Custom Polyurethane Keycaps by Keymacs

[photekq]

Amazing work. Do you have any full sets with the dual sublegends you could show us some photos of?

[lispnick]

lispnick fantastic work!. I was curious if you knew how the dimensions of your keys compare to typical factory alps.

For example if someone used your keys on a Focus keyboard would there be any issue of your keys being too close together based on the factory switch spacing?

Thanks. I use standard 19.05mm spacing between 1U keys and the base of a 1U key is 18.4mm wide. No problems with spacing on standard keyboards.

[lispnick]

Amazing work. Do you have any full sets with the dual sublegends you could show us some photos of?

This was a proof-of-concept manufacturing. I made 16 copies of the A-key to determine success ratio of the manufacturing. By the way, all went good and with a perfect match of the legends and the dish, so I have high hopes for larger-scale production. In order to make a full keyset, I need to make a larger flip-jig for my CNC to hold several keycaps at once. This will require me to invest into new tooling and make some more tests. That will take some time (a couple of months).

[lispnick]

Some more teaser photos:

[mmm]

Looks awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of completed sets.

The pricing unfortunately seems right. It's not too dissiimilar to asymplex.xyz for blanks, though they cater to ergo/30%/40% users, requiring a small amount of caps per board. It would almost be a shame to order a kit of blanks from you, with the quality of legends on those caps!

[Yasu0]

Looks good. What is happening at the 2:03 mark?

[lispnick]

Looks good. What is happening at the 2:03 mark?

I clean a residue of the black PU from the dish in an isopropyl alcohol bath, making the edges of the legend sharper.

[photekq]

Lovely! I'll look forward to seeing a full set when you get that tooling, but this has satisfied my appetite for now.

Would you be open to doing entirely different profiles, if someone supplied you with the 3D models? A custom Cherry profile set would be incredible, and I do happen to have the files for that

[lispnick]

Lovely! I'll look forward to seeing a full set when you get that tooling, but this has satisfied my appetite for now.

Would you be open to doing entirely different profiles, if someone supplied you with the 3D models? A custom Cherry profile set would be incredible, and I do happen to have the files for that

One step at a time! I mean, the current keycap set is inspired by the new-style Symbolics keyboard. There will definitely be one in the old (and Cadet) style. I would also like to introduce as trapezoidal profile, … but any new keycap set, including yours, requires a one-time investment into the aluminium bases, somewhere in the 5000€ ballpark. So I may consider it but only at point where I have sufficient evidence that the investment will return back and something stays in my pocket.

[Muirium]

Cherry profile would be your best shot at mass appeal. It’s an epic profile. Also less material.

MX mount is the all too obvious choice for the underside, but is where all of the competition is. Smart move is Topre mount, where lots of high end keyboard knobs like me have next to nothing to choose from.

Cherry profile caps on Topre: magnifique!

[lispnick]

Cherry profile would be your best shot at mass appeal. It’s an epic profile. Also less material.

MX mount is the all too obvious choice for the underside, but is where all of the competition is. Smart move is Topre mount, where lots of high end keyboard knobs like me have next to nothing to choose from.

Cherry profile caps on Topre: magnifique!

I bought a HHKB a while ago just to investigate the mounts. It is an interesting little beast. I will need a custom-made undercutting end mill in order to mill the mount but it is I believe worth doing because of the reasons you have just mentioned.

I actually like the HHKB trapezoidal profile. Is the Cherry profile generally considered better?

[Muirium]

Generally? Nah. It’s all subjective. I actually really like both Topre and Cherry profile caps. (Way, way more than anything made by Signature Plastics.) I’ve a Cherry dyesub set on my Novatouch (a long unavailable Topre made MX compatible keyboard) which is a wonderful mix, so I know the combination of Cherry caps and Topre feel is good stuff.

Cherry profile is really low, and yet good and sculpted with a character all its own which I dig quite a bit. The price those caps can sell for (including my SAU set) certainly suggests high demand!

But I’d also be very keen on more options for my HHKBs in their own native profile. KBDfans tried but didn’t quite get it right. Besides that, options are limited indeed. Can’t even find alt coloured Topre caps any more. Should have bought those Enter keys from Elitekeyboards back when I could!

[lispnick]

What about spacebar sizes?

9.00U for Symbolics / Cadet keyboards
7.00U for Winkeyless keyboards
6.25U ISO/ANSI standard keyboards
6.00U HHKB

Anything else needed or frequently used?

[KeebMeUp]

What about spacebar sizes?

9.00U for Symbolics / Cadet keyboards
7.00U for Winkeyless keyboards
6.25U ISO/ANSI standard keyboards
6.00U HHKB

Anything else needed or frequently used?

