Author Topic: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?  (Read 5708 times)

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Offline rrspamrr

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Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 01:16:22 »
I recently purchased a flico majestatouch 2 ninja tkl with mx brown switches and I absolutely adore the typing experience. However, after just a couple of weeks of use  some of the more heavily usedkeycaps have become shiny and quite slippery. After some research  I found out that this is a rather common occurrence with abs keycaps. I would really prefer not to spend another 50 bucks on keycaps so I was wondering if there's anything I could do to (even remotely) restore the keys to their original look/feel.

Offline hwood34

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 01:23:47 »
There's no real good solution to removing shine. I've heard some people use those Mr. Clean magic erasers though
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 01:30:36 »
http://www.geekkeys.com/top-printed-pbt-104-keyset/

$20 for a full PBT set - although the legends are a bit meh.
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Offline rrspamrr

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 01:37:54 »
There's no real good solution to removing shine. I've heard some people use those Mr. Clean magic erasers though

Could you elaborate on that method? Does it improve only the shine or does it also change the texture as well (which I'm more concerned about).

Offline rrspamrr

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 01:43:42 »
http://www.geekkeys.com/top-printed-pbt-104-keyset/

$20 for a full PBT set - although the legends are a bit meh.

Thanks for the suggestion but even if I would consider buying new keycaps I would prefer a ninja layout which is much more expensive. What I'd really like to know is if there's anythingl I could do to fix the shine/greasy texture so if you have any information on that please let me know.

Offline rowdy

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 02:04:15 »
Anything you do will damage the keycaps, and after another couple of weeks they will go shiny again.
"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 Sturmfrau

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #6 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 04:45:17 »
As per infiniti's suggestion to me, use magic tape. Haven't really gotten around to doing that to my HHKB's spacebar (specially since there might be a pbt spacebar coming soon), it's worth the try.
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Offline davkol

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 07:09:59 »
Actually, there are plenty of options. Sanding works surprisingly well with ABS, although it's quite a lot of work, despite not being permanent. You can plastidip the caps. Or replace them—lasered PBT keycaps (e.g. from Cherry keyboards) are generally quite cheap second-hand.

Offline rrspamrr

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #8 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 13:53:10 »
Actually, there are plenty of options. Sanding works surprisingly well with ABS, although it's quite a lot of work, despite not being permanent. You can plastidip the caps. Or replace them—lasered PBT keycaps (e.g. from Cherry keyboards) are generally quite cheap second-hand.

Thank you so much! I decided to buy the plastidip spray and I'm confident that it should solve the problem! To everyone else who helped, I thank you all as well :)

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #9 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 15:43:52 »
Get the Leopold side print pbt caps off eBay.

YMMV with costar stabs though.

Offline davkol

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #10 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 16:42:19 »
Get the Leopold side print pbt caps off eBay.
Yay, SpamRay is back to spamming! I missed it.
I would really prefer not to spend another 50 bucks on keycaps

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #11 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 16:54:46 »
Get the Leopold side print pbt caps off eBay.
Yay, SpamRay is back to spamming! I missed it.
I would really prefer not to spend another 50 bucks on keycaps
Well good luck getting any decent caps for less than $50.

BUT for ~$52 delivered those Leopold caps are the best bang for your buck and they are side print, I use them daily.

Offline davkol

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #12 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 17:00:01 »
Vortex PBT doubleshots went for $30 shipped recently on Massdrop. I spot OEM PBT keycaps under €30 every now and then at DT Marketplace. Lasered Cherry keycaps can be had for even less.

Offline jdcarpe

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Re: Shiny/Slippery keycaps?
« Reply #13 on: Sat, 03 January 2015, 17:27:11 »
Any ABS caps will get shiny with use, and there's not a lot you can do to stop it. Those a stock Filco caps feel terrible, though, so you might as well replace them. My double shot ABS caps from SP on my Rosewill daily driver at work are super shiny, but it doesn't bother me one bit. Learn to embrace the shiny.

If you can do that, thick ABS from GMK are about the best you will find, IMO. But they do shine up with use.
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