geekhack

geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 10:42:25

Title: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 10:42:25
Demik has said that he prefers the old gh key group buys because everyone got a say in their design. There are two reasons why I haven't carried that forward. First, to keep things expedient, I invested seed money into a 'gh fund' to pay for a run of caps every month. Second, I have been working with SP on utilizing new experimental processes to produce some of the keys that can't really be run by the community for various reasons.

However, now that things are rolling, I think it's time for the community to bring its voice in to help design the monthly keycaps. The gh fund I established will still be paying for a limited run of caps every month, and those caps will still be fulfilled by at least one vendor who donates his or her time to gh (huge thanks to boilermaker for doing this for the past few months!). However, I absolutely want the community to help or completely design at least some of the caps (I still want to be able to surprise everyone though! :)).

My thought is that the May keycap or keycap set should be community-designed. To that end, BRING IT ON. Let's start brainstorming! You know at least a subset of the processes we have access to, so start throwing out ideas, svgs, anything you've got!

However, I do need to institute one rule. Please do not email Signature Plastic sales directly about your idea, concepts, processes, etc. Keep the discussion on the board and please let me remain the point of contact with SP sales; it is easiest both for me and for SP this way, as SP has a limited amount of resources to devote to pre-sales support.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key
Post by: esoomenona on Mon, 04 March 2013, 10:45:19
-Reserved for my creative input.-
Title: Community-designed geekhack monthly key
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 11:01:31
reserved for my constructive rebuttal
Title: Community-designed geekhack monthly key
Post by: Halverson on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:00:22
Reserved for the dance party~
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key
Post by: Tym on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:01:07
<<PM to buy this reserved slot>>
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:03:35
1st
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key
Post by: Acetrak on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:08:15
Reserved for my attempt at a witty remark
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:18:33
reserved to announce release of reservation
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:21:07
reserved pending announcement of future reservations
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:26:12
What would an April Fool's Day keycap look like? I dunno, an inverted, reversed GeekHack logo? I've always wanted to see an erasable keycap of some sort -- like a whiteboard, or a chalkboard finish. Of course, your fingers would eventually wipe off the self-written legend, but still. How about that? We make whiteboard keycaps, and then admins and mods write 'G' and 'H' on them by hand?

How about a DSA-themed GH-of-the-month keycap? Maybe a wallet in a circle with a slash?
Title: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Halverson on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:27:40
We need a new alps flavor GH cap!
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:30:40
you're going to have to do the chalkboard paint yourself; i'm 90% sure SP can't do this.

DSA is definitely doable. Alps not so much (the vast majority of users here are on cherry MX).
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:33:23
i will say that imsto caps are also very doable, but imsto's production schedule is much more volatile than SP's, especially due to shipping etc. but feel free to propose ideas that he can accomplish but that SP may not be able to do. If we can't use him for may caps we can have him produce caps to be vended at some later date :D
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:35:43
April showers bring May flowers. However flowers are dumb so don't use that idea.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: bavman on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:37:58
<reserved for this statement>

We should do other keys like a gh backspace again or 1.25/1.5 mods
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: GordonZed on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:57:00
I really like the wallet idea, maybe something like that? Like a little wad of cash or something.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 12:57:41
I really like the wallet idea, maybe something like that? Like a little wad of cash or something.

Wait what????
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: JPG on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:03:16
What about something in the likes of a IMSTO GH spacebar!!!

With a design on it for sure!

Could be a white (or grey?) spacebar with the geekhack keys like on the top of the forum on it  :eek:
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Acetrak on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:06:30
I thought the black on red and white on red Cherry sets were really cool. How about a matching orange on grey enter and esc key to match the previous GH pack?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: inlikeflynn on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:06:52
i'm just saying, someday you will break down and get this one made....
(http://i.imgur.com/IHrfC.png) (http://i.imgur.com/IHrfC.png)
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: hashbaz on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:07:59
I always wanted a GEEK HACKED or ROOT WORM key, but I guess that ship has sailed at this point.

I like the wallet idea though.  We should do a standard white-on-red WALLET HACK key in the style of classic GEEK HACK keys.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:08:11
I thought the black on red and white on red Cherry sets were really cool. How about a matching orange on grey enter and esc key to match the previous GH pack?


Something to match the upcoming Skidolch set!?!?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: JPG on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:10:21
I always wanted a GEEK HACKED or ROOT WORM key, but I guess that ship has sailed at this point.

