Someone make glass keycaps already (┛ಸ_ಸ)┛彡┻━┻

[noisyturtle]

Tired of waiting for my dream to come true of thick frosted glass spacebars. 

[joey]

paging firebort

[tp4tissue]

Can't be done cost effectively


If you want it all one piece,  the bottom pocket opening and stem have to be cnc milled.


It takes forever to cnc mill glass because if you take too large a bite, the whole thing xplodes.

And the stem is a very small feature, so you have to go extra slow..

It's relatively fast to cut big holes, but small shapes are difficult.


Now imagine how many passes you need to make going down 0.005mm at a time at a very slow feed rate..


If you melt glass into a mold,  it won't have that perfectly uniform geometry that we're used to seeing on the plastics. You'd also still have to manually polish the damn thing.


Then, when you're done with the pocket,  you need to use a Laser cnc to cut the outside features, because a cap would be too small to effectively clamp.


Small things require a bit more clamp force, try that with glass, xplode..

So lasering the external feature would be the only realistic way after the back pocketing.


The laser is really fast though, so at least that's good.

All in all, it's too work intensive,   not impossible

[flashquark]

I thought of this before as well, but you know what the problem would be with that?
The holes for the stems to go into would either be way too loose or too tight to the point that stuffing the stems in would break the glass.

Plastic is flexible but glass is not.

[tp4tissue]

I thought of this before as well, but you know what the problem would be with that?
The holes for the stems to go into would either be way too loose or too tight to the point that stuffing the stems in would break the glass.

Plastic is flexible but glass is not.

this is a problem because cherry changed up their insert thicknesses here and there over the years.


If they stuck to one thickness, it should be possible to calculate the precise opening within the tolerance.


But, overall, i think the easier way, would be to just pocket the whole bottom, then glue a clear acrylic stem into place.

[ygor]

tp4 got such a huge brain, I swear, boi.

[Doluded]

Damn tp4 doesn't play

[noisyturtle]

I thought of this before as well, but you know what the problem would be with that?
The holes for the stems to go into would either be way too loose or too tight to the point that stuffing the stems in would break the glass.

Plastic is flexible but glass is not.

this is a problem because cherry changed up their insert thicknesses here and there over the years.


If they stuck to one thickness, it should be possible to calculate the precise opening within the tolerance.


But, overall, i think the easier way, would be to just pocket the whole bottom, then glue a clear acrylic stem into place.

That's what my thought was as well. As lovely as one solid piece would be, the stems would be too brittle and susceptible to breakage over time. The intricacy I don't see as an issue at all, as CNC can be very precise, just that glass (even tempered) is still brittle and one weird bend and the entire work would be useless.

[ppp]

Tired of waiting for my dream to come true of thick frosted glass spacebars. 

tp4 now tell us how to make stained-glass spacebars
(this is my dream)

[Halverson]

I thought of this before as well, but you know what the problem would be with that?
The holes for the stems to go into would either be way too loose or too tight to the point that stuffing the stems in would break the glass.

Plastic is flexible but glass is not.

this is a problem because cherry changed up their insert thicknesses here and there over the years.


If they stuck to one thickness, it should be possible to calculate the precise opening within the tolerance.


But, overall, i think the easier way, would be to just pocket the whole bottom, then glue a clear acrylic stem into place.

That's what my thought was as well. As lovely as one solid piece would be, the stems would be too brittle and susceptible to breakage over time. The intricacy I don't see as an issue at all, as CNC can be very precise, just that glass (even tempered) is still brittle and one weird bend and the entire work would be useless.

How about making them like ramage space bars. Glue plastic stems onto them.

[tp4tissue]

I thought of this before as well, but you know what the problem would be with that?
The holes for the stems to go into would either be way too loose or too tight to the point that stuffing the stems in would break the glass.

Plastic is flexible but glass is not.

this is a problem because cherry changed up their insert thicknesses here and there over the years.


If they stuck to one thickness, it should be possible to calculate the precise opening within the tolerance.


But, overall, i think the easier way, would be to just pocket the whole bottom, then glue a clear acrylic stem into place.

That's what my thought was as well. As lovely as one solid piece would be, the stems would be too brittle and susceptible to breakage over time. The intricacy I don't see as an issue at all, as CNC can be very precise, just that glass (even tempered) is still brittle and one weird bend and the entire work would be useless.

How about making them like ramage space bars. Glue plastic stems onto them.

that's what i just said.. hahahahaha

[Halverson]

I thought of this before as well, but you know what the problem would be with that?
The holes for the stems to go into would either be way too loose or too tight to the point that stuffing the stems in would break the glass.

Plastic is flexible but glass is not.

this is a problem because cherry changed up their insert thicknesses here and there over the years.


If they stuck to one thickness, it should be possible to calculate the precise opening within the tolerance.


