Cherry Profile Dye-subbed Keycaps Comparison

[Drclick]

Hello! I recently took some photos of pbt keycaps from different cherry keyboards, and now I would like to share them with you all!

First one is G81-3000SAV, I got this keyboard from russian like some of you since they were found last year.

Spoiler:

There are something odd about this keyboard. The Cyrillic fonts look different from other cherry keyboard (HASRO, HAV, SAR, etc), and English fonts look different too. Another thing is this keyboard don't have dished 'F' and 'J' keys but that 'Quote' key beside ' Enter ' key.



ESA label



Controller label shows G81-3000HAD, It's strange but not the first time I see on a Cherry keyboard.



The back photo shows they are definitely OG PBT keycaps made by Cherry, just like any other Cherry dye-sub keycaps.



Mods keys are dye-sublimated by Cherry for sure, nothing different from SAU keycaps. But those Cyrillic keycaps...

Spoiler:

I don't think these alpha keycaps are dye-sublimated, more like silkscreen print?



And G81-3100SAV keycaps from ball00n, dye-sublimated by Cherry.

So this G81-3000SAV with black Cyrillic keycaps, was made by Cherry. But the alpha set, I think they were printed by other russian factory using Cherry PBT keycaps.






The second keyboard is Desko MSL 4717 (G81-3121SLD).

Spoiler:

This keyboard have both PBT dye-sublimated keycaps and ABS double-shot keycaps.
Double-shot keycaps are made by Cherry.



But these PBT keycaps, not like normal Cherry PBT, more like BSP!



They are almost the same, except BSP keycaps have number on the back and more dots on the wall.
And I was told BSP retooled their mould before BSP keyset group buy, I think that's why there is a difference between them.



Then I made a comparison between BSP keycaps and RGB set from Desko ML 4006. They are absolutely made from same
mould.
So BSP was not the primary manufacturer of keycaps for Cherry like others said, but they made keycaps for Desko.



What I can't stand is BSP keycaps have some sink marks, you can easily find them under light. And part of they are not as thick as Cherry caps.



Dye-sublimation is good, but I don't think they are made by Cherry since they didn't use Cherry PBT.
But I have a question, if they are not dye-sublimated by Cherry, why this keyboard named G81-3121SLD?

Spoiler:

BSP Hebrew dye-sublimated by Hammer.








The last one, Triumph Adler CSC 101 (G99-1180BAU?).

Spoiler:

This keyboard have the same keycaps like TA typewriter. Fonts are smaller than Cherry fonts, so they are not dye-sublimated by Cherry.







And finally, smoothness rank imo : Cherry > Desko (OG BSP) > TA > BSP (Hammer)

[hansichen]

Interesting post, I had similar thoughts about some of the boards too but I couldn't prove them cause I don't have these boards.

About the first SAV board with black legends: There were reports on discord about fading legends within days or few weeks of usage. These caps don't appear to be dyesub and the production method seems to be very bad. Rumors were about wrong temperature while dyesubbing so that the paint doesn't apply correctly but normal printing is probably the correct answer. Especially the font, legend placing and the homing position make me think that it was made in Russia too.

The TA boards are pretty interesting too as the mods seem to be made by Cherry while the alphas are made by TA. They are still very beatiful boards but it's a weird decision to have parts produced by a different company even if there is nothing "special" about those keys.

Nice collecion and nice pictures!

[XMIT]

Beautiful macro photos, thanks for sharing! What kind of camera and lens did you use to get these?

[Drclick]

Beautiful macro photos, thanks for sharing! What kind of camera and lens did you use to get these?

Pentax K50 and M50 1.7, I don't have a macro lens so I use reverse lens technique to shot

[JingyC]

Those keycaps are thicc

[LightningXI]

Awesome documentation process. This is much appreciated!

[Redmaus]

Beautiful. Thanks for granting us these pics

[Rggroup]

Dye-subbed keycaps are one of the most popular types of keycaps you can get, but what are the differences? I've created a comparison of spam link removed how to dye sub keycaps, Dye-subbed Keycap makers so you can easily see what's available and what might be best for you.

[kbdfr]

Dye-subbed keycaps are one of the most popular types of keycaps you can get, but what are the differences? I've created a comparison of spam link removed how to dye sub keycaps, Dye-subbed Keycap makers so you can easily see what's available and what might be best for you.

Just wondering why you revive an old thread instead of posting in a recent thread dealing exactly with your topic:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27180

[Muirium]

Given their favourite keyboard is “dell” and their favourite switch is “yes” I suspect they know more about processed meat than keycaps!

[kbdfr]

Our co-moderator jsheradin was very active yesterday, deleting, editing and banning. Good work!

[Muirium]

He is the spam ninja. The night-killer. The ghost inside the machine…

Fear him!