Topre Realforce R3S TKL Keyboard quality problem

[noway]

4 months ago I bought a Topre Realforce R3S TKL Keyboard (black keycaps with white legends) from mechanicalkeyboards.com.   Keyboard has seen very little use by my wife and I (retired) for e-mail and internet.

Five of the keys have legends that are starting to fade (T,R,E,S,L)  I can still read them but hate to think about what they'll look like after one year.

I bought this because I'm still happy with my 87U (white keycaps + black legends), which has keycaps that look as fresh as the day it arrived years ago.  Has Realforce quality gone down that much over the years?  I have not had any luck finding replacement keycaps and don't think I should have to replace them every few months at my expense.  I've owned $20 keyboards that have held up better than this.

When I contacted mechanicalkeyboards.com and uploaded pics and explained about the light usage, their response was "I have confirmed that the keycaps for the Topre Realforce R3S TKL Keyboard are laser-printed PBT and will show wear after extended use.  Please let us know if we can assist with anything else or if you have any further questions."

Any suggestions how I should proceed from here?  If I have to use the R3S as a doorstop, I need TKL with tactile switches, long-lasting legends and prefer white keycaps with black legends and to buy from a retailer that stands by its products.

[Tactile]

This problem with laser-etched PBT keycaps has come up & been discussed in the past, especially when the Vortex Poker3 was introduced. Here's what happens:

The surface of the PBT keycaps is pretty smooth. When the markings are burned in by laser the area of marking is, on a microscopic scale, rough. As you type the rough area of marking will pick up bits of skin, oil, & dirt, obscuring the markings. What you're seeing is not the markings fading, they're just getting dirty. Cleaning the keycaps will bring the markings back to their full glory. The color of the markings is permanent, BTW.

I know this probably doesn't help 'cause most folks don't want to pull their keycaps every few months to clean them. Painting them with clear nail polish to give the caps a uniform smooth surface, maybe?

Dyesub PBT caps don't have this problem, doubleshot PBT caps don't have this problem, only the PBT caps marked by laser.

[noway]

Great info.  I'll give that a try.

Update: soaked them overnight in water + dish-washing detergent but still faded.  May investigate other cleaning solutions but have put this one in the closet as a spare and back to using my 87U which is still perfect after all these years.

[Riverman]

I also have an R3S and a regular R3 with dye sub keycaps. The keys on the R3S have gotten shiny in spots, but I haven't noticed the same on the R3. It makes me think the R3S has a coating on the keycaps to try to protect the lasered legends.  I hope a good cleaning helps make yours look better.