I like the wallet idea though.  We should do a standard white-on-red WALLET HACK key in the style of classic GEEK HACK keys.

I really like the wallet hack idea!
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Halverson on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:16:16
i'm just saying, someday you will break down and get this one made....
(http://i.imgur.com/IHrfC.png) (http://i.imgur.com/IHrfC.png)

Yup! That should be the May cap!
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:19:29
Someone start making mockups of a wallethack design!
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: GordonZed on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:47:11
Someone start making mockups of a wallethack design!

If no one beats me to it, I'll try when I get home from work. I'll also throw together my cash idea cause I feel like it.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Tym on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:50:29
Someone start making mockups of a wallethack design!

If no one beats me to it, I'll try when I get home from work. I'll also throw together my cash idea cause I feel like it.


Me and Shado are working on getting something >.>
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: hashbaz on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:58:14
Doesn't take a lot of design.  Make it just like the standard GH keys:

(http://i.imgur.com/ZoVGcgQ.png)
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Mon, 04 March 2013, 13:58:32
you're going to have to do the chalkboard paint yourself; i'm 90% sure SP can't do this.

DSA is definitely doable. Alps not so much (the vast majority of users here are on cherry MX).

Maybe make a set that would match for any number of the groupbuys currently close to production?

In the 'WalletHack' vein -- design a replacement keycap for the negative sign keycap.  :D

Maybe $ with wings? I know some people are going to laugh at that, saying GH is becoming too capitalistic, etc. -- but I say embrace it.
Title: Re: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Jocelyn on Mon, 04 March 2013, 14:00:55
What about something in the likes of a IMSTO GH spacebar!!!

With a design on it for sure!

Could be a white (or grey?) spacebar with the geekhack keys like on the top of the forum on it  :eek:

This^
I don't even like ABS and would prefer anything Imsto thick PBT :)
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Mon, 04 March 2013, 14:54:17
Ok, to stay within the 'WalletHack' idea -- use a currency, or treasury style font, doubleshot dark gray on a dark green (currency green) keycap.

[attachimg=1]

That's radiant antique font, found here: http://www.fontspace.com/douglas-day/radiantantique
There's also this: http://www.fonts101.com/fonts/view/Standard/11131/Currency

[attachimg=2]

Again, not really sure just how much detail is allowable in a double-shot, I'm sure there must be some upper limit. I could see the individual letters, and some modifers with the fully-written 'GeekHack' using these sorts of fonts. They are all caps, however. Maybe do them in a DSA-style to make them even more retro. I imagine the individual letters being fairly large in order to show the detail.

I also found this: http://abduzeedo.com/money-style-illustration-photoshop - so we can apply that wavy illustration effect across any suitable font. Call them Krog's Kapitalistic Kaps.  :D

EDIT: No, no... call them... 'Krog's Moneyshots'  :cool:
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Mon, 04 March 2013, 14:57:12
That green GH dyesubbed on imsto PBTs.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: CPTBadAss on Mon, 04 March 2013, 14:59:44
I think it'd be cool to have a G and an H from the Nostalgia theme. The font is awesome.

(http://i.imgur.com/tXMPSXa.png)
Title: Re: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Jocelyn on Mon, 04 March 2013, 15:23:22
I think it'd be cool to have a G and an H from the Nostalgia theme. The font is awesome.

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/tXMPSXa.png)


Make a spacebar and use the whole image :D
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Mon, 04 March 2013, 15:27:48
Ok, to stay within the 'WalletHack' idea -- use a currency, or treasury style font, doubleshot dark gray on a dark green (currency green) keycap.

(Attachment Link)

That's radiant antique font, found here: http://www.fontspace.com/douglas-day/radiantantique
There's also this: http://www.fonts101.com/fonts/view/Standard/11131/Currency

(Attachment Link)

Again, not really sure just how much detail is allowable in a double-shot, I'm sure there must be some upper limit. I could see the individual letters, and some modifers with the fully-written 'GeekHack' using these sorts of fonts. They are all caps, however. Maybe do them in a DSA-style to make them even more retro. I imagine the individual letters being fairly large in order to show the detail.

I also found this: http://abduzeedo.com/money-style-illustration-photoshop - so we can apply that wavy illustration effect across any suitable font. Call them Krog's Kapitalistic Kaps.  :D

EDIT: No, no... call them... 'Krog's Moneyshots'  :cool:

I love this with the DSA keys!
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Halverson on Mon, 04 March 2013, 15:29:38
I think it'd be cool to have a G and an H from the Nostalgia theme. The font is awesome.

