PBT doubleshot dolch at KBDfans - what went wrong?

[ddrfraser1]

So I ordered these guys a few months ago and I was pretty excited to try them out cause they looked super chonky and they were cheap and doubleshot. However, when I got them the color was super weird and blotchy. It looked like a botched retrobright job. On to of that, the texture was like sandpaper and I think you could even rub to top layer of plastic off with your finger if you tried and it would come off in a flaky powder. It reminded me of plastic that had been left out to bake in the sun for years. Needless to say, I have not spend more than 30 seconds typing on these. I’ve seen a few people talk about it online with similar disdain but I’m curious, does anybody know the story behind this train wreck?

[DALExSNAIL]

kbdfans doesn't give 2 ****s about quality honestly.

It's very likely those are just some bulk bin taobao china sellers caps, marketed to kbdfans buyers as wonderful caps for cheap.

[funkmon]

They don't look terrible from here assuming they were less than $40 for the whole set. How cheap were they?

[suicidal_orange]

Is it the anti-[something] coating that some caps have?  Would be more help if I knew what the something was to search but try giving them a wash to get the flaky layer off and hopefully the appearance should be fixed.

[jamster]

Is it the anti-[something] coating that some caps have?  Would be more help if I knew what the something was to search but try giving them a wash to get the flaky layer off and hopefully the appearance should be fixed.

Anti microbial? TaiHao caps were reputed for some weird coating years ago.

[ddrfraser1]

They don't look terrible from here assuming they were less than $40 for the whole set. How cheap were they?

Right, strangely, in the photo they don't look too bad. That's part of the problem I guess. But up close, man, blotchy as hell and not at all a nice texture to type on.

[Gampela]

Could you post some more pictures illustrating better the blotchiness?

[ddrfraser1]

Could you post some more pictures illustrating better the blotchiness?

Ugh... it’s a horror show 

[jamster]

From the photos, that looks like a coating or something else affecting mainly the surface. It does look nasty.

[DogSpark]

It tastes really weird.

[Polymer]

Could you post some more pictures illustrating better the blotchiness?

Ugh... it’s a horror show 


(Attachment Link)

Have you tried cleaning them?  Or is that just baked into the plastic?

[ddrfraser1]

Could you post some more pictures illustrating better the blotchiness?

Ugh... it’s a horror show 


(Attachment Link)

Have you tried cleaning them?  Or is that just baked into the plastic?

Baked in 

[hellla]

Yikes! So much potential

[Surefoot]

It's very likely from Winmix, who are responsible for the OSA trainwreck too. They are usually producing very low cost, zero QA sets so this kind of mishap is not surprising. Still disappointing as i have seen another set from them that did not suffer the colour blotches, and they are one of the very few with the tooling needed for double shot PBT. As for the texture, YMMV, some people like more, some less, and the Winmix sets are on the rougher side (this applies to their OEM profile sets too).

[ddrfraser1]

It's very likely from Winmix, who are responsible for the OSA trainwreck too. They are usually producing very low cost, zero QA sets so this kind of mishap is not surprising. Still disappointing as i have seen another set from them that did not suffer the colour blotches, and they are one of the very few with the tooling needed for double shot PBT. As for the texture, YMMV, some people like more, some less, and the Winmix sets are on the rougher side (this applies to their OEM profile sets too).

Fair. I like more texture too but this crumbly feeling would be pretty hard to pass off as texture. Blah.

[JCraftCables]

Yikes! I was almost considering these... I guess it's best to stick to some brand name keycaps like ePBT minimally (for PBT).

[Surefoot]

Yikes! I was almost considering these... I guess it's best to stick to some brand name keycaps like ePBT minimally (for PBT).

Infinikey and Keyreative are doing very good PBT sets too.

[ddrfraser1]

I think manofinterests sold his for $40. I'm not sure I could get that for them but obviously I'm not interested in keeping them. I had half a mind to put them on a crappy board in my shop, one that I don't mind getting damaged and dusty but... again, blah.

Yikes! I was almost considering these... I guess it's best to stick to some brand name keycaps like ePBT minimally (for PBT).

Infinikey and Keyreative are doing very good PBT sets too.

Good to know.