no interested on the balls and the riddle, let me know if anyone ordering starcraft keycaps

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Added on May 11, 2012, 1:55 pmi wonder how's the billiard's keycaps look like ..

riddler cant do yt, his financial issue unsolved, we get billiard first la

i have the id already i saw this?

picture
haha, no have the actual picture?

but after i google, i saw this

I don't even have a real Cherry MX board but I was still eyeing the hammer and sickle keycap for a while... crazy to buy a keyboard just to fit caps onto them. So far, I've been pretty good resisting temptation to go into Cherry keyboards. Then again, I've been buying BS keyboards...

how long does it normally take to reach me if i order from taobao?

im kinda having trouble with them since i dont understand chinese at all... google translate doesnt work much either >"<

there are some nice keycaps in geekhack, but since it's US, it's gonna take weeks to reach

Hi kaysa,

I've done a bit of "research" on dyeing Model M PBT keycaps - it takes a lot of time and patience. But after a while, the process gets easier. I've never tried any ABS keycaps - I suspect they warp more easily. Warping is the major risk, I suppose, so temperature control has got to be right. I'm very confident about PBT keycaps but not ABS. My major problem is that I don't have the time to do that sort of thing. Hopefully, toward the end of the year, I will be more free to indulge in my hobbies. I don't mind dyeing some keycaps for you guys especially if I am doing some for myself too. I have to wait and see if I can find vacation time.

As you know, IBM/Lexmark/Unicomp keycaps are high-quality Dye-sublimated PBTs. I think it's for this reason I've not encountered any problem with the legends fading or coming off - see the example on my website: http://goo.gl/uknIh. I think it should all be fine, even if it was lasered.

Like I said, I cannot comment about Leopold spacebars - the gurus around here should be able to tell us.

I suppose the ABS he used is the same or similar to the ABS of keycaps. I've read somewhere that people have successfully dyed ABS keycaps. I just haven't tried it.

Acetone is a chemical/solvent - the same stuff used in nail polish remover. If you have ever seen your wife/gf/mother/sister use it, you will know what I mean. When I found out paint remover MAY contain acetone, I got rid of the can because I was afraid that the acetone might eat into the plastic of my keyboard parts (I wanted to remove paint from some internal parts of my keyboard). So I think the guy was brave to use acetone. I can see how it helps the ABS to take the dye but I will never use it myself.

Rit is a brand of dye common in the US but cannot be found here. My substitute is Dylon, which is widely available in Malaysia and a very good product. Dylon is made in the UK.

Is keycool's keycaps compatible with quickfire rapid? i think filco's is but keycool caps seems to be cheaper in taobao...

I think people use acetone like an etching agent, it cuts into the plastic so the plastic takes the dye easier. But I just can't stand the idea of the PBT getting dissolved by acetone. Yikes! I used salt and vinegar because I thought it was harmless - when you add both these things, the consistency of the solution becomes a little thicker faster. I don't add much water anyway. Using my method, the dye penetrates the PBT quite a lot. I strongly doubt it will ever fade. It's just like dye sublimation - the legends stay on forever. The more times you dye the keycap, the deeper and richer the colour.  It's not like painting, whereby there is a layer that can peel off. You can try without salt and vinegar... just be prepared to wait a looooong time. I believe if you have a lot of patience, you can dye your caps without too much heat and without added stuff (acetone, vinegar, salt).

PBT is pretty durable but it's still possible to warp the thing if the temperature gets too high. So be careful. Done properly, dyeing PBT should not affect the structure of the plastic.

Your theory about the small holes created by Acetone makes sense - once the surface layer of the plastic is destroyed, it may attract dirt and other stuff. To my mind, the dyeing process causes the dye to penetrate the plastic (don't ask me how) without affecting the integrity of the plastic.

@kaysa - I think you will need some heat. You can forget about the salt and vinegar but not the heat... someone once suggested I put the whole lot in the microwave. I told them they can go and try with their own keycaps but I want control over what I do. Even if I spoil the keycaps, it's got to be on my terms. 

sadly this keyboard has the "QuickFire" word on the spacebar, which tbh is kinda ugly.. in fact, all the fonts on this keycaps are ugly to me =.="

this is kinda cheap... but may I know why the spacebar won't fit? izzit too long? or the mount is different position?

yerp! prefer black and empty stuffs .. mind showing a pic of your hhkb w/ the keycaps?

wow there's even a RMB50 keycaps.... that's really cheap!!
yeah.... but I figured since it won't be too hard to find keycaps, I just get it instead

For PBT, I will try 80 degrees Celsius first. If the dye is not taken up by the plastic, then increase slowly. Watch out for early signs of warping. And wait for a few hours at lower temperatures before bumping up the heat. This is a slow process. Don't be too aggressive too early. Also, I got someone to stir the thing constantly - the caps should not touch the bottom of the pot, or else...

I dunno about ABS. You have to Google for the minimum temperature that the ABS starts to warp.

Haha. Thanks for that info. I didn't know that stuff about ABS. How about you try around 70 deg first, and then slowly increase until the dye goes in or your keycaps melt? Give it a few hours before you increase the temperature. If you add extra stuff besides the dye in the solution, be careful. Remember your science class talking about adding salt to raise the boiling point? I have a German friend who told me he will never use water above 60 deg for his ABS caps... (just letting you know)

That double pot method may work (I guess) but, if I were you, I'd keep the temperature below 90 degrees. 100 seems too high. And I'll still stir the thing throughout the time it is in the solution. After you do your experiment, let us know the results. 

i'm imagining a lot of keycaps of different theme all over the kb already

ABS deforms very easily under high heat, please be aware of this issue.

nyan cat keycaps are up for gb once again:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?31224-G...e-sub-group-buy

i have started a bulk, but im not buying, it's in the same row as the billiards