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/tXMPSXa.png)


Make a spacebar and use the whole image :D

Pad printed ABS right? Your favourite kind of stuff!  :-*
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: CPTBadAss on Mon, 04 March 2013, 15:31:39
I think it'd be cool to have a G and an H from the Nostalgia theme. The font is awesome.

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/tXMPSXa.png)


Make a spacebar and use the whole image :D

Pad printed ABS right? Your favourite kind of stuff!  :-*

You know me so well Sharky. Pad Print or Bust :P  And yes Jocelyn, a spacebar with the whole logo would be hot as well :D
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Tym on Mon, 04 March 2013, 15:33:51
[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 17:42:42
dye subbing spacebars is a huge pita. they have to be done by hand, and there's a high chance of them warping during the sublimation process. the experiments imsto ran for me were basically a negative result in that respect. they look great, but they're far too labor intensive to produce in bulk

tl;dr i'm not going to ask imsto to dyesub anymore spacebars. it's cruel and unusual
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Sai on Mon, 04 March 2013, 19:42:45
(Attachment Link)

for the backspace key so that you don't want to hit it everytime to remind you of wallet hack
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Mon, 04 March 2013, 20:20:21
We should have an Alt key that says "Save" and a F4 key that says "Yourself".
Title: Re: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Jocelyn on Mon, 04 March 2013, 20:33:36
We should have an Alt key that says "Save" and a F4 key that says "Yourself".

Rofl! I think I'd buy that even if they were ABS :)
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: JPG on Mon, 04 March 2013, 20:40:49
Since the spacebar (IMSTO dyesub) is not option (I am sad), I have another idea:

To have GEEK HACK made for the F row, 1 letter per keycap, like having F1-F4 to be GEEK and F5-F8 to be HACK (or wherever you want em).

Same could be done with number row, where we could do geek hack, or wallet hack (1 to 0).
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: GordonZed on Mon, 04 March 2013, 21:06:59
To be honest I'm surprised no one's ever done an alt ctrl del combo, anyone else think that combination could make for a hilarious set of novelty caps?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Mon, 04 March 2013, 21:50:38
GeekHack Moneyshots! Double-shot keycaps, with a capitalistic vibe.




Title: Re: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Jocelyn on Mon, 04 March 2013, 21:52:30
GeekHack Moneyshots! Double-shot keycaps, with a capitalistic vibe.

They makes me think of the federal reserve and the government, not capitalism :(
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: i3oilermaker on Mon, 04 March 2013, 22:13:37
Love the mockups, but DoubleShots can not have that type of fine line detail.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 04 March 2013, 22:22:59
Since the spacebar (IMSTO dyesub) is not option (I am sad), I have another idea:

To have GEEK HACK made for the F row, 1 letter per keycap, like having F1-F4 to be GEEK and F5-F8 to be HACK (or wherever you want em).

Same could be done with number row, where we could do geek hack, or wallet hack (1 to 0).
we've bounced this idea around before, and the only reason i haven't done it yet is that it's a bit expensive. totally possible though, come up with a design and we can iterate on it until it's sufficiently butt kicking to drop the grand or so it will cost :)

also, there's a certain buckling spring-based company that has shown me some pretty cool prototypes in this style... ;)
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Tue, 05 March 2013, 06:55:36
Love the mockups, but DoubleShots can not have that type of fine line detail.

The horizontal fill-lines are too small? What if I doubled the thickness -- think they would be able to handle them then? I intentionally made the letters about as large as I thought I could, in order to avoid that. Well, you've made more keycaps than I have, so I have to trust your judgement on that one. I guess they could dyesub the legends, but it seems like all the GH-related keycaps are double-shots.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 07:56:30
Love the mockups, but DoubleShots can not have that type of fine line detail.
Curious. Is it truly that it can't be done or that it would require too much detail and time, and thus not be worth it?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: nullstring on Tue, 05 March 2013, 08:45:01
Love the mockups, but DoubleShots can not have that type of fine line detail.
Curious. Is it truly that it can't be done or that it would require too much detail and time, and thus not be worth it?

