“Top-hat” or stepped-profile caps?

Going along with my goal to build a Modern bezel-less keyboard, I’d love a new key cap project similar to Devlin’s out-of-stock and ortho only [Teletype Z-series] but hopefully having non-ortho mods and more compatibility. The caps harken back to the old-style typewriter caps, and the first mech caps at the dawn of the PC industry. I’d hazard a guess that they’d pretty much have to be flat/uniprofile.

Here’s Devlin’s TeleType:


and Apple’s original iigs/iic and bashful prototype keys,


and Tandberg’s keycaps (though Tandberg seemed to favor only 1/1.5/2u caps:


and rounding out the keycap porn, Rama’s GRID caps (again, only good for ortho boards):

I really enjoy this aesthetic, especially as it pertains to making bezel-less keyboards more streamlined and good looking re: the possibility of having the edges of the caps align with the case.

Thoughts? Is anybody actually doing this, and I just have bad google-fu?

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Breaking news: I reached out to Mechsupply/UKKeycaps about Z-series TeleType availability, and regarding my wish for similar caps, but non-ortho, to which they responded:

There will be something you’ll like available in the coming months, hopefully before the end of the year :slight_smile: It’s not Devlin Z-Series, as they no longer work with the enthusiast market, but it is a new keycap profile with a similar aesthetic :wink: Initially the profile will support only 1u and 2u sizes, for Ortholinear layouts, but with enough interest I will extend the profile to support all layouts.  . . . .  A similar aesthetic would be achievable with the new profile, although it is closer to Devlin’s style than Apple’s :slight_smile:

Anybody know anything more? I’m signed tf up to their mailing list, for sure.

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I want to like them, but for some reason they look uncomfortable… Starting to wonder, if I’ve become jaded after my month of typing on the ADA profile… My fingers didn’t like the tightness of the top of the cap…

Had to dig real deep for this one. I think rama has since updated their update page but they used to have a mockup of this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlN2oFylPbS/

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Wow :eyes: I’m loving all of this eye candy—and wholeheartedly support a bezel less design like the old Apple keyboard. I’ll be watching this closely.

Chyrosran22 reviewed a Siemens K1197 that had similar looking keys:

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I remember that! Nice digging!

For anyone following the retro/vintage circular cap idea, there’s a new IC for a low-height uniform profile: [IC] SLK Dessau

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I got this off eBay a few months ago. Not mechanical but I couldn’t pass up a keyboard with a built in speaker…

Really nice keycap profile and a lovely tough tactile feel.

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