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Author Topic: Considering Zinc caps  (Read 1662 times)

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Offline pexon

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Considering Zinc caps
« on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:24:16 »
Hi peeps,

I am seriously considering getting a set of Zinc caps (after seeing a few 'full metal' boards), I really want to swag out one of my 60% boards.

I've heard horror stories of the coating (?) chipping, flaking and generally not holding up very well anywhere from 6 months of everyday use. If anyone could give me some feedback on how they hold up, that would be great.

A set of blank/ no print, dark zinc (black, do they exist?) would be my ideal set. I've not seen any full sets that cover a full ANSI 60%, only 37 key sets, the look of half sets of keycaps makes me angry, so I can't be done with a half set  :)) I've found various places that sell 6.25 bars, in black and silver (not all zinc, some ally), but no places for mods and row 4, any info on this would be awesome.

Cheers!

James
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Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:30:04 »
After someone posted these pictures, I lost interest in them.

I've got a few zinc novelties though and they're cold and heavy. I've also tried tipo33's Full Metal Filco which has Zinc caps and I wasn't that into them.
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Offline exitfire401

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:33:01 »
In the defense of the caps, I think his set was an outlier...I had a WASD set for over 2.5 years that saw daily FPS gaming use and never had as much as a scratch or any discoloration.
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Offline pexon

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:33:34 »
Quote from: CPTBadAss on Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:30:04
After someone posted these pictures, I lost interest in them.

I've got a few zinc novelties though and they're cold and heavy. I've also tried tipo33's Full Metal Filco which has Zinc caps and I wasn't that into them.

Thanks brother, appreciate the feedback. Those photos, well, I'm kinda loosing interest in them now too :(
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Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:39:39 »
Quote from: exitfire401 on Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:33:01
In the defense of the caps, I think his set was an outlier...I had a WASD set for over 2.5 years that saw daily FPS gaming use and never had as much as a scratch or any discoloration.

I think it depends a lot on the individual user's hands and usage. As well as the composition of the caps. I'm not sure the caps are pure zinc or zinc coated. This can influence wear. I know that I would turn a set into the reddit picture.

Plus as I've stated, the caps don't really adjust to the temperature of the environment it's in. So in the cold weather, the caps felt freezing and it made me not want to use the caps. And they're so heavy most switches wouldn't actuate them correct. On tipo33's board, he put the caps on Browns and you could barely type on the switches. If you moved the board at all, it would type by itself lol.

Edited for clarity since I can't English :(.
« Last Edit: Mon, 08 December 2014, 13:25:13 by CPTBadAss »
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Offline pexon

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 13:23:06 »
Quote from: CPTBadAss on Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:39:39
Quote from: exitfire401 on Mon, 08 December 2014, 12:33:01
In the defense of the caps, I think his set was an outlier...I had a WASD set for over 2.5 years that saw daily FPS gaming use and never had as much as a scratch or any discoloration.

I think it depends a lot on the individual user's hands and usage. As well as the composition of the caps. I'm not sure the caps are pure zinc or zinc coated. This can influence wear. I know that I would turn a set into the reddit picture.

Plus as I've stated, the caps don't really adjust to the weather, so in the cold weather, it made me not want to use the caps. And they're so heavy most switches wouldn't actuate them correct. On tipo33's board, he put the caps on Browns and you could barely type on the switches. If you moved the board at all, it would type by itself lol.

Thanks Cap'n, now I've made my mind up, I will steer clear of them  :thumb:
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Offline 0100010

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 08 December 2014, 14:01:55 »
The caps in the pictures linked above are some base material, electroplated in copper, that was then electroplated in zinc.  I'm not sure if they are the normal method of producing zinc caps, or if solid cast zinc caps are more common.
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Offline EvilOliv3

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 09 December 2014, 05:25:45 »
Quote from: 0100010 on Mon, 08 December 2014, 14:01:55
The caps in the pictures linked above are some base material, electroplated in copper, that was then electroplated in zinc.  I'm not sure if they are the normal method of producing zinc caps, or if solid cast zinc caps are more common.
Where you getting this from? Should be solid zinc and not zinc and copper plated? since he bought it from geek_feng. I'm not an expert but who plates something twice with different material? Usually you have a base then a plate, not plates...
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Offline Puddsy

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Re: Considering Zinc caps
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 09 December 2014, 08:06:10 »
The issues CPT points out were fixed in version 2 of the zinc keycaps.

However, I don't know if they were fixed or "fixed"
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