?
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Offline nubbinator

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 15 July 2014, 23:09:57 »
Quote from: awong on Tue, 15 July 2014, 22:49:08
What profile is this?

Low profile.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #10 on: Tue, 15 July 2014, 23:15:16 »
Quote from: nubbinator on Tue, 15 July 2014, 23:09:57
Quote from: awong on Tue, 15 July 2014, 22:49:08
What profile is this?

Low profile.

That might depend on what shark the skin comes from :p
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline nubbinator

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #11 on: Tue, 15 July 2014, 23:20:17 »
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Offline Zekromtor

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #12 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 01:06:08 »
I let my sales reps use whatever means necessary to attract the ever-important younger, urban demo.
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Offline P3TC0CK

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #13 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 08:46:51 »
Saw this here and DT and was wondering: how does it feel? Is it just a fine grippiness or does it feel almost sticky?

I've never felt sharkskin before.
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Offline Frenir

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #14 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 08:52:56 »
This is a very interesting concept, I wonder how It'll feel when you put those on an entire board.
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Offline Binge

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #15 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 10:00:01 »
I predict these getting dirty fast.
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Offline lkong

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #16 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 10:13:21 »
hmmm this might solve my problem here.
im two caps short and in need of low profile caps.
any chance to make white or other colors?
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Offline Zekromtor

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #17 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 16:41:47 »
Quote from: lkong on Wed, 16 July 2014, 10:13:21
hmmm this might solve my problem here.
im two caps short and in need of low profile caps.
any chance to make white or other colors?

I didn't really have any plans of selling these, but the acrylic I prefer comes in opaque white, clear, and several translucent colors. Maybe if there was enough interest that people wanted to do a group buy or wanted to buy a full set, but even then it'd have to be like $2/key to make it even close to worth the time. Even though you're a filthy psuedo flatboarder, I have to respect someone who puts alps on their ergodox. Can you give me measurements of your existing key caps? Most important would be the distance from the bottom plate (where the top of stem contacts the bottom of the key) to the highest point on the top of the key, then from that same bottom plate to the lowest point on the top of the key, and also the full height of the key.
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 July 2014, 16:46:11 by Zekromtor »
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Offline lkong

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Re: Sharkskin Key Caps
« Reply #18 on: Wed, 16 July 2014, 21:21:41 »
Quote from: Zekromtor on Wed, 16 July 2014, 16:41:47
Quote from: lkong on Wed, 16 July 2014, 10:13:21
hmmm this might solve my problem here.
im two caps short and in need of low profile caps.
any chance to make white or other colors?

I didn't really have any plans of selling these, but the acrylic I prefer comes in opaque white, clear, and several translucent colors. Maybe if there was enough interest that people wanted to do a group buy or wanted to buy a full set, but even then it'd have to be like $2/key to make it even close to worth the time. Even though you're a filthy psuedo flatboarder, I have to respect someone who puts alps on their ergodox. Can you give me measurements of your existing key caps? Most important would be the distance from the bottom plate (where the top of stem contacts the bottom of the key) to the highest point on the top of the key, then from that same bottom plate to the lowest point on the top of the key, and also the full height of the key.
Wow right now im not looking to recreate apple profile.
I might sit down play with openscad a bit once I got time for that.

I have two double shot esc keys alps mount for trade.
I'd like to buy or trade for two keycaps in white.
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