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Author Topic: DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?  (Read 4189 times)

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Offline EvilSaint

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DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 15:54:38 »
So, I've been lurking for ~one week now, grabbing boatloads of great information and maddening myself while trying to make a decision on a mechanical keyboard to buy for medium/heavy gaming and heavy typing. I'm all about hardware "enthusiasm", but I never got into keyboards/mice as much as most "gamers" do - I would mention what I'm typing this post on, but it's too embarrassing.

Anyway, long story short, I finally ordered a Filco Majestouch 104K (I'd climb the walls without a 10-key) with Cherry Browns and NKRO. However, unfortunately, I got an email back from the Filco salespeople stating that they are no long making the Otaku versions of their keyboards. This didn't seem like much of an issue, seeing as how one would (in theory) only have to replace the key caps with blank ones. Then, I tried to find a place to order the blank keycaps and... yeah, absolutely not happening. 15 pages of Google results later and I'm reaching out for help - what options do I have for blank key caps and a DIY Otaku version?

I checked out the mods section, but the only method that I found was sandblasting. While I already have an air compressor and don't mind buying the attachment to do the blasting itself, I can't for the life of me find out what kind of lettering is on the Filco caps, but I would assume that it's not "sandblastable" =(

Anyway, any ideas are very welcome. TIA!
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Offline Ekaros

  • Posts: 942
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 16:37:36 »
http://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard_details.asp?PRODUCT=639
Atleast they sell those, maybe some other place too..
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So I should add something useless here yes? Ok, ok...
Filco 105-key NKRO MX Browns Sw/Fi-layout|IBM Model M 1394545 Lexmark 102-key Finnish-layout 1994-03-22|Cherry G80-3000LQCDE-2 with MX CLEAR
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Dell AT102W(105-key SF) (Black ALPS)|Steelseries Steelkeys 6G(MX Black) ISO-FI-layout|Cherry G84-4400 G84-4700 Cherry MLs

Offline EvilSaint

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  • Posts: 6
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 16:49:48 »
Quote from: Ekaros;218643
http://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard_details.asp?PRODUCT=639
Atleast they sell those, maybe some other place too..


That is beautiful, thank you! Now to wait until they get my 'board back in stock and shipped, and then those lil' beauties will be mine =)

How tough is it to replace all the keys on these boards? It seems pretty easy with the replacement tools, but looks could always be deceiving...
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Offline Ekaros

  • Posts: 942
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 16:55:55 »
Quote from: EvilSaint;218646
That is beautiful, thank you! Now to wait until they get my 'board back in stock and shipped, and then those lil' beauties will be mine =)

How tough is it to replace all the keys on these boards? It seems pretty easy with the replacement tools, but looks could always be deceiving...

Check the wikis, there is likely some trick for atleast space bar and other larger keys.

Edit: Why have I started to write phoneticly, but still almost corret spelling... base bar = space bar...
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So I should add something useless here yes? Ok, ok...
Filco 105-key NKRO MX Browns Sw/Fi-layout|IBM Model M 1394545 Lexmark 102-key Finnish-layout 1994-03-22|Cherry G80-3000LQCDE-2 with MX CLEAR
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Dell AT102W(105-key SF) (Black ALPS)|Steelseries Steelkeys 6G(MX Black) ISO-FI-layout|Cherry G84-4400 G84-4700 Cherry MLs

Offline itlnstln

  • Posts: 7048
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 17:15:58 »
You can sandblast the Filco keys, they are pad printed.
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Offline lmnop

  • Posts: 574
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 17:17:36 »
Quote from: itlnstln;218656
You can sandblast the Filco keys, they are pad printed.

or you can wait 10 years they should be Otaku by then :P
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Offline Ekaros

  • Posts: 942
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 17:22:28 »
Quote from: lmnop;218657
or you can wait 10 years they should be Otaku by then :P

I just wonder if 10 years would be enough to lear touch-typing...
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So I should add something useless here yes? Ok, ok...
Filco 105-key NKRO MX Browns Sw/Fi-layout|IBM Model M 1394545 Lexmark 102-key Finnish-layout 1994-03-22|Cherry G80-3000LQCDE-2 with MX CLEAR
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Dell AT102W(105-key SF) (Black ALPS)|Steelseries Steelkeys 6G(MX Black) ISO-FI-layout|Cherry G84-4400 G84-4700 Cherry MLs

Offline washuai

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  • Location: SF
    • http://home.earthlink.net/~haruai/
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 18:10:57 »
Yea, I'd noticed that even elite keyboards wasn't offering the blank sets and I'm kinda bummed the tenkeyless with browns is sold out.  I had even noticed that signature plastics keeps blank MX keys in stock, so minus the keyboard company, or if you want otaku color, then that should be an avenue that can be pursued.  Given they already have certain profiles, I'd imagine a blank set from signature plastics must be far more reasonable than their double shot set.
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⌨(home)Realforce 87U ⌨(backup) Filco Majestouch 104 Brown ⌨(backup)Cherry G80-8200LPDUS ⌨(work)Leopold FC200RT/AB
☛CST L-Trac-X ☛Logitech Wireless Optical Trackman ☛ Razer 3500 dpi ☛MS Explorer DeathAdder
Lay-a-bouts:  ⌨Full 109 Key Virtually Indestructable  Keyboard ⌨Compaq Radio Quack GYUR84SK
Wishlist: ⌨KBDmania Pure ⌨Déck 82 ice/frost/toxic/royal ⌨Ricercar spos G86-62410EUAGSA ☠ ✞⌨miniGuru(s) ☠
 ✐Intuos or Cintiq

