Keycap shine, what does it look like?

[RadikulRAM]

I'm currently using PBT caps, but I've been looking at some nice double shots in red.
Ofcourse they're ABS, and I'm worried to invest in ABS caps as they can get shiny.

But I've never seen just how shiny they get, and how it affects the looks. I've searched online and couldn't find any good pictures, would anyone with shiny ABS keys be as kind as to post an image?

Or can someone link me to an image, because the shiny keys I've seen online could be from the camera flash.

Thank you.

[Muirium]

My Round 4 SPH set is getting quite shiny:



No flash, but plenty of daylight. It really does look like pictures show: it's like a polished shoe or other surface instead of a matte finish. Nothing ugly in itself, but it does show up a bit randomly (as your fingers are the polish!) and space bars tend to get it in patches.

[RadikulRAM]

Huh, I see. It's actually not too bad. Are those DSA caps? Double shot?

Thanks for the photo.

P.S: Do different colours shine differently? For example would reds turn pinkish, or just look polished.

[Muirium]

Those are doubleshot ABS caps, in tall spherical (Round 5 style) SA profile. 7bit's still running the world's craziest group buy for them here:

http://deskthority.net/group-buys-f50/d ... t6732.html

(Not cheap! And not shipping anytime soon either, sigh…)

Shine doesn't change colour. It's just a polished look on quality caps like doubleshots. Cheaper caps can have their legends wear off completely because of it though. But doubleshots have no such problem.

[Halvar]

This is a Cherry ABS space bar that has been used for many years. You see the typical space bar shine where the left thumb hits, while the right hand part looks like new. Space bars tend to be among the first keys that become shiny, and it's especially noticeable because it's so patchy.

spiegleinspieglein.jpg (150 KiB) Viewed 18794 times

scheinweiterduverrückterdiamant.jpg (137.46 KiB) Viewed 18798 times

[RadikulRAM]

I was looking through this:
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Round_5

I think the production on R5 got delayed to sometime October?
Can we still order them?
EDIT: Only these, so no Ergo reds.
http://deskthority.net/wiki/R5_leftovers

I'm interested in the HONEY/ERGO/RED set (sold out). Does honey signify the type of keycap it is? And is the red the same as your ESC key?

Damn the R5a kits are so much more expensive than R5. On R5a you need two separate kits to make one.

[RadikulRAM]

This is a Cherry ABS space bar that has been used for many years. You see the typical space bar shine where the left thumb hits, while the right hand part looks like new. Space bars tend to be among the first keys that become shiny, and it's especially noticeable because it's so patchy.

Is there a way to speed up the shining process? Since the spacebars gonna shine, it'll be nice to have it shine uniform.

[Halvar]

I don't know, I think that wouldn't look good. What you can do is roughen up the surface a bit where is has become shiny, by using an eraser/rubber (don't ask me why that works, but it does). You can't get back the original surface texture, but the shine becomes a bit less obvious when the surface isn't blank like a mirror. It also feels better again.

Also, your caps don't become shiny so fast, it takes quite a bit of use before it happens.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

This is one of my Filco keyboards; how much you notice the shine depends on the angle. From the front, it's not that noticeable, though you can see that I hit the space bar with my right thumb instead of my left:

ABS shine (front).jpg (158.38 KiB) Viewed 18734 times

From a higher angle though, you get a lot of glare; compare Insert (rarely used) and Delete (heavily used):

ABS shine (top).jpg (594.05 KiB) Viewed 18734 times

On the other hand, here's a badly worn keyboard where the legends are coming off and the keycaps still have a rough texture:

Worn legends, no shine.jpg (262.01 KiB) Viewed 18734 times

Whoever used that must have sandpaper for skin.

Ah, I felt sure I'd posted a wiki article on this. [wiki]Keycap wear[/wiki], with a good example photo:

Keycap wear.jpg (292.08 KiB) Viewed 18734 times

It's not a desirable effect. Interestingly in this case, the keycaps have gone shiny but the legends have remained.

[Muirium]

Cheaper keyboards do tend to show it more. (Filco's boards are nice, but their caps…) I'm impressed by those surface legends that have managed to stay intact though!

If you want something highly resistant to shine, then we're talking PBT. This is what my PBT Granite set looked like when new:



Matte. And rough, too, in a good way. I like this just as much as slick ABS doubleshots. Several months of pretty intense use later, and I see no wear yet. Definitely holding up as well as PBT is supposed to.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The great thing about surfaces that don't wear … is how do you know that they've actually been used? I still want to know what the BBC Micro keycaps are made of, as back in the 70s and 80s it was possible to double-shot mould from materials that were highly wear-resistant (all those old keyboards still have good keycap surface texture). There's very little wear on my NEC PC-8201A keyboard, but as I said, how do I actually know how much that was used? Is it a wear-resistant plastic capable of being used for double-shot, or was it just not used much?

Filco Majestouch 1 keycaps become visibly worn in a few months (I have no idea if MJ2 is any better), but how much of that is down to the surface coating, I don't know.

I've not noticed any wear on my G80-3000 (that a colleague uses), which has POM keycaps, but I do notice that the laser infill stains badly.

Take the coloured ctrl, alt and arrows above — I have the alternate scheme on my home keyboard (blue instead of green and vice versa), and those keycaps are already going shiny. I can see that I use left arrow far more than the other three from the comparative degrees of shine on them, and I don't appear to use right ctrl, but I do use left ctrl a fair amount, but not as much as left arrow.

ABS just goes shiny.