Very few things in this world can't be done with enough effort. But I am going to take a guess in say the SP's current equipment and processes will not yield successful results with detail that fine.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: alaricljs on Tue, 05 March 2013, 08:51:29
There's a minimum width required by 2 things, first and easiest to account for is the tooling size.  The cutter that makes the legends has a minimum diameter.  The 2nd requirement is a little more difficult to account for.  You need to remember that the legend is the first shot, and that the 2nd shot is HOT liquid plastic.  Features on the legend that are too thin will just become a discoloration of the 2nd shot.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: JPG on Tue, 05 March 2013, 08:57:33
Unless we go for imsto dyesub?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:00:19
right, that legend can only be dyesubbed. however, it would have to be dyesubbed on beige, as dye sublimation has contrast issues with darker keys, since the dye must be darker than the key to be visible at all.

eta: imsto is currently out of stock on beige keys. he says he'll get them back in soon, but is not sure exactly when.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Lunartuna on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:03:39
I would buy a set of keys like modifiers or function row that and LED shows through the side of and not the top. Similar to the Vegas Dice set/Feb GH key but with different colours and not so sparkly.

Is side printing an option? Could have a function row with GEEKHACK printed on the side of F1-F8 or F3-F10, that would look sweet with and LED shining through the side behind the lettering.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:03:56
Does he have a money green color PBT cap?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:06:29
Also, regarding the function row, how about a set of F keys, where instead of replacing the whole legend, there is a letter in another color down in the corner, like this (http://imageshack.us/a/img24/3274/img0632hz.jpg)? We could have a whole row, and have the legends on the F3 through F10 keys.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:08:12
Does he have a money green color PBT cap?
afaik he only has blue, dark grey and beige caps.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Turbo Slaab on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:08:47
Does he have a money green color PBT cap?

This! Anything that has to do with money should really be green.....
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:11:16
Hmm... well them I guess that leaves SP's PBT caps. They should have one, right?
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:12:50
I would buy a set of keys like modifiers or function row that and LED shows through the side of and not the top. Similar to the Vegas Dice set/Feb GH key but with different colours and not so sparkly.

Is side printing an option? Could have a function row with GEEKHACK printed on the side of F1-F8 or F3-F10, that would look sweet with and LED shining through the side behind the lettering.

the short answer is no. the only material that can be dye sublimated is PBT, and the clear material we used on the feb keys was polycarbonate (the only plastic SP works with whose base stock is clear).

we can do 2nd shot polycarb in different colors. SP stocks all the colors in the "translucent keys" picture here: http://www.pimpmykeyboard.com/marketplace.php

the sparkly effect under point lighting is due to the refractive nature of polycarbonate, and not something we can really work around. you can lessen the effect by smoothing the surface of your caps with very fine sandpaper (> 1000 grit), but you have to be extremely careful not to scratch the plastic, as that will make it worse.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:14:09
Hmm... well them I guess that leaves SP's PBT caps. They should have one, right?
yep. they can't dyesub green on green though. you should be able to get nice contrast with black on green, but the dye is really going to need to be a lot darker than the cap to get nice contrast with SP's dyesub process.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mashby on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:18:32
So glad this is taking off! Thank you mkawa.  :-*
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:23:44
Yes, i was thinking black on green, like money.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:27:43
So glad this is taking off! Thank you mkawa.  :-*
no kisses, please. i only kiss babies and madonna.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:29:11
^Well, I might wager at least some people around here are like a virgin.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:30:20
There's a minimum width required by 2 things, first and easiest to account for is the tooling size.  The cutter that makes the legends has a minimum diameter.  The 2nd requirement is a little more difficult to account for.  You need to remember that the legend is the first shot, and that the 2nd shot is HOT liquid plastic.  Features on the legend that are too thin will just become a discoloration of the 2nd shot.

I see... what about thickening up the little fill lines? I'll play around with the design tonight and see if it holds up.... wait, something you said - "features on the legend that are too thin will just become a discoloration of the 2nd shot." ... could that be exploited in a positive way? If I understand you correctly the machine that makes the initial 'legend' shot has a minimum diameter, but that even if we go down to that minimum size (or slightly above it) the second shot would just envelope it completely, or just be discolored. A discoloration might actually look kind of cool... maybe? I mean, we had the clear second shot from January I think, so it seems that SP is certainly willing to experiment a bit. Maybe each keycap would have slight differences that are interesting?

