painting coat on keycaps issue [KBT Pure blacklit]

[ajx]

while i m using it since 6 months, i discovered painting coat issue on many keys of my KBT Pure keyboard.




very disapointed about quality from Pure keyboard.
unaceptable for 130$ keyboard since you cant really get any keycap fully compatible with blacklit

[tp4tissue]

seriously, F...... vortex!!!!!!

[calavera]

Wow, that is disgusting. That is worse than the weak prints on the noppoo choc mini's.

[ajx]

i paid it for 230 usd
130 usd + 50 usd for shipping and rest of custom tax
really disguted by the quality of keycaps
should get hhkb for its price

[BucklingSpring]

Waow...

People can cry about the ugly fonts on the Deck, but we Deck owners will never see that kind of defects on our keycaps.

[gigibecali]

what do you expect? it is a backlit kb. Do you expect plastic coating? That's called bling bling ripoff. Sorry.

[rootwyrm]

Welcome to what passes for quality at Vortex. But hey, at least it's not like the 'Special Edition' where they just went ahead and shipped visibly defect keycaps as having passed QA and essentially saddled resellers (who have just as hard a time contacting them) with piles of keyboards they had to mark down right off the boat.

And now you know why KBT went to Zippy/EMACS!

[Lu_e]

unaceptable for 130$ keyboard since you cant really get any keycap fully compatible with blacklit

http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=227
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=228
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=229

[quake4mhg]

Thanks for sharing.
It gonna happen to me too 

[kboardvintage]

i paid it for 230 usd
130 usd + 50 usd for shipping and rest of custom tax
really disguted by the quality of keycaps
should get hhkb for its price

You serious?!?!?!?

[laffindude]

And now you know why KBT went to Zippy/EMACS!

KBT didn't went to Zippy. KBT long worked with Zippy before Vortex was even around.

[Neo.X]

i paid it for 230 usd
130 usd + 50 usd for shipping and rest of custom tax
really disguted by the quality of keycaps
should get hhkb for its price

OMG, you guys are rich.

Serious, HHKB should be better choice for that price.

[TheSoulhunter]

I wonder if initial clear-coating would extend the lifetime...
Anyway, waiting for a translucent on black doubleshot group-buy.
There are already glow in the dark doublehots on Techkeys, so why no full sets?

[natas206]

I wonder if initial clear-coating would extend the lifetime...
Anyway, waiting for a translucent on black doubleshot group-buy.
There are already glow in the dark doublehots on Techkeys, so why no full sets?

Where are these  translucent on black doubleshot keys made by?

[ajx]

i paid it for 230 usd
130 usd + 50 usd for shipping and rest of custom tax
really disguted by the quality of keycaps
should get hhkb for its price

OMG, you guys are rich.

Serious, HHKB should be better choice for that price.

hell no, but i wanted this pure in white blacklit only avail from us, initial price was reasonable, didnt expect such amount of custom tax (30/40 % on price + shipping + euro / $ conversion)
yes now i regret that purchase, switching on hhkb or keeping my former poker instead of throwing money out of the window

[maximAL]

Welcome to the club, same happened with my Pure. But it really seems the coating is simply not properly done, as it only happened on some keys, namely both shift, both control and left win. The main row, especially F and J are pretty shiny by now but actually doesn't look like starting to peel soon.
Bad thing about the Pure is that you can hardly find a set of replacement caps because of the non-standard right shift.
And I actually bought two of those! The other one has not seen that much use yet but i definitly regret not waiting for the non-backlit version being available again.
Oh well, one fine day 3D Printers will be good enough to spit out some proper replacement caps, backlightable with side legends and everything 

[rootwyrm]

I wonder if initial clear-coating would extend the lifetime...
Anyway, waiting for a translucent on black doubleshot group-buy.
There are already glow in the dark doublehots on Techkeys, so why no full sets?

No, it wouldn't. The damage you see is indicative of poor quality paint and insufficient binding. If you spent the time and effort to clear-coat, you would get one of two results. A) The same thing except taking the clear with it B) Even worse as the clear layer increases pull on crap paint and yanks the whole thing off. And to properly clear them, you would have to wrap around to underside - still wouldn't fix the problem. Best case you get visible cracking and flaking under the clear.

