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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: awhitedev on Thu, 07 May 2015, 14:30:26

Title: SA keycap shine?
Post by: awhitedev on Thu, 07 May 2015, 14:30:26: Let me just start with this... I hate keycap shine... mostly because it looks inconsistent with the rest of the keyboard and makes it look greasy.

I do love some ABS set color schemes though.... and it's my understanding some ABS shine at a much slower rate. (like GMK)

I've never owned an SA set though and I have my eye on the SA retro GB going on... if anyone has used a set of SA keycaps for long I'd like to hear your opinion on a few things:

1) SA caps already have smooth tops... what does shine look like on these? Is it even noticeable?

2) How quickly do SA caps develop shine?
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: katushkin on Thu, 07 May 2015, 15:29:19: Quote from: awhitedev on Thu, 07 May 2015, 14:30:26
Let me just start with this... I hate keycap shine... mostly because it looks inconsistent with the rest of the keyboard and makes it look greasy.

I do love some ABS set color schemes though.... and it's my understanding some ABS shine at a much slower rate. (like GMK)

I've never owned an SA set though and I have my eye on the SA retro GB going on... if anyone has used a set of SA keycaps for long I'd like to hear your opinion on a few things:

1) SA caps already have smooth tops... what does shine look like on these? Is it even noticeable?

2) How quickly do SA caps develop shine?

Strange, I was thinking about this earlier, as I noticed the shine on my Nuclear set.

It is noticeable. But I think it looks good. For some reason. I don't like shine on the work rubber dome things (obviously) and I don't on my stock WASD caps, but for whatever reason, I don't mind it all that much on these. Admittedly the fact they are doubleshot helps, but I admit, they do look greasy.

I can't remember how long i've had the caps on, but I've used them a lot since the Group Buy finished. Whenever that was.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: awhitedev on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:25:51: Quote from: katushkin on Thu, 07 May 2015, 15:29:19
Quote from: awhitedev on Thu, 07 May 2015, 14:30:26
Let me just start with this... I hate keycap shine... mostly because it looks inconsistent with the rest of the keyboard and makes it look greasy.

I do love some ABS set color schemes though.... and it's my understanding some ABS shine at a much slower rate. (like GMK)

I've never owned an SA set though and I have my eye on the SA retro GB going on... if anyone has used a set of SA keycaps for long I'd like to hear your opinion on a few things:

1) SA caps already have smooth tops... what does shine look like on these? Is it even noticeable?

2) How quickly do SA caps develop shine?

Strange, I was thinking about this earlier, as I noticed the shine on my Nuclear set.

It is noticeable. But I think it looks good. For some reason. I don't like shine on the work rubber dome things (obviously) and I don't on my stock WASD caps, but for whatever reason, I don't mind it all that much on these. Admittedly the fact they are doubleshot helps, but I admit, they do look greasy.

I can't remember how long i've had the caps on, but I've used them a lot since the Group Buy finished. Whenever that was.

Thanks this helps! Would you be able to take a picture of your keyboard? I'd be curious to see what that looks like... sounds like it doesn't look nearly as bad as stock caps do.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: SpAmRaY on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:35:37: Some SA sets are shiny by design depending on the finish they have.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: katushkin on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:48:43: I've tried to take some photos where shiny and non-shiny keys are close to each other. I've taken these on my phone and uploaded them straight to imgur, so sorry if they are a bit big.

More
(http://i.imgur.com/FQb2oWB.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/mNivW4d.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/WaW8Vfi.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/ySEeKis.jpg)

That first one is really small for some reason. Hopefully I've sorted it.

Nope, I broke it.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: PunksDead on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:55:58: Most of my SA sets have a satin like finish, penumbra feels almost glossed. I have a feeling this has to do with the no texture on the caps. Either way its feels great and is a nice alternative. SA is wonderful experience...
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: SL89 on Thu, 07 May 2015, 17:09:23: Filco SA set here, no shine, i think these are the semi matte kind but not wholly sure, every time i wipe them down they are just like i got them.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: awhitedev on Thu, 07 May 2015, 17:40:27: Quote from: PunksDead on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:55:58
Most of my SA sets have a satin like finish, penumbra feels almost glossed. I have a feeling this has to do with the no texture on the caps. Either way its feels great and is a nice alternative. SA is wonderful experience...

Don't all SA sets have a glossy top to them? I wonder what SA Retro will have?

Quote from: katushkin on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:48:43
I've tried to take some photos where shiny and non-shiny keys are close to each other. I've taken these on my phone and uploaded them straight to imgur, so sorry if they are a bit big.

More
Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/FQb2oWB.jpg)

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/mNivW4d.jpg)

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/WaW8Vfi.jpg)

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/ySEeKis.jpg)

That first one is really small for some reason. Hopefully I've sorted it.

Nope, I broke it.

That's reassuring... That actually looks pretty good, shine and all! I think it has to do with SA caps already being shiney / glossy.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: katushkin on Thu, 07 May 2015, 17:50:39: Yeah, I really like it. Adds to the retro look I think :)
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: rowdy on Thu, 07 May 2015, 21:38:16: Quote from: katushkin on Thu, 07 May 2015, 17:50:39
Yeah, I really like it. Adds to the retro look I think :)

+1

Wouldn't be the same if they didn't shine.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: awhitedev on Fri, 08 May 2015, 07:21:32: Gonna sound like a weird question... but does it feel greasy to the touch? Or because of the spherical tops can you not really tell?
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: cjhard on Fri, 08 May 2015, 08:29:05: My PuLSE set is shiny out of the box, but it doesn't feel greasy. It develops a little bit of a wear spot on the spacebar, but unless you're devouring cream cheese over your keyboard, it doesn't really feel gross to touch.

