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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: HMTR on Mon, 13 September 2010, 20:18:03

Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Mon, 13 September 2010, 20:18:03: Hello,

I'm looking for somewhere to purchase keycap sets for Cherry MX series keys. It seems that every time I find a supplier, the products get discontinued.

I make keyboards for a machine tool control that is obsoleted. The keys are labeled a little different from a standard keyboard so I had stickers made. I can use blank or pre-printed keycaps, and just sticker over them.

I started out with the deck blank keycaps, they discontinued them. I switched to elite keyboards Filco replacement sets, and just found out they are discontinued.

I'm almost to the point to where I'm going to have to raise my prices, and buy a complete keyboard and rob the caps off of them.

I use almost every key from a 105 key set.

Thanks in advance.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: chongyixiong on Mon, 13 September 2010, 20:59:39: http://www.armygroup.com.tw/shop/goods.php?id=4465
These guys ship worlwide and accept Paypal as payment.
Prices are in Taiwan Dollars (TWD)

These guys however require a bank transfer (or maybe Paypal, last I dealt with them was 1.5 years ago and they *might* have improved?)

Ducky blank keys
http://www.inpad.com.tw/goods.php?act=view&no=1617

Cherry G80 blank PBT keycaps
http://www.inpad.com.tw/goods.php?act=view&no=1021

Ducky Black on Black
http://www.inpad.com.tw/goods.php?act=view&no=1619
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Mon, 13 September 2010, 22:18:59: Wow!!! Thanks for the great info and fast response.

Now i just need a translator! Google didn't do a very good job translating the top link you listed, which is exactly what I need.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: skartt on Tue, 14 September 2010, 00:54:44: carefully with the ducky tho, caps lock, scroll lock, F1-F12 may be different than what you expect.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: elbowglue on Tue, 14 September 2010, 02:46:18: You guys think that last one on the bottom would fit a filco keyboard exactly?
(this one:)
Ducky Black on Black
http://www.inpad.com.tw/goods.php?act=view&no=1619

Damn I can't seem to navigate to checkout (curse my english only speaking).. do you order straight from the website to ship to US or through a broker? someone's gotta hold my hand through this heh :P
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: lmnop on Tue, 14 September 2010, 06:25:56: Deck 2-Piece Blanks are still available at Performance-PCS (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=deck+blank).
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Tue, 14 September 2010, 06:50:50: I will gladly pay someone to order these for me.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: lmnop on Tue, 14 September 2010, 07:44:32: I think Performance-PCS ships worldwide.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 14 September 2010, 09:19:13: Man, they must have some stupid ducks if they fall for those decoys. That's like getting arrested for solicitation by trying to pay for sex from a blow up doll.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Tue, 14 September 2010, 15:19:31: Same problem here. I can't get the Filco key caps added to my shopping cart. I think the quality of the Filcos was a little better than the Deck sets. I'm pretty desperate right now, so I guess I'll grab a few deck sets and a copy of Rosetta Stone chinese and see if I can get some Filco's coming!
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: didjamatic on Tue, 14 September 2010, 15:38:18: Quote from: lmnop;223094
Deck 2-Piece Blanks are still available at Performance-PCS (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=deck+blank).

Anyone use those blank ones? I like them quite a bit.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Tue, 14 September 2010, 15:43:02: I kinda buy in volume. One of the keyboards I make requires 16 1X1.5 keys. I ordered them in bulk from Signature Plastics. Great company!!!!

The problem is the rest of the keys are onesie-twosie stuff on the keyboard sets, and I have to order a bunch of them to get a decent price, with the exception of the 1x1's.

I am however going to put together a list of what I need and take a run at Signature Plastics.

I didn't really do enough research on this stuff before I went down this road. I thought getting keycaps would be the easy part of the deal, and the electronics part would be the hard part! After my first batch of keyboards came in from the electronics shop, I got really depressed when I realized how expensive it is to have custom keycaps made, or even stickers for that matter!
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: didjamatic on Tue, 14 September 2010, 15:47:53: Have any pics of your keyboard?
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Tue, 14 September 2010, 16:18:00: Here is an unfinished set. I am lucky that another board on the control does the decoding of the keyboard. I just had to reverse engineer the matrix and lay it all out.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Tue, 14 September 2010, 16:49:42: The deck blanks seem kind of cheap. The top of the keycap is just a tiny bit smaller than the other brands, requiring me to get my stickers centered perfect so they don't hang over the edges. Major pita, but it's better than nothing. Also the factory space bar on the keyboards that I make is like a 1X8, so I made it into three different keys. Not a problem since nobody ever uses the space bar on these machines.. I have to paint the decks to get rid of the hideous white centers on my space keys.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: washuai on Tue, 14 September 2010, 17:04:44: Oh, you use stickers on the Deck Blanks. I guess that is better/easier than stencils and industrial sharpies.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Tue, 14 September 2010, 17:08:37: Yeah, I had Datacal make me stickers. Very high quality. Pretty pricey if you have a custom layout like I did. This manufacturer mixed up some of the shifted keys. Like a shift-2 gives you a ", a shift -8 gives you (

It was much cheaper than having custom printed caps made. You have to order like 100 of each key to get the price even close to reasonable. I might ship 10-20 of these units a year, and try to keep the cost down so the smaller mom-pop type machine owners can afford them.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: ricercar on Tue, 14 September 2010, 19:34:22: What does your custom-keyboarded machine do?
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: WhiteRice on Tue, 14 September 2010, 20:05:11: Quote from: ricercar;223415
What does your custom-keyboarded machine do?
(http://p-images.veoh.com/image.out?imageId=media-v6552481HkM25QBS1206971943.jpg)
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: a_fluffy_kitten on Tue, 14 September 2010, 20:09:57: Quote from: WhiteRice;223433
Show Image
(http://p-images.veoh.com/image.out?imageId=media-v6552481HkM25QBS1206971943.jpg)

Can't be that; those only need one button...
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Wed, 15 September 2010, 07:26:36: These keyboards fit Acramatic 950 controls. They are used on machine tools (lathes, mills). Cincinnati Milacron made them in the beginning, then later they sold their controls division. Typical story, the company that bought it also made controls, and they don't always want to support the older equipment.

The control can be found on some of the biggest machines in the world, or it may be found on a machine in someone's garage.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: HMTR on Wed, 15 September 2010, 22:21:21: Woo-Hoo!!!! I made some progress!!! https://www.armygroup.com.tw let me add the filco's to the shopping cart. Must have been some site problems the last couple of days. After I put 5 sets in my cart, I was sure it would take me straight to a paypal page. NOPE! It takes me to a page to login or create an account.
Once again lost since google translate will not translate that page at all.
Title: Cherry MX keycaps
Post by: didjamatic on Wed, 15 September 2010, 22:29:14: Cool board, thanks for posting.

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=12491&d=1284499046)