Author Topic: keycap DIY (Read 41326 times)

__red__ · « **Reply #50 on:** Wed, 03 October 2012, 15:06:38 »

A requested, photo of my mold.

neeb · « **Reply #51 on:** Wed, 03 October 2012, 15:43:04 »

Awesome work Red!

__red__ · « **Reply #52 on:** Thu, 04 October 2012, 19:10:57 »

I have 30 minuets to my next Dee-mold time. If the spilt plastic is anything to go by we're about to start an obsession :-)

__red__ · « **Reply #53 on:** Thu, 04 October 2012, 20:20:07 »

Tah dah!

jeroplane · « **Reply #54 on:** Thu, 04 October 2012, 20:49:53 »

Imagine those on a backlit keyboard. Great colour, and the molds are looking neat!

jwaz · « **Reply #55 on:** Thu, 04 October 2012, 20:56:17 »

Woah that raspberry color is great, are the stems firm enough to take a beating?

neeb · « **Reply #56 on:** Thu, 04 October 2012, 21:29:20 »

Red: Wow, that's effing awesome! I would love to see some more videos (if possible) when you have some free time man, epic work so far! How many keycaps are you making at a time? It looks like there's quite a few on the 2nd attached image of your last post. Also, have you tried anything for MX yet?

Matt3o: Anything new in your efforts? I know you were waiting for a better keycap to arrive to make a mold from; I'd love to see how your little gems are coming along

!

Computer-Lab in Basement: Have you punched out any keys yet with your new supplies?

Really awesome work all of you, and anyone else that's been trying this and hasn't posted/posted in another thread/I forgot about. I think this is probably the most interesting post on GH atm, I would really love to give this a try (and plan to) when I have some extra money

!

Edit: Btw, what is a Model F? Lol. Sorry, I'm still learning when it comes to all of this. The one that you made, is that like the switch/keycap for an IBM Model F or what exactly?

Matt3o · « **Reply #57 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 01:30:59 »

I received the keycaps a couple of days ago, now to the mold!

Actually the next step would be... CNC

I can get one at a very reasonable price (€500) and I'm seriously considering it.

neeb · « **Reply #58 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 01:57:33 »

Quote from: Matt3o on Fri, 05 October 2012, 01:30:59

I received the keycaps a couple of days ago, now to the mold!

Actually the next step would be... CNC I can get one at a very reasonable price (€500) and I'm seriously considering it.

I really don't know much about modeling or anything crafty lol. Can you give a link to something you're considering that would work well for this?

Matt3o · « **Reply #59 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 03:13:46 »

It's a machine controlled mill to build 3D prototypes (from a 3d computer model). The one I should get is similar to this http://www.bluemelon.org/index.php/Products/BM0502_CNC_Mill

neeb · « **Reply #60 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 04:20:26 »

Quote from: Matt3o on Fri, 05 October 2012, 03:13:46

It's a machine controlled mill to build 3D prototypes (from a 3d computer model). The one I should get is similar to this http://www.bluemelon.org/index.php/Products/BM0502_CNC_Mill

So you would create a keycap in the software that goes with that bad boy and then it pops em out?

Matt3o · « **Reply #61 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 04:32:42 »

yes, I could sculpt a prototype I could build a mold from. Would be nice to be able to design any kind of 3D keycap

It would be also possible to build wooden keyboards for example.

neeb · « **Reply #62 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:06:56 »

Quote from: Matt3o on Fri, 05 October 2012, 04:32:42

yes, I could sculpt a prototype I could build a mold from. Would be nice to be able to design any kind of 3D keycap
It would be also possible to build wooden keyboards for example.

Would you be able to do different colors/designs or would this just mold the keycaps and you'd need something different for 3D printing or w/e you wanna call it?

Matt3o · « **Reply #63 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:29:42 »

multiple colors on the same key is extremely complex. The easiest would be to mask and spray color. There's a product called Mr.Masking (by Mr.Hobby) that makes masking pretty easy.

neeb · « **Reply #64 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:39:34 »

Quote from: Matt3o on Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:29:42

multiple colors on the same key is extremely complex. The easiest would be to mask and spray color. There's a product called Mr.Masking (by Mr.Hobby) that makes masking pretty easy.

