Idea : alps keycaps from mx keycaps (not adapters)

[mtourne]

I've looked at option to get quality alps keycaps and nothing seems entirely satisfactory. Which is too bad, I really like matias clicky quiet which are cheap and wildly available.

One of the options is to 3d print some adapter (or get them from shapeways, haven't seen the files floating around), but it raises the height of the keys, and I feel it would be awkward.

Here is the idea:

Take existing cherry stem keycaps, find a way to remove the "cherry cross" inside and make the surface of the inside of the keycap flat.
Now 3d print an alp stem with a flat base, which can be glued on the now flat underside of the keycap.

Has anyone ever attempted something like this ?
Or tell me why you think that wouldn't work.

[AMongoose]

That would be a lot of work, you would risk the cap and I don't see how you would keep the height uniform and make the stem centered.

[mtourne]

for height and keeping the stem centered, having a flat base that fills pretty much all the inner surface of the cap should take care of that.

I agree with you on the amount of work, and possibly risking some switches.

[AMongoose]

But how would you remove exactly the same amount from each cap?

[mtourne]

if you remove the stem, and eventually a little more you'd still be left with a flat surface all around the stem.
The new stem would be glued on that flat surface

[E3E]

I've looked at option to get quality alps keycaps and nothing seems entirely satisfactory. Which is too bad, I really like matias clicky quiet which are cheap and wildly available.

One of the options is to 3d print some adapter (or get them from shapeways, haven't seen the files floating around), but it raises the height of the keys, and I feel it would be awkward.

Here is the idea:

Take existing cherry stem keycaps, find a way to remove the "cherry cross" inside and make the surface of the inside of the keycap flat.
Now 3d print an alp stem with a flat base, which can be glued on the now flat underside of the keycap.

Has anyone ever attempted something like this ?
Or tell me why you think that wouldn't work.

I have done this on a limited basis for modding Cherry space bars for Alps as well as an OG doubleshot set for Alps for the ANSI mods on my OG FAME Cherry profile Alps set. 





vs the Tai Hao FAME doubleshot Alps keyset in Cherry profile





My methods were a bit different though. Originally, yes, I did mod space bars by sanding the stem down flat, then swapping an Alps stem on, but since Alps stems are so basic, I figured I could make one from scratch.

However, if you're looking for using 3D printed stems, then I guess I don't need to really elaborate.