[Muirium]

How is your Realforce (with PBT caps of course) holding up? Still using it much?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Funny that. I gave my Realforce to our new starter, but she prefers short-throw switches and has taken my old Trust scissor switch hand-me-down, so the Realforce is once again unwanted and unloved. Maybe I should just return 002's keycaps and sell it on. It's a nice keyboard, though, and I like it.

[Muirium]

If I had a G80, a Filco, and, uh, a Trust to choose from in an office… I couldn't see using anything other than the Realforce! But that's my switch preference showing, as well as being a keyboard snob in general, no doubt.

What keeps MX in the running for you? I find them jack of all trades, especially the tactile bump.

The new lady sounds much like my brother. He's tried Topre, MX red and green, Model M and F and even Beamspring now, thanks to me. But he still claims to prefer his MacBook keyboard. Just plain likes thumping down with next to no travel. Habits, eh…

[Halvar]

Keycap wear.jpg

It's not a desirable effect. Interestingly in this case, the keycaps have gone shiny but the legends have remained.

Great picture! But shiny CAPS LOCK? The owner must be A TROLL!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I just checked the POM keycaps on the G80-3000 — there's no significant increase in shine over how shiny they appear to have been from new. (All the rarely-used keys are all just as shiny.)

I'm on MX red right now, which has little in the way of commercial alternatives (just the clones).

At home, I've got MX blue — there's not much in the way of alternatives to that either, not if I want a keyboard that's slim, has Windows keys, and is clicky.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

But shiny CAPS LOCK? The owner must be A TROLL!

I suspect they never quite figured out what shift is for …

[RadikulRAM]

Cheaper keyboards do tend to show it more. (Filco's boards are nice, but their caps…) I'm impressed by those surface legends that have managed to stay intact though!

If you want something highly resistant to shine, then we're talking PBT. This is what my PBT Granite set looked like when new:



Matte. And rough, too, in a good way. I like this just as much as slick ABS doubleshots. Several months of pretty intense use later, and I see no wear yet. Definitely holding up as well as PBT is supposed to.

I have PBT's atm, 2-3 years and still going strong. It's just that I want something new, and always wanted a double shot set.

EDIT:
Huh... I never noticed this until just now, but my spacebar is slightly worn out on both sides. A tiny bridge in the middle looks fine, and the bottom half of the spacebar is fine too.

It's a Razer Blackwidow 2013, PBT caps (sinks in a cup of water). These caps are coated with something though, idk what it is but it's sort of rubberised. The spacebar has the same coating, but there is less friction.

[RadikulRAM]

Oh and am I the only one who thinks shiny keycaps look nice?

[Hypersphere]

Some of the double-shot sets look beautiful. For example, I have an Olivetti set from Originative that I like to look at, but I don't like the way it feels. You can readily detect the difference by pressing down on a key and dragging your finger toward you. With ABS there is a sort of stuttering drag on your finger, but with PBT, your finger slides smoothly. ABS feels clammy to me, but PBT feels dry, like sun-bleached bones in the desert.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Oh and am I the only one who thinks shiny keycaps look nice?

You mean, smooth (not textured) keycaps from the factory, or surfaces such as Filco coated, POM or PBT that are comparably shiny from new yet not glossy?

Or do you mean where rough-surface keycaps have become unevenly worn with use?

[RadikulRAM]

Oh and am I the only one who thinks shiny keycaps look nice?

You mean, smooth (not textured) keycaps from the factory, or surfaces such as Filco coated, POM or PBT that are comparably shiny from new yet not glossy?

Or do you mean where rough-surface keycaps have become unevenly worn with use?

Yeah I meant the rough-surface keycaps have become unevenly worn with use. Looks mirror like to me.

[RadikulRAM]

Some of the double-shot sets look beautiful. For example, I have an Olivetti set from Originative that I like to look at, but I don't like the way it feels. You can readily detect the difference by pressing down on a key and dragging your finger toward you. With ABS there is a sort of stuttering drag on your finger, but with PBT, your finger slides smoothly. ABS feels clammy to me, but PBT feels dry, like sun-bleached bones in the desert.

Are PBT's always smooth?
I'm gonna miss that if I go ABS I guess.

[Volks]

Some of the double-shot sets look beautiful. For example, I have an Olivetti set from Originative that I like to look at, but I don't like the way it feels. You can readily detect the difference by pressing down on a key and dragging your finger toward you. With ABS there is a sort of stuttering drag on your finger, but with PBT, your finger slides smoothly. ABS feels clammy to me, but PBT feels dry, like sun-bleached bones in the desert.

Are PBT's always smooth?
I'm gonna miss that if I go ABS I guess.

It depends on the mod that the keycaps used. Just like GMK and SP. The keycaps from GMK is smoother than the keycaps form SP.

[Daniel]

The keyboard of my Thinkpad X61 looks like the picture from the keycap wear wiki article. Interesting how the legends are more durable as the keycaps itself...

[abhibeckert]

I have two leopold keybeards, one with PBT and one with ABS.

The ABS one is newer and used less but it looks old and worn out. The PBT one looks as if I purchased it yesterday.

Worst of all it's not even, some keys still look new.

The blue keys were added a couple weeks ago, so no shine yet.

[pyrelink]

It depends on the mod that the keycaps used. Just like GMK and SP. The keycaps from GMK is smoother than the keycaps form SP.

It definitely depends on the manufacturer. I imagine everything from the mold to the plastic has an effect. I have a PBT set from BSP, which I can honestly say are some of the "smoothest" PBT caps I have ever used. They feel like a smoother GMK, which is nothing like you might find in SP PBT.