Cherry Corp keycaps printing methods comparison

[photekq]

Warning : This image is huge (30mb) and very, very high res. It's just a simple comparison between dye sublimation, doubleshot and lasered keycaps found on Cherry Corp boards. Worth noting that there are more types of Cherry keycaps out there as seen in Sixty's post. This is mainly to show the differences in the printing methods.

Spoiler:

[mr_a500]

Nice comparison photo. As usual, doubleshot kicks ass.

[Dubsgalore]

Nice Pho, agreed with mr_a, DS is the king of contrast

[Josh]

nice pic!

[dorkvader]

Nice comparison photo. As usual, doubleshot kicks ass.

I disagree. Doubleshots aren't always excellent.

I mean, ignoring the poor wear and corrosion resistance, the legends themselves often turn out poorly. The shape is dependant on the mould cutting, (so no sharp interior angles) and ofetntimes the plastics "blend" together. This happened recently in signature plastics red-alert sets: the red blended in the white. I also have some hall effect keycaps that are black on a yellow-orange where this has happened also.

Excellent comparison pictures! it appears as if the above effect has occurred somewhat slightly with the doubleshots here as well.

[cookie]

Not to forgett that doubleshots are usually ABS plastic, this is what makes them actually bad and Dyesub on PBT superior over all other.

[Muirium]

High quality dyesub and high quality doubleshots are both superior to each other! Dyesub gets you PBT and multicolour legends. Doubleshot gets you bright on dark and, as these pictures show, sharper legends.

It's swings around roundabouts.

Dorkvader's got a point. I'd like to see HHKB dyesubs photographed like this, and some other doubleshots. Clearly in this particular Cherry trio, the doubleshots blow away the others, but that's not always the case.

[Broadmonkey]

We can all agree that quad shot PBT with additional dyes subbed... extra stuff if needed, would be the best possible outcome of combining known possibilities.

That said, dyes sub is better printed, just look at the F and you'll see what I mean. The F is much cleaner on the dye sub than on the double shot, with much sharper corners and straighter lines, is't just a shame the fading/halo effect covers this. But to be honest, I think Cherry's double shots legends varies in how well cut they are.

I'd like to see one of Special Plastics double shots in the comparison, since they actually make some high quality double shot legends!

Lasered is even uglier up close, you can really see that it is indeed done by burning the plastic! Worse in every possible way but price!

[photekq]

Cherry dyesubs are by far my favourite keycaps. The legends are extremely crisp in person - they almost look doubleshot. Don't let these macros fool you.. There is no blur that the naked eye can see (at least not on mint condition dyesubs)

I actually think the legends on Cherry dyesubs look nicer than Cherry doubleshots. I also find that the texture of the keycaps is much nicer, and I love the fact that the colours will always remain perfect due to no yellowing.

I will try and get some photos of different keys, like the F key and maybe scroll lock. Perhaps that will show the differences a little better. I will also take a photo of some SP doubleshot novelties that I have.

And yes, those lasered legends are really ugly. I won't be taking any more pictures of those.. I think we've seen enough

[Broadmonkey]

The dye sub legends might still look crisp, but the contrast is not as good, which draws to the overall feeling of double shots having slightly better legends. It's something I could live with however, if I could get a more long lasting and better texture while not having to be concerned with yellowing.

[photekq]

The dye sub legends might still look crisp, but the contrast is not as good, which draws to the overall feeling of double shots having slightly better legends. It's something I could live with however, if I could get a more long lasting and better texture while not having to be concerned with yellowing.

I actually prefer them since they don't have quite as much contrast. Here are some more pictures of different keys, also a pad printed menu key from a G80-5000. You can see that Cherry pad printing is very high quality. You can also just about make out the square of clear coat. I think dyesub wins when it comes to scooped keys

Spoiler:

[dorkvader]

Dorkvader's got a point. I'd like to see HHKB dyesubs photographed like this, and some other doubleshots. Clearly in this particular Cherry trio, the doubleshots blow away the others, but that's not always the case.

My realforce dyesubs are terrible quality (or rather, it's all over the place: different print size, many are blurry, ink has leached badly in some). It makes me wonder why people buy them, even janky-old IBM is better.

