Does anyone have experience with 1.5mm plastic plates such as delrin?

[CrazyAssMonkey]

Hey there guys, I am currently building a keyboard and I have a 1.5mm delrin plate and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with these? I know poly-carbonate is used often for the plate but I have not seen much about delrin at the 1.5mm thickness. The plate is quite flexible but I was wondering about its durability, since 1.5mm acrylic is quite fragile.
Thanks 

[Findecanor]

BTW. "Delrin" is also known as POM and "acetal".

[CrazyAssMonkey]

BTW. "Delrin" is also known as POM and "acetal".

Yeah, maybe I whoudl have added those other names, might make it easier for people to understand what material I was talking about.
Thanks 

[wholypantalones]

Yes, I've gotten a few plates cut from black pom or delrin. My CLS is currently built with a pom plate and it's not as fragile as polycarb and the sound resonates a bit more than poly. I actually quite like it more than poly and the flex is about the same.

[CrazyAssMonkey]

Yes, I've gotten a few plates cut from black pom or delrin. My CLS is currently built with a pom plate and it's not as fragile as polycarb and the sound resonates a bit more than poly. I actually quite like it more than poly and the flex is about the same.

Your plates are also 1.5mm? If they are that is really nice to hear, I have a white 1.5mm delrin plate and was worried about the durability when it comes to constant impacts from typing. Also how would you describe the sound of the plate?
Thanks

[wholypantalones]

Yes, I've gotten a few plates cut from black pom or delrin. My CLS is currently built with a pom plate and it's not as fragile as polycarb and the sound resonates a bit more than poly. I actually quite like it more than poly and the flex is about the same.

Your plates are also 1.5mm? If they are that is really nice to hear, I have a white 1.5mm delrin plate and was worried about the durability when it comes to constant impacts from typing. Also how would you describe the sound of the plate?
Thanks

Yep, 1.5mm. I have it built with a 1.6mm thin hineybush pcb and it's pretty flexible, it's not fragile at all. I guess I'll have to try and do a video so you can hear it at some point.

[AuthenticDanger]

Kona Classic was Delrin plate. Delrin is VERY bendy so I wouldn't worry about it failing due to use. It's hard to describe the sound in an acrylic sandwich keyboard, so I won't chime in on that.

[CrazyAssMonkey]

Kona Classic was Delrin plate. Delrin is VERY bendy so I wouldn't worry about it failing due to use. It's hard to describe the sound in an acrylic sandwich keyboard, so I won't chime in on that.

Yes, I've gotten a few plates cut from black pom or delrin. My CLS is currently built with a pom plate and it's not as fragile as polycarb and the sound resonates a bit more than poly. I actually quite like it more than poly and the flex is about the same.

Your plates are also 1.5mm? If they are that is really nice to hear, I have a white 1.5mm delrin plate and was worried about the durability when it comes to constant impacts from typing. Also how would you describe the sound of the plate?
Thanks

Yep, 1.5mm. I have it built with a 1.6mm thin hineybush pcb and it's pretty flexible, it's not fragile at all. I guess I'll have to try and do a video so you can hear it at some point.

Oh man that's great to hear, I've been really debating whether I should cut the 5mm plate but I felt that maybe a more flexible plate would lead to a quieter board and maybe not as stiff a typing experience. I'd really love a video for the sound but only if it doesn't take up too much of your time. Thanks!

Kona Classic was Delrin plate. Delrin is VERY bendy so I wouldn't worry about it failing due to use. It's hard to describe the sound in an acrylic sandwich keyboard, so I won't chime in on that.

Oh wow I saw the post that's quite the nice board you designed 
Thanks for the confidence booster, like I stated above I'm between a 1.5mm and 5mm but for the thicker plate i screwed up and made the stab holes too small, I could cut it down but that and my laziness got me thinking about the differences between those two thickness on typing feel.

[Maledicted]

I had a hard time finding polycarbonate or POM plates at all when I was looking for something GK64-ish. I went with brass because I didn't want to spend hours scouring the internet for a piece of plastic.

I'm surprised to hear that POM is apparently more durable than polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is used for ski masks, paintball masks, riot shields, and can even efficiently stop bullets with enough material. If I want say, a protective laptop case/shell, I refuse to buy any that aren't polycarbonate.

I also had no idea that POM was the same as delrin. I remember buying an expensive delrin bolt for a paintball gun ... which I still have never used, many years later.

[CrazyAssMonkey]

I had a hard time finding polycarbonate or POM plates at all when I was looking for something GK64-ish. I went with brass because I didn't want to spend hours scouring the internet for a piece of plastic.

I'm surprised to hear that POM is apparently more durable than polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is used for ski masks, paintball masks, riot shields, and can even efficiently stop bullets with enough material. If I want say, a protective laptop case/shell, I refuse to buy any that aren't polycarbonate.

I also had no idea that POM was the same as delrin. I remember buying an expensive delrin bolt for a paintball gun ... which I still have never used, many years later.

