Spacebars for topre switches

[laden3]

Anyone ever thought of/ stumbled across a topre spacebar made out of a different material other than ABS?

To me, it seems like the keyboard DIY crowd have reached the point where someone can just make any components of a keyboard as long as there is enough money. Look at those metal cases, metal keycaps, community-designed PCBs etc.

I really hate typing/talking/reasoning and lets make this straight to the point.

Anyone interested in helping helpless topre owners with no capabilities of producing keycaps? I am pretty sure some topre owners will gladly buy a metal/ wooden topre spacebar.

[DavinDidIt]

Not sure about wood or metal, but I'd love one made out of PBT for my HHKB

[Michael]

I just find it interesting that a shop in China is capable of producing perfectly flat PBT space bars (imsto), yet considerably more expensive Japanese companies still can't seem to figure this out...

I wouldn't mind a titanium space bar, myself.

[jwaz]

I just find it interesting that a shop in China is capable of producing perfectly flat PBT space bars (imsto), yet considerably more expensive Japanese companies still can't seem to figure this out...

I wouldn't mind a titanium space bar, myself.

But are the keys themselves actually shot in Japan? I'd bet they come from China and Topre and PFU just don't care enough to change it.

[DavinDidIt]

Not that they don't care, I'd just bet that the benefit-cost ratio isn't high enough for them to change their tooling.

[Michael]

I wonder if the tooling even needs to be different. It would just be a material change. No clue, though.

[lazerpointer]

Need.... Naow.... HHKB space bar getting... shiny...

[Neal]

They do use PBT space bars in japan on HHKB's, of course this is in JIS layout and are a lot smaller.

Still seems kinda lackluster to me. :/

[Michael]

They do use PBT space bars in japan on HHKB's, of course this is in JIS layout and are a lot smaller.

Still seems kinda lackluster to me. :/

They use PBT for smaller space bars because warping isn't an issue. It only becomes an issue with larger keys. Still though, imsto is making perfectly straight 6.25x space bars. No reason why RF/HHKB's can't.

[laden3]

Do you guys think we can get MKC to make a batch of metal ones?

I was thinking about a wooden one since we have a woodwork specialist in the forum and pen blanks are just perfect for making a spacebar.

Seeing how cheap the aluminum spacebars are, I was concerned that getting a wooden one handmade will cost more than buying a metal one :S

[lazerpointer]

The only imsto space bar I have is warped btw. Functional on Costar stabilizers at least, but still warped.

[DEAD_BEEF]

I'd be all over an ebony spacebar! All my posts after that would be "                                                   ".

[rarar]

holy crap its sad I never noticed the space wasn't PBT T_T never really paid attention to the texture of it... WAAAI