In short, any attempt to salvage the stock keycaps is a complete waste of time and money.

[TheSoulhunter]

I wonder if initial clear-coating would extend the lifetime...
Anyway, waiting for a translucent on black doubleshot group-buy.
There are already glow in the dark doublehots on Techkeys, so why no full sets?

Where are these  translucent on black doubleshot keys made by?

I assume they were made by SP as they also made the non GITD versions...
Perhaps we should ask i3oilermaker where he got em and if he knows what a keyset would cost!?

[ajx]

the quality from keycaps is poor, ok i can live with that
but selling a 100$+ without keyset as additional option 
a part from better typing feeling made by mechanical keyboard, ones of real advantages of mechanical keyboard over ruber dome are durability and quality overall.
i hope KBT listen us, it still a niche market and KBT is not known as Razer, Filco, Logitech and such famous keyboard brands.
you know what i m actually thinking about it?
Filco announced a 60% size keyboard, maybe people who being disappointed about Pure quality, they ll switch for it

[maximAL]

Would it actually be possible to peel of the coating, clean the cap and coat it again with something more durable?

[TheSoulhunter]

Would it actually be possible to peel of the coating, clean the cap and coat it again with something more durable?

Yes, but the letters would be gone...

[ajx]

i think its because all keycaps from Pure are made in ABS, worst **** ever
must be engraved or something like this

[laffindude]

Different strokes I guess. I prefer ABS caps.
Pure PBT caps were made. http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=33110.msg812235#msg812235

[maximAL]

Would it actually be possible to peel of the coating, clean the cap and coat it again with something more durable?

Yes, but the letters would be gone...

No, they wouldn't. What happens on the Pure is that the translucent coating over the black color and the actual letters peels. You can see it on the first picture in this thread - the W is still there!

So, I don't know anything about chemicals. There seem to be some plastic sprays but I got no idea how good they would stick to the surface or how much strain you can put on them.

[TheSoulhunter]

Would it actually be possible to peel of the coating, clean the cap and coat it again with something more durable?

Yes, but the letters would be gone...

No, they wouldn't. What happens on the Pure is that the translucent coating over the black color and the actual letters peels. You can see it on the first picture in this thread - the W is still there!

So, I don't know anything about chemicals. There seem to be some plastic sprays but I got no idea how good they would stick to the surface or how much strain you can put on them.

Well, if you actually gonna remove the paint (cemicals/sandpaper/whatever) you are left with a more or less translucent keycap,
if you reapply the black paint you will get blank black keycaps, or you have to mask the letters with tape or something...
Or do you think its possible to remove the clearcoat layer without removing the black paint at all? If so, how?

[maximAL]

Well, if you actually gonna remove the paint (cemicals/sandpaper/whatever) you are left with a more or less translucent keycap,

Why should I?

Or do you think its possible to remove the clearcoat layer without removing the black paint at all? If so, how?

The whole point of this exercise is that the clear coat breaks just on its own. Look at the pictures! The paint on the caps is fine. Indeed my L-Win is configured as Fn (heavy-use!) and the clear coat is gone for months now and the paint is still fine.
As soon as the clear coat breaks you got these holes as in the pictures and you can basically scratch it off with your finger nails starting from the edges.

[deSheol]

vortex.. says it all. =[

[TheSoulhunter]

The whole point of this exercise is that the clear coat breaks just on its own. Look at the pictures! The paint on the caps is fine. Indeed my L-Win is configured as Fn (heavy-use!) and the clear coat is gone for months now and the paint is still fine.
As soon as the clear coat breaks you got these holes as in the pictures and you can basically scratch it off with your finger nails starting from the edges.

Ok, I assumed its like peeling off some of this damn pricetag stickers, tedious and hard to remove properly without a solvent.
But if it really comes off clean without much ripping, peeling it off shouldn't take that long for a full keyset....

[maximAL]

Ok, I assumed its like peeling off some of this damn pricetag stickers, tedious and hard to remove properly without a solvent.
But if it really comes off clean without much ripping, peeling it off shouldn't take that long for a full keyset....

Oh well, I didn't say it isn't tedious 
The coating comes off in tiny bits and I would not want to do this for the whole keyset but only for damaged caps. I would give it a try on one cap and show the results but still I got no idea what kind of coating to use...