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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: NorrisB on Sat, 16 June 2012, 08:38:33

Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: NorrisB on Sat, 16 June 2012, 08:38:33
A Filco I bought came with blank keycaps but no idea what keys go wheere, there is like a number on the bottum of the cap but no idea what it means
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: DanGWanG on Sat, 16 June 2012, 08:44:36
They are sorted by row profile height. So you'll need to manually figure that out by matching key profiles up.  Pretty much the worst task in the world :)
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: Djuzuh on Sat, 16 June 2012, 08:49:54
The top two rows and the bottom two rows have the same profile btw.
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: Autolyze on Sat, 16 June 2012, 09:04:28
Sorting blanks isn't *that* horrible. It's a bit daunting at first, but it helps to approach it a little like a jigsaw puzzle.

You should probably ignore the numbers on the bottom, and just keep in mind that all of the keys for a given row will be the same profile. First find the keys that only go in a particular place. Space, mods, and shifts for row 1; Caps, enter, f, and j for row 2; Tab and pipe for row 3; Backspace for row 4. Then find the single unit keys that match those profiles. You can line up keys that you think are the same profile and then try to get eye-level with them to confirm that they've got the same height and slope.

It depends on the exact keys you've got, but usually the row 1 keys will be the most slanted away from you, the row 2 keys will be noticeably less slanted, the row 3 keys will be closer to flat and slightly taller, and the row 4 keys will be by far the flattest and tallest.

Have fun!
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Sat, 16 June 2012, 10:27:48
Depends what the numbers/letters on the bottom are, some sets have 1,2,3,4 or A,B,C,D so it is sort of obvious what they are for and makes sorting fast.
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: reaper on Sat, 16 June 2012, 11:55:38
Quote from: NorrisB;614705
A Filco I bought came with blank keycaps but no idea what keys go wheere, there is like a number on the bottum of the cap but no idea what it means

Drive over to Santa Monica and I'll help you sort them.  Just buy me Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks or something. =P
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: mmmty on Sat, 16 June 2012, 13:35:32
There are R1, R2, R3 at the bottom of the keys. You can also compare them back-of-key to back-of-key. Good luck and may the force be with you...
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: yearn4 on Sat, 16 June 2012, 14:25:44
you can kind of tell which keys belong in which row.
what you do first is categorize them by their shape.
once you do that, the rest is easy because the bottom row will curve downward and as you go up the rows the curve will slowly rotate up
Title: How do you install blank keycaps
Post by: MMB on Sat, 16 June 2012, 14:42:35
Typically, most keycaps have the row printed on the underside, such as "R3" to indicate which row they belong. Not all of them do, but you might get lucky.