Some of us like ABS.
I haven't found a PBT set I like yet.
There are little to no examples of high quality PBT doubleshot keycaps - talking about the quality of SP SA or GMK keycaps. Only good PBT keycaps I know are Dye-Sublimated and that doesn't allow for bright legends.
Back in the days, Cherry put their Dye-Sublimated PBT keycaps only on their "cheap" G81 keyboards while their G80 flagship line got ABS doubleshots. (There are G81 with ABS Doubleshots but no G80 with PBT caps)
ABS keycaps get a lot of hate these days because some people believe that PBT is their lord and saviour. Both materials have their drawbacks just as they both have their advantages. Ever since I got a sandblasting setup that easily allows me to touch up my ABS doubleshots in case they start to shine, I started enjoying them a lot more.
Some of us like ABS.
I haven't found a PBT set I like yet.
I like ABS too. Only Sith deal in absolutes.
Those chinese PBT doubleshots are sturdy and cheap but also quite crude compared to high quality ABS doubleshots...
...
But I can remember back when I was all excited about the Vortex doubleshots (the Tai Haos are not even worth mentioning, they are worse than typing on stems!) I also thought PBT was king...
Double-shotting PBT plastic has not yet been "perfected" and the only spherical keycap manufacturer left to us only double-shots ABS plastic. End of story.
To my mind the tendency to "turn glossy" is the lesser of the two deficiencies of ABS. I find the discoloring over time (due to exposure to UV light and other environmental contaminants) to be the more disappointing property of ABS plastic.
And yet, I can easily overlook both issues in order to get high-quality double-shot spherical keycaps. Even if some Chinese or Korean manufacturer improves upon their double-shot process for PBT plastic, the chances that they will develop a spherical family is probably close to nil. Therefore ABS will continue to be king in the spherical keycap world.
What is "spherical keycap" (or "spherical family" of keycap) and why is it so difficult to perfect its manufacturing process? :(
Passing up group buys because of the type of plastic has gotta hurt. I, on the other hand, don't mind ABS "shine" over time, but I loathe cylindrical surfaces.
We humans are weird.
(Fortunately for me there hasn't been a GMK or DCS keyset that I've ever liked enough to lament its cylindrical format.)
Indeed, variety is the spice of life! If we all liked the same things there would be no good or bad. Everything would be average.Passing up group buys because of the type of plastic has gotta hurt. I, on the other hand, don't mind ABS "shine" over time, but I loathe cylindrical surfaces.
We humans are weird.
(Fortunately for me there hasn't been a GMK or DCS keyset that I've ever liked enough to lament its cylindrical format.)
I like that people have differing tastes because if everyone had the same ****, this world would be extremely boring. It's just annoying when lots of people vote against my personal taste, but what can ya do?
I don't mind spherical if that's the only option, but I strongly prefer cylindrical over spherical. There are a lot of DSA sets that I wish were DCS instead.
ABS produce better colors too :)You can absolutely doubleshot PBT caps. All of Tai-Hao set's are doubleshot.
Can you even doubleshot pbt caps? usually they are sublimated right?
If you're in the business of making keycaps, you would want to cut cost and keep producing the product because they are easily replaceable. :thumb:
Tai-Hao doubleshots are stuff any keycap manufacturer with dignity would sort out as trash.
The light/dark color restriction applies to dye-sublimation of PBT keycaps not double-shot keycaps.
ABS produce better colors too :)You can absolutely doubleshot PBT caps. All of Tai-Hao set's are doubleshot.
Can you even doubleshot pbt caps? usually they are sublimated right?
If you're in the business of making keycaps, you would want to cut cost and keep producing the product because they are easily replaceable. :thumb:
There are some limitations to doubleshot with PBT that aren't there with ABS however. I could be completely wrong on this, but I believe I recall someone saying something like light colors can't be done in dark colors. Or it might have been the other way around.
Tai-Hao doubleshots are stuff any keycap manufacturer with dignity would sort out as trash.
The light/dark color restriction applies to dye-sublimation of PBT keycaps not double-shot keycaps.ABS produce better colors too :)You can absolutely doubleshot PBT caps. All of Tai-Hao set's are doubleshot.
Can you even doubleshot pbt caps? usually they are sublimated right?
If you're in the business of making keycaps, you would want to cut cost and keep producing the product because they are easily replaceable. :thumb:
There are some limitations to doubleshot with PBT that aren't there with ABS however. I could be completely wrong on this, but I believe I recall someone saying something like light colors can't be done in dark colors. Or it might have been the other way around.
Oh yeah i remember now. but tai-hao pbt doubleshot keycaps are trash, i used to have sunshine on my varmilo and some caps werent cleaned properly and they would hit the led on my varmilo (which are placed below the switch). too many defects on those too. too bad, the colors were awesome.
I never really considered Tai-hao pbt to be pbt because they are freaking thin compared to every other pbt keycap ive tested(except DSA maybe) :p
Tai-Hao doubleshots are stuff any keycap manufacturer with dignity would sort out as trash.
The light/dark color restriction applies to dye-sublimation of PBT keycaps not double-shot keycaps.ABS produce better colors too :)You can absolutely doubleshot PBT caps. All of Tai-Hao set's are doubleshot.
Can you even doubleshot pbt caps? usually they are sublimated right?
If you're in the business of making keycaps, you would want to cut cost and keep producing the product because they are easily replaceable. :thumb:
There are some limitations to doubleshot with PBT that aren't there with ABS however. I could be completely wrong on this, but I believe I recall someone saying something like light colors can't be done in dark colors. Or it might have been the other way around.
Oh yeah i remember now. but tai-hao pbt doubleshot keycaps are trash, i used to have sunshine on my varmilo and some caps werent cleaned properly and they would hit the led on my varmilo (which are placed below the switch). too many defects on those too. too bad, the colors were awesome.
I never really considered Tai-hao pbt to be pbt because they are freaking thin compared to every other pbt keycap ive tested(except DSA maybe) :p
I would agree that they aren't amazing and the PBT is very thin. But they are definitely not trash if cleaned properly. **** that "Antibioisis coating" bs. When it comes to PBT on a budget with a decent colorway (which right now is far harder than it should be), they are a quick and easy way to get into the hobby.
Sure they aren't end-game or highly sought after, but they are worlds better than the basic ABS keycap sets shipped with many boards. Usually enough to hold you over for the 6-12 months you wait for a good set or two in a GB.
Some of us like ABS.
I haven't found a PBT set I like yet.
I like ABS too. Only Sith deal in absolutes.
Me too but I have both ABS and PBT keycaps sets.