Delrin I believe is the name for version of POM that Dupont sells. POM has two variants Acetal Copolymer(Acetal) and Acetal Homopolymer(Delrin). The difference is down to their properties. Acetal is better chemically whereas Delrin is better mechanically. I believe Delrin is about 10%-15% stronger and stiffer than Acetal. So I'd assume it would be a better plate material than Acetal. I am not sure though of its strength comparison to polycarbonate. I'm assuming polycarbonate is used in so many face shields due to its transparent nature, I don't know about transparent Delrin so it wouldn't really be used for that anyways. But it could be weaker.

[Maledicted]

I had a hard time finding polycarbonate or POM plates at all when I was looking for something GK64-ish. I went with brass because I didn't want to spend hours scouring the internet for a piece of plastic.

I'm surprised to hear that POM is apparently more durable than polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is used for ski masks, paintball masks, riot shields, and can even efficiently stop bullets with enough material. If I want say, a protective laptop case/shell, I refuse to buy any that aren't polycarbonate.

I also had no idea that POM was the same as delrin. I remember buying an expensive delrin bolt for a paintball gun ... which I still have never used, many years later.

Delrin I believe is the name for version of POM that Dupont sells. POM has two variants Acetal Copolymer(Acetal) and Acetal Homopolymer(Delrin). The difference is down to their properties. Acetal is better chemically whereas Delrin is better mechanically. I believe Delrin is about 10%-15% stronger and stiffer than Acetal. So I'd assume it would be a better plate material than Acetal. I am not sure though of its strength comparison to polycarbonate. I'm assuming polycarbonate is used in so many face shields due to its transparent nature, I don't know about transparent Delrin so it wouldn't really be used for that anyways. But it could be weaker.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

[CrazyAssMonkey]

I had a hard time finding polycarbonate or POM plates at all when I was looking for something GK64-ish. I went with brass because I didn't want to spend hours scouring the internet for a piece of plastic.

I'm surprised to hear that POM is apparently more durable than polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is used for ski masks, paintball masks, riot shields, and can even efficiently stop bullets with enough material. If I want say, a protective laptop case/shell, I refuse to buy any that aren't polycarbonate.

I also had no idea that POM was the same as delrin. I remember buying an expensive delrin bolt for a paintball gun ... which I still have never used, many years later.

Delrin I believe is the name for version of POM that Dupont sells. POM has two variants Acetal Copolymer(Acetal) and Acetal Homopolymer(Delrin). The difference is down to their properties. Acetal is better chemically whereas Delrin is better mechanically. I believe Delrin is about 10%-15% stronger and stiffer than Acetal. So I'd assume it would be a better plate material than Acetal. I am not sure though of its strength comparison to polycarbonate. I'm assuming polycarbonate is used in so many face shields due to its transparent nature, I don't know about transparent Delrin so it wouldn't really be used for that anyways. But it could be weaker.

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

No problem. I discovered that delrin is quite interesting in all this process.

[Findecanor]

Delrin I believe is the name for version of POM that Dupont sells. POM has two variants Acetal Copolymer(Acetal) and Acetal Homopolymer(Delrin). The difference is down to their properties. Acetal is better chemically whereas Delrin is better mechanically. I believe Delrin is about 10%-15% stronger and stiffer than Acetal. So I'd assume it would be a better plate material than Acetal. I am not sure though of its strength comparison to polycarbonate. I'm assuming polycarbonate is used in so many face shields due to its transparent nature, I don't know about transparent Delrin so it wouldn't really be used for that anyways. But it could be weaker.

I looked it up after your post. Apparently, POM is translucent white in its raw form.

Delrin (homopolymer) is less dimensionally stable than Acetal copolymer. It is more porous, and thus less dense in the middle of a cast. It can have internal stresses that get released when you cut it which can make it warp.
On the other hand, acetal copolymer while being somewhat weaker, has a little less friction.

[CrazyAssMonkey]

Delrin I believe is the name for version of POM that Dupont sells. POM has two variants Acetal Copolymer(Acetal) and Acetal Homopolymer(Delrin). The difference is down to their properties. Acetal is better chemically whereas Delrin is better mechanically. I believe Delrin is about 10%-15% stronger and stiffer than Acetal. So I'd assume it would be a better plate material than Acetal. I am not sure though of its strength comparison to polycarbonate. I'm assuming polycarbonate is used in so many face shields due to its transparent nature, I don't know about transparent Delrin so it wouldn't really be used for that anyways. But it could be weaker.

I looked it up after your post. Apparently, POM is translucent white in its raw form.

Delrin (homopolymer) is less dimensionally stable than Acetal copolymer. It is more porous, and thus less dense in the middle of a cast. It can have internal stresses that get released when you cut it which can make it warp.
On the other hand, acetal copolymer while being somewhat weaker, has a little less friction.

Yup that's the case, it is more porous than the copolymer and the center core is less dense. I'd assume there is where internal stresses may come from, I did not consider the fact that they might be made more likely when cut which makes sense. I'd assume for use in a keyboard those sort of slight differences shouldn't really affect the build but I have not studied it enough.