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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Pspboy17 on Mon, 23 December 2013, 21:47:04

Title: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: Pspboy17 on Mon, 23 December 2013, 21:47:04

I'm getting a Classic 104 soon, and I've heard that these keyboards have and don't have 2 piece keycaps. Can someone shine some light on this situation?

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: rowdy on Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:00:24

Perhaps not.

Does it really matter?

Either 2 piece or 1 piece keycaps will fit a Model M or Unicomp Classic, and they are interchangeable, provided you take both parts of the 2 part stem out.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: Pspboy17 on Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:01:56

I could live with one peice, but two would make cleaning quite a bit easier.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: JPG on Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:13:44

Don't you just pull them out to remove them anyway?

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: Pspboy17 on Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:21:20

You can pull out the whole keycap, but I just wanted to know if they did have two part keycaps.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: rowdy on Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:22:24

With 2 piece you can remove just the top piece for cleaning, leaving the bottom piece in place.

Replacement is much easier, as you don't have to line up the spring with the, er, cavity under the keycap when replacing.  The second bit of the keycap just clips back on.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: 0100010 on Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:51:28

Depends on color and size.  The single keys in pebble I think are all 2 peice, while black, white or grey are 1 peice.  Alt, Ctrl and similar sizes are 2 peice, while the wider keys are 1.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: tbc on Mon, 23 December 2013, 23:22:58

the ultra classic I got had two piece keycaps.

http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UNI0P4A

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: Pspboy17 on Mon, 23 December 2013, 23:27:54

So would this one have one piece keycaps?
http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:11:26

I think most of them have double piece these days, at least the last I heard.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: terran5992 on Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:13:59

Two piece is more troublesome in my opinion

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: fohat.digs on Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:59:33

Quote from: terran5992 on Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:13:59

Two piece is more troublesome in my opinion

Both have advantages. 2-piece are easier to work with, 1-piece may be marginally more "solid" although the combined thickness and weight of the 2-piece are probably greater.

I have bought a number of keys from Unicomp (but never in black) and all have been 2-piece including blanks and printed caps in a variety of colors.

As I understand it, black requires pad printing instead of dye sublimation, so that may be why they are different construction.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: Pspboy17 on Tue, 07 January 2014, 12:51:45

I got my Unicomp keyboard today, and it does have two piece keycaps.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: rowdy on Tue, 07 January 2014, 18:50:06

Quote from: Pspboy17 on Tue, 07 January 2014, 12:51:45

I got my Unicomp keyboard today, and it does have two piece keycaps.

Black or white keycaps?

I seem to vaguely recall someone saying there might be a difference depending on keycap colour.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: Pspboy17 on Tue, 07 January 2014, 19:34:40

I got this one http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A. The actual key under the cap is black.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: rowdy on Tue, 07 January 2014, 22:17:11

Quote from: Pspboy17 on Tue, 07 January 2014, 19:34:40

I got this one http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A. The actual key under the cap is black.

Hmmm I'm not sure the colour of the lower piece is relevant.  I've got all shades of white, gray and black between my two Model M keyboards.  But the top bits are either pearl or pebble on mine.

Title: Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
Post by: fohat.digs on Wed, 08 January 2014, 07:38:47

Unicomp does ship a surprising array of random colors in its key stems.