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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Sethlans on Sun, 12 February 2017, 10:06:15
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I want some PBT keycaps for a Filco tenkeyless ISO.
I'm based in the UK and finding decent PBT keycaps has proven difficult. The Tai Hao doubleshot ones are around, but I've heard not so good things.
I was looking at the pimpmykeyboard stuff but once you factor in shipping, VAT etc. it's going to end up costing me more than the keyboard which I'm not sure I can bring myself to do (nor really afford).
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/87-88-Key-NPKC-Blank-Thick-PBT-Keycap-OEM-Profile-ANSI-ISO-layout-For-OEM-Cherry/32753028528.html
I've recently come across the above (I'm happy with blanks) but given they seem vastly cheaper than other stuff I've come across, I didn't know if they are any good.
So basically any feedback on those and any help with other places to look would be great.
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That looks to be a nice set of caps. One of the ways they've reduced the price is that it's just a straight ansi/ISO layout with no extra caps. No 6u or 7u spacebar, no extra caps for a tsangan bottom row, no caps for a split right shift or split backspace, etc, etc.. These extra caps are the main reason why a set of, for example, blank Enjoy PBT will cost a little more.
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Full NPKC set is around 36$, and consists 122 keys, so You can use it for almost all full sized keyboard.
(except Logitech G710 and Corsairs, as there is no 6.5 Space for them.)
(http://i.imgur.com/8TAPXdJ.jpg)
Overall quality is good, 1.4mm thick PBT, but it has minor issues with some non-today's-standard keyboards:
(http://i.imgur.com/JLpTIe4.jpg)
1.5 Ctrl/Alt, 7 Space are shorter than they should be, and the stepped Caps Lock has it's off-center stem in wrong place. :(
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blank Enjoy PBT
I checked my blank Gateron keycap set (which is used by lot of companies like EnjoyPBT), it's Tsangan modifiers are more accurate than NPKC's, but it's 7 Space is badly warped.
It's hard to find blank Gaterons on eBay/Ali/whatever, but sometimes Shadovved is doing GBs here: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=78563.0 (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=78563.0)
But Gateron does not have ISO addons, only ANSI layouts are supported.
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I'm not exactly sure what the shipping/VAT situation is like for you and what your price brackets are but you can also pick up PBT keys at https://www.originativeco.com/products/modern-beige?variant=18906335237
95 for a full set w/o any of the above
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I'm not exactly sure what the shipping/VAT situation is like for you and what your price brackets are but you can also pick up PBT keys at https://www.originativeco.com/products/modern-beige?variant=18906335237
95 for a full set w/o any of the above
It has no ISO support, and it's price is well over the 45€ limit, so you must pay VAT according to EU law.
This adds extra 18-27% to the total price, depending the country you are living inside EU.
(Are there any non-european countries which are using ISO layout? I don't think so.)