I am a bit new at this, but I desperately want/need a set of vintage-looking Cherry-compatible keycaps like what Signature Plastics offers. I used these kind of keys back in the 80s, so it's a return to my childhood (my father used to have Compugraphic typesetting computers that had similar keycaps and I used to play with them as a child).
However, I find the whole process a bit daunting. Signature Plastics/Pimpmykeyboard NEVER has a full set available. Are you supposed to just wait for a group buy on Massdrop? Any suggestions on this for a novice?
I know they have some custom options available. But there have been numerous complaints online about their quality control, and the prices are pretty absurdly high.
It’s frustrating that it’s really hard to get a hold of these keysets, which are also really expensive. I mean, it’s plastic after all. Yes, I know, PBT, doubleshot, small batches, etc.. But it’s still just plastic, probably $3 worth for the $100 you spend.
It makes me think of Lego toys. Why can’t we have keycaps like those? They have really tight tolerances for consumer-grade plastic in many colors, and boxes of hundreds of colored pieces sell for $20-50 and up. I realize that Lego is a huge operation — but wait, so is SP (they have large corporate clients). SP just seems like a rip-off. What a business model! Sell really limited batches of plastic for really high prices - toys for adults.
Any recommendations on ways to actually GET one of their sets? Or should I just go and get a custom keys instead (WASD Keyboards for example)? Any opinions?
Thanks!