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Author Topic: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear  (Read 21890 times)

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Offline awhitedev

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QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« on: Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:08:38 »
Hey everyone,

New to Geekhack and just thought I'd share the results from my first keyboard project. I decided to take a QFR and mod it to make it my own. Here's what I did:

  • Plasti Dipped the top cover in white
  • Replaced switches with cherry clear switches
  • Replaced the keycaps with Vortex PBT keycaps

I'm quite satisfied with the results!  :p

78220-0
78222-1
78224-2
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Offline mogo

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:21:51 »
Looks great! The awesomeness of plastidip needs more recognition, there's potential for some really dramatic (and easily undoable) mods. How do you like the cherry clears? Those are heavy linears, right? (i'm sorta new to this)

Cheers!  :thumb:
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Offline frosty

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:40:36 »
Ooo. Should have plastidippes my blackwidow. Spray painting it with acrylic sprays is really a PITA.
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Offline frosty

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:40:58 »
Do tell us how well the paint holds! And nice mod :)
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Offline awhitedev

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:55:00 »
Quote from: mogo on Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:21:51
Looks great! The awesomeness of plastidip needs more recognition, there's potential for some really dramatic (and easily undoable) mods. How do you like the cherry clears? Those are heavy linears, right? (i'm sorta new to this)

Cheers!  :thumb:

Completely agree. Plasti dip is great stuff!

I've tried a few different switches now... blue, brown, green, red, and now clears. Clears are like heavier brown switches. It has a heavier spring and a much more pronounced tactile bump while still being fairly quiet. (no click like there is in blue and green) It feels very nice to type on. It's heavy, but not too heavy. I'd have to say clears are my new favorite switch  ^-^

Quote from: frosty on Sat, 27 September 2014, 10:40:58
Do tell us how well the paint holds! And nice mod :)

Thanks! So far it's holding up quite well... Sanding off the rubberized coat on the QFR case is a must. There were a few spots on mine where I didn't sand it off well enough and the Plasti Dip just didn't stick to it like I wanted. I ended up using 800 grit sandpaper and Goo Gone to get the remaining bits off of it. Goo Gone was a HUGE time saver for me... I'd definitely recommend it. It's safe to use on the plastic and removes the rubber texture just fine.






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Offline rowdy

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 28 September 2014, 15:16:53 »
Very nice!

There is that special something about white keyboards.  And I mean white, not beige :)
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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 awhitedev

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 05 October 2014, 12:08:42 »
I liked the QFR I plasti dipped so much i decided to give my Leopold FC210TP keypad the same treatment. I changed out the switches for MX Clear (which isn't available that I'm aware of in this model)

I also switched out the number keycaps with matching ones from the picture above. I left the outer keycaps the stock PBT ones that came with the keypad. I switched out the LED for a red one as well so it would match QFR.

Here's a link to the stock keypad over at geekkeys... http://www.geekkeys.com/leopold-fc210tp-21-key-numpad-grey/

And here's the results:

78916-0



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Offline rowdy

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 05 October 2014, 14:04:27 »
Good job!

It's a wonder more people don't customise their numpads.
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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 mogo

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 05 October 2014, 18:08:45 »
Once again, you bring the sexiness! That numpad looks great!
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Offline honoka

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #9 on: Mon, 06 October 2014, 15:49:02 »
I'm very interested to know how plast dip holds up after some time? Since it's used on cars I assume it's somewhat strong, but I get the feeling that it's soft and would get scratched easily.
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Offline agent181

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 20 October 2014, 18:58:39 »
white key caps would go well with this.
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Offline awhitedev

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #11 on: Fri, 24 October 2014, 17:34:22 »
I just bought some white and navy Leopold PBT caps that I plan to put on this board. I think I might replace the stock red LEDs with white too.
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Offline julayyy

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #12 on: Sun, 26 October 2014, 21:07:04 »
Your QFR case looks great with the white plastidip!  :thumb:  Maybe I should plastidip my TK instead of spray painting now. 
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QuickfireTK MX Reds         v60 mini MX Clears

Offline mogo

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 26 October 2014, 21:27:10 »
Absolutely. The best part of plastidip is that you can peel it off when you're sick of it.  :thumb:
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Offline awhitedev

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #14 on: Sat, 01 November 2014, 10:03:54 »
5 week update: I've been using this board as my daily driver now... and it's been great. However, the plasti-dip is starting to peel in the bottom left hand corner. I think the problem is that I didn't sand it down as good as I should have before spraying. The numpad I did is still holding up wonderfully... so I'm pretty sure it's the rubberized coating that was on the there... My recommendation to anyone trying this would be to sand VERY thoroughly to ensure NONE of the rubber is left on the case. I'm going to probably just going to peel it off and spray it white at this point.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #15 on: Sat, 01 November 2014, 17:04:11 »
I think that's the general finding - sand the rubber coating down VERY well before you do anything with the case!
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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 cmadrid

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #16 on: Sat, 01 November 2014, 20:16:31 »
Yeah, I think I sanded my case off and on for about a week before I started painting it >_0
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Offline awhitedev

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #17 on: Sun, 02 November 2014, 07:33:37 »
Yeah, that darn rubber coating is stubborn to come off...
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Offline Anole

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Re: QFR w/ Cherry MX Clear
« Reply #18 on: Mon, 09 February 2015, 19:15:59 »
First custom numpad I've seen. Looks great !  ;)
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