Does Thick ABS perform the same as Thick PBT?

It’s what Melissa Petersen of Signature Plastics told me.

Yeah, despite what I said about pitch above (or maybe an example of my get-out-of-jail-free caveat) my keybird69 with GMK MTNU Susu double-shot PBT is much lower pitched than another keybird69 with SP DSS Dolch double-shot ABS. Both have Cherry Clear switches, tho I lubed the ones in the Susu board. :person_shrugging:

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Signature Plastics, SA profile. They own the original design and molds that were bought out from Comptec. I mention them because there are other sources of SA profile keycaps (notably Maxkey and Domikey for the better ones) but SP are the real owners of that profile, and actually they do produce the best quality SA keycaps (though Domikey are really close and packaging is better…).
As for all keycap profiles I think there’s a thread right here on keebtalk about them, you can read about a few of them on Deskthority too for example: Signature Plastics SA family - Deskthority wiki
Roughly speaking there are spherical top profiles, cylindrical tops, flat tops, and then sculpted profiles (such as Cherry or SA) and flat profiles (such as DSA or KAM).

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Yep, whether you care about shine is a personal preference. They will hold up still/it doesn’t affect function. Some people like to see the personal wear of their item and feel like it has a story. I can feel both ways for different things. Some on this board are fans of keycaps that come really shiny out-the-box, which was the case for some vintage keys.

PBT dye-sub is just as washable. You can use a little dish soap in water with either material and then just let them dry fully. I wouldn’t apply extra heat to ABS or put either in a clothes dryer, though :innocent:. The dye is really embedded in the surface, so it’s pretty much just as durable as double-shotting. If you get a PBT set and the dye-sub is smearing, you should contact the seller right away since that’s a quality problem.

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Happened to see this in my feed today; a nice little overview of a bunch of materials including ceramic and (fake) wood:

They do mention in the video that Cerakey says tolerances will be better in R2.

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@Deadeye

Metal looks shiny, but would this metal corrode? I mean if the owners cleaned it routinely, it probably wouldn’t, but if someone left it for months, would it corrode?

@Halfling_Barista

Thanks for the answer! I have always thought dye-sub to be bad, but It seems like not, I mean if compared with double-shot, double-shot is stronge.

The metal used in those particular TeamWolf caps is stainless steel, so no corrosion there.

Many other metal sets are made of coated zinc, and those coatings can corrode.

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They’re pretty much equally durable if good quality. The differences are more due to the other things mentioned.

The keycaps you’re used to seeing in the wild where the legends have worn off are likely pad-printed, which is usually less durable. Come to think of it though, that hasn’t happened on my current Dell. Wonder how much is due to me pretty much being unwilling to type on it after getting into customs :laughing:

Laptops can also have thin, clear keycaps that are basically painted all over, and then the legends are laser etched out of the paint layer to let per-key lighting show through. The paint on the keycaps can wear away.

Both of those types have paint on top, rather than embedded into the plastic like dye-sub.

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@Deadeye
Oh, I just knew stainless steel prevented corrosion, I thought it just meant that it won’t be stained by paint or something, haha!

@Halfling_Barista
Thanks for the information!

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Yep; “stainless steel” is the most popular name for a corrosive-resistant alloy of iron, chromium, nickel, and carbon. (I used to think exactly the same thing until my high school metalworking class)

For the same reason it makes for durable keycaps, it’s my favorite thing to cook with. Steel is also my favorite material for bicycles, but I’ll stay out of those weeds for now. :smiley:

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