Thick or regular PBT?

[Austin Powers]

I was roaming around the forums trying to find where can I buy red blank thick PBT, some suggest buying from SP site. Now I'm wondering is it thick or regular PBT they selling? It's for my esc key replacement only though.

[norbauer]

I prefer black thick PBTs too.

Word on the street is that the only thick PBTs to see general availability have been: light blue, light gray, dark gray, and white. There may have been some obscure exceptions to this in the past, but it's certainly true of anything you can find now on Taobao or eBay.

This is a frequent subject of discussion. I myself have recently participated in discussions just recently in a number of places about the options and difference between them:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=40637
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48303
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48219

I think that for just the Esc key if you can find a non-thick PBT in red, you'd be fine. It's such a separate key and used in such a different way that having a slightly different feel or sound shouldn't throw you off much. The only trouble is that the commonly available blank PBT sets are in cherry profile, and most one-off keys available to replace and Esc key are in OEM profile. So, even if you're able to find red PBT in a single key in red, it'll be much higher than all the rest of your keys. I have considered a number of desirable Esc key caps (e.g., this) but then ruled them out for this reason.

If you do find a blank red one by some miracle, please post your source here, though! I'd love to add one to my board to match the rest of my thick blanks.

[IvanIvanovich]

There are some red thick Cherry profile availabe from imsto store, but they have a pretty whimsical font. I think there may also be available some small sets of WASD, arrows and such too. If you're not afraid of some DIY PBT takes dye fairly well. You could always get a all white blank set and dye it.

[norbauer]

There are some red thick Cherry profile availabe from imsto store, but they have a pretty whimsical font. I think there may also be available some small sets of WASD, arrows and such too. If you're not afraid of some DIY PBT takes dye fairly well. You could always get a all white blank set and dye it.

Good point. It should be noted that what I said applies to blanks only.

[Austin Powers]

Umm, I just want a replacement for my esc only though. If there's no thick PBT blank for red. Maybe I should go for alternative. My budget is not over $5 for a key that's all excluding shipping. Should I get ABS DS or regular PBT? I have none in my mind deciding where to buy regular PBT because I don't know who sells them. If possible, I want a blank one that doesn't affect the color after a long year of usage.

[norbauer]

Umm, I just want a replacement for my esc only though. If there's no thick PBT blank for red. Maybe I should go for alternative. My budget is not over $5 for a key that's all excluding shipping. Should I get ABS DS or regular PBT? I have none in my mind deciding where to buy regular PBT because I don't know who sells them. If possible, I want a blank one that doesn't affect the color after a long year of usage.

FWIW, EK currently has red Esc keys in doubleshot (which would have a similar thickness to thick PBT), and importantly, they're in Cherry profile! So it should at least match the height of your other keys, though it does have "Esc" letters in white.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,cherrymxkeys&pid=cds_redesc

[Austin Powers]

Umm, I just want a replacement for my esc only though. If there's no thick PBT blank for red. Maybe I should go for alternative. My budget is not over $5 for a key that's all excluding shipping. Should I get ABS DS or regular PBT? I have none in my mind deciding where to buy regular PBT because I don't know who sells them. If possible, I want a blank one that doesn't affect the color after a long year of usage.

FWIW, EK currently has red Esc keys in doubleshot (which would have a similar thickness to thick PBT), and importantly, they're in Cherry profile! So it should at least match the height of your other keys, though it does have "Esc" letters in white.

http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,cherrymxkeys&pid=cds_redesc

This warm red Esc key uses a separate plastic for the text legend. Considered by some to be the "holy grail" of keycap legend processes; double-shot keycap legends will never wear off.

Mates with Cherry MX switches and has a height compatible with rows 5 and 6 (Esc, F keys, and Number Row) on many popular Cherry MX switch-based mechanical keyboards.

Will ABS DS turn yellow when exposed to UV light? Because the red text mentioned above, it doesn't wear off. How about the yellowing?

[terran5992]

This warm red Esc key uses a separate plastic for the text legend. Considered by some to be the "holy grail" of keycap legend processes; double-shot keycap legends will never wear off.

Mates with Cherry MX switches and has a height compatible with rows 5 and 6 (Esc, F keys, and Number Row) on many popular Cherry MX switch-based mechanical keyboards.

Will ABS DS turn yellow when exposed to UV light? Because the red text mentioned above, it doesn't wear off. How about the yellowing?

Ive only seen yellow keycaps on REALLY old boards

[norbauer]

This warm red Esc key uses a separate plastic for the text legend. Considered by some to be the "holy grail" of keycap legend processes; double-shot keycap legends will never wear off.

Mates with Cherry MX switches and has a height compatible with rows 5 and 6 (Esc, F keys, and Number Row) on many popular Cherry MX switch-based mechanical keyboards.

Will ABS DS turn yellow when exposed to UV light? Because the red text mentioned above, it doesn't wear off. How about the yellowing?

Ive only seen yellow keycaps on REALLY old boards

Yeah, I think you're rather prematurely optimizing if you're worrying about that at this point. You could always buy a couple spares and swap them out every 10 years.

[rowdy]

This warm red Esc key uses a separate plastic for the text legend. Considered by some to be the "holy grail" of keycap legend processes; double-shot keycap legends will never wear off.

Mates with Cherry MX switches and has a height compatible with rows 5 and 6 (Esc, F keys, and Number Row) on many popular Cherry MX switch-based mechanical keyboards.

Will ABS DS turn yellow when exposed to UV light? Because the red text mentioned above, it doesn't wear off. How about the yellowing?

Ive only seen yellow keycaps on REALLY old boards

I have yellow keycaps on my QFR.

Oh wait, they are Filco yellow