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Author Topic: De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow  (Read 9627 times)

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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« on: Fri, 25 February 2011, 17:29:42 »
I have been using the blackwidow (basic) for a while now and i really do like the keyboard; in fact its the best keyboard i have used; this is my first non-membrane keyboard so...  

The only thing that i don't like about the keyboard is the high gloss finish, what a bad idea for something that you touch with your dirty hands all day long.  In the past i have messed around with all kinds of plastics/glass but most of the time it was trying to get them to become glossy or to remove scratches not the other way around...  i would always start with something that would help cut the material to a place where i could start to shine it. so i grabbed up my 1500 paper and masked off a small area on the back of the keyboard and sanded away.

i'm thinking about doing the full top; here are some photos of my test.






*Sorry for the poor images, i'm on my way out to get a drink.  what do you think?
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Offline guilleguillaume

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 25 February 2011, 17:36:38 »
If you do it well over all the case but then you paint it in a good way I think will be better. But if you are thinking about sanding all the case and no painting then NO!

Turbocharged painted the case of a Cherry Keyboard and the look is outstanding: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:14080

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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 25 February 2011, 21:12:15 »
Quote from: guilleguillaume;301098
If you do it well over all the case but then you paint it in a good way I think will be better. But if you are thinking about sanding all the case and no painting then NO!

Turbocharged painted the case of a Cherry Keyboard and the look is outstanding: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:14080


Yeah i don't know about painting it... I think that if i were to finish it i would just leave it a flat/matte black.
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 25 February 2011, 21:13:20 »
this also reminds me to.....  build one of these
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 00:07:48 »
Quote from: ripster;301219
I built one of those ring lights - I wasn't impressed.  Too much color distortion.


yeah its a shame i don't really shoot in enough situations where i need a ring light to warrant spending ~300$ or more on a nice one.

what did you end up using?
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Offline Mr. Perfect

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 01:54:04 »
Is it a trick of the lighting, or is it a grey color underneath?
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 11:24:46 »
Quote from: Mr. Perfect;301243
Is it a trick of the lighting, or is it a grey color underneath?


Thats really a result of the poor lighting.  Its the same color just not glossy; I'm going to do the full keyboard tomorrow if i have time and i will be sure to take some photos of the process.
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Offline Kacee

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 11:54:20 »
great, I'm looking forward to "de-gloss" mine too.
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 12:56:42 »
i just did a little bigger patch in the back just to see if it was hard to "blend" two areas together, its super easy but i think i will need to do wet sanding and i might want to finish with 2000 grit paper.  I will do some testing and post photos of the results.  I would do it now but i'm out of 2000 paper so i will need to run to the store first.
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Offline Kacee

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #9 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 13:31:16 »
I'm planning to do mine like this:

- dry sand it with 1000 grit papers
- wash it clean
- apply a layer of hard clearcoat (I don't know what it is, will have to ask my friend since he suggested me this)
- let the clearcoat fully dry then wet sand it with 2000 grit papers
- wash it clean then apply another layer of hard clearcoat
- then finally sand it more with 2000 grit papers as needed

Actually this is how my friend done with his PS3 glossy casing, the result looks great, non-glossy from the look of it but still allow you to clean easily, sanded (although very fine) surface tends to hold onto dirt, dust, stain...

Please update you progress, BlackWidow is a very good "cheap" keyboard but the glossy finish is a deal breaker.
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #10 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 14:58:13 »
Quote from: Kacee;301398
I'm planning to do mine like this:

- dry sand it with 1000 grit papers
- wash it clean
- apply a layer of hard clearcoat (I don't know what it is, will have to ask my friend since he suggested me this)
- let the clearcoat fully dry then wet sand it with 2000 grit papers
- wash it clean then apply another layer of hard clearcoat
- then finally sand it more with 2000 grit papers as needed

Actually this is how my friend done with his PS3 glossy casing, the result looks great, non-glossy from the look of it but still allow you to clean easily, sanded (although very fine) surface tends to hold onto dirt, dust, stain...

Please update you progress, BlackWidow is a very good "cheap" keyboard but the glossy finish is a deal breaker.


i think that if you are going back to 2000 grit at the end the result is that you would have a plastic keyboard that has a new layer of plastic (i assume you are going to use a polyurethane as your clear) with the same texture as just the plastic keyboard.  I don't think this will make it easier to clean unless you leave the top coat glossy.

so i think that its 6 of one; half dozen the other... but without the clear then it will not peel, chip and will not ware off.  Might have to touch it up more with out the clear but i doubt it.

what do you think?
were you planing to leave the last coat glossy?
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Offline Cata1yst

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #11 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 19:02:52 »
Steel wool usually removes glossy coating. I know that theres a handful of people who take steel wool to glossy laptop panels and it comes out a nice flat texture.
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #12 on: Sat, 26 February 2011, 20:24:29 »
ok here is the result of 1500 only.  

I will give a warning to anyone trying this.... the black is a paint on top of a dark dark grey plastic!  i did burn through the paint on the ridge where it slopes down to the desk.  I'm not sure i'm in love with it.... i might consider taking all the paint off to just have the dark grey plastic or paint, but i'm going to live with it for a few days to see what i think. btw the paint still holds on to fingerprints just much much less. maybe the raw plastic would not?



photos:



you can see here that all edges are raised a bit... and makes it harder because you have to sand all the edges flat.


« Last Edit: Sat, 26 February 2011, 20:43:58 by YetAnotherDeveloper »
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Offline DanishDevil

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 06 March 2011, 00:54:34 »
Registered to express similar interest in getting rid of the horrid gloss black plastic. Wondering what you're thinking of it sanded now that it's been done for a week or so.
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #14 on: Sun, 06 March 2011, 01:04:04 »
Quote from: DanishDevil;306030
Registered to express similar interest in getting rid of the horrid gloss black plastic. Wondering what you're thinking of it sanded now that it's been done for a week or so.


i have left it with the paint still on the keyboard... its still holds onto the fingerprints but it is better than the glossy finish.  At this point i dont see a big advantage to doing this, but in the next week i will be removing all the paint and then i will just left with the dark grey plastic.  I'm going to first try with 600 grit to see what its like and then work my way back up if that is to rough.

So i would say let me continue to mess with mine and post some more results of removing all the paint. I hope that i will like it and if i dont then i will move on to paints or something else.
« Last Edit: Fri, 18 March 2011, 18:58:27 by YetAnotherDeveloper »
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Offline DanishDevil

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #15 on: Tue, 08 March 2011, 00:37:15 »
Looking forward to it.
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Offline YetAnotherDeveloper

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De-Gloss Razer BlackWidow
« Reply #16 on: Fri, 18 March 2011, 18:58:16 »
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