Restoring yellowed WASD V2 keycaps
Posted: 14 Oct 2021, 16:38
Hi, I 've got some printed WASD keycaps that yellowewd over time and that I want to rescue.
History
In 2014 I ordered the WASD V2 keyboard seen in the pictures below. I tried to give it a retro look when I designed the keycaps and admit that I might have gone a bit overboard with the colours in the top right corner, but I do like the keycap look I have created.
Environment the caps were kept in
The keyboard spent maybe 4 years on the desk at my place of work. Ground floor in the UK with trees outside and double glazing, so the keyboard never got a lot of sun. Nevertheless the keys have yellowed quite dramatically.
Yellowing/fading
When I came back to the office after lockdown and took it out of the drawer is was shocked. I guess before I slowly got used to it and didn't notice, but now, seeing it fresh was a shock The side facing the window, and the top, are very yellowed. In reality it looks worse than on the photos. The side facing away from the window is not yelowed. For colour comparison the keyboard is next to a Model M and I turned one of the keys around in the second photo.
WASD doesn't know
I asked WASD for advice, but what I got back was 'Retrobrite might help but we don't know if it is compatible with our print' and 'I don't know if there is anything else to do for 7 year old keycaps'. I am slightly disappointed as I never expected these keycaps to have such a short lifespan before changing appearance.
What could I do to restore these keycaps? Do you have any suggestions?
They have been printed by WASD but I guess in 2004 they didn't UV protect them.
History
In 2014 I ordered the WASD V2 keyboard seen in the pictures below. I tried to give it a retro look when I designed the keycaps and admit that I might have gone a bit overboard with the colours in the top right corner, but I do like the keycap look I have created.
Environment the caps were kept in
The keyboard spent maybe 4 years on the desk at my place of work. Ground floor in the UK with trees outside and double glazing, so the keyboard never got a lot of sun. Nevertheless the keys have yellowed quite dramatically.
Yellowing/fading
When I came back to the office after lockdown and took it out of the drawer is was shocked. I guess before I slowly got used to it and didn't notice, but now, seeing it fresh was a shock The side facing the window, and the top, are very yellowed. In reality it looks worse than on the photos. The side facing away from the window is not yelowed. For colour comparison the keyboard is next to a Model M and I turned one of the keys around in the second photo.
WASD doesn't know
I asked WASD for advice, but what I got back was 'Retrobrite might help but we don't know if it is compatible with our print' and 'I don't know if there is anything else to do for 7 year old keycaps'. I am slightly disappointed as I never expected these keycaps to have such a short lifespan before changing appearance.
What could I do to restore these keycaps? Do you have any suggestions?
They have been printed by WASD but I guess in 2004 they didn't UV protect them.