geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Androgynous on Sun, 26 July 2015, 19:37:28
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I am considering getting some clear spray paint so that my backlit keycaps don't wear out as quickly. I have a KBT Pure Pro that has several non-standard keys so finding replacements won't be possible.
Are there chemicals in spray paints that could possibly damage my keycaps?
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You might want to buy some double shot keycaps instead:
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1003
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I am considering getting some clear spray paint so that my backlit keycaps don't wear out as quickly. I have a KBT Pure Pro that has several non-standard keys so finding replacements won't be possible.
Are there chemicals in spray paints that could possibly damage my keycaps?
I'd imagine the legends on backlit caps don't wear out that easily, to be honest. Though that may vary from person to person.
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The spray paint would wear out much faster and probably ruin the caps.
I would recommend against doing anything of the sort to a set of keycaps.
It would be much wiser to just get doubleshot backlit caps if you want backlit legends so badly.
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Yes, spray paint will most likely only make things worse for you. In fact, if you do it, you may find that the spray paint doesn't feel like it has dried, as the chemicals in the paint could erode at the black coating on the caps.
I know you can't replace the caps easily, but I've heard that there are PBT keycaps for the Pure Pro, so maybe if you're hung up on looks, you could source a set of those once you get used to the layout?
Really doing anything to your keycaps in terms of painting them is more likely to make them sticky or damage them, but if you're stuck on the idea, maybe you could read into art fixative. If it won't damage the coating, it's still likely to give the keys a certain tacky feeling though.
The chances that you're going to wear through the coating any time soon is small, you'll just get shiny keycaps after 6 months or so if you use it heavily.
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I was going to spray my WASD keycaps, since they are great in theory, but in practice they are slippery and cause sweating because of this reason (the hand/fingers are very adaptive, to make up for the slipperiness, they coat the keycap with grime, it's not wanted in my case, doesn't happen with regular ABS Keycaps)
Anyway, here is what I found out: (I don't remember the exact names of the coats I tested, doesn't matter either, since you can only find a limited variety of clear coats of different brands in every region)
1) An acrylic coat that was catering more to the painting coating market:
- Unbelievable surface characteristics, it was matte, the friction/touch was incredible
- It rubbed off easily by scratching it with my nail, the experiment failed (various experiments, various coating styles, waiting times etc.)
2) An acrylic coat that advertised itself as a multi-purpose one (both are made in germany by the way):
- Doesn't get applied as homogeneously
- It's not matte as advertised when dried
- The surface was much better than the WASD UV coating, however it was still a bit slippery
- Extremely strong, doesn't get scratched
Both claimed excellent characteristics that would make you believe that they would never wear off, the second one was close
So, my point is, you have to experiment a lot to see whether a specific acrylic coating will actually work, ripster-style experiments, where casualties occur
So unless you have some F keys lying around that you don't intend to use, I don't think it's logical to try just one thing and expect it to work
However, I believe, there are multiple solutions that work well, better get double shots and not screw yourself in the long-run tho