[IC] [WIP] A backlit "shine-through" uniform-height minimalist keyset

[bendrexl]

Work-in-progress, but I figured I'd better ask the gurus before spending more time on it...

Goals:

• Backlit / shine-through doubleshot construction
• Consistent lighting across all caps; accents can be aligned with switch LED location
• aggressively-priced (read: cheap)
• highly-flexible, wide compatibility
• Easily customizable through color choice.

The above goals might be achieved with these limitations:

• Extremely minimal legends/accents; just one step up from blank caps
• Uniform, legendless keys allow for mix-and-match customizability
• Uniform-height spherical profile; XDA or DSA
• Spherical profile allows caps to be rotated to align with switch LED locations

I don't know if either the XDA guys can manufacture a double-shot XDA cap, or SP can do a double-shot DSA, but that's what I'm hoping for.

Low-cost goal is hopefully aided by having very few unique molds required (no alpha or numbers), while allowing maximum compatibility for anyone willing to forgo legends and use a uniform height profile to hopefully hit a high-volume order.

Am I crazy?

[Sifo]

that's... actually pretty dope.

[Pwner]

I'm not sure about XDA but SP does do doubleshot DSA.  Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that don't most custom boards have the led holes on the bottom of the switch?  I could be wrong but I think this idea may have been brought up in another thread around here somewhere.

This is the thread I was thinking of

[bendrexl]

that's... actually pretty dope.

Thanks!

I'm not sure about XDA but SP does do doubleshot DSA.  Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that don't most custom boards have the led holes on the bottom of the switch?  I could be wrong but I think this idea may have been brought up in another thread around here somewhere.

This is the thread I was thinking of

Thanks for the link, right on point.

You're 100% right, LED location directly behind the legend is critical for legends not looking like crap - I should add that to the goals list. I have a set of vortex pbt caps, and any double-decker legends (number row) are inconsistent and do not look good at all.

I think that point reinforces the value of a uniform spherical profile for this set - caps could be rotated to align with the LEDs. As long as the board is consistent about top-bottom, hopefully it wouldn't look bad - just different.

[japanitrat]

Great idea, imho! Would buy in an instant. DSA doubleshot with translucent POM, I suppose. I wonder how it would look in natural lighting then.
I very much like the different, simple geometric variants. Something that I wanted to do in DSA Discovery as well but never gotten around to (sorry for the plug :>). These look great, though. Keep it up.

Not sure what you mean by aligning the legends with the LEDs, though. I thought those wouldn't be the shine-trhough material to keep it cheap. Hence you wouldn't seem them with LEDs turned on anyhow, no?

P.S.: switch LED location depends on the PCB of course. Many customs have south-facing LEDs but the B.pad or the B.87 can be ordered in both options, iirc. Whitefox is another example which has north-facing LEDs.

[Edit] Oh oh, by legend you mean the lines. Not actual legends.

[bendrexl]

Great idea, imho! Would buy in an instant. DSA doubleshot with translucent POM, I suppose. I wonder how it would look in natural lighting then.
I very much like the different, simple geometric variants. Something that I wanted to do in DSA Discovery as well but never gotten around to (sorry for the plug :>). These look great, though. Keep it up.

Not sure what you mean by aligning the legends with the LEDs, though. I thought those wouldn't be the shine-trhough material to keep it cheap. Hence you wouldn't seem them with LEDs turned on anyhow, no?

P.S.: switch LED location depends on the PCB of course. Many customs have south-facing LEDs but the B.pad or the B.87 can be ordered in both options, iirc. Whitefox is another example which has north-facing LEDs.

[Edit] Oh oh, by legend you mean the lines. Not actual legends.

Yep, I should probably call them "accents", since these would have no true legends. Sorry for the confusion

In natural/bright light, the lines would be subdued against a dark color, and invisible on lighter shades. But having the LED directly behind the accent should maximize the amount of light allowed thru - depending on the width of the bars, these should appear noticeably brighter than normal translucent legends.

And I love your work on the Discovery set, thanks for the link - very unique, with a clear theme and cool realistic/plausible vibe. I normally prefer icon mods, but those inverted bar text labels are awesome.

[Data]

Need to see more, but pretty good chance I'd be in for a set of these.

[bendrexl]

Need to see more, but pretty good chance I'd be in for a set of these.

Great idea, imho! Would buy in an instant.

I'll do another mockup when I have a chance - out of curiousity, what boards would you see yourself using a set like this on?

[Data]

Need to see more, but pretty good chance I'd be in for a set of these.

Great idea, imho! Would buy in an instant.

I'll do another mockup when I have a chance - out of curiousity, what boards would you see yourself using a set like this on?

Mostly the smaller boards: Atomic, maybe a 75%, would look good on the Exent.

[japanitrat]

Great idea, imho! Would buy in an instant. DSA doubleshot with translucent POM, I suppose. I wonder how it would look in natural lighting then.
I very much like the different, simple geometric variants. Something that I wanted to do in DSA Discovery as well but never gotten around to (sorry for the plug :>). These look great, though. Keep it up.

Not sure what you mean by aligning the legends with the LEDs, though. I thought those wouldn't be the shine-trhough material to keep it cheap. Hence you wouldn't seem them with LEDs turned on anyhow, no?

P.S.: switch LED location depends on the PCB of course. Many customs have south-facing LEDs but the B.pad or the B.87 can be ordered in both options, iirc. Whitefox is another example which has north-facing LEDs.

[Edit] Oh oh, by legend you mean the lines. Not actual legends.

Yep, I should probably call them "accents", since these would have no true legends. Sorry for the confusion

In natural/bright light, the lines would be subdued against a dark color, and invisible on lighter shades. But having the LED directly behind the accent should maximize the amount of light allowed thru - depending on the width of the bars, these should appear noticeably brighter than normal translucent legends.

And I love your work on the Discovery set, thanks for the link - very unique, with a clear theme and cool realistic/plausible vibe. I normally prefer icon mods, but those inverted bar text labels are awesome.

Thanks man!

Not sure if the accents would be invisible on lighter caps. But that might actually not be an issue. Would still look cool, imho, since they line up.
I'd love to see a mock up for a "regular" layout (read: non-split) as well!
60%, 65%, 75%, those are the ones