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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 13:05:54

Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 13:05:54: Arrived back home after a dog walk to find a very sturdy package behind the bins :)
Seriously good packing from Dougy.

Just one quick pic and a few notes.

The linear switches feels good to me I like them a lot.
I think like Xsphat says these will be very nice once broken in.

The construction is not great but about the same as all cherry boards so I knew what to expect.
the key caps are very thick! they do not have the white inlaid but are still double wall thickness.
the letters are painted on and are a bit rough to touch.
Anyone know what would get the paint off? this would look cool blank.

I was going to swap out the blacks for browns but I am liking them a lot at the moment.
Very good for games, I guess thats why deck and steelseries use them.

I will post a proper review once I have used it for a week or so.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/laurie47/DSC00152-3.jpg)

Oh and Dougy I need your paypal address for the shipping.
Thanks again for doing this mate I appreciate it immensely.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 13:41:06: Quote from: lam47;20145
the letters are painted on and are a bit rough to touch.
Anyone know what would get the paint off? this would look cool blank.

If that's a recent board it has POM caps. They are not painted. This is melted plastic that goes into the cap. I don't think you can remove it without ruining the keycap. I tried it on my mini.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 14:11:35: No they are painted for sure.
Its recent but there is no mistaking the paint.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/laurie47/DSC00156-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/laurie47/DSC00159-2.jpg)
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 14:22:08: I thought that too until I started scratching it off.

Not sure if my caps are the same though. The white 'paint' on mine looks a bit like inlaid mother-of-pearl. Don't know how to describe it otherwise.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 14:39:30: Mine looks like roughly applied tipex! Do you have a picture of yours?
Is it also from Dougy? I would be surprised if they were different.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: itlnstln on Thu, 29 January 2009, 14:51:42: Quote
The white 'paint' on mine looks a bit like inlaid mother-of-pearl.

Damn, a black keyboard with inlaid MOP would be awesome.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 15:01:50: No, it's not from him.

The pic is blurry but in the others I had the keys were overexposed:

(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2876/pomsi9.jpg)
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: Ulysses31 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 15:27:25: Who's Dougy? How much was the board?
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 15:47:52: Quote from: lowpoly;20162
No, it's not from him.

The pic is blurry but in the others I had the keys were overexposed:

Show Image
(http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2876/pomsi9.jpg)

So are these white on the inside?
Like these pom caps.

(http://myweb.hinet.net/home4/lozb/kb/c158.jpg)
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 16:06:32: No, black inside. They're not double injection molded.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 16:10:33: Oh sorry my mistake.
You can see the black through the white on mine and it is pretty lumpy.

Is yours the ps2 one or USB?
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 16:11:29: Quote from: Ulysses31;20164
Who's Dougy? How much was the board?

Dougy is the chap who bought these of off ebay.
The retail in this country is £120
He got them for $35 each :)
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 16:29:55: It's usb combo. It comes with the ps/s adapter.

Mine are see-through too. Not always, more around the edges. As if the process is applied in layers. Is it that what you mean with 'lumpy'?
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 16:59:22: no not quite. I will take some better macro shots tomorrow so you can get a better look.

I'm interested though. What does POM stand for?
Any links to info about the process
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: itlnstln on Thu, 29 January 2009, 17:01:18: It's a plastic made from natural fruit resins; see here (http://www.pomwonderful.com/).

J/K
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: dougy on Thu, 29 January 2009, 17:10:22: The keycap note made me take out a microscope and check out the lettering. While I initially thought the lettering was concave at 30x its clear the lettering is convex. Using a micro-chisel I removed a clear plastic layer, then took the lettering down flush with the keycap. There was still white at that point, so I went deeper to remove all the white. At a guess the white is inlaid so that about double the thickness protruding above the cap is set below the surface. The bottom of the inlay is smooth whereas the key surface is rough. Just guessing here, but imagine that the key is made smooth, the legend is stamped in, using some process unknown to me white plastic "sprayed" on, and then the entire key cap is coated with another plastic. I tried pictures of my very ruined + key, but don't have enough magnification to show up.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 17:29:55: I think we have the same keycaps. The model code says they're lasered. If that's right, a laser is used somewhere in the process. And the white lettering feels as if it s made of the same plastic as the keycap, just a different color.

You ruined your keycap. :(
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 17:45:05: Thats a mad way of adding the lettering.
The white on mine does not seem to be the same king of plastic to me.
I might see if it can be sanded flat with tcut without spoiling the top of the key.
Or it might look quite cool to dye the keys black to have black on black lettering.

It just feels a bit odd having the letters protruding from the keys.

Sorry you messed up your key dougy :(
I have an item ending tomorrow on ebay so will send you the shipping money then.
You are a star mate.

Have you tried the software it came with? Im looking for a way to increase the speed of the track pad :)

Just noticed it does not have the little bumps on f and j?
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lowpoly on Thu, 29 January 2009, 17:55:54: Quote from: lam47;20190
Just noticed it does not have the little bumps on f and j?

The concave is deeper.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: Chloe on Thu, 29 January 2009, 18:17:50: Quote from: lam47;20190
It just feels a bit odd having the letters protruding from the keys.

The lasered keycaps on my G84-4700 feel like this.

POM (http://www.polymerweb.com/_datash/pom.html) is used for black Cherry dye sublimated keycaps.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: lam47 on Thu, 29 January 2009, 19:22:07: Quote from: lowpoly;20191
The concave is deeper.

Derrr I'm being seriously simple today I didn't even notice that!
I'm going to shut up for a bit I think.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: cmr on Thu, 29 January 2009, 19:33:15: i love the red escape!

just looks a little too far away for me as a vim user...
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: dougy on Thu, 29 January 2009, 21:10:47: The embarrassing truth is all I wanted the board for was the keycaps. I might have a use for the controller because its easy to get at and use, but the switches, pcb and case are of no use at all.

Don't feel bad about the concave, I thought I looked closely at the caps and didn't see that.
Title: Thanks for the cherry Dougy!
Post by: dougy on Thu, 29 January 2009, 21:26:25: POM is delrin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetal_resin

It's a high strength plastic that machines readily. I've used it to replace wood bearings in old farm machinery, in places where teflon would wear to quickly.