Taobao metal keys

[ishtob]

anyone interested in sourcing these? they are like ~$10 before shipping

Here

i have to admit, they look pretty bleh and with questionable alloy? (some other production metals (该金属) in China have been reported to contains lead)

[Son of Gnome]

I want hopefully it doesnt have lead in it. Because I want metal key caps with out the hefty price.

[slueth]

man that looks awesome and cheap, but lead is meh.

[Son of Gnome]

man that looks awesome and cheap, but lead is meh.

Yeah lead tends to put a damper on things....

[Lanx]

i think lead came from latin plumb (or something) which is why we call it plumbing cuz it was made out of lead (until we found it, it makes you crazy) which led to the romans going kinda batty, lead is bad, do not want.

i mean it protects you from radiation, while that's good it's also trouble, even Superman can't see through lead.

[peda]

Are you guys licking your keycaps on a regular basis?

If not, then a metal alloy containing a bit of lead is not a problem.


EDIT: it also states in the description that it is a zinc alloy. I might be wrong here but afaik there is no commonly used zinc alloy that contains lead.

[bootstrap]

IF there's lead in those keys, unless they start eroding and let out particles, I doubt any exposure to lead will be significant enough to be a health concern. But why take the risk?

[spolia optima]

are you guys seriously worried that these keycaps will poison you?
I mean come on.

[ishtob]

im trying some cheaper caps using Taobaobee to check their reliability. If they work, we can probably do a group buy, in which case i'll open a thread up in the group buy forum

[dorkvader]

i think lead came from latin plumb (or something) which is why we call it plumbing cuz it was made out of lead (until we found it, it makes you crazy) which led to the romans going kinda batty, lead is bad, do not want.

i mean it protects you from radiation, while that's good it's also trouble, even Superman can't see through lead.

Pb stands for "Plumbum". In highschool, I went and looked up the meanings of all the chemical symbols that weren't immediately obvious.

Pb was pretty commonly found in Leaded glass (which contains a lot of lead oxide) to protect you from x-rays. Now they use other elements, because it's much cheaper and less illegal to throw them out, then.

I don't think you'd absorb enough lead from keycaps to be an issue, especially since lead is probably a small percentage of the total composition (if present at all) but if you're really that worried, get someone chinese to ask the seller.

Or buy one, and do spectroscopy to it. (AES, EDS, XRD, SIMS, Mass Spec, etc.)

[ishtob]

lol sorry if I wasn't being too clear, i was just stating the fact that China's quality control on product content isn't very good, and there were a few cases where manufacturers added lead to just bulk up there amount of metal in their casted products. Not saying these caps definitely got lead.

[ishtob]

there's also a $20 titanium esc key http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9203359244

and a Ti space bar ... -___- with geekhack.org engraved?
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9202926810

[JBert]

I don't think you'd absorb enough lead from keycaps to be an issue, especially since lead is probably a small percentage of the total composition (if present at all) but if you're really that worried, get someone chinese to ask the seller.

I wouldn't be worried about skin absorption. However, I do believe you could wear off the keys so that you get very fine lead dust on your hands; better remember to wash your hands before you eat something!

[JustCallMeCrash]

These look pretty good.  I figure if you use something like a clear coat (or even maybe a carnauba wax) it should be sufficient protection, right?

[noodles256]

there's also a $20 titanium esc key http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9203359244

and a Ti space bar ... -___- with geekhack.org engraved?
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9202926810

start a group buy for the esc. im in

[whiskerBox]

geekhack space bar looks cool

will these be available?
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 29108[/ATTACH] [ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 29109[/ATTACH]

[qtan5370]

The second one allow us to custom it, however, I am lack of time to start a custom group buy, sorry guys. I am opening a new retail store this two months.

[ishtob]

cool! new retail store that's great to hear qtan, hope it goes well!

[ishtob]

geekhack space bar looks cool

will these be available?
(Attachment Link) 29108[/ATTACH] (Attachment Link) 29109[/ATTACH]

yea.. they are like $30-60 before shipping though

[ishtob]

taobao bee seems really slow.... my test order was pending for like 2 days... now its finally in the "processing" whatever that means >.>

[Son of Gnome]

geekhack space bar looks cool

will these be available?
(Attachment Link) 29108[/ATTACH] (Attachment Link) 29109[/ATTACH]

sweet but that escape key pictured early is so sweet.

[whiskerBox]

These are great when is the group buy gonna happen.......need some time to go mug some people


Man I didnt even see these
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 29179[/ATTACH]


Are these possible to get ? I saw them on their web site
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 29182[/ATTACH]

[noodles256]

set it upppppppppp

[ishtob]

anyone who lives in china from this forum? <-- i speak fluent mandarin and i can work with you to do the distribution for US

[tsangan]

Are these possible to get ? I saw them on their web site

Show Image

These are amazing ;o

[kaiserreich]

anyone who lives in china from this forum? <-- i speak fluent mandarin and i can work with you to do the distribution for US

Contact imsto or qtan

[ishtob]

qtan said he's going to be busy with open on new retail stores

I haven't talked to into yet

[Clickey]

I wouldn't want this because the feel and smell of metal is unpleasant, not because of so called lead poisening. Not sure why you would want to press against a solid metal surface unless you had to. Mmmmmm plastic.


