Author Topic: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other  (Read 6137 times)

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Offline BLJ Consulting

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Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 13:16:36 »
Hi guys, these components are called modular housings, I guess back in the day they were used when membrane switches were replacing mechanical switches and OEMs wanted to use the same keycaps.  Various sizes and spacers enabled a way range of custom layouts.
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These are the housings, they are molded from ABS.

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These are the housings with the plunger in them.  Plungers are molded from POM.  Keycaps press fit onto the plungers, the bottom of the plungers has a round planer contact surface.  The plungers float freely in the housings.
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The housings have interlocking features so they can be arranged in a variety of shapes.  They’re almost like the Lego of keyboard components and as such the enthusiast community can probably imagine the most interesting applications.  They can be surface mounted or you can mill/route/dado a simple channel to accommodate more complex mounting arrangements.  Small wood screws or machine screws (#4) bite into the thru holes reasonably well.

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I thought this might be of interest if you have a few (thousand) new keycaps you need to organize, store or display or even if someone wanted to do some sort of rubber dome retrofit.

You’ll be able to buy the 3 position housings on the SP website in the new year. 
« Last Edit: Mon, 31 December 2012, 14:56:48 by BLJ Consulting »

Offline absyrd

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 13:37:12 »
I can already see some crazy wall-hanging keycap art using these and the crap bags.
My wife I a also push her button . But now she have her button push by a different men. So I buy a keyboard a mechanicale, she a reliable like a Fiat.

Offline SmallFry

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 13:40:49 »
AHA! I knew we would solve crosswords with keycaps one day!

On a serious note, what are they going to cost us? They would be perfect for creating sandblasting trays (for when your ABS keycaps get shiny)

Offline samwisekoi

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 14:00:50 »
If we can get the POM inserts alone (and in bulk), then a piece of Acrylic or wood and a drill-press would result in a really nice display board.

I'll be watching for these!  Thanks for posting.

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Offline SmallFry

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 14:05:20 »
Agreed Ron. I think that would be the superb.

Offline BLJ Consulting

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 15:48:55 »
pricing is tbd, i guess it would be more expensive than storing your caps in a ziplock bag but less costly than buying a dedicated tray or enclosure.


Offline Halverson

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 25 December 2012, 16:10:41 »
Definitely cool. Would love one scrabble size, probably have enough caps to play it!

Offline BLJ Consulting

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Re: Modular housing components for your review
« Reply #7 on: Wed, 26 December 2012, 09:58:05 »
If we can get the POM inserts alone (and in bulk), then a piece of Acrylic or wood and a drill-press would result in a really nice display board.

I'll be watching for these!  Thanks for posting.

 - Ron | samwisekoi

Hi Ron, i'll have to look into that in Jan, but it seems possible.  A couple of things to keep in mind
1- the inserts are not circular on the outside, they have fingers that both clip into the housings and prevent clocking.  I'm sure they could be forced into a circular hole but then you would probably not have any anti-clocking feature
2-the housings have thru holes for mounting so you can snap them together then mount (lets say) 12 caps with only 2 moderately precise holes giving very good x,y location of the keycaps vs needing to drill 12 quite precise individual holes.  as you may have gathered i'm not a craftsman...

Offline TheSoulhunter

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 05 January 2013, 12:47:29 »
Definitely interested!

Offline Phil21

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 11 January 2013, 01:35:13 »
rare earth magnets in the base, plus something like this might be fun:
http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Throwies/

Lots of ideas :)

Offline cgbuen

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #10 on: Fri, 11 January 2013, 02:23:09 »
Would definitely be awesome as keycap holders!

Offline BLJ Consulting

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #11 on: Thu, 31 January 2013, 12:19:24 »
These are up on the keycapsdirect site now.  Thanks for the interest in them and to those who have already ordered some.

Offline jdcarpe

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 31 January 2013, 12:20:13 »
Kudos on the website redesign. Looks awesome.
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Offline The_Beast

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #13 on: Thu, 31 January 2013, 12:24:12 »
I really like the url, it's pretty pimp
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Offline BLJ Consulting

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #14 on: Thu, 31 January 2013, 15:21:26 »
i had zero input on the site redesign, hence it's successful launch.  I'll pass your compliments along to M though, thank you.

Offline mashby

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #15 on: Fri, 01 February 2013, 16:05:17 »
These are up on the keycapsdirect site now.  Thanks for the interest in them and to those who have already ordered some.

I ordered a 6-Pack just to try them out, but I'm thinking I could use these for a whole set. We'll see.

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #16 on: Tue, 30 April 2013, 17:18:59 »
Anybody have a review or any feedback on these?

Offline mashby

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Re: Modular housing components for keycap storage, display or other
« Reply #17 on: Tue, 30 April 2013, 17:24:13 »
I tried them and they work as advertised, but given that they are 1x3 they can't really be used for a full set of key caps. They work great for novelly 1x1 key caps, but it'd be too expensive to buy enough to setup for a full set. You'd be using one block just for a modifier for example.