No no I didn't mean different colors on the same keycap lol. I just meant if you're using one of these CNC mill machines, can you sculpt keycaps in any color you want or does it just sculpt them in some base color that you'd have to change using something else?

Matt3o · « **Reply #65 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:44:50 »

oh well. usually the milling machine is used for the prototype. You can use the prototype to make a mold and cast it in any color. Anyway you could have the CNC milling the final product. In that case you can use any material/color, from wood to aluminum (with everything in between).

neeb · « **Reply #66 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:49:07 »

Quote from: Matt3o on Fri, 05 October 2012, 05:44:50

oh well. usually the milling machine is used for the prototype. You can use the prototype to make a mold and cast it in any color. Anyway you could have the CNC milling the final product. In that case you can use any material/color, from wood to aluminum (with everything in between).

So you would likely be using the mill to make some nice 3D keycap prototypes, then make a mold by hand, and then cast actual keycaps? If that's the case, what are the advantages of that vs using the mill to produce the end product? is it more expensive to use the mill or why exactly would you want to mold/cast by hand instead of the machine?

Matt3o · « **Reply #67 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 06:10:39 »

depends on many factors. The number of keys you want to produce for example, or the material. If you want an aluminum key of course you have to mill it directly.

CNC is usually pretty slow. It might need 1 hour to make one side of the cap. So if you need a lot of keys you better make a mold. Also with a mold you have a wider range of colors you can choose from while you might not be able to find the prototyping plastic in the color you want.

neeb · « **Reply #68 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 06:13:26 »

Quote from: Matt3o on Fri, 05 October 2012, 06:10:39

depends on many factors. The number of keys you want to produce for example, or the material. If you want an aluminum key of course you have to mill it directly.

CNC is usually pretty slow. It might need 1 hour to make one side of the cap. So if you need a lot of keys you better make a mold. Also with a mold you have a wider range of colors you can choose from while you might not be able to find the prototyping plastic in the color you want.

Ahhh I see now, thanks for clarifying all of that. I apologize for the 20 questions there, I just find all of this extremely fascinating xD

__red__ · « **Reply #69 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 08:57:23 »

Make sure you have deep pockets for the CNC. The software chain is insanely expensive.

I'd start with casting an existing key / keycap. Get that process down before you start milling wax.

Red

Matt3o · « **Reply #70 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 09:02:25 »

Quote from: __red__ on Fri, 05 October 2012, 08:57:23

Make sure you have deep pockets for the CNC. The software chain is insanely expensive.

why you say so? most of the softwares are free.

__red__ · « **Reply #71 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 10:15:04 »

Not for three or four axis control.

Matt3o · « **Reply #72 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 10:44:29 »

I have a license for Mach3 which is an up to 6-axis CNC controller and it wasn't expensive at all (I paid less than $100 at the time I believe). It's not probably the most sophisticated software around, but it works.

Also there's a linux distro dedicated to CNC that is completely free.

__red__ · « **Reply #73 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 11:02:48 »

The money isn't in the control software. The money is in the G-Code generators. CAM.

Matt3o · « **Reply #74 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 11:10:38 »

don't remember what I have as g-code generator. I built a cnc many years ago and indeed ending up with a good g-code wasn't easy. Lots of tweaking is needed. But if the model is not horribly complicated shouldn't be a problem.

alvinliang · « **Reply #75 on:** Fri, 05 October 2012, 13:19:45 »

it looks so cool, i wanna make my own key cap

__red__ · « **Reply #76 on:** Sat, 13 October 2012, 16:16:20 »

I have fully functional caps using the problematic plastic.

I did it with red dye because I wanted to see the difference between easy plastic and hard plastic with the dye.

Anyways, photos!

smilertoo · « **Reply #77 on:** Sat, 23 May 2015, 13:56:33 »

Don't you get resins that you bake with UV lighting?

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Author Topic: keycap DIY (Read 41326 times)