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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: timw4mail on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:33:12

Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:33:12
Some keyboards are shinier than others. But how shiny your keys are can indicated how well used a keyboard is.

My Scorpius M10 with it's blank Filco keys betrays the fact that I don't use the right shift key.

What does your keyboard say about you?
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:35:03
My keyboards say that my hands are dirty sometimes.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:37:01
All I know is that my HHKB doesn't have shiny keys, except for a little spot on the spacebar, and it's been abused for 10-12 hours a day for several months now.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:42:23
Quote from: itlnstln;202530
All I know is that my HHKB doesn't have shiny keys, except for a little spot on the spacebar, and it's been abused for 10-12 hours a day for several months now.

Well, these blank Filco keys are known for getting shiny quickly. My netbook keyboard is much less shiny than my Scorpius for that reason.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:47:52
My Filco caps never went shiny. One of those 'depends on how sweaty the user is' things?
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:48:19
I don't know how much you have been lurking over the past couple of months, but Majestouch is working on sourcing double-shot caps for Filcos from Signature Plastics.  While they won't be blank, they should be better quality.  The Geekhack caps that have come from them have been pretty awesome.  If the Filco caps work for your Scorpius, those might be an option for you if they come to fruition.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:49:21
Quote from: ch_123;202536
My Filco caps never went shiny. One of those 'depends on how sweaty the user is' things?


All three sets I had went shiny in a couple of weeks.  Then again, I tend to be pretty abrasive at times.

*rimshot*
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:52:10
Quote from: itlnstln;202537
I don't know how much you have been lurking over the past couple of months, but Majestouch is working on sourcing double-shot caps for Filcos from Signature Plastics.  While they won't be blank, they should be better quality.  The Geekhack caps that have come from them have been pretty awesome.  If the Filco caps work for your Scorpius, those might be an option for you if they come to fruition.

But...I like my shiny blank keys...
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: hyperlinked on Wed, 14 July 2010, 07:57:32
Quote from: itlnstln;202530
All I know is that my HHKB doesn't have shiny keys, except for a little spot on the spacebar, and it's been abused for 10-12 hours a day for several months now.


Your keyboard gives you away. I always suspected that you were undead.

Curiously enough, one of my most abused keys is the ">" key. It must be all those girly smilies I keep making. :>)

Or maybe it's all the HTML coding and PHP programming.

I'm sure I use other keys more, but that's the only one that's starting to rub off and this Filco Brown's been in use for less than a year.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: gr1m on Wed, 14 July 2010, 09:01:56
I'm expecting F5 to go shiny pretty quickly. No better key for trollin'.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: Findecanor on Wed, 14 July 2010, 10:19:19
Most keys on my previous keyboard (Keytronic rubber dome, before I got mechanical) are blank.
The empty space between the arrow keys and the Ins/Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn cluster is also blank. I think that I use to rest my right hand right there.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: sixty on Wed, 14 July 2010, 10:25:20
It took me less than a week to get a shiny spot on my Realforce spacebar. Now after about a month it looks just like the one ripster posted a while ago, if not worse.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 14 July 2010, 10:26:39
Speaking of Ripster, where is he?
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: wellington1869 on Wed, 14 July 2010, 10:44:35
Quote from: ch_123;202590
Speaking of Ripster, where is he?


gh is running low on lego-narrative
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: chongyixiong on Wed, 14 July 2010, 10:48:00
Probably setting up some Lego shots to show off his shiny spacebar.

Yeah, I have shiny keys and the most apparent one is the slightly off center right of the spacebar on my Filco Tenkeyless blank keys.

I think white is still the best if you wanna go blank and want to reduce the easiness of spotting that shiny spacebar. :P
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 14 July 2010, 10:51:22
Quote from: wellington1869;202603
gh is running low on lego-narrative


Totally, it's almost oppressive.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Wed, 14 July 2010, 12:13:03
Quote from: ch_123;202608
Totally, it's almost oppressive.

