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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Defect on Mon, 05 May 2014, 14:20:27

Title: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Defect on Mon, 05 May 2014, 14:20:27
Seen some translucent Polycarb cap sets around, but no reviews or comparisons to ABS/PBT/POM.

Was thinking of picking up a full clear set from SP for a novelty 60 I'm building, but also wondering if these caps would be viable for daily use as well.

Couldn't find anything with search, maybe my keywords are wrong.  Any and all help is appreciated.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: tricheboars on Mon, 05 May 2014, 15:09:46
POM is amazing. that is all i have to say about that.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Defect on Mon, 05 May 2014, 15:38:28
POM is amazing. that is all i have to say about that.

Are you saying that Polycarbonate caps feel the same as POM?  Or just declaring POM love. 

I'm down for some POM love :) one of the best things of my Choc mini
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Sifo on Mon, 05 May 2014, 16:30:58
Polycarb keys kinda feel like ABS to me, in terms of actually pressing down on it... at least the double shot novelty ones I have. The surface texture is pretty smooth similar to POM.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Defect on Mon, 05 May 2014, 17:17:44
Polycarb keys kinda feel like ABS to me, in terms of actually pressing down on it... at least the double shot novelty ones I have. The surface texture is pretty smooth similar to POM.

Thank you for sharing your experiences!  Do you have any notes on how well/how poorly they wear with use?  Also further research says the Clear caps I was looking at might be ABS?  Still curious anyways.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Sifo on Mon, 05 May 2014, 17:22:13
Well... no but I assume they wear at a similar rate to ABS.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: 00zeRO on Mon, 05 May 2014, 22:18:50
Hard for me to tell, since I only have the Portal Modifiers from Originative as PolyCarbs. I believe the best way to judge a keycap material is to have at least all letters and mods to be the same material, and I have never typed on an all PolyCarb keyboard set up...they feel okay to me being Windows keys...lol
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: davkol on Thu, 08 May 2014, 08:34:59
AFAIK someone has these caps on their ErgoDox and AcidFire on his Axios as well IIRC. Covers on relegendables are like this too.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: jonathanyu on Thu, 08 May 2014, 11:19:59
I have tried some polycarbonate spacebar before, they feel like abs while typing it, but it's a little bit "dryer".(i know, it's hard to imagine what is dryer)
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Badwrench on Thu, 08 May 2014, 14:00:11
I had the GH set from techkeys on my board for a long time (Jan 13 pack), and I agree with jonathanyu, they feel very similar to abs (they are polycarb/abs doubleshots).  Only difference to me was a slightly crisper feel?  I had them on mx blues, so lots of click.  I really liked the backspace and enter keys being polycarb as they made those keys feel a little crisper and less mushy due to the costar stabs. 
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: Kouni on Thu, 08 May 2014, 14:22:57
I've been using a polycarb spacebar from SP along with cherry dyesubs and SP PBT blank mods, the surface of the spacebar is definitely not smooth (the sides are, though) and the texture feels similar to the PBT used for the SP blanks. Very pleasant to use.
Title: Re: Question: Anyone have experience with Polycarbonate keycaps?
Post by: tricheboars on Thu, 08 May 2014, 16:18:00
POM is amazing. that is all i have to say about that.

Are you saying that Polycarbonate caps feel the same as POM?  Or just declaring POM love. 

I'm down for some POM love :) one of the best things of my Choc mini

i was simply declaring some POM love.