Author Topic: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?  (Read 4395 times)

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Offline Pspboy17

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Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 21:47:04 »
I'm getting a Classic 104 soon, and I've heard that these keyboards have and don't have 2 piece keycaps. Can someone shine some light on this situation?
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:00:24 »
Perhaps not.

Does it really matter?

Either 2 piece or 1 piece keycaps will fit a Model M or Unicomp Classic, and they are interchangeable, provided you take both parts of the 2 part stem out.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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Offline Pspboy17

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #2 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:01:56 »
I could live with one peice, but two would make cleaning quite a bit easier.
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Offline JPG

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #3 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:13:44 »
Don't you just pull them out to remove them anyway?
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Offline Pspboy17

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #4 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:21:20 »
You can pull out the whole keycap, but I just wanted to know if they did have two part keycaps.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:22:24 »
With 2 piece you can remove just the top piece for cleaning, leaving the bottom piece in place.

Replacement is much easier, as you don't have to line up the spring with the, er, cavity under the keycap when replacing.  The second bit of the keycap just clips back on.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

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Offline 0100010

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 22:51:28 »
Depends on color and size.  The single keys in pebble I think are all 2 peice, while black, white or grey are 1 peice.  Alt, Ctrl and similar sizes are 2 peice, while the wider keys are 1.
  Quoting me causes a posting error that you need to ignore.

Offline tbc

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 23:22:58 »
the ultra classic I got had two piece keycaps.

http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UNI0P4A
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Offline Pspboy17

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 23 December 2013, 23:27:54 »
So would this one have one piece keycaps?
http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A
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Offline ch_123

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:11:26 »
I think most of them have double piece these days, at least the last I heard.

Offline terran5992

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #10 on: Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:13:59 »
Two piece is more troublesome in my opinion

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Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #11 on: Tue, 24 December 2013, 08:59:33 »
Two piece is more troublesome in my opinion

Both have advantages. 2-piece are easier to work with, 1-piece may be marginally more "solid" although the combined thickness and weight of the 2-piece are probably greater.

I have bought a number of keys from Unicomp (but never in black) and all have been 2-piece including blanks and printed caps in a variety of colors.

As I understand it, black requires pad printing instead of dye sublimation, so that may be why they are different construction.
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Offline Pspboy17

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #12 on: Tue, 07 January 2014, 12:51:45 »
I got my Unicomp keyboard today, and it does have two piece keycaps.
« Last Edit: Tue, 07 January 2014, 22:48:39 by Pspboy17 »
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #13 on: Tue, 07 January 2014, 18:50:06 »
I got my Unicomp keyboard today, and it does have two piece keycaps.

Black or white keycaps?

I seem to vaguely recall someone saying there might be a difference depending on keycap colour.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

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Offline Pspboy17

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #14 on: Tue, 07 January 2014, 19:34:40 »
I got this one http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A. The actual key under the cap is black.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #15 on: Tue, 07 January 2014, 22:17:11 »
I got this one http://pckeyboard.com/page/UKBD/UB4044A. The actual key under the cap is black.

Hmmm I'm not sure the colour of the lower piece is relevant.  I've got all shades of white, gray and black between my two Model M keyboards.  But the top bits are either pearl or pebble on mine.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

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Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Unicomp 2 piece keycaps?
« Reply #16 on: Wed, 08 January 2014, 07:38:47 »
Unicomp does ship a surprising array of random colors in its key stems.
"However, even though I was born in the Mesozoic, I do know what anyone who wants to reach out to young people should say: Billionaires took your money. They took your chance to buy a home. They took your chance at a good education. They stole your opportunities. Billionaires took the things you want in life. If you really want those things, you have to take them back.
That's the message. That's the whole message. Say that every day, not just to reach America's frustrated young white men, but people of every age, race, and gender.
Late-stage capitalism is a wealth-concentration engine, focused on vacuuming up every dollar and putting it in as few hands as possible. Republicans are helping that vacuum suck.
How does a tiny fraction of the population get away with this? They do it by dividing the other 99% of Americans against themselves."
- Marc Sumner 2025-05-30