keycaps are random, only blue as this is what ducky made for a limited time, not a lot left

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Added on July 30, 2012, 9:41 am
consider this also ma, the bottom acrylic got ancient chinese writing one de oh~

I'll be heading down to some stationary shop to find some short lanyard phone straps, if i can find some, i will make some switch based keychain, will be around half the price i think

i think will be something like this

but better in terms that can pick from 4 types of switches

it has to depend how detail i able to make first

but shouldn't be too pricy la.

er... two method to do this:
1. Mold injection
2. cnc milled.

First one will cost me quite high. a 2 x 1" thick alu sheet cost me rm1xx already...
so ii only can try the second option

er...

My 3D printer can print, but not sure if it able to do such high detail level or not.

it's time to do some "lesson"
Option 1- Mold Injected
The price for metal sheets is not fix one. Its estimate around RM100 +/-

Most keycap (99.9%) in the market is hot plastic mold injected. Hot plastic is injected into a mold form by two or more pieces of Alu/Steel base, which already been engraved. (For this case i see it needs only two, top and bottom)

So the hot plastic inside the mold will be cooled and the mold will be crank up, then there you'll get your product. (the keycap)

For mold injection, of course the higher number it able to produce from the mold, the cost will be even up easier. The most expensive part is the mold itself. The more precision a mold is being crafted, the higher the price is. For the plastic? Bla, it's dirt cheap. I can get a 5kg PBT resin with hundred ringgit plus only. The number? you can count

Yes, basicly you can put any color of material into a same mold, also maybe other material like PBT or POM. But not really advisable as the shrinkage of ABS, PBT & POM totally diff

option 2- CNC milled
For example like the one you given, i can take a red color keycap and add a layer of hot red abs plastic on top of it, to thicken the base which will be milled off later. Then wait for it to cool off.

When it's cool up, cnc machine will engrave the shape and then you'll get your keycap.

Basicly, Cnc milled normally is meant to do small quantity job only.

For the mold injecting, i always pass to other ppl to do it one

and for CNC, yes, i'm addon a layer and engrave it.

No, i'm not mill from a solid cube.

not possible, as PBT will have shrink condition when it cooldown.

Additional info for you, the thing that you mention about a keycap on top of another keycap is close to something called Doubleshot.

By the way, Mold Injection is mostly use for ABS, PBT or POM. the most important thing you need is this

as well as other parts.

As for CNC Machine Mill, you'll need to own a CNC Machine. design your own 3D blueprint of the keycap or Casing, purchasing a block of aluminium, and start drilling the parts out.

CNC milled has alot of room for error, which is why China makes it out of a huge metal, and not per keycap swap engraving, because it cost you alot of time on swapping the keycaps out, but if you place all the item in a line, there's still be alot of room for error, due to our placing is not as accurate as the machine, so things might get messy.

Why time is a matter?
because in milling operation, time = money,
if in short time, produce good quantity = good price.
if in long time, produce very very low quantity = you guess the price.(if this happen, don't blame the manufacturer for the high price, because they spend too much time in your keycap and sacrificing other people's production, so you pay for their lost)

Why don't we just get it from taobao?
Although it is cheap one

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r....&id=18306668203

Are these too good to be true? PBT37 selling at only 68RMB.
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r....&id=15485618522

@kaysa from your artistic point of view, does grey keycaps match black body 
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r....&id=17432896137 <extra poison 

ERm..

Mind i ask why you want to apply a layer on top of PBT keycap?

i have quite alot red color keycaps left, applying a layer on top of them will save me time.
But. I cannot simply "Stick" on the caps but i must reheat the base and let the molecule melt and only by that the new ABS layer able to applied on top of it. before reheating the top, i had to sand off the printed material too!

I not sure of the ABS red match the keycap i have or not. Let's pray they match perfectly 

Applying PBT plastic on PBT is possible, provided you have the skill to control the shrinkage ratio.
But PBT has much higher melting temperature point and crystallization behavior, imo it'll be much difficult compare to applying a layer on top of ABS caps.

So sad the order for ducky YOTD hve been cancel 

NVM tkl filco shall cheers me up 

Just bought some keycaps from geekhack.

Got the:
Billiards set
Pi keys
Hammer and Sickle
Paws
Alien
Flash
Yin Yang

Will post pics once I get em.

holy~ stop making me want tag along with you la please

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Added on August 1, 2012, 4:22 pm
when are you buying the keycaps? i might want modifiers blue

I read red become so rare coz ppl actually dislike it, true?

are you buying soon? i may need some time, sell some victoria secret to some ladies so that i can get the money to buy LOL

erm, last time if not mistaken, FILCO is gonna release a Majestouch with cherry reds soon, dunno about the news now...

Well, yea, Camo is more expensive, now in dilemma whether or not to get the AI blue brown switch...   
Oh.... you buying that? Is that also available locally? the price? if not mistaken, is around RM200 more than normal vita....

out of topic ' only will buy ps vita when monster hunter come out ^^ otherwise juz wait for slim version'

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=16892336779&
What is the size all about? i'm using KC87 MX red

What's the estimated weight for keycaps 37? im getting 2 sets of PBT and 2 packs of O-rings. If its under 1KG i'll get the 5 packs for ya 

If possible I also want to tumpang with you guys lol
Not much, only 2 set keycaps and 2 pack o-rings 

bro, r u getting this one? im interested to join. can we choose which keys we want to purchase and what colour?