Factoid: Crystal glasses contain lead. If you ever drank from one which had liquid sitting in for several hours, you most likely ingested it.

[dorkvader]

I wouldn't want this because the feel and smell of metal is unpleasant, not because of so called lead poisening. Not sure why you would want to press against a solid metal surface unless you had to. Mmmmmm plastic.


Factoid: Crystal glasses contain lead. If you ever drank from one which had liquid sitting in for several hours, you most likely ingested it.

It's PbO (lead oxide) added to the batch to make it look a lot nicer. Lookup lead glass online. (It's also not crystalline, so I call it lead glass.)

Looks like if you store wine in it for 2 days, the lead content will be equivalent to the normal daily lead intake (so not really dangerous). Just don't store anything in there longterm.

[Oqsy]

Those things look like total crap.  The surface looks like it was molded with hairs and dead bugs in it.

Contrast that with the ones posted later:

Look how well finished those are.  That cherry one is superb!

The caps in the OP need a lot of work to be worth the trouble.

[slueth]

^ I agree, i really like the cherry one.

[ishtob]

look at the price difference though... the crappy looking one is alot cheaper

[whiskerBox]

I would be willing to pay more for the nice ones. and maybe if we buy enough they will give us a discount. either way the more expensive ones are where its at. Man I want one of those metal Tab keys so bad!

[qtan5370]

Well, I will be back to China on Dec, I will have my own brand keyboard with someone, and Most important is, I will have model that can make caps!(from my keyboard model)

So, let's look for next year for great staff.

[RColinTaylor]

Well, I will be back to China on Dec, I will have my own brand keyboard with someone, and Most important is, I will have model that can make caps!(from my keyboard model)

So, let's look for next year for great staff.

Please tell me it will be named QTan and will feature a checkerboard of Clears and Reds.

[ishtob]

that would be awesome! lol

[Flikstrr]

just someone tell me how to get a decepticon one and ill pay handsomely!

[popol]

the only one looking good to me in alu is this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-Customized-Cherry-MX-Key-Cap-/330620175557?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item4cfa7f84c5
and you can get it cheaper
looks far better than the clack factory skulls IMO. less childish, more devilish. and in alu

[whiskerBox]

I still think this is a cool groupbuy and we shouldn't abandon it.

[noodles256]

someone start it! in for 1 esc key

[whiskerBox]

in for 1 tab key

[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 29983[/ATTACH]

[whiskerBox]

I think that I might just do an order through Obook as their fee is only 15%

[Son of Gnome]

I think that I might just do an order through Obook as their fee is only 15%

whats the price on the tab and caps key?

[whiskerBox]

whats the price on the tab and caps key?

I think it is about $19 for the tab key and about $21 for the caps lock

[whiskerBox]

I just sent an email for a quote on the tab key. So will see how much it really ends up costing I will keep you guys posted.

UPDATE: Final cost $31.00 not bad through obook shipping and all

[dotancohen]

I don't think you'd absorb enough lead from keycaps to be an issue, especially since lead is probably a small percentage of the total composition (if present at all) but if you're really that worried, get someone chinese to ask the seller.

Or buy one, and do spectroscopy to it. (AES, EDS, XRD, SIMS, Mass Spec, etc.)

Why bother with a spectroscopy when you can simply _paint_ them and have a nice layer of enamel between your fingertips and the metal? Or is the advantage of a metal keycap the "feel" on the fingertips?

Tip: use lead-free paint!

[dorkvader]

Or is the advantage of a metal keycap the "feel" on the fingertips?

Bingo.

Besides, who cares about safety measures, when you can justify some spectroscopy! If I had one of these, I'd loan it to a friend (with more access to the equipment than I do), so we could figure out the metals content.

[AgentZen]

Nope. Nope. Nope. No way. Not a chance. I want nothing to do with mystery metal from China. Chinese companies that were caught with lead paint on products imported to the US weren't exactly being honest and forth coming, so just want to warn you all out there... All you need is for lead to start wearing down into your finger tips and years down the road you may not be able to father or give birth to a healthy child. Take it for what its worth.

[peda]

Guys,  Stop that lead-poisoning by keycaps ****. In the end somebody will believe you...

First of all, the here discussed keycaps are a zink-alloy and there are no commonly used zink-alloys which contains lead.

Secondly the level even from a pure lead keycap is not enough to lead to poisoning.

Please don't produce drama without the ground for it.

[tsangan]

Nope. Nope. Nope. No way. Not a chance. I want nothing to do with mystery metal from China. Chinese companies that were caught with lead paint on products imported to the US weren't exactly being honest and forth coming, so just want to warn you all out there... All you need is for lead to start wearing down into your finger tips and years down the road you may not be able to father or give birth to a healthy child. Take it for what its worth.

this + your sale thread, trollololol?