Windowed Keys

[Acetrak]

Hi everyone,

What keyboards can I find Cherry beige windowed capslock and scroll lock? Did Cherry ever make other color windowed keys?

And also, has anyone ever tried window modding PBT keys? I know they tend to be more brittle so I'm guessing it won't work or it'll be incredibly difficult.

[Alessandro]

I don't remember who it was, but they just drilled a small hole in the top of the cap for the LED to shine through. It was much nicer and a lot more subtle.

[Acetrak]

I don't remember who it was, but they just drilled a small hole in the top of the cap for the LED to shine through. It was much nicer and a lot more subtle.

I did see that, it was done by a couple of different GHers. I believe those were done to ABS caps.

[Alessandro]

I don't remember who it was, but they just drilled a small hole in the top of the cap for the LED to shine through. It was much nicer and a lot more subtle.

I did see that, it was done by a couple of different GHers. I believe those were done to ABS caps.

Yes, it was thin ABS. I'm pretty sure if you took your time you could do the same to thicker caps.

[Acetrak]

PBT is more brittle, thickness isn't as big of a concern than material properties

[Leslieann]

Tape the top, then brace it on a piece of wood (and possibly drill from the underside).
A dull drill bit, or plastic drill bits will work better than normal bits (they use a flatter point) and keep from causing too many issues but such a small size could be hard to find, and even harder to use.

Another option, is use a small, pointed Dremel diamond grinding bit. This is the least likely method to damage the keycap and would let you vary the hole size.
Something like this would be what I would use. Just go slow and try not to melt it.

You could even push a bit of clear epoxy in from the back to fill the hole.


You may want to buy a 4 key PBT set off Ebay or something to test on.

[Acetrak]

Thanks for the info. Currently I'm more interested in finding genuine windowed capslock and scroll lock atm. IIRC they are from qwerz layout keyboards?

The window modding question was just to see if anyone had done it to PBT keys before and what their result was.

[IvanIvanovich]

G80 801, 931, 1191/1207, 1501 (beige is harder find than the hellgrau version), 2100... some are stepped, some fulltouch. Also can find them on Alcatel MMK, Wey, others and yes many other colors than beige which I didn't list. PBT windowed caps exist, I have some.
Hmn, most of those end in 1 that are windowed... a coincidence or it means something.

[Acetrak]

Thanks for the info lysol. Any tips on tracking these keys down?

[IvanIvanovich]

Look on ebay (all of them, not just .com) and taobao every day. Or post  WTB and maybe some nice person will sell extras for cheap. I'm all out or I would help.

[samwisekoi]

Thanks for the info. Currently I'm more interested in finding genuine windowed capslock and scroll lock atm. IIRC they are from qwerz layout keyboards?

The window modding question was just to see if anyone had done it to PBT keys before and what their result was.

That was me and it turned out okay. The PBT part was fine, the epoxy didn't like crawling through the 1/16" hole.  The pics are here somewhere. I'll repost them here once I find them.

NOTE: I did the small hole over the LED, not the slice.

 - Ron | samwisekoi

[Acetrak]

Ohh thanks for the info samwisekoi, I think I remember seeing your mod, but I thought it was on ABS caps. Okay I think I might attempt the same kind of mod since drilling tools are a lot easier to get a hold of.

Do you have a recommendation for the epoxy?

[samwisekoi]

Ohh thanks for the info samwisekoi, I think I remember seeing your mod, but I thought it was on ABS caps. Okay I think I might attempt the same kind of mod since drilling tools are a lot easier to get a hold of.

Do you have a recommendation for the epoxy?

YVW. I think something that can be fed by injection like Acrylic cement would be best. I'll talk to the guys at Tap Plastics next time I am in there and report back.

 - Ron | samwisekoi