Amazon is offering an oem PBT keycap set. I would like to replace the character (printing) keycaps on my magicforce qisan 40%. I’d welcome suggestions, recommendations as to whether the following would work: Amazon Link I am aware that many function and navigation keys in this keyset will not fit. Thanks
No to both the 49 is full of nonstandard keys.
This is a good example of using a standard keycap set on a Qisan 49.
You’ll likely want to avoid keycaps with a sculpted profile as some of the sculpted keycaps (left side mods and 1u novelties) will be the wrong profile for the row they end up on.
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Welcome to the world of 40s and non-standard layouts. I’d recommend looking for uniform profile (DSA/XDA/Uniform SA/etc) keycap sets if you don’t care about legend accuracy as it’s a lot easier to mix and match that way (uniform blanks are especially good with crazy layouts). In that case, you would just need to count the number of caps at each size and make sure the set has enough. Unfortunately sculpted sets like Cherry and OEM are not going to be easy to find physical compatibility. edit: if the backspace is 1.5u, I believe https://novelkeys.com/collections/keycaps/products/osa-sleeves will work. but might be worth double-checking
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huhsh: Where did you get those keycaps in the picture? Looks like they might be close to what I want.
Let me know, if you can.
A word to rpiguy9907: I’m only looking to replace the printing keycaps. As you say, the 49 has a number of non standard keys. They would probably just have to stay.
Bye the way, I also have a vortex core.
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I’ve been using 40s - the qisan and the vortex core - pretty much exclusively now for three years. I realize that most mechanical keyboards are advertised as for gaming. Well, I’ve been a coder for 34 years and have never played a single computer game. And since I use a very malleable operating system - linux - I am indifferent to whether I program a pcb or the OS via xmodmap to get the config that I want.
Having said that, I still prefer the core, but light colored key caps would be an improvement for the qisan. I don’t care whether the backlighting comes through or not. As a child of the 1960s, I worry that backlighting might give me flashbacks. 
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Not mine in the picture, I pulled that from the article I linked. They appear to be DSA Granite or a clone though. If you are just trying to replace the alphas (characters,letters) something like these could work and come in a range of colors to choose from. I have a set of the pink ABS keycaps that I’m using on just the alphas/numbers of a prebuilt TKL.
Thanks. Great tip.
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The two links to amazon offerings in the Original Post are to keycap sets advertised as PBT. I prefer the feel of the PBT keycaps on my vortex to the slightly oily feeling of my qisan. One response to my inquiry has dismissed these keycaps because many would not fit. However, given that I am most interested in replacing my alpha/printing keycaps, they do remain as interests since the alpha keys on my qisan are pretty regular - as opposed to some of the others. Furthermore, content at the site asserts that they are gateron compatible. Thanks for all of the answers. 
I don’t know why, but for some reason I didn’t realize you were just looking to replace the alphas when I first read your post. In that case though, either one of the Amazon link PBT keycap sets should work for you. You’ll just have a bunch of extra keycaps that don’t fit the Qisan, but thats not to say they couldn’t be used as accents on a different keyboard. 
Cool! I am good to go. Thanks again to all.
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