2.50U Topre mount would be greatly appreciated.

[lispnick]

2.50U Topre mount would be greatly appreciated.

That's on the Japanese keyboards, right? I have just looked at pictures of some Realforce keyboards and it seems that the 1.5U keys adjacent to the 2.50U spacebar are also convex.

[KeebMeUp]

2.50U Topre mount would be greatly appreciated.

That's on the Japanese keyboards, right? I have just looked at pictures of some Realforce keyboards and it seems that the 1.5U keys adjacent to the 2.50U spacebar are also convex.

that's correct, the JIS hhkb and early JIS realforces

I don't believe the 1.5U keys were convex, but i'd definitely prefer if they were would make for a sweet bottom row.

[zrrion]

topre caps would be incredibly cool for sure, especially in a similar colourway to the pearl/pebble that the realforce101 uses

[lispnick]

Progress report: I have successfully tested manufacturing in clusters. Instead of making one keycap at a time, I can make up to seven 1U keycaps. The first demo batch was made for Jae. He is probably going to resell these. The first batch was all MX mounts but if there is interest, I am sure there can be more batches with other mounts as well. So, if you like my project but are not ready to invest into a full Keymacs keyboard, you can at least grab one of these.





The process has just one technical limitation: The shrinkage and expansion of the silicone forms. I did not take that into account in this first batch and, as a result, some of the keycaps do not have the stems ideally centered. They are some 0.2mm off-center. This is perhaps not an issue for these kind of keycaps that will be used (probably) as escape keys but can be an issue for a complete alphanum set. Luckily, the shrinkage is consistent and agrees with the material specs, so it is not a problem to adjust all the models to this shrinkage ratio.

[andreas]

Wow, this look great — great progress on the process.

Lovely as always. All the best to you.

[TNT]

I totally missed this, this is extremely impressive! Will keep my eyes peeled for sure

[thefarside]

Looks great! Will the cluster manufacturing have a lower price compared to individual keys?

[lispnick]

Looks great! Will the cluster manufacturing have a lower price compared to individual keys?

The pricing outlined in the beginning of the thread applies.

[randomuser2]

The result is really nice, but the amount of manual work that goes into each keycap.... just wow. I imagine if you had to do a thousand you would batch it and it would make much more sense that doing them individually.

Thenk you for the video!

[lispnick]

The result is really nice, but the amount of manual work that goes into each keycap.... just wow. I imagine if you had to do a thousand you would batch it and it would make much more sense that doing them individually.

Thenk you for the video!

Yes, I will proceed by doing clusters holding seven 1U keys, … to keep it maintainable. The silicone moulds have to be reworked approximately once in 20 demouldings—making all the individual forms over and over again would be incredibly time consuming.

[darkcruix]

At a minimum of 4 rows with all having different sculptures, you need 4 moulds. If I calculate that right, from one set of moulds you can create a maximum of 10 full 1U sets. That is not mass production. After that you need to create all four moulds again.
I am glad your doing this, because these keys are unique and have this wow-factor.

[lispnick]

At a minimum of 4 rows with all having different sculptures, you need 4 moulds. If I calculate that right, from one set of moulds you can create a maximum of 10 full 1U sets. That is not mass production. After that you need to create all four moulds again.
I am glad your doing this, because these keys are unique and have this wow-factor.

Yes, it is far from a mass production but unlike that, it opens a lot of possibilities—like the support or arbitrary mounts at zero additional cost and fully customisable legends. Each keyset is going to be unique.

[darkcruix]

At a minimum of 4 rows with all having different sculptures, you need 4 moulds. If I calculate that right, from one set of moulds you can create a maximum of 10 full 1U sets. That is not mass production. After that you need to create all four moulds again.
I am glad your doing this, because these keys are unique and have this wow-factor.

Yes, it is far from a mass production but unlike that, it opens a lot of possibilities—like the support or arbitrary mounts at zero additional cost and fully customisable legends. Each keyset is going to be unique.

That is what I massively like. Not only is it unique - it is also artwork combined with engineering at another level. Whenever you go in mass production - keep this small batch work alive!

[lispnick]

Ok, here you have it: Keycaps and additional keys.

I will start the manufacturing in Jan 2023.

[darkcruix]

futurama-philip-j-fry-memes-simpson-wallpaper-preview.jpg (76.24 KiB) Viewed 9956 times

[XMIT]

Meanwhile, I printed front legends for my board.

IMG_4083.jpg (915.62 KiB) Viewed 9736 times

I also put Alps SKCM Cream Damped switches in this board. Next step is to put latching switches under the two Lock keys, like the Symbolics original.