Where to find translucent orange keycaps?

[Custom101]

Hello Geekhack forum!

I am in the midsts of joining the ranks of the beloved keyboard enthusiasts masterace. Currently my first mechanical keyboard, a Logitech G710+ (mx blue) is on the way and I'm looking to customize it a little.

This is what it currently looks like:
http://media.bestofmicro.com/V/M/461218/gallery/g710-mechanical-gaming-keyboard_w_600.png

I'm taking inspiration from this piece of work:
http://i.imgur.com/z56FjpF.jpg

I absolutely love the orange and blue keys (except for the F keys). That translucent/frost look really is pleasing to the eye. I'm VERY new to custom keyboards and keycaps and still am not familiar with the best sites etc. I have just spent 2 hours trying to find similar translucent/frosty and have only managed to find ones with no lettering.

PBT is preferred, but I'm aware that may be SUPER hard to find.. so ABS etc would be fine

Thanks for all your help

[SpAmRaY]

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/29i4am/logitech_g710_keycaps/cil6ote

Those orange and blue caps came from WASD.com

[MAR82]

Hi Custom101,

I'm the owner of the board you posted, and I'll help you in anyway I can.
The board now looks like this


The orange and blue keys come from WASD as SpAmRay said
The alphanumeric keys are from a Ducky Shine set
All keys are using orange or blue LED color modifiers

What you are calling the frosted look, comes from the fact the the caps from WASD are thin ABS plastic and let the light bleed.
I think if I were to redo this design (something that I have been thinking of doing) I would use thicker orange and blue PBT caps on the mods, and use the Vortex PBT+POM on the alphas.

And thanks for liking my board 

[jdcarpe]

They are only 1-unit width, but you can get orange and blue translucent keys from Signature Plastics.


Edit: Oops, saw you didn't want blanks.

[Custom101]

Thank you Spamray for the quick response!

MAR82 your absolutely welcome! It's freakishly cool that the creator replied to this thread haha :'P You've provided the exact information I thought I'd never get and it's soooooo appreciated.

My personal experience with a Microsoft Sidewinder x6 and the many months of research I've done have made me very sceptical of ABS keycaps in regards their lifespan . Is there any reason in particular that you're considering replacing the ABS caps with PBT? Simply for the sake of aesthetics, or have you encountered issues with the ABS? I definitely want something that will last

Also it's getting late here and I gotta' work tomorrow. Excuse me if I don't respond immediately. I'll be on these forums again tomorrow for sure 

Thanks for your input Jdcarpe (:

[MAR82]

I've never had any problems with the fact that the caps are ABS. My only reason would to get rid of the "frosted look"
I don't think I've ever heard about someone breaking a WASD.com cap before. They're not brittle like the caps that some backlit keyboards use (Logitech, Corsair, Keycool)

[zazie_rx]

Signature plastics has some labeless translucent orange keys http://keyshop.pimpmykeyboard.com/products/translucent-keys, I have some of the Frosted ones, and they would be quite nice for your G-keys.

I think the keys in the picture you provided aren't actually translucent, light just bleeds through due to the light pigment. If you've ever had white keys on a backlit keyboard, doesnt matter how thick, they will shine through.

[Custom101]

@MAR82 - Could you say how long you've had the WASD ABS keys for what condition the lettering is in? I'm worried about them fading

@zazie_rx - Those are the ones I was talking about in the original post. Unfortunately they don't have lettering. I have no real use or interest in blank key. The light bleeding effect is exactly what I want so I guess I now know that I'm not looking for translucent keys

[MAR82]

@MAR82 - Could you say how long you've had the WASD ABS keys for what condition the lettering is in? I'm worried about them fading

@zazie_rx - Those are the ones I was talking about in the original post. Unfortunately they don't have lettering. I have no real use or interest in blank key. The light bleeding effect is exactly what I want so I guess I now know that I'm not looking for translucent keys

I've had/used them for the better part of a year, and have not had any problems with the legends coming off. However I only have them on the mods and not the alphas, but then again I have never had problems with legends on any keyboards (even cheap pad printed ones)

[Custom101]

I've had/used them for the better part of a year, and have not had any problems with the legends coming off. However I only have them on the mods and not the alphas, but then again I have never had problems with legends on any keyboards (even cheap pad printed ones)

I guess it's worth a try...

How did you manage to get both symbols and word to be centred on the function keys? I'm trying all the types and they're stuck to the left (including arrows!) And your directional arrow keys are so secksy... the ones here are ugly

[MAR82]

If you look on their website, they have a svg template file to modify to however you want the caps to be printed. It allows you to use custom fonts, images or whatever you can think of

[Custom101]

@MAR82 - I see! I used the .Ai template and made some minor alterations. Hopefully it works out properly. They should arrive soon and I'll update this thread to let you know of how it goes

[Custom101]

So the keycaps arrived and they're looking quite awesometacular. There is an issue though and that is that the 'windows', 'print' and 'ctrl' keycaps are not the same size as the stock G710 layout. They are identical in size as the 'alt' key and won't fit... is the G710 layout different from the standard or have WASD sent the wrong size keycaps? Thanks for you help

[Custom101]

Ah there was an option to select different sized keys. No option for ctrl though... Hope WASD allow the purchase of individual keys

[MAR82]

Yeah the option only works for the Windows and menu keys. I used the Portal 1.5 keys from http://www.maxkeyboard.com/ on my ctrl keys.
Please don't forget to to share pictures of your board when you have a chance 

[Custom101]

@MAR82 - I can't justify spending $5 on 2 keycaps. I may complete the layout when some sales come around. Not sure what that'll be so I thought I'd post an image of the board in its current state. Thanks again for your help

[MAR82]

@MAR82 - I can't justify spending $5 on 2 keycaps. I may complete the layout when some sales come around. Not sure what that'll be so I thought I'd post an image of the board in its current state. Thanks again for your help
(Attachment Link)

So far so good. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for progress updates. 
At first I was hesitant to pay $5 for 2 keys, but then I just spent over $200 on 5. What has this passion for input devices done to me 

[egdsir]

i think Signature Plastic has some keycaps that u need