Offline washuai

  • Posts: 410
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    • http://home.earthlink.net/~haruai/
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 31 August 2010, 18:30:29 »
Sig Plastics doesn't even allow small orders of their blank http://www.keycapsdirect.com/key-capsinventory.php inventory they keep a list of?  
I know the point of their inventory is they want to charge for printing on those blanks for a custom keys for a company, but I didn't realize they'd not even ship a small subset of stuff they have laying around.  They have as few as 10 keys of some of those colors, so they don't even have a quantity for a large order.
« Last Edit: Tue, 31 August 2010, 18:42:06 by washuai »
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⌨(home)Realforce 87U ⌨(backup) Filco Majestouch 104 Brown ⌨(backup)Cherry G80-8200LPDUS ⌨(work)Leopold FC200RT/AB
☛CST L-Trac-X ☛Logitech Wireless Optical Trackman ☛ Razer 3500 dpi ☛MS Explorer DeathAdder
Lay-a-bouts:  ⌨Full 109 Key Virtually Indestructable  Keyboard ⌨Compaq Radio Quack GYUR84SK
Wishlist: ⌨KBDmania Pure ⌨Déck 82 ice/frost/toxic/royal ⌨Ricercar spos G86-62410EUAGSA ☠ ✞⌨miniGuru(s) ☠
 ✐Intuos or Cintiq

Offline TheSoundofTyping

  • Posts: 24
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 01 September 2010, 20:55:48 »
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"To my loyal butler, You There, for his decades of service, I leave a pittance, to be paid in twenty equal installments of one-twentieth of a pittance each."

Offline elbowglue

  • Posts: 583
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #10 on: Thu, 02 September 2010, 00:27:37 »
I have a filco tenkeyless blank key set.  However it is missing the WASD keys (which are replaced with purple lettered WASD) and ESC key (which is replaced with a geekhack key).  I would be happy to trade these for your printed keycaps, however you won't be able to make the numpad blank.  Lemme know, send me a PM thanks.
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My keyboards: Filco Cherry Blue Tenkeyless(daily home), Compaq MX11800 (modded to blacks), Compaq "MX 84u",  Wellington\'s Dampened Endurapro, Pinkalicious Filco Blue Cherry, Chicony KB-5191, Chicony KB-5181, Desko MOS 5023 UP "elbowglue" spos (modded to blues), Siig Minitouch (monterey blue), SMK-88 (blue cherries), Ricercar SPOS
Smallest to biggest keyboards in inches (Length X Height) - Length is most important for a midline mouse position
KBC Poker: 11.6 x 3.9 - HHKB: 11.6 x 4.3 - Siig Minitouch (Geekhack Space Saver): 11.6 x 6 - Deck/Tg3 82: 12 x 6 - Noppoo Choc Mini 12.4 x 5.3 - Compaq "MX 84u": 13.1 x 7.5 - Filco Tenkeyless: 14 x 5.3 - Cherry "ricercar spos" G86-62410EUAGSA: 14 x 7.75 - Topre Realforce 86u: 14.4 x 6.65 - Desko "elbowglue spos" MOS 5023 UP: 14.5 x 8.4 - IBM Model M Spacesaver: 15.3 x 7 - G80-1800: 15.9 x 7.1 - Adesso MKB-125B: 16 x 7.3 - Compaq Mx11800, Cherry G80-11900: 16.25 x 7.5 - Filco Standard: 17.3 x 5.4 - Unicomp Endurapro: 17.9 x 7.1 - Adesso MKB-135B: 18.3 x 6.0 - Cherry G80-3000: 18.5 x 7.6 - IBM Model M, Unicomp Customizer: 19.3 x 8.27

Offline EvilSaint

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 6
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #11 on: Thu, 02 September 2010, 13:53:52 »
Quote from: ripster;219040
Wow, $54 US is kinda spendy.

If anyone is in Japan they sell a blank set for only $10 at Cleverly in Akihabara.  Probably from China like the KBCs.


Yeah, but how much is it worth to have one of the first "custom" Otakus? ;) Are the Keyboard Company caps really from China?

@Elbow - I appreciate the offer, but I would like to have both marked and blank sets on hand, for when I *snicker* end up selling the 'board down the road.
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Offline EvilSaint

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  • Posts: 6
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 02 September 2010, 14:07:08 »
Quote from: ripster;219237
KBC is a Chinese keyboard manufacturer.


Aha, had me mighty confused there (KeyboardCo.com).
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Offline washuai

  • Posts: 410
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    • http://home.earthlink.net/~haruai/
DIY "Otaku" Filco... Feasible?
« Reply #13 on: Sat, 04 September 2010, 01:50:34 »
Ah, well if they sell Filco compatible sets in Japan and for as low as $10, then I'm good should I discover myself to need replacements.  My sister has a friend in Japan.
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⌨(home)Realforce 87U ⌨(backup) Filco Majestouch 104 Brown ⌨(backup)Cherry G80-8200LPDUS ⌨(work)Leopold FC200RT/AB
☛CST L-Trac-X ☛Logitech Wireless Optical Trackman ☛ Razer 3500 dpi ☛MS Explorer DeathAdder
Lay-a-bouts:  ⌨Full 109 Key Virtually Indestructable  Keyboard ⌨Compaq Radio Quack GYUR84SK
Wishlist: ⌨KBDmania Pure ⌨Déck 82 ice/frost/toxic/royal ⌨Ricercar spos G86-62410EUAGSA ☠ ✞⌨miniGuru(s) ☠
 ✐Intuos or Cintiq
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