Signature Plastics DCS family
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This article requires photographic illustration |
| Manufacturer | Signature Plastics |
|---|---|
| Height profile | Cherry |
| Surface profile | Cylindrical |
| Inscriptions | Double-shot |
| Material | ABS, PC, PBT |
| Keycap mounts | Cherry MX mount, Alps mount |
| Website | pimpmykeyboard.com |
DCS family is a cylindrical keycap profile family from Signature Plastics and its predecessor Comptec.
"DCS" denotes Din standard height, cylindrical touch area, and sculptured keycap profile.[1].
Characteristics
DCS is predominantly made in double-shot moulded ABS, but a set in clear polycarbonate is also available. Single unprinted keycaps are also available in PBT but have not been sold as sets. Pad-printing has also been used for secondary and tertiary legends, and offered as primary method to OEMs.
DCS has thin walls, rounded corners and a coarse surface. It is otherwise quite similar to the size and slant to Cherry profile, except that it but differs significantly in the slant of the bottom rows.
Keys lack struts inside around the key stem, which means that down-stroke noise can not be damped with O-rings or silencing clips.
Availability
New
DCS is now sold as limited-editions of sets, and as blanks through Signature Plastics' Pimp My Keyboard shop. It has been made mostly with Cherry MX mount, but sets with Alps mount have also been available.
Before the shop opened, DCS had been sold to enthusiasts mostly through various group orders. Many novelty keycaps have been made.
A series of significant group buys have been organised by Deskthority member 7bit (for which he got much appreciation in the Deskthority Awards).
Before GMK started selling keycaps to consumers, the DCS profile was also often used for adapter kits for double-shot Cherry keys, sometimes with a replica Cherry font.
Vintage
DCS in double-shot moulded ABS has been manufactured for OEMs since at least the end of 1980s, as some wyse keyboards were found to be made in 1987/1988. They are common on vintage Wyse keyboards. Other keyboards from different display terminals at the time can also be found with SP DCS caps. For example, the keyboard of this Liberty Display Terminal, as depicted/described in this old ad [2], comes with black on white double shot DCS keycaps. Adapter kits and replicas of Wyse keycaps have been made.
A rare earlier version with thicker walls has been found on the Wyse 85, Wyse ASCII, and Wyse 30 Keyboard. Thus, it can possibly be concluded that thick OG DCS double shot keycaps are related more to the year of production, rather to the models of the keyboards.
Further, three different variants of double shot keycaps have been found on wyse, with various thickness. The thickest ones tend to be found in early wyse keyboards, while the thinnest are often seen on very late ones (e.g. 1994/1995 keyboards). This can potentially imply the progress of cutting cost from SP in manufacturing keycaps.
Caps for the same key, top view
View from bottom of those same caps
See also
- Many keyboards from BTC have keycaps in a profile shaped identical to DCS, but constructed differently.
References
- ↑ Pimp My Keyboard — The Origin of SP Keycap Families
- ↑ Bitsavers - Bitsavers Liberty Electronics Display Terminal
