Author Topic: keyscaps for white alps?  (Read 5681 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 15:09:17 »
dose enyone here knows where to find keycaps for white alps switches? trying too pimp my old keyboard, looks soo sadly with all the grey :( ..

Or any tips on how to re colour them on my own? with loong lasting , not soo all the paint come off becouse one gaming round.

Offline koralatov

  • Posts: 31
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 15:47:49 »
You could always try dyeing them. Searching Geekhack should turn up lots of tips on how to do it.

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 16:09:03 »
Quote from: koralatov;569207
You could always try dyeing them. Searching Geekhack should turn up lots of tips on how to do it.


would do that if nobodys doesn't know i website for " real " keys

Offline Daniel Beardsmore

  • Posts: 1874
  • Location: Hertfordshire, England
  • RIP
    • Boring twaddle
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 18:30:34 »
That's one of the annoying problems with ALPS – really hard to get keycaps for them. I've just put the blank lavender WASD keys from EK on my Realforce, but as the arrow keys, as there's so little available for Topre.

For ALPS, there's virtually nothing. I've got a red doubleshot Fentek Esc key on my Acer and a FILCO red Esc on my Tulip, the beige Tulip Esc on my XM ANSI TKL FILCO Zero, and the black Zero Esc key on my Tactile Pro 3. Swapping Esc keys is pretty much the limit.

It's not a huge deal for me though until the miserable people at Diatec make an ISO Fukka FILCO Zero :)

I could just sell all the keycaps off the Zero (it's too wretched to use), but it's ANSI, and I presume your keyboard is ISO?
Bore Awards
Most Boring Person on the Planet – 2011 Winner

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 18:39:36 »
Wow you speak too advanced for me haha !
Be nice i'm from sweden ;) , i dont know what you mean by ISO?
I have probably not any direct knowledge of the "mechanical keyboards" .. all i know is that this keyboard have alps white switches .. just got it, and looove it.

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #5 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 18:43:54 »
i think i can stop hoping for any company to making these.. so do any know what the best whay too re-colour them? with long lasting, im a serious gamer so the painting should be as nice and lasting for as possible.

Tryied too searched quickly but only i could find was too boil them with something, that should be awesome the results was pretty good, but the "powder or what ever it was" doesn't sales in sweden ! :(

Offline Daniel Beardsmore

  • Posts: 1874
  • Location: Hertfordshire, England
  • RIP
    • Boring twaddle
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #6 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 18:50:01 »
Basically, ANSI (US) keyboards have a horizontal enter, a full size left shift, and 104 keys. ISO (European) keyboards have a vertical "L" enter (an L but upside down), an extra key between the small left shift and the bottom-left alpha key, e.g. in the US, where you have |, there's just the rest of the shift key.

It gets more complicated if you want to swap the whole lot, as the width of shift, ctrl, alt and more vary by keyboard. This Acer (not ALPS, but takes ALPS keycaps) I'm using now doesn't even have matching meta keys -- right alt gr, win and menu have 24 mm spacing, but left ctrl, win, alt have 28 mm spacing. WTF? FILCO on the other hand make all the meta keys the same, narrower width as left shift.

Also, you may not have Windows and Menu keys depending on the age of the board.

Which keys are you looking to replace – if it's all of them, then a photo of the board would help so that we can see what size and shape keycaps it requires.
Bore Awards
Most Boring Person on the Planet – 2011 Winner

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #7 on: Fri, 06 April 2012, 22:13:41 »
i only wan't too replace with some colored keys is, w a s d and esc keys.

I do have an window key , 2 acctually :D ! Talking to a friend he sad that maybe he had some keys leftover, so hopefully i will get this old stuff fresh :D

Offline dorkvader

  • Posts: 6288
  • Location: Boston area
  • all about the "hack" in "geekhack"
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 01:11:09 »
Signature Plastics (SP) makes ALPS keycaps. There have been some attempts to do a group buy fro them. I don't know if you can buy any individual keycaps.

