Author Topic: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress  (Read 7867 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« on: Mon, 10 October 2016, 06:21:16 »
Moved to DT due to harassment.
« Last Edit: Fri, 17 March 2017, 19:37:09 by tobsn »

Offline dfj

  • Posts: 171
  • Location: Canada
  • Visit our irc: #geekhack on libera.chat!
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 10 October 2016, 06:31:40 »
sweet - best of luck
- I used a commercial spray release which worked fine - *something* is needed, because the resin will stick a bit to the silicone and try to tear off bits at the edge.

mostly replying just to link my avatar which has my last quasi successful casting - a resin M/F stem, though teh arms were brittle and didn't last long.
sad
dfj
Fave Switch manus: IBM, Topre, Matias, ...

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 21 November 2016, 07:43:18 »
added 21.11.2016 update!

Offline Malachor

  • Posts: 22
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 21 November 2016, 09:31:55 »
Research:
* need to find out how much pigments i can use in one resin mix... probably tiny amounts cause they say 0.5-1% of resin - no idea how to measure that

I've never used resin at all, so I don't know if this idea would work, but could you decant some resin into another container, say one with a capacity of 100mL, only fill up to 99mL and the last 1mL add the pigment? Obviously, this would be without the catalyst/hardener mixed in.
Failing that what about using a syringe for the pigment?

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 21 November 2016, 11:40:31 »
well... consider how much resin you need for one keycap, using 100ml would be a total waste :D
I saw that some just use the top of a toothpick for "measurement"... I guess have to mix some 10ml of it together and then "guess" how much 1% is

Offline Malachor

  • Posts: 22
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 21 November 2016, 19:30:34 »
Okay, I guess 100mL would be a waste.
What about a 100 µL syringe from somewhere like here:  http://www.sge.com/products/syringes/manual-syringes/10l-to-500lgastightsyringes

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 22 November 2016, 09:53:30 »
ha, that's pretty awesome - I have to look into that for liquids but pigments are mostly powder :/

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 29 November 2016, 19:56:53 »
added 29.11.2016 update!

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 27 January 2017, 08:47:38 »
added 27.01.2017 update!

Offline Giorgio

  • Posts: 1846
  • Location: Italy
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 31 January 2017, 12:24:40 »
Fantastic thread! This is what makes gh so great.

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #10 on: Tue, 31 January 2017, 13:08:37 »
with 1,000 views and literally only 2 comments including yours... that is more or less disappointing from my perspective but whatever... I'll keep posting to help someone looking for answers in the future ;)

Offline SKD

  • * Vendor
  • Posts: 152
  • Location: England
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #11 on: Tue, 31 January 2017, 13:32:22 »
Here's a comment bro. ;D

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #12 on: Tue, 31 January 2017, 17:01:52 »
thanks :)

Offline Kominyetska

  • Posts: 51
  • Location: US-CA
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #13 on: Tue, 31 January 2017, 18:09:23 »
with 1,000 views and literally only 2 comments including yours... that is more or less disappointing from my perspective but whatever... I'll keep posting to help someone looking for answers in the future ;)

I think that because this is your documentation, people don't feel the need to comment. You aren't asking for feedback or information, just detailing your process. I find it nice to see what other people are doing and how they're overcoming issues, but I'm not sure I'll go into every WIP thread and drop a comment. Don't be discouraged. The large number of views is a good thing even if people aren't dropping their own comments into your work log.

 :thumb:

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #14 on: Wed, 01 February 2017, 09:11:25 »
I think that because this is your documentation, people don't feel the need to comment. You aren't asking for feedback or information, just detailing your process. I find it nice to see what other people are doing and how they're overcoming issues, but I'm not sure I'll go into every WIP thread and drop a comment. Don't be discouraged. The large number of views is a good thing even if people aren't dropping their own comments into your work log.

hmm, good point I guess - btw. in the footnote are questions :P

Offline Coreda

  • Posts: 776
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #15 on: Wed, 01 February 2017, 09:40:39 »
Chiming in to echo that it's always cool reading WIP posts. Seeing the keycap making process come together and reading of the breakthroughs is something that always piques my interest when keeping an eye on the Spy page :)

