What did you get in the mail today? (Part 1)

Dude. Same. My sentiments exactly.

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The only downside to wood, that I can see, is the propensity to swell and contract with moisture.

I only mention that because I have a wooden 60% case that was an absolutely bear to get the PCB into and Iā€™m pretty sure itā€™s not coming out without some violence. Which may just be a manufacturing defect, but natural materials can be tricky.

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Youā€™re totally right. I suspected I ought to let the case acclimate to my part of the world before attempting any sort of build. Iā€™m leaving it desk side for a week or so just to be sure.

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How is PCB mount height? With wooden cases in the past, PCB sat too high which made typing difficult without a balm rest.

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Hmm. Thatā€™s a super great question.

They look about the height youā€™d expect, but I donā€™t have a spare PCB to confirm.

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No hurry. Let us know if they seem higher than usual after your build, whenever that may be. :slight_smile:

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This set is so weirdly cool. Are the legends pad printed or?

Process is crazy: the caps are ā€œdip-dyed, then dye-subbed, and then laser engraved to arrive at the final effect.ā€

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I kind of feel like those are out of order though. I would expect they were laser engraved first, then dye-subbed. Since the white clearly follows into the engraving.

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One of the guys behind the group buy, Ulliam, described the process in more depth in the GeekHack thread announcing the GB:

ā€œThe keycaps start off as a white base that are dip dyed (similar/comparable to sublimation) to the medium grey, they are then dye-sublimated black and etched back to smooth white using laser engraving.ā€

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Neat!

Can you feel the legends? How do they compare to the usual home key bumps?

Oh thatā€™s awesome and makes complete sense. I was a little confused what exactly the dip dying was even doing and now itā€™s all coming together. This is a super cool way to make a keycap. I hope there are more that take advantage of this approach.

@ajoflo yes, you can feel them, but itā€™s very subtle. The home keys are just dished more, but appear to have the same depth of engraving on them.

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Right? Between this new process and reverse dye-sub, Iā€™m excited that weā€™ll start seeing a lot more interesting PBT keycap legends and colors.

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Just so I understand the process fully; dip dying is chemically the same as dye sublimation but without a printed transfer paper, right?

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:upside_down_face:

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Oh, fascinatingā€¦ that makes me really curious about the kind of laser they are using and how itā€™s set up. I used to operate a laser cutter and engraver in the signage business, and IIRC it takes some finessing to get a smooth, glossy finish like that on an engraved surface - itā€™s usually very rough, almost like a softer fine sandpaper.

Usually the engraving process itself essentially makes millions of tiny explosions in the material; vaporizing it one micro-pulse at a time - each of those pulses more or less is one ā€œgrainā€ in the grit of the surface. Whether itā€™s somehow in the same pass or with a subsequent pass, the laser appears to be melting the plastic back down into a melted-together surface.

I seem to remember that being technically possible with the unit I had been using, but accomplishing it was sort of a hack-y procedure that you kind of had to wing.

Say all that to say - that looks exceptional for a laser-engraved plastic surface.

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Yes, I overpaid.

No, I donā€™t regret it.

Stay Wuque

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Ooo, Iā€™m hoping to hear how these work versus the stock sliders. Lotā€™s of hopes pinned to these.

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Same :slight_smile: Iā€™ll report back. But, this one word gives me hope:

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About time KBDfans got with the times on tray mount 60%s. Just the 4 side mounts makes a tray mount 60% feel so much more consistent & sound better. Add in a half plate with a super flexy PCB like the HADflex60 & you got a recipe for a tray mount that feels better than some customs IMHO!

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