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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: panzermuffin on Thu, 07 September 2017, 07:47:10

Title: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: panzermuffin on Thu, 07 September 2017, 07:47:10

Hey geekhack!

Im currently searching for a keycap set that has the following parameters:

- Blank
- ISO(-DE) compatible
- Cherry profile
- Shiny. Im currently on a SA1976 keycap set and love the shine and feel of it.

Colour is debatable. Black would be great, but also white whit grey or other colours for accents.

Does something like this exist?

Title: Re: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: sysfury on Fri, 08 September 2017, 07:22:56

This was one link I found on Google: http://www.ukkeycaps.co.uk/product/gateron-thick-pbt-blank-keycaps-iso-ansi

Title: Re: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: Findecanor on Fri, 08 September 2017, 08:14:17

There aren't really any Cherry profile keycaps that are shiny. I think the ones with the finest grain would be the ones on Cherry's own keyboards and often some keys are incompatible with mainstream keyboards. Cherry made blank keys only as an OEM, to sell to other companies, such as Das Keyboard for a little while.
Cherry's are pretty smooth on the sides where as others have the grainy texture also on the sides.
PBT and ABS do have different feels also, PBT having somewhat less friction IMO and I think the grain is needed to compensate.

But... for blank ISO key sets in Cherry profile that will fit most keyboards, Gateron's is the only ready option AFAIK.
On a tenkeyless, I got a navy blue blank Leopold ANSI set on eBay. It had a spare Fn key that I could use as the left Shift and I got < and # (equivalent) from the numeric keypad's keys. That left only the Enter key: I dyed a printed Cherry Enter key with RIT Royal Blue.

And of course, keycaps will get shinier with use. ABS will get shinier faster than PBT.

Title: Re: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: davkol on Thu, 14 September 2017, 04:56:26

Cherry POM caps exist as blanks and have a very smooth surface, not shiny though.

Title: Re: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: Findecanor on Thu, 14 September 2017, 09:41:18

Yeah, but while shiny ABS has good friction against your fingertips, POM feels very slippery. The friction of PBT is somewhere in-between.

Title: Re: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: davkol on Thu, 14 September 2017, 09:51:55

Quote from: Findecanor on Thu, 14 September 2017, 09:41:18

shiny ABS has good friction against your fingertips

No idea where you're getting this. Shiny ABS _is_ smooth, but _wet_ fingertips stick to it better… with dry fingertips, it's an entirely different story.

Title: Re: Shiny blank ISO keycaps with Cherry profile
Post by: Giorgio on Thu, 14 September 2017, 10:11:47

There's an interest check for gmk blanks... If you have enough patience...  :thumb:

And if you type enough, they become shiny. Since there are no legends, you can also obtain uniform shiny by moving keycaps between most used and less used positions :-D