I acknowledge that there's a relationship at stake here, with SP and Melissa, and that we don't want to wear out our welcome. So long as that relationship isn't jeopardized, why not show them the design and ask if it's possible? The worst they can say is 'No.' Or -- what we need to do to make it possible. As for the exploitation of this, maybe the resulting smudging of color would be attractive.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:31:52
So glad this is taking off! Thank you mkawa.  :-*
no kisses, please. i only kiss [..snipped..] madonna.

NASTY! LOL
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: JPG on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:32:10
Does he have a money green color PBT cap?
afaik he only has blue, dark grey and beige caps.

Hum, then we could go for money green on beige imsto dyesub?

I like Krogs mockup:

[attach=1]
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Tue, 05 March 2013, 09:43:12
Does he have a money green color PBT cap?
afaik he only has blue, dark grey and beige caps.

Hum, then we could go for money green on beige imsto dyesub?

I like Krogs mockup:


Thanks, I'll put together a black on Green layout.

The more I look at it, the more I can see that the thin inner lines aren't the only issue. The serifs on the letter itself fall into the same category, just too thin. The connector on the 'H' would also probably be way too thin.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: GordonZed on Tue, 05 March 2013, 10:38:51
Does he have a money green color PBT cap?
afaik he only has blue, dark grey and beige caps.

Hum, then we could go for money green on beige imsto dyesub?

I like Krogs mockup:


Thanks, I'll put together a black on Green layout.

The more I look at it, the more I can see that the thin inner lines aren't the only issue. The serifs on the letter itself fall into the same category, just too thin. The connector on the 'H' would also probably be way too thin.

I know we have some designers here, so I'm sure if we had to, someone could pop open Illustrator and modify the font: less/thicker lines, play with the serifs, try and keep the money look while simplifying the glyph for the double shot process. I don't know if anyone is willing to volunteer, I've volunteered for a couple things here but my full-time job has kept me from finding the time.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: i3oilermaker on Tue, 05 March 2013, 10:42:29
I'm happy to help mock-up any plausible ideas since I understand the line thickness limitations.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Krogenar on Tue, 05 March 2013, 10:52:58
I'm happy to help mock-up any plausible ideas since I understand the line thickness limitations.

I used the 'Currency' font, but I can send you these mockups -- I made them in Illustrator. Can I send you an email to techkeys.us?

Also, the other issue is that this would probably only work for 'G' and 'H' -- trying to spell out 'GEEKHACK' for a modifier would probably be impossible. Unless we used a filled-in version of the same font. Not sure if that would look good.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 05 March 2013, 14:33:32
re: 2-shot they have to be converted to path regardless, so do that first, then one can attempt to thicken the lines and up the spacing.

it's necessarily going to look a lot fatter when done as a doubleshot, basically.

re: dyesub. the first color scheme should be ok for dyesub. black on tan should come out with some nice contrast. the second design won't dyesub at all, as the print must be darker than the keycap. basically the text will have to be black to get that out of dyesubbing.

re: 2-shotting very thin lines or inadequate separation. it will almost certainly just look bad, and it will be impossible to do QA. don't bother. think about what's happening. the first shot is formed by injection molding with a grid pattern behind it. then, a second shot of plastic is formed around the first shot. the grid pattern draws the second shot plastic through the first shot. however, both pieces of material are basically molten at this point, and very likely the only thing that keeps the legend formed is the engineering constraints of the legend design. hence, breaking these constraints will cause the legend to melt into the second shot. this will only cause the "clean" bit of discoloration you are imagining if the mixing forces are isometric and normal. if they're not, they could end up mixing in highly unpredictable ways and you'll just get weird ugly tie-dye keys.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: esoomenona on Tue, 05 March 2013, 14:38:45
re: 2-shotting very thin lines or inadequate separation. it will almost certainly just look bad, and it will be impossible to do QA. don't bother. think about what's happening. the first shot is formed by injection molding with a grid pattern behind it. then, a second shot of plastic is formed around the first shot. the grid pattern draws the second shot plastic through the first shot. however, both pieces of material are basically molten at this point, and very likely the only thing that keeps the legend formed is the engineering constraints of the legend design. hence, breaking these constraints will cause the legend to melt into the second shot. this will only cause the "clean" bit of discoloration you are imagining if the mixing forces are isometric and normal. if they're not, they could end up mixing in highly unpredictable ways and you'll just get weird ugly tie-dye keys.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks, kawa.
Title: Re: Community-designed geekhack monthly key thread MAY EDITION
Post by: Lunartuna on Tue, 05 March 2013, 22:38:31
Full modifier set or more singles of second shot polycarb is my vote.