Offline sinusoid

  • Posts: 160
  • fd > ESC
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #16 on: Wed, 01 February 2017, 18:20:00 »
I'm lurking in this thread too, keep it up!  :thumb:

Offline beamingrobot

  • * Vendor
  • Posts: 579
  • Location: Singapore | Malaysia
  • もうけい
    • monokei
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #17 on: Wed, 01 February 2017, 19:29:14 »
Been following your progress on instagram, so this is where you post the details  :thumb:
http://monokei.co

Jane v2 | Jane v2 CE | Police | EXENT | KFE | KFE CE | Singa R1 | Jaguar | HHKB | Custom G80-3000 | Dalco 959mini | Haus | Kei | Hiro | Hidari | Tomo | Neko | Prophet | MXSS | TKL One | RS

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #18 on: Thu, 02 February 2017, 06:30:50 »
Been following your progress on instagram, so this is where you post the details  :thumb:

you found me! oh no! :P

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #19 on: Thu, 02 February 2017, 06:31:49 »
I'm lurking in this thread too, keep it up!  :thumb:
Chiming in to echo that it's always cool reading WIP posts. Seeing the keycap making process come together and reading of the breakthroughs is something that always piques my interest when keeping an eye on the Spy page :)

alright, that makes me feel a lot better - always thought I'm posting into the void with this :D

Thanks guys!

Offline Giorgio

  • Posts: 1846
  • Location: Italy
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #20 on: Thu, 02 February 2017, 06:40:03 »
I don't know why there haven't been many comments. Maybe is this a very complicated process, or maybe because there have been many threads about this? Sincerely I don't know.

Offline rmendis

  • Posts: 448
  • Artisan addict
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #21 on: Thu, 02 February 2017, 12:28:48 »
Hey!
Just wanted you to know I'm lurking here, too.
Thanks so much for sharing information on your process. I am learning a lot!

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #22 on: Wed, 08 February 2017, 16:40:08 »
Nice! Good to know that people actually read it :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offline Joey Quinn

  • Posts: 4543
  • Location: Houghton
  • "..."
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #23 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 03:29:55 »
* Want to create my own $ynth to get a more high quality version + own makers mark

What qualities of the synth make you think a redesign would create a higher quality keycap?

I'm asking as the engineer for the current synth (v1.5) and past synths
People in the 1980s, in general, were clearly just better than we are now in every measurable way.

The dumber the reason the more it must be done

Offline darkrocker

  • Posts: 4
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #24 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 03:59:04 »
quote:"
* silicon still hasn't cured 24 hours later, I assume I put not enough catalyst in it or didn't mix properly... no idea what to do... going to wait till tomorrow and hope it might still cure completely"

How can you resolve this issue ? I have the same issue and don't know how to fix it

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #25 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 07:39:08 »
What qualities of the synth make you think a redesign would create a higher quality keycap?
I'm asking as the engineer for the current synth (v1.5) and past synths

The two part stem system, [... redacted because apparently this is all about IP even though this is a hobby ...].

Above and it's sold out for month, there seems to be no teflon version available anymore, the makers mark always leaves me with a bubble.

Hence I will take this design and make my own to adjust it so it fits my personal needs.
« Last Edit: Thu, 09 February 2017, 07:57:37 by tobsn »

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #26 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 07:48:17 »
added 09.02.2017 update!

The letters "$ynth" can apparently not be mentioned together with "making my own" because that somehow indicates I want to promote my imgainary "illegal" clone product.
« Last Edit: Thu, 09 February 2017, 07:53:58 by tobsn »

Offline Binge

  • Island of Sandy Beaches
  • * Maker
  • Posts: 3269
  • Location: Binge Haüs
  • With Gentle Time. I Feel Very Nice.
    • Hunger Work Studio
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #27 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 08:14:57 »
added 09.02.2017 update!

The letters "$ynth" can apparently not be mentioned together with "making my own" because that somehow indicates I want to promote my imgainary "illegal" clone product.

because you want to make your own molds and not your own $ynths, right?  Thanks for understanding.
60% keyboards, 100% of the time.

"What the hell Jimmy?!  It was ruined before you even put it up there with your decrepit fingers."

