Hey guys,
I got an XDA blanks set from a friend that were bought from Taobao a couple months ago, around $60 converted. I made a mini-review in our local group, and now I decided to post them here in case there are some people who are interested with the set. The contents are mostly copy-pasted from the other review with some updated notes on it.
Please do take note that I do not have a good camera so I
used the camera from my phone. Yes, the pics that I am going to show are from the time I bought the set. Also take note that the keyboard used is a Novatouch, so my impressions may not be the same if I used an MX board, which I do not have. I do have a mechanical numpad though!
The box:
The set contains 147-key which supports most boards out there. The packaging is similar to the ones EnjoyPBT is using, a box and a layered foam padding where most of the keys have their own "space" inside the box.
The internals:
Sorry I already dyed most of them, and did not take a picture when they were all white. The layers on the picture are incomplete because there are 4 layers in total. One layer is mainly for the different sizes of spacebar, from 2u to 7u if I recall correctly.
My impressions. Please take these with a grain of salt. In no particular order:
1. The keycaps were made of PBT, around 1mm thick. Measured with my trusty, generic caliper:
2. Majority of the keys were not cut properly, though I guess it is normal. Some manufacturing *defects* can be seen at the bottom of each key. You can see it on the spacebar on the picture below if you look closely. This can easily be solved by lightly sanding it maybe?
3. Scooped keys are almost impossible to see unless checked the mark at the bottom. i can feel the scoop when mounted though. I have no experience with DSA, but I am told that they have a similar scoop to the XDA set. I think they did this intentionally so that it would look similar to other keycaps. You have to look really close in order to see the scoop properly. You can see the picture below #7.
4. I did not have difficulty adjusting to the profile. I always use cherry or OEM profile for my boards. I was expecting random mistakes while typing but I feel that the mistakes I am making were normal.
5. The color is not really white when you see it in person, its more like the color of an IBM Model M/F in good condition. Hard to take a picture of it thanks to my camera.
6. Now for the weird part, while it is made up of PBT, it does not feel PBT for me. Not sure maybe because I am used with the texture of HHKB/Realforce/EnjoyPBT keycaps but I feel that something is odd while typing on it. The surface is rough and maybe this is the reason? Although my blank thin PBT (from taobao) and Tai Hao (with removed nano coating) both have rough surfaces as well, the XDA key feels far from those two.
7. Another weird thing is that when I was dying the keys,
all 1u keys have a faded color on the around the center of the top key, its as if the plastic did not absorb the dye completely. The only two 1u keys that were not affected by this are the three scooped keys. The modifiers and spacebar (I dyed one 2u spacebar for my own reasons) also did not have this issue. I also tried dipping it for too long and it did not fix the issue. This get me thinking if the keyset are really made up of 100% PBT, as all of the keys that I dyed that is not XDA did not have the issue.
Can you see what i am talking about? The one on the far left is the scooped key by the way:
8. For some reason, the stock o-rings that came with my Novatouch does not fit in all of the keys. The o-ring will simply fall-off if the key is placed in the correct position. I have not used the Novatouch o-rings, I only used three for the spacebar because it is so noisy! and it does a great job in it.
Here is a pic after removing a key with an o-ring installed to test, hoping for you guys to get what I mean.
9. I think this also applies to DSA keys but there is a certain position for the keys to be placed or else it will feel loose, meaning they will come off without any force after pulling the key if the key is mounted in an incorrect position.
Thanks for looking!
p.s. I dyed the modifiers first, then the alphas. But the modifiers turned too dark after doing #7 so both modifiers have different colors on the pictures.