Perhaps your best bet would be to harvest them from a vintage ALPS keyboard on eBay. I'd try for an focus or a NeXt keyboard. I can personally say that my NeXt keycaps are excellent (and ALPS)

Offline Daniel Beardsmore

  • Posts: 1874
  • Location: Hertfordshire, England
  • RIP
    • Boring twaddle
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #9 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 08:08:36 »
For a red "Esc" key, go to Fentek, or for a red "ESC" key, Signature Plastics.
Bore Awards
Most Boring Person on the Planet – 2011 Winner

fossala

  •  Guest
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #10 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 08:23:38 »
Quote from: Daniel Beardsmore;569374
I could just sell all the keycaps off the Zero (it's too wretched to use), but it's ANSI, and I presume your keyboard is ISO?

If you want to sell your zero, give us a shout.

Offline Daniel Beardsmore

  • Posts: 1874
  • Location: Hertfordshire, England
  • RIP
    • Boring twaddle
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #11 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 08:48:01 »
It's an XM ... you just want it for the case/PCB/caps?
Bore Awards
Most Boring Person on the Planet – 2011 Winner

fossala

  •  Guest
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #12 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 08:53:04 »
I want to use it to solder original alps on (blue clickys).

Offline Daniel Beardsmore

  • Posts: 1874
  • Location: Hertfordshire, England
  • RIP
    • Boring twaddle
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #13 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 10:01:16 »
PM sent.
Bore Awards
Most Boring Person on the Planet – 2011 Winner

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #14 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 11:26:57 »
thanks for all the answers, i just got my hands on another keyboard an old DELL , these switches should be black alps.. true och false , upload i pic on it http://imgur.com/IuCpL .. as i sad im no expert on switches :D .. but in my opinion this i a real thing.
Working , its clean and the seller doesn't know that he could sell it for a MUCH higher price, can buy it for 80 SEK , that should be around 8 £ , the same price for 2 paks of smokes in SWE:P

fossala

  •  Guest
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #15 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 12:14:46 »
Yeah they are black alps. The keyboard should be a dell at102w (iso) or dell at101w (ansi). I hated mine so much I gave it away.

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #16 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 12:33:23 »
why did you hate them ? :O .. i play a lot of CSS, ( counter strike source ) do you think they gonna be a problem or help me

Offline Daniel Beardsmore

  • Posts: 1874
  • Location: Hertfordshire, England
  • RIP
    • Boring twaddle
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #17 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 12:35:19 »
Yeah I have one of those Dells ..... Let's just say they're not ALPS' best switches :)
Bore Awards
Most Boring Person on the Planet – 2011 Winner

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #18 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 12:52:58 »
Well, for abount 8£ its still a good deal right?

Maybe i would like them ;D , but if its TOTALLY crap then i would look away!

Offline Parabellum

  • Posts: 47
  • Location: Sweden
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #19 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 13:06:25 »
They're great keyboards, but alps have a tendency to go bad if they're exposed to a lot of wear and dirt, especially black ones!

I had a brand new one that I wish I hadn't sold :mad:

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #20 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 13:49:38 »
this one, is alomost new.. just been in the basement, little bit och dirt in the corner but , and not way too dirty on the switches.

Offline koralatov

  • Posts: 31
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #21 on: Sat, 07 April 2012, 15:47:49 »
£8 is a really good price for that keyboard. The black ALPS aren’t as nice as the white/cream ones in the Apple Extended Keyboard II, or the blue ALPS, but they’re still pretty nice. Compared to a rubber dome keyboard, they’re fantastic. If you get it and don’t like it, just sell it on for £10 and pocket the profit!

Offline Sanna Nathalie Halldin

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 17
keyscaps for white alps?
« Reply #22 on: Sun, 08 April 2012, 13:59:20 »
Quote from: koralatov;570053
£8 is a really good price for that keyboard. The black ALPS aren’t as nice as the white/cream ones in the Apple Extended Keyboard II, or the blue ALPS, but they’re still pretty nice. Compared to a rubber dome keyboard, they’re fantastic. If you get it and don’t like it, just sell it on for £10 and pocket the profit!


Well i just got it home, i think im gonna keep it, the respons is WAAAY better then my gaming keyboard.. can do the bunny hop/jump i Counterstrike muuuuch better .. but the think i dont like ( yet ) is that you REALLY FEEL that the keys hits the ground in it.

but its still doing its work, and for this price and its all clean and carefully used.. im gonna keep it. i havent loosing anything!

Have some thoughs on painting it, just the " case " not the keycaps in black and order one red esc key for this one! metalic black its going too be!