But, overall, i think the easier way, would be to just pocket the whole bottom, then glue a clear acrylic stem into place.

That's what my thought was as well. As lovely as one solid piece would be, the stems would be too brittle and susceptible to breakage over time. The intricacy I don't see as an issue at all, as CNC can be very precise, just that glass (even tempered) is still brittle and one weird bend and the entire work would be useless.

How about making them like ramage space bars. Glue plastic stems onto them.

that's what i just said.. hahahahaha

I'll be honest, I only read about 1/4 of what you say, glazed right over it

[tp4tissue]

I'll be honest, I only read about 1/4 of what you say, glazed right over it

Hahahahahhaa..


Tp4 will admit, 100% Tp4 is too Potent of Tp4 for most people.. !!

Hahahhaahja

[tp4tissue]

Tired of waiting for my dream to come true of thick frosted glass spacebars. 

tp4 now tell us how to make stained-glass spacebars
(this is my dream)

Hrrrmmm...  The geometry is not extremely complicated, I think it could be done via soldering jig.



But you'd have to be pretty xpert level at cutting and foiling stained glass,  because you'd be using 1 to 1.5mm glass.

and the cuts are very small..

[bitranch]

I could cut and solder it (done lots of stained glass) easily enough. But with 1mm glass, in order to be structurally sound, the solder line would need to be far thicker than want you'd want aesthetically. There's also the issue of protecting the patina on anything that gets touched.

For a real stained glass look on a spacebar, you'd really want more than one piece (and glass color) across the top. The solder lines aren't flat with the glass, so you're going to have a bumpy key with a strange typing experience.

Embedding the glass in resin would solve most of these issues, but that seems to defeat the purpose. Plus I'm not certain if glass + resin wouldn't end up being too thick.

Maybe — with lots of experimentation — the glass could be fused and then slumped into the proper shape. But thin glass in a kiln is extremely unpredictable (it really wants to be 3mm thick), so you'd probably end up with at least an 80% fail rate.

[OneNightFriend]

A lot of thought going into all this. It's pretty neat to see!

All I know is that I'd hate to be furiously typing and have one shatter. RIP

[cherpalla]

I've seen some resin jewelry that looks freakishly like glass, couldn't this be achieved for the same look for the keycap you're aching for?

I also know of some porcelain powder that is added to resin for some friends who do cosplay to achieve a more durable porcelain knock-off.

[happykey]

GLASS

[tp4tissue]

I've seen some resin jewelry that looks freakishly like glass, couldn't this be achieved for the same look for the keycap you're aching for?

I also know of some porcelain powder that is added to resin for some friends who do cosplay to achieve a more durable porcelain knock-off.

those are decorative,

if you kept rubbing and handling the resin, it would lose the glass like luster/transparency.

[antquinonez]

You know what I hear? Excuses. Something else, let's make those letters etched glass, with pictures of dead family members and cats like in the mall.

[tp4tissue]

You know what I hear? Excuses. Something else, let's make those letters etched glass, with pictures of dead family members and cats like in the mall.

(Attachment Link)

These are controlled micro fractures within the glass stock done by laser.

You can't cut anything this way, because complex geometry becomes a bit unpredictable.

[rowdy]

G.L.A.S.S.

[xtrafrood]

3D printed glass wouldn't be a terrible idea

[tp4tissue]

3D printed glass wouldn't be a terrible idea

interesting idea.. probably doable...  but it wouldn't be clear glass, it would be mostly opaque and the deposition powder would be ridiculously expensive.

[xtrafrood]

3D printed glass wouldn't be a terrible idea

interesting idea.. probably doable...  but it wouldn't be clear glass, it would be mostly opaque and the deposition powder would be ridiculously expensive.

Anything glass is already ridiculously expensive though haha. Definitely not going to look like a fish tank that's for sure.

[noisyturtle]

If you didn't want to attempt melting frit in a mold, the only real way I see is CNC milling each cap individually which is costly but effective.

Have an indented groove milled on the inside, and 3D print out some stems to epoxy in there. If the caps are made thick enough and the edges are rounded I see no reason they should shatter. Chipping over time perhaps.

[fohat.digs]

Hello

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=75950.msg1890968#msg1890968

[xtrafrood]

Hello

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=75950.msg1890968#msg1890968

OMG PickelsKill's signature explains so many things I was unaware of.. ffs

Thank you for the link fohat!

[Happy Hopping]

If someone were to do this, I bet it would be Azio.

[KeycapKid]

You know what I hear? Excuses. Something else, let's make those letters etched glass, with pictures of dead family members and cats like in the mall.

(Attachment Link)

Hahahahaha. Yes.

In all seriousness, i've thought about 3D printing with a material that is like glass / ceramic.  Of course, as already stated, the stem would be an issue. It also has to be kiln fired which results in substantial shrinkage, but that could be accounted for.