Ideas on making my Poker II keycaps Opaque

[kuhchuk]

This one is pretty simple.  I love my Poker II, but I'd prefer it if the keycaps were opaque.  I just don't like the way the backlight bleeds through them.

I was thinking about using some kind of white paint to coat the under-side of the caps, but I'm unsure what type of paint(s) would be best for this (obviously I need it to be opaque and very durable without being overly messy and getting paint on the outside of the caps), or if there might be an even better way to do things.

At this point I'm thinking that my best bet might be a can of krylon and some carefully placed painter's tape.  Any suggestions (affirming this idea or to the contrary) would be greatly appreciated.

[Hellcatz]

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=66567.msg1558938#msg1558938
SIR here you go.

[kuhchuk]

I <3 you, Hellcatz.

Thank you very much, I believe I'm going to have to use your mod.  That's exactly what I'm looking for and more.  Looks like I need to make a stop at Home Depot tomorrow.

[Hellcatz]

If you have any questions or want to see more pictures let me know

[Dihedral]

Well that was a nice quick resolution

Cool mod btw, I also don't like the bleed you get from back-lighting so if I got a backlit board I would definitely consider this.

[Hellcatz]

Time consuming tho

[kuhchuk]

If you have any questions or want to see more pictures let me know

Might take you up on the offer for info later on; always appreciate more pictures

[drewba]

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=66567.msg1558938#msg1558938
SIR here you go.

Nice! That really cleans up the backlit-look

[kuhchuk]

So using the aluminum tape is turning out to be more of a pain than I imagined it would be.  I'm now contemplating how else I might achieve my goal.

I think I'm going to return to my original plan.  I'll wrap the outside of the caps really well with painter's tape and use bits of cotton balls as infill for the stem housing.  Shouldn't be too hard, but it'll take plenty of time for the paint to dry, and I'll probably need at least three or four layers of paint to achieve the opacity that I'm hoping for.

I'll report back here with my results when I can finish my caps.

[Hellcatz]

try plastidip

[kuhchuk]

try plastidip

I was thinking the same thing.  Unfortunately none of my local hardware stores carry it, so I'm gonna have to order it off of amazon or something.  In order to get that same metallic effect, I'm thinking about doing a few layers of white and then a layer or two of Plasti-Dip Metalizer:

Code: [Select]

http://www.amazon.com/Performix-11247-6-Plasti-Aluminum-Metalizer/dp/B00P8XAGLW/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1422317420&sr=8-8&keywords=plasti+dip+metallic#productDetailsShould certainly create a nice underglow effect if I can manage to tape up the outside layers properly. 

[Hellcatz]

I thought your key caps are white

[kuhchuk]

They are white.  I just want to eliminate the backlight bleed, and I like the idea of having the metallic paint to reflect more of the light back down towards the plate.

[Hellcatz]

just use silver plastidip. A can will run you anywhere from $15-20

[Melvang]

One thing to watch for is how thick this will get when using costar stabilizers.  Thick PBT caps by themselves have issues with rubbing on costar.  Just something to be aware of.

[kuhchuk]

just use silver plastidip. A can will run you anywhere from $15-20

Noted, thanks for the suggestion

One thing to watch for is how thick this will get when using costar stabilizers.  Thick PBT caps by themselves have issues with rubbing on costar.  Just something to be aware of.

The Poker II uses a different type of stabilizer that appears to be quite similar to the Cherry MX "leveling mechanism."  Should be easy enough to just fill the stem housing with cotton or something and pick it out after the paint dries.  See the pictures below for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

[Hellcatz]

No need to cover the entire key cap just the part where the led is. Ignore the ****ty picture and the fact it looks like ****. Just didn't know how to approach it

[kuhchuk]

Might be because the aluminum tape I found appears to be different than what you used, but it's just a gigantic pain to work with.  I'm gonna give it a few more tries before I commit to the spraypaint, but this is just some finicky, unforgiving tape.

[Hellcatz]

cut into small strip about a cm wide Ill make a tutorial tomorrow