No wonder you guys missed me. Anything to shake up Geekhack with Ripster missing, eh?
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: microsoft windows on Wed, 14 July 2010, 12:16:32
Yeah. I noticed he's not here too. Maybe he's on vacation or something.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: Superfluous Parentheses on Wed, 14 July 2010, 12:23:33
My Model M doesn't appear to be shiny at all. Dirty, yes.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Wed, 14 July 2010, 12:30:05
Quote from: Superfluous Parentheses;202644
My Model M doesn't appear to be shiny at all. Dirty, yes.

Before I got a set of blank black keys for it, the keys on my 1987 Model M were starting to be a little shiny. It just seems to take the longest for those keys to shine.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: whininggit on Wed, 14 July 2010, 14:53:49
I have been using my Cherry G80-3000 with POM lasered caps for nearly 2 years and only recently has an area begun to appear on the space bar, and even then it is not visible from most angles (and those that it is, barely so). PBT seems to be considerably more wear-resistant than ABS. Even though I don't have any way to quantify "wear", I would guess it's an order of magnitude more durable.

The Logitech keyboards at work have gone shiny (most keys, not just the space-bar) within weeks of the users getting them!
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: hyperlinked on Wed, 14 July 2010, 15:51:04
Quote from: ch_123;202590
Speaking of Ripster, where is he?


Well ask yourself this: Has anyone ever seen Ripster and webwit in the same room together?

Didn't think so!
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: d4rkst4r on Wed, 14 July 2010, 16:11:53
I thought I heard Ripster mention he was heading to the far east in July. I don't remember where, though.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 14 July 2010, 16:46:51
Quote from: d4rkst4r;202708
I thought I heard Ripster mention he was heading to the far east in July. I don't remember where, though.


JAPAN.  (said in SFII announcer's voice)
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: hyperlinked on Wed, 14 July 2010, 16:49:08
Quote from: itlnstln;202726
JAPAN.  (said in SFII announcer's voice)

JAPAN... APAN... APAN... PAN...

Oh ****. I have the Didjamatic reverb turned on again.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: ricercar on Thu, 15 July 2010, 22:52:41
yeah, rip's in Japan. And he wouldn't take any pre-orders either. The bastard.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Fri, 16 July 2010, 08:19:34
Quote from: ricercar;203208
yeah, rip's in Japan. And he wouldn't take any pre-orders either. The bastard.

I wish I could go to Japan...
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: SLM on Fri, 16 July 2010, 19:09:25
I'm happily hacking around on a very used eBay black G80-8200 with double shots.  That big ole Enter key is worn smooth and shiny but God only knows how much use it saw before I got it.  I wish I knew somebody who could do the sandblast thing to it to make it look mostly new again.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: timw4mail on Mon, 19 July 2010, 13:03:26
Quote from: SLM;203463
I'm happily hacking around on a very used eBay black G80-8200 with double shots.  That big ole Enter key is worn smooth and shiny but God only knows how much use it saw before I got it.  I wish I knew somebody who could do the sandblast thing to it to make it look mostly new again.

Shiny double-shots? Must have been quite used.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 19 July 2010, 15:13:24
Quote from: ricercar;203208
yeah, rip's in Japan. And he wouldn't take any pre-orders either. The bastard.


I demand a 5576-003 as tribute.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: microsoft windows on Mon, 19 July 2010, 16:43:49
Quote from: timw4mail;204132
Shiny double-shots? Must have been quite used.


My white Alps keyboard with double-shots has pretty worn-out key surfaces.
Title: How shiny are your keys?
Post by: SLM on Mon, 19 July 2010, 23:03:45
Quote from: timw4mail;204132
Shiny double-shots? Must have been quite used.


Oh I'm sure.  I have no idea what type of business it was used in.  I've never bothered to take it apart, just pulled a couple keys here and there.  Some of the used eBay boards look like they took them from a dry cleaner or clothing factory there's so much lint under the keys but this one is actually quite clean in that regard, just the Enter that's shiny.  It might help that the F keys and arrow keys are the clear topped ones.

It's a big honking board but it has browns and NKRO so I've been digging it for quite a while now.