Author Topic: Who or what are Vortex keycaps?  (Read 1729 times)

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Offline meztek

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Who or what are Vortex keycaps?
« on: Sun, 25 January 2015, 23:05:37 »
I have been looking for a place to have custom keycaps made which satisfy these three conditions:

  • Double shot injection molded
  • PBT plastic
  • Backlit legend

I see a lot of keycaps which fit this description made by a business/individual described as "Vortex".  I have seen these on Massdrop in particular.  I am trying to track down where these keycaps are made but I cannot get much information.  Does anyone have more information about this?  Or, perhaps other places to get double shot PBT keycaps with backlit legends? 

EDIT: I should mention I am looking for somewhere to have a set custom produced, not to purchase existing keys.  It's not a one-off, it is for making a batch of keyboards which I need keycaps for. 

EDIT2: Though I suppose if I could contact someone at Vortex and they have the keycaps I want already, that would also be fine.  I need Alps stems however.
« Last Edit: Sun, 25 January 2015, 23:10:24 by meztek »
 

Offline Oobly

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Re: Who or what are Vortex keycaps?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 26 January 2015, 05:03:15 »
You will not (at this stage) be able to find a company that will do custom doubleshot backlit PBT Alps mount keycaps.

The mount is most important in this case and the best place to get custom keycaps with Alps mount is Signature Plastics. They are capable of making doubleshot backlit caps (using polycarbonate legends), but they don't do doubleshot PBT (yet) and I am not aware of any PBT material that allows enough light through to be used for backlit legends (the Vortex ones use POM).

AFAIK, Vortex also do not accept custom orders.

What you are after simply does not yet exist in the world of aftermarket keycaps.
Buying more keycaps,
it really hacks my wallet,
but I must have them.

Offline meztek

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Re: Who or what are Vortex keycaps?
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 01 February 2015, 12:02:27 »
I'm fine with PC legends, I was hoping for PBT as the material for the rest of the key as I've heard ABS keys get those smooth circles in the middle over time whereas PBT caps do not.  Is this true? 

Maybe I should not have been too particular, since the biggest requirements are the Alps mount and the doubleshot backlit legends so the legends don't wear off over time.  I've just heard bad things about ABS keycaps. 

I was hoping to find a way to contact someone at Vortex to see if with enough of a volume they would consider a custom order.... I can't seem to find anything about them though apart from their products on Massdrop.
 

Offline exitfire401

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Re: Who or what are Vortex keycaps?
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 01 February 2015, 12:08:20 »

Maybe I should not have been too particular, since the biggest requirements are the Alps mount and the doubleshot backlit legends

That's what he was saying. This doesn't exist at all. AFAIK, vortex only has the tooling for MX stems, ad getting the required pieces for other stems is ridiculously expensive. I believe the only way to contact them currently is through their Facebook page.
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