Keep in mind SA profile caps are thick by design and made a bit tougher than flimsy OEM caps. My Filco MiniLa keys became a greasy mess very quickly.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: awhitedev on Fri, 08 May 2015, 09:38:00: Quote from: cjhard on Fri, 08 May 2015, 08:29:05
My PuLSE set is shiny out of the box, but it doesn't feel greasy. It develops a little bit of a wear spot on the spacebar, but unless you're devouring cream cheese over your keyboard, it doesn't really feel gross to touch.

Keep in mind SA profile caps are thick by design and made a bit tougher than flimsy OEM caps. My Filco MiniLa keys became a greasy mess very quickly.

Darn, I guess I can't bathe in cream cheese with my keyboards anymore. :(
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: Sed8op8 on Fri, 08 May 2015, 12:49:38: Quote from: PunksDead on Thu, 07 May 2015, 16:55:58
Most of my SA sets have a satin like finish, penumbra feels almost glossed. I have a feeling this has to do with the no texture on the caps. Either way its feels great and is a nice alternative. SA is wonderful experience...
agreed which I find strange as they are considered semi matte I think. I usually like textured caps but SA have a unique feel! Speaking of everytime I see your novatouch with penumbra punks I regret not picking that up so sexy!
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: KHAANNN on Wed, 20 May 2015, 15:01:41: They pretty much shine out of the box :)

I'm sure you all work in front of a shiny led monitor so this is a very important thing to consider, when the led's shine onto the keycaps, the keycaps glare, and depending on the colorscheme, the alphas blend into the keycaps

This was especially an issue for me with the Hack'd by Geeks set, the set looked great after assembly, yet in front of the computer, it was unusable for me, I returned back to DSA Dolch's
Comparatively, they also shine a bit, but that shine is non-glare, and the white alphas survive it well

So my suggestion is, If you're going to get a shiny SA keycap set, select one with a good contrast :)
The Filco one is black and white as far as I remember, that should be a usable set

I showed the Hack'd by Geeks set to my brother, he really liked the set, and the glare didn't bother him, he chose the set over DSA's I showed him, so it's a matter of opinion too

----

As far as the usage shines go, I think shiny SA's should be safe, since they are all shiny, the usage shine should be camouflaged for the most part, this is a speculation tho :)
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: billm on Wed, 16 May 2018, 16:49:47: I have both SP and Maxekey sets. the SPs are a little shinier, but neither are really shiny straight out of the box. One of the things that make shine look bad is IMHO, that the shine comes on only in wear spots so it looks uneven. Vintage ABS caps appear to have more of a uniform gloss than a shine just on the wear spots like what happens on cheap dome keyboards.

Toward that end I've been experimenting with an acetone vapor bath process to shine up Maxkey SA caps. This sounds more complicated than it is. I've only experimented on single keys so far, but the process is this:

Take a piece of cardboard and wrap it in aluminum foil and set your keys on it. Get a square-ish Tupperware container and line it with paper towels. Drape the towels up the sides for wicking action. Pour some acetone in the bottom of the container. Enough to wet the paper towel throughout the bottom, but not so much that there's a puddle. Place your piece of foil wrapped cardboard with your keys on it in the container and put on the lid. Wait 12-20 minutes and then open the container and remove the keys. Let them rest for... I dunno 30-60 minutes to make sure they're not still soft. Beautiful uniformly glossy keys!

I'm still experimenting with the times, but I've gotten pretty good results at 15 minutes.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: portbaron on Wed, 16 May 2018, 18:04:34: If you want neat color sets you basically have to accept a little shine in the long run. The only way to attenuate this is to buy multiple sets of the same design or have so many keyboards that it takes many years to get shine on any one set :D
The Maxkey can SP SA sets I have were a little smoother out of the box than PBT or GMK caps.
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: DirtyMonkey43 on Wed, 06 June 2018, 22:52:37: i have some SA caps that came and seemed already pretty shiny. Use them regularly and havnt noticed much change
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: neemajon on Fri, 22 June 2018, 14:47:03: my GMK shined fairly quickly (2-3 monthjs) i want to say...
and i'm a gamer so its only my WASD and spacebar

super ugly, wouldn't be as bad if it was every single key instead of just these four lol
Title: Re: SA keycap shine?
Post by: typo on Mon, 25 June 2018, 00:17:49: Now this is odd. Like Six months ago I had a thread where a bunch of people wished to accelerate the shining process. I love shiny. On these here GMK, looks very greasy like BratWurst but they are in fact pebbly and quite grippy. I do not like dyesub pbt due to the fuzziness. I recently mentioned here you can not reliably make DS pbt which is why only the Chinese do it. So I am lucky I like shiny. I thought I hated it. Always got pbt. Then lo and behold pbt eventually shines on me too. My hygiene stinks, literally. Yes, I am a real nerd. Even so, outside of custom which are often nothing more than a novelty SA and GMK I feel are the absolute top keycaps. If you simply hate shiny don't know what to tell you because eventually even pbt and pom will shine. Notwithstanding the joke about my hygiene. They just will. Lot of friction going on there.