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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Lu_e on Mon, 05 March 2012, 12:52:18

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Lu_e on Mon, 05 March 2012, 12:52:18

Hi first time thread poster hopefully this is the right section...

So... some people find the extra keys to the left on a BWU kinda pesky and just remove them if they don't use them, like me.

Now I saw this thread on teamliquid regarding StarCraft II pro LiquidHayprO's BWU; http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=315555

with this picture; (http://i.imgur.com/WF6SN.jpg)

& now I really want to know what that piece of plastic is/where it came from! haha. Especially if it 'stays put' without having to take the board apart

:noidea: anyone have suggestions? besides my current 'packing-tape' cover of course... :) I even tried asking in his chat when he was streaming earlier but didnt get a response... & don't want to be bothersome or annoying.

Thanks for any help,
Lou

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Squelos on Mon, 05 March 2012, 13:49:28

Change boards ? Really, the BW isnt the best of boards. Why bother ?
You could go for a plexiglass cover, if you are half skilled with tools. Shouldnt be too hard to cut to the right dimension. Just dont forget to cut a little wider, you can always remove material, but you cant add material.

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Mon, 05 March 2012, 14:58:47

You are looking for 'key blockers' and you can get them from x-keys (http://xkeys.com/accessories/keycaps1a.php).

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Lu_e on Mon, 05 March 2012, 18:51:44

Thank you I didn't know 'key blockers' existed. :)

ahhh too bad they're $13 shipping on a $5 product :(

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Mon, 05 March 2012, 19:15:45

Well you did know they existed, just not what term to look for to find them. Shipping is sometimes more expensive than the product, that's just one of those things. Maybe you could buy some relegendable keycaps too? The translucent light blue might look cool with the blue backlight, though the key profile will be wildly different than your stock keycaps.

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Lu_e on Mon, 05 March 2012, 21:53:02

Yeah thanks for the suggestions everyone... just working with what I have here and having fun with it so far. If the board breaks then I will warranty it and maybe look into something else.

Those xkeys key blockers must snap onto the stem depressing the switch? anyone have pics of them on other boards? they almost look made specifically for their offerings.

Any other links on different 'key blockers'? my googling has them at a pretty rare commodity... but I also have just gotten into keyboard designs. Got some single keycaps on the way from the classifieds :)

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Mon, 05 March 2012, 22:00:43

Yes they latch on to the switch housing top. If you pull off a keycap, and look you can see how it works. It does depress the switch stem, but if you don't have razers software installed to program the macros they are dead switch so shouldn't cause any issues. They are pretty universal really. Worst comes to worst you might have to trim the edges with a hobby knife so they sit flush in the BW case body. Some other POS sellers might offer them, but likely will cost more. X-keys is the cheapest seller I found for US.

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Lu_e on Mon, 05 March 2012, 22:14:14

Thanks a lot! Looking at my blue switches; I wonder if the LED's will cause problems? hmmm..

& i'm pretty diy so modifying/trimming things shouldn't be a problem. I was actually thinking about lexan as suggested since I have some machinist friends.

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Mon, 05 March 2012, 22:31:21

No the led sit lower than the blockers which just snap on to the housing top. X-keys stuff actually does have an led so they are designed with that in mind. I am pretty sure they will be usable for your purposes. Just not 100% certain on side clearances for the case body on the BW. They might be ever so slightly too wide or slight gap.

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Supertoaster on Mon, 05 March 2012, 23:15:12

Why do people think the macros are so ugly? If you cover them up wouldn't it makes the keyboard look broken or incomplete - looking? People said it bugged them because it caused people to mess up when they typed but it only took me a day to get used to them + the feel of Cherry MX Blues

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Lu_e on Mon, 05 March 2012, 23:36:28

They just annoy my left pinky and are useless to me.

With them off I can rest my pinky/left hand on the side of the capslock/shift keys instead of on top of the macro keys. Or it wouldn't be an option at all. idk they just feel restricting to my left hands movements or position I guess.

I also probably have bigger hands than 90% of the people on here. (6'4")

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: Lu_e on Fri, 09 March 2012, 03:07:02

Quote from: lysol;536007

You are looking for 'key blockers' and you can get them from http://xkeys.com/accessories/keycaps1a.php.

Hey I just noticed you linked me the non-Cherry specific ones btw! which are a different design.

http://piengineering.com/accessories/keycaps1c.php *

sent them an email regarding postage

Title: Black Widow macro key 'cover'... ideas...?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Fri, 09 March 2012, 11:30:58

I thought they only did have mx ones... my bad.