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #28 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 08:24:15 »
because you want to make your own molds and not your own $ynths, right?  Thanks for understanding.

I removed all references of the trademarked product even though it refers to the actual trademarked product which I bought and used while writing this log.
I will from now on refer to the trademarked product as "one sided metal keycap mold" when using said trademarked product, if that is in compliance with your trademark standards.

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #29 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 17:12:35 »
quote:"
* silicon still hasn't cured 24 hours later, I assume I put not enough catalyst in it or didn't mix properly... no idea what to do... going to wait till tomorrow and hope it might still cure completely"

How can you resolve this issue ? I have the same issue and don't know how to fix it

more catalyst! rather overdose then underdose :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offline darkrocker

  • Posts: 4
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #30 on: Thu, 09 February 2017, 23:52:52 »
quote:"
* silicon still hasn't cured 24 hours later, I assume I put not enough catalyst in it or didn't mix properly... no idea what to do... going to wait till tomorrow and hope it might still cure completely"

How can you resolve this issue ? I have the same issue and don't know how to fix it

more catalyst! rather overdose then underdose :)


As the information from the manufacturer, it required 2% catalyst, I had tried 5% and 10% but it didn't work.  I still don't know why? maybe it's coming from the mixing process :(

Offline sinusoid

  • Posts: 160
  • fd > ESC
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #31 on: Sun, 12 February 2017, 11:14:04 »
[...] it required 2% catalyst, I had tried 5% and 10% but it didn't work.  I still don't know why? maybe it's coming from the mixing process :(

Oh, don't do that.

The silicone itself is usually body-neutral, while the catalyst is often a carcinogenous, liver-destroying kidney-wrecking compound of metal salts. Most of it gets trapped inside the silicone if you observe the mixing ratios. When you add more of it, then, well, it doesn't. It also changes the properties of the silicone. If you're gonna use or sell caps made with that mix, they're gonna have this stuff trapped in their surface, coming into contact with people's fingers for prolonged amounts of time.

In the manual of the silicone you're using, it should be written what kinds of substances inhibit the setting process. Like sulfur, or rubber.
Read that, and make sure none of them are present in your model, on your hands, gloves, or in the mixing process.
Don't throw away your mixing cup with silicone residue, keep it as a setting test. For a few weeks, preferably - bad mixing (or too little catalyst) will eventually set, while contamination won't.
Mix for a few minutes at least. Try different containers and mixing sticks. If you're using platinum-based silicone, it's safe for handling, but very sensitive to contamination. It won't set in minimal presence of certain chemicals (like sulfur).

But whatever you do, try not to mess with the ratios, unless you've got specific info about that in the silicone's technical sheet, or have contacted the manufacturer.

Offline darkrocker

  • Posts: 4
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #32 on: Mon, 13 February 2017, 00:17:14 »
Thanks you for a very details post, I got the point now and I will try again with the correct ratios and mixing.

Offline YabosMcGee

  • Posts: 14
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #33 on: Thu, 23 February 2017, 23:30:56 »
Why are various parts of your log censored with [CENSORED by Binge] ?

Offline Wylte

  • Posts: 18
  • Location: US-WA
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #34 on: Fri, 24 February 2017, 12:47:40 »
Redacted

****, bad on me for not going back and reading, I hadn't looked at this thread since January and missed the context  :-X
« Last Edit: Fri, 24 February 2017, 20:46:41 by Wylte »
JunkDrawer KeyCaps - Blank Experimentalist

Offline Joey Quinn

  • Posts: 4543
  • Location: Houghton
  • "..."
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #35 on: Fri, 24 February 2017, 13:38:24 »
Why are various parts of your log censored with [CENSORED by Binge] ?

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=78551.msg2359110#msg2359110

It has to do with not using Synth branding to advertise a Synth clone and an over reaction to the request.
People in the 1980s, in general, were clearly just better than we are now in every measurable way.

The dumber the reason the more it must be done

Offline tobsn

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 216
Re: Keycap making in Poland - Documenting my progress
« Reply #36 on: Fri, 24 February 2017, 13:40:28 »
just makes me wonder where i advertised it or where that clone is.