Painting Happy Hacking Keyboard Keycaps

[jackyyll]

Does anyone have any experience painting keycaps? Specifically the hhkb ones. I've got black keys with lettering that I'd like to paint, not sure what color yet but I'm trying to see what methods people usually use and what paints. Other than painting, is dying a black keycap even possible?

[sth]

don't paint keycaps, the paint will wear off and look terrible after a very short time.

i know they're pricey but your best bet is to buy the color you want from EK or lurk the classifieds for a set.

[jackyyll]

I am buying another set, so I will have spare keys to fool around with. I didn't know if anyone has done this before. Aren't there types of paint that will work for this sort of application?

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

Painting - not really.  Apart from auto paint.

Some people dip their keycaps in various chemicals to colour them.

Others use nail polish.

Still others have tried dye, with wildly varying results.

As sth suggests, the best, most consistent and most durable result is obtained by simply purchasing a set of custom coloured keycaps.

[sth]

there may be but honestly it's just a matter of time until the coating wears out, and it will wear unevenly and be very difficult to retouch. have you thought about trying to trade them for a white set you could dye?

[jackyyll]

there may be but honestly it's just a matter of time until the coating wears out, and it will wear unevenly and be very difficult to retouch. have you thought about trying to trade them for a white set you could dye?

How well do the white keycaps dye? Do they have to be letterless ones?

[sth]

there may be but honestly it's just a matter of time until the coating wears out, and it will wear unevenly and be very difficult to retouch. have you thought about trying to trade them for a white set you could dye?

How well do the white keycaps dye? Do they have to be letterless ones?

depends... there are some folks here who have had good experiences dying but i am drawing a blank on their names, sorry. you can dye the lettered keys as well, and the black lettering should show through the dye just fine.

[SmallFry]

I dyed my M (see wiki for pics). Reds and oranges work well, the greens blues and others...not so much, IIRC.

[whiskerBox]

iMav dyed his HHKB an it looked sick maybe he will pop in and post some pics

[SmallFry]

From the old wiki? "Works slick!" Heh.

[hashbaz]

Yes, iMav's HHKB keys looked _amazing_.  I'm sure the pics were consumed when the forum went down, I will try to see if iMav has them backed up somewhere.

Lots of people have tried painting and dyeing keycaps.  Like sth said, painting never works for more than a few weeks or months, and dyeing takes a lot of experimentation to get right typically.  That said, of all the keycaps out there, HHKB caps seem to do the best with dye.

[jackyyll]

That's great to hear! I think I'll try trading my current keycaps for white blank ones and see if I can't type them how I'd like to

[guilleguillaume]

This is iMav's HHKB Pro 2:

[rowdy]

That's nice - I hadn't seen that before

[hashbaz]

There we go, thanks guilleguillaume.

[BlindRAGE606]

That is one sexy HHKB.

[whiskerBox]

Oh man I also forgot about o2dazones HHKB

I think this may be his {if not please correct me so credit gos where its do}

[SmallFry]

That looks awesome! They look like they were NIQMod'd or similar. Judging by the watermark (as I'm sure you did) I think that's his HHKB.

[guilleguillaume]

I forgot about o2dazones too. His keycaps were amazing.

By the way, Does anyone know anything about where he is? It's been a while since I saw him around.

[Acetrak]

Are those dyed as well? Regardless they look really awesome, makes me want to give DIY coloring caps a try O.O

[SmallFry]

So... Not a HHKB, but my M came out well as well.

[Dgsbllx]

SmallFry, any chances of a guide or a link to one? These look real nice

[SmallFry]

I did mine pre-W0rm when the "Rit Dye" Thread was up. I used a whole box of red dye with half the water they asked for (I think) and stirred a LOT. I think I also added a bit of salt, some say it's worth it, some don't. So, to be safe, I added it.

Try with some Model M keycaps before you do your Topre keycaps, as I don't come with a warranty.

[whiskerBox]

That looks awesome! They look like they were NIQMod'd or similar. Judging by the watermark (as I'm sure you did) I think that's his HHKB.

Didn't even see the watermark lol

[o2dazone]

Are those dyed as well? Regardless they look really awesome, makes me want to give DIY coloring caps a try O.O

Was linked to this post from mike (or magic meatball or whatever he calls himself here)

Yeah, they were rit dyed. The PBT takes the dye real well. I wrote a tutorial on it, and basically just followed the same tutorial posted here a while back (and scoured a lot of old posts). I believe the first person I saw do this was iMav, the legend himself.

A couple more photos of the ritdyed keys, and other keyboard stuff
http://www.flickr.com/photos/o2dazone/sets/72157621999490674/


My tutorial
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=27237.0

cant find the original tutorial, maybe lost in the great ripster/gh divide?

Original iMav post
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=4962.0

[Acetrak]

Wow thanks for the info, they came out awesome!

[tp4tissue]

I did mine pre-W0rm when the "Rit Dye" Thread was up. I used a whole box of red dye with half the water they asked for (I think) and stirred a LOT. I think I also added a bit of salt, some say it's worth it, some don't. So, to be safe, I added it.

Try with some Model M keycaps before you do your Topre keycaps, as I don't come with a warranty.

Salt makes the water hotter. 

But all the stirring would've cooled it.. so..... idk...

[Plater]

Wow, all your keyboards looks amazing! Is hhkb really that amazing to type with?

[o2dazone]

I'm a big fan. But people equally love Cherry boards. It's all what you prefer

[Plater]

Are those dyed as well? Regardless they look really awesome, makes me want to give DIY coloring caps a try O.O

Was linked to this post from mike (or magic meatball or whatever he calls himself here)

Yeah, they were rit dyed. The PBT takes the dye real well. I wrote a tutorial on it, and basically just followed the same tutorial posted here a while back (and scoured a lot of old posts). I believe the first person I saw do this was iMav, the legend himself.

A couple more photos of the ritdyed keys, and other keyboard stuff
http://www.flickr.com/photos/o2dazone/sets/72157621999490674/


My tutorial
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=27237.0

cant find the original tutorial, maybe lost in the great ripster/gh divide?

Original iMav post
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=4962.0

Anyone can find the the tutorial again? These links are down at the moment.

[GordonZed]

Through my years of tinkering with all types of things, I'd say it's probably very possible to paint them, but as with painting anything that's going to receive some abuse, it will take some serious experimenting before you find anything that will give you any sort of longevity. So I doubt it will be easy, I just wanted to play devil's advocate in response to all the people saying it's not possible.

Also, I'm new here, so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I am a tinkerer, and I'm a firm believe in the "if there's a will there's a way" philosophy, but I also believe that even if there's a will, doesn't mean the way will always be easy.

[jackyyll]

Hell yeah, thanks for all these replies guys. Didn't even notice them til now.

I'll have to check over that tutorial on RIT dyeing the keys, I have some ideas of what I'd like to do. I just have to trade my old keycaps for white ones now

[fohat.digs]

This was a thread that helped me quite a bit:


http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=35444.msg742090#msg742090

[nubbinator]

I did mine pre-W0rm when the "Rit Dye" Thread was up. I used a whole box of red dye with half the water they asked for (I think) and stirred a LOT. I think I also added a bit of salt, some say it's worth it, some don't. So, to be safe, I added it.

Try with some Model M keycaps before you do your Topre keycaps, as I don't come with a warranty.

Salt seems like an odd thing to add.  Generally you add vinegar (an acid) when you're dying with Rit since the acidity helps the material take the dye better.