Hand painted keycaps?

[Fobbah]

Hey all, I was thinking about (hand)painting several keys along my function row with personalised designs - now i'm aware that any approach that uses paint is going to be inferior to double shots and eventually wear through with use, but i'm thinking that as long as the keys that are painted are ones that get very low use, such as the function row, insert, home etc, and coat it in some kind of acrylic clear it might hold up for a year or two without massive signs of wear?

I'm sure somebody must have attempted this before, but all i can really find about painting keys is spraying/dyeing so I was curious if anyone had some thoughts on this with respect to how quickly the paint wears out, if it tends to negatively affect the feel of the keys etc.

I suppose I can always just buy a bag of PBT keycaps and find out for myself

[bloodygood]

Wouldn't it make more sense to submit a custom layout to WASD? just using a custom font + custom colors. That way you can be sure the designs last.

[Fobbah]

By custom designs I mean literally painting a custom logo on each key, so not just colouring the keys/custom font, otherwise i would simply find a group buy or supplier for keys that were close enough to what i wanted. For example, if the SC2 leagues group buy falls through due to copyright issues with SP i was considering just hand painting a set for myself, and if it works out ok, other designs in the future.

[pitashen]

how long would the paint last on the keys?

[Fobbah]

Well that's the question i'm asking - i'm seeing if somebody has tried it and can estimate how durable it would be on keys that receive very little use such as the function keys and insert/home group

[bloodygood]

By custom designs I mean literally painting a custom logo on each key, so not just colouring the keys/custom font, otherwise i would simply find a group buy or supplier for keys that were close enough to what i wanted. For example, if the SC2 leagues group buy falls through due to copyright issues with SP i was considering just hand painting a set for myself, and if it works out ok, other designs in the future.

Well based on the SC2 example that falls under what I said before. Create a custom font with the logos as letters of the font, then submit that font onto each custom key you want. For example. Each logo equals a, b, c, d, e, f or however many there are. Then you say the font color on the color key you want, any row/size you want. Then you have your custom keys, the only limit being 1 special font color per key. But it is your choice, I am using that example from the one custom board that is showcased in WASD forum with every key had a custom font design on it.

[Fobbah]

Ahhh now i understand what you meant. I thought all you could do was put in text using the fonts from their list. Cheers.

[bloodygood]

Ahhh now i understand what you meant. I thought all you could do was put in text using the fonts from their list. Cheers.

I am 100% certain that this is not a standard font, but one they downloaded and included with their layout file (you can embed fonts in the file if you use the coreldraw one.)

[Fobbah]

Yeah i had a look at that one. Very cool - however I have encountered one major stumbling block.

As far as i'm aware, you're limited to black/light grey for the colour choices for the printing/engraving/whatever on the keycaps. So back to square one for this particular job, but it's definitely worth noting for the future.

[zoidbergslo]

I would advise you not to paint your keycaps unless you find REALLY good paint. I did that 10 years ago and it didn't look pretty after few months of use.

[ironman31]

I would advise you not to paint your keycaps unless you find REALLY good paint. I did that 10 years ago and it didn't look pretty after few months of use.

Use the paint they use on warhammer figurines

[hazeluff]

I would advise you not to paint your keycaps unless you find REALLY good paint. I did that 10 years ago and it didn't look pretty after few months of use.

If you have a airbrush and cover using a clear coat, you might be able to get some good results. It does mean investing in airbrush. But if you're in making gundams (like i am), an airbrush is amazing.

[dorkvader]

If you have a airbrush and cover using a clear coat, you might be able to get some good results. It does mean investing in airbrush. But if you're in making gundams (like i am), an airbrush is amazing.

My roommate airbrushes. I'll have to check how fine he can get, but maybe I'll ask him to take some time to make some custom keycaps for me.

[hazeluff]

My roommate airbrushes. I'll have to check how fine he can get, but maybe I'll ask him to take some time to make some custom keycaps for me.

Oh wow, you are one lucky guy. I don't know anyone with one (cept me, but mines broken). For things like the SC2 league caps. You can probably paint the background and then take my images, make stencils and spray the shapes on using the stencil. Use (masking) tape to make the stencils optimally, (Cos then paint doen't get under the stencil, unlike paper). You may want a craft knife, it really helps when cutting stuff out (scissors are bad).

As for drawings of more detailed things, it would be near impossible.

[dorkvader]

Yeah, I painted flames on the mailbox once with masking tape and paper. (the neighbourhood rules said it had to be green, so we put green flames on the green mailbox. That'll teach them).

Also, the airbrushing is annoying, when his air compressor turns on at 2:00AM. Still, I'll talk to him about it. Maybe I should order some blank keycaps from somewhere.

'course I don't play starcraft, so I'd make imperial starwars keycaps ofcourse.

[hazeluff]

Yeah, I painted flames on the mailbox once with masking tape and paper. (the neighbourhood rules said it had to be green, so we put green flames on the green mailbox. That'll teach them).

Also, the airbrushing is annoying, when his air compressor turns on at 2:00AM. Still, I'll talk to him about it. Maybe I should order some blank keycaps from somewhere.

'course I don't play starcraft, so I'd make imperial starwars keycaps ofcourse.

Good luck on it. = D I want to see results!

[Gin]

I'm not certain but am pretty sure my ClickClack Awesome key is handpainted.  See the Camo pics in my subforum.  ClickClack asked that I not take closeups of his prototypes.  The Chinese clone them like crazy.

I imagine 20 years from now, antique hunters will look for these keys like crazy. There will be a TV show about them (clack hunters?). They will travel the world to find clack factory key caps. Only to later meet with ripster (presumably with a long pure white beard) and find out that most of what they found are chinese clones.

[hazeluff]

I imagine 20 years from now, antique hunters will look for these keys like crazy. There will be a TV show about them (clack hunters?). They will travel the world to find clack factory key caps. Only to later meet with ripster (presumably with a long pure white beard) and find out that most of what they found are chinese clones.

That was actually funny xD.

I would watch this show. I'll start planning for this show to be done in 20 years.

[HWI]

My dvr is ready.