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Author Topic: onemegamanfan's keycap designs  (Read 2819 times)

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Offline onemegamanfan

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onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« on: Sun, 20 December 2015, 16:06:24 »
Hey all,

So I have been wanting to play around with making my own keycaps.  I have some stuff coming for molds and some sculpting tools but I couldn't wait so I spent some time yesterday and today making these.  Would love some thoughts or criticism on them.  I have never done any sculpting before so keep that in mind.  (warning potato camera pics ahead)

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« Last Edit: Mon, 04 January 2016, 14:25:16 by onemegamanfan »
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Offline rowdy

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 20 December 2015, 16:25:56 »
They're pretty smooth designs!

What generation keycaps are they (i.e. how many tries did you have to get them that smooth)?
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Offline bcredbottle

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 20 December 2015, 16:32:56 »
Nice sculpting. What clay did you use?
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Offline onemegamanfan

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 20 December 2015, 16:51:02 »
Quote from: rowdy on Sun, 20 December 2015, 16:25:56
They're pretty smooth designs!

What generation keycaps are they (i.e. how many tries did you have to get them that smooth)?


The controller and NES about 3 times each.  The NES needs to be redone as still don't have all the lines straight.  The rest (besides the brain) were just messing around with shape no real goal.



Quote from: bcredbottle on Sun, 20 December 2015, 16:32:56
Nice sculpting. What clay did you use?

It is super sculpey
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Offline onemegamanfan

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 26 December 2015, 12:32:14 »
Got my oomoo and sculpting tools in just started the first half of the mold.  I am running the controller first.  The plan is to finish the other half of the mold tomorrow and then hopefully try my first pour on Monday  :D

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« Last Edit: Mon, 04 January 2016, 14:26:00 by onemegamanfan »
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Offline onemegamanfan

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 04 January 2016, 14:24:39 »
So I have learned a few thing after my first cast.   The first is that I made the mold too big and could have saved myself some oomoo.  Second is that my cap was warped more than I thought from trying to bake the clay, which brings me to the third thing; if I'm careful I can get away without baking the clay.   The final thing I learned is I need mold release (I killed my mold).

So here is try 1 after 24 hours (soft cure)

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And after 72 hours:
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So I decided to try cap number 2 (the dino head)

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Made the mold a lot smaller:


and here it is after 72 hours:




As you can see it had a few problems in the back and if you look really close you can see some small air bubbles but overall I am happier with this try over the last.  The next thing on my list is to figure out the best way to color the resin.
« Last Edit: Mon, 04 January 2016, 14:27:07 by onemegamanfan »
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Offline OfTheWild

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 04 January 2016, 15:15:04 »
As far as warping the cap from baking the clay - are you talking about the sculpey? Are they PBT caps or ABS? From what i've read, PBT wont melt at the 160 degrees or so that you need for sculpey but ABS will.

Also, i'm surprised you were able to remove that dino head from the mold. Any damage to the rubber? It must be pretty flexible.
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Offline onemegamanfan

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 04 January 2016, 15:27:02 »
Quote from: boostdemon on Mon, 04 January 2016, 15:15:04
As far as warping the cap from baking the clay - are you talking about the sculpey? Are they PBT caps or ABS? From what i've read, PBT wont melt at the 160 degrees or so that you need for sculpey but ABS will.

Also, i'm surprised you were able to remove that dino head from the mold. Any damage to the rubber? It must be pretty flexible.


I think they are ABS that was only 9mins at 160 and sculpey really need 15 for that thickness.  I have to hunt down some PBT caps but I need to work on my sculpting skills some before I do.


I thought I was going to have to add a vertical slit to take it out but it came out with a little coaxing.  The only down fall is that I have to give it 48 hours before I pull it out instead of 24.

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Offline onemegamanfan

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 13 January 2016, 11:46:21 »
Small update.  Did a couple more Dino heads and am trying to work out a way to have less bubbles (without a degassing chamber).

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I also redid the controller sculpt and played around with another design.  Thoughts would be appreciated  :D

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Offline xondat

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #9 on: Wed, 13 January 2016, 11:48:32 »
Never been a fan of tall artisans but they look really smart and well made. :thumb:
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Offline FLFisherman

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 13 January 2016, 11:49:05 »
The dino heads are looking very good; very refined. I'd say you've almost perfected them.
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Offline piemancoder

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #11 on: Wed, 13 January 2016, 19:40:28 »
Sweet caps! Do they have official names yet?
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Offline onemegamanfan

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 14 January 2016, 12:49:28 »
Quote from: piemancoder on Wed, 13 January 2016, 19:40:28
Sweet caps! Do they have official names yet?

No names as of yet. 



I started the mold for the controller last night so I should be able to have my first cast out of the mold on Sunday.
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Offline waffle418

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #13 on: Thu, 14 January 2016, 12:53:18 »
Much like the sleeve you sold me, I'm in love with the controller concept and the NES concept.  If you are working towards a sales product, just let me know!!!
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Offline piemancoder

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #14 on: Thu, 14 January 2016, 15:46:33 »
Quote from: onemegamanfan on Thu, 14 January 2016, 12:49:28
Quote from: piemancoder on Wed, 13 January 2016, 19:40:28
Sweet caps! Do they have official names yet?

No names as of yet. 
I think you can name the controller one a Control Key or Controller Key. Just a suggestion though. Awesome designs!
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Offline OfTheWild

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #15 on: Thu, 14 January 2016, 19:59:20 »
doing great man, keep it up!
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Offline HekusuTekusu

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #16 on: Fri, 15 January 2016, 05:44:35 »
The dino cap is growing on me. It looks really smooth but also detailed where it needs to be. The dark green looks good on it too.

Sculpting skills so good.  :thumb:
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Offline Brammm87

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Re: onemegamanfan's keycap designs
« Reply #17 on: Fri, 15 January 2016, 07:58:12 »
Damn, this looks really cool. It's such a cool way of making stuff that's really yours and unique.
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