I don't have any cherry / bsp, but I have some new ML dyesubs that are superb. I also have some nmb and alphameric (keytronic stems) that are decent.

I'd have taken pictures already, but sadly I lack the camera equiptment. Maybe I'll mail some to a friend for photos.

[photekq]

Dorkvader's got a point. I'd like to see HHKB dyesubs photographed like this, and some other doubleshots. Clearly in this particular Cherry trio, the doubleshots blow away the others, but that's not always the case.

My realforce dyesubs are terrible quality (or rather, it's all over the place: different print size, many are blurry, ink has leached badly in some). It makes me wonder why people buy them, even janky-old IBM is better.

I don't have any cherry / bsp, but I have some new ML dyesubs that are superb. I also have some nmb and alphameric (keytronic stems) that are decent.

I'd have taken pictures already, but sadly I lack the camera equiptment. Maybe I'll mail some to a friend for photos.

I believe those ML dyesubs will have been done by BSP. Which board are they from?

[002]

Somewhat inspired by the great pics I thought I'd give it a go this evening. They're nowhere near in terms of consistency or quality when compared to photekq's -- this is really just for fun and a learning experience for me. All PBT dye-sub caps.

IBM PC Convertible

Spoiler:

IBM 'Kishsaver'

Spoiler:

Sony NEWS NWP 5461

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Sony NEWS NWP 411A

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Olivetti Cherry

Spoiler:

Olivetti ANK 25-101

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Mystery board - have a guess

Spoiler:

My personal favourite, although the photos suck, is probably the ANK 25-101 caps. They seem to've been very liberal with the ink or something as they look really solid and deep.

[photekq]

Great shots 002. The NWP 5461 looks like it has very high quality printing. Thanks for posting!

[woody]

... but I have some new ML dyesubs that are superb

Any source for them?

[webwit]

Yeah I couldn't distinguish those dyesubs from double shot, without macro picture.

[photekq]

Yeah I couldn't distinguish those dyesubs from double shot, without macro picture.

Are those ML keycaps not padprinted? I can see a square clear coat on the num lock key, which is typical for pad printed keys.

[webwit]

It's probably just cheap camera artifacts.

[photekq]

It's probably just cheap camera artifacts.

Hmm, maybe. However, I think I can see the same square coating on some of the other keys aswell, mainly / and *

[sixty]

They probably are pad printed. They made G84 boards with dyesub, pad printing and lasered caps.

[jacobolus]

Are there any PBT caps for Cherry ML mount, anywhere?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It's probably just cheap camera artifacts.

Hmm, maybe. However, I think I can see the same square coating on some of the other keys aswell, mainly / and *

That square coating is present on my pad-printed G84-4400PPAGB — I've tried to capture it in photos for the wiki, but I don't really have a setup capable of that (if I get enough light, I immediately go outside of the camera's dynamic range). This is the best I could do:

http://deskthority.net/wiki/File:Cherry ... ose-up.jpg

[sixty]

Are there any PBT caps for Cherry ML mount, anywhere?

Signature Plastics can make them. I have one from their original "sample profile keycaps" thingie. I also think the Tanberg boards are PBT dyesub.

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8 ... -t165.html

Might put one up for sale soon.

[Hypersphere]

Good direct comparison of printing methods for Cherry keycaps. It would be great if someone could do a direct comparison using standardized lighting and camera settings across different keycap manufacturers, including dye subs from IBM, RF, and PFU (HHKB Pro 2). It would also be good somehow to separate sharpness from contrast.

Overall, I still prefer the PBT dye subs on the IBM Model M and SSK; they combine great appearance with an excellent dry and slightly textured feel.

[photekq]

Good direct comparison of printing methods for Cherry keycaps. It would be great if someone could do a direct comparison using standardized lighting and camera settings across different keycap manufacturers, including dye subs from IBM, RF, and PFU (HHKB Pro 2). It would also be good somehow to separate sharpness from contrast.

Overall, I still prefer the PBT dye subs on the IBM Model M and SSK; they combine great appearance with an excellent dry and slightly textured feel.

I would do this if I had any IBM, RF or PFU keycaps. If anybody has any spare and wants me to do a comparison between them and Cherry please get in touch. 002 did post a picture of IBM keycaps earlier in this thread..