Buckling spring MT3 Keycaps! (MOVED)

vyquad

20 Jan 2022, 03:35

So i got to type on a selectric for the first time and i really loved the keycaps, but with buckling springs theres really only 1 profile so i had to get working in blender (With some people that can do CAD to fix bad stuff in the model). While it may look a bit crude, my attemps at making it look good have failed spectacularly. The base of the model comes from jaseg's buckling spring stl and it was some 20s typewriter buckling spring keycap i used for the thing that the spring sits in (These were designed with the Model F XT in mind so it is unknown if some of these keycaps will fit onto a model m) As of right now, these are untested. EDIT: Someone has offered to redesign the top part of the 2 piece keycap


EDIT: Project taken over by ThermometerSandwich viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27105
Attachments
underside
underside
er45.png (1.19 MiB) Viewed 13742 times
the gangs all here
the gangs all here
errrrr.png (966.82 KiB) Viewed 13742 times
Issue with prototype where the part where the spring sits is missing
Issue with prototype where the part where the spring sits is missing
wwwb36wpilc81.jpeg (2.59 MiB) Viewed 13742 times
Last edited by vyquad on 11 Apr 2022, 22:51, edited 3 times in total.

headphone_jack

20 Jan 2022, 20:00

These will 100% feel scratchy and awful at the resolution you've printed them at. Filament printing, even at its best, really can't do the "grain" you would need to get a smooth switch, even with monstrous amounts of lube applied. Hell, I doubt resin printing could get a high enough resolution to make these feel anything close to the original. The key tops are also very sloppy, you need to adjust the angle of the bottom piece to be flush with the dish at the top. But without injection molding (which would cost thousands) these aren't really that useful.

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Bjerrk

20 Jan 2022, 20:30

Neat experiment! Looking forward to your account of the testing, even if the keyfeel turns out to to be a bit scratchy :-D

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Yasu0

20 Jan 2022, 20:57

Have thought about grafting selectric caps as a possible solution. I think by hand could work even if tedious. Today's adhesives, some of them are amazing. I don't think that would be your main issue with this method.

For smoothing out rough machine made parts, maybe build them up a little bit oversize and use a deburring method afterward?

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Yasu0

20 Jan 2022, 20:58

Joining dissimilar material should be easy, one would think, with modern adhesives. Get your smooth half from originally mold cast IBM pieces, then put your finger interactive half from the old type writers on top.

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jsheradin

20 Jan 2022, 21:11

Another approach might be to utilize buckling spring two piece caps and just print some tops with your desired profile.

Edit: Didn't see Yasu0 beat me to it.

vyquad

21 Jan 2022, 01:43

jsheradin wrote:
20 Jan 2022, 21:11
Another approach might be to utilize buckling spring two piece caps and just print some tops with your desired profile.

Edit: Didn't see Yasu0 beat me to it.
If the V3 prototype does not work, then i will be using this idea

vyquad

21 Jan 2022, 01:46

i forgot to mention that I AM NOT THE ONE MAKING THE PRINTS, I AM GETTING THESE MADE TO ORDER

vyquad

21 Jan 2022, 03:58

jsheradin wrote:
20 Jan 2022, 21:11
Another approach might be to utilize buckling spring two piece caps and just print some tops with your desired profile.

Edit: Didn't see Yasu0 beat me to it.
Seems thats the only option as the prototype (even without the thing where the spring sits) is way too hard to push up and down and is not smooth at all (Even without the spring in the barrel!) as someone else in this thread said
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67hb458567hub.png
67hb458567hub.png (862.9 KiB) Viewed 13499 times

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Muirium
µ

21 Jan 2022, 12:58

Is your goal now to make white, spherical, blank outer shells? That's about all you can do with 3D-printing.

vyquad

21 Jan 2022, 17:15

Muirium wrote:
21 Jan 2022, 12:58
Is your goal now to make white, spherical, blank outer shells? That's about all you can do with 3D-printing.
Yeah, i guess if you want to do sublimation you have to do that yourself

vyquad

26 Jan 2022, 03:00

UPDATE: Turns out ThermometerSandwich actually did their own take on it, albeit still prototyping
Attachments
20220122_131912.jpg
20220122_131912.jpg (2.72 MiB) Viewed 13250 times

inozenz

26 Jan 2022, 09:44

vyquad wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 03:00
UPDATE: Turns out ThermometerSandwich actually did their own take on it, albeit still prototyping
i love 3d printers, amazing job :O

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Bjerrk

26 Jan 2022, 10:21

vyquad wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 03:00
UPDATE: Turns out ThermometerSandwich actually did their own take on it, albeit still prototyping
Damn!! Got any more information?

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Muirium
µ

26 Jan 2022, 10:28

Wonder if the 👍 is ⚡️ engraved?

ThermometerSandwich

26 Jan 2022, 17:36

Thanks for the shout-out vyquad! :D
Great work on your caps btw! I'm still amazed at how well those stems came out.

I plan on making a larger build log post in the Workshop about this topic in the next couple weeks. So, I suppose this is kind of a teaser trailer ;)
20220126_101116.jpg
20220126_101116.jpg (973.17 KiB) Viewed 13149 times
From left to right:
  • OG Model M/F keycap
  • My first infill test on a resin print with black CA glue (lesson learned: don't use CA glue for infill...)
  • Profile test with Sharpie legend. I quickly printed a set of alphas like this just to try out for a while to make sure I was happy with the dish shape. Okay, so I may have printed several sets until I was happy with the shape... This was printed at a bit too high of a layer height (0.05 mm I think).
  • Proof of concept of a "Triple Shot" keycap using the same type of UV resin as the print itself.
Muirium wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 10:28
Wonder if the 👍 is ⚡️ engraved?
For the 👍 and ≥M, the caps were printed with little voids for the legends. The 👍 legend was filled with black CA glue, then sanded a bit. This didn't turn out super well. For the ≥M, I used the same UV resin as the print itself with pigment added. I poured a little resin into the voids, then put clear tape over the uncured resin to shape it. I cured it by shining a UV laser through the tape. After removing the tape, a little sanding cleaned it up pretty quickly. I meant for the main legend to be black, but I definitely didn't add enough pigment to the resin, so grey it is. Other than the color issue, I'm pretty happy with the results.

I thought about CNC milling the legends, but I think the prints came out well enough when printed at 0.02 mm or so. Also, I'm way too lazy to do the tool-pathing for ≥107 different legends.
inozenz wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 09:44
i love 3d printers, amazing job :O
Thanks! :D
Muirium wrote:
21 Jan 2022, 12:58
Is your goal now to make white, spherical, blank outer shells? That's about all you can do with 3D-printing.
8-)

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Muirium
µ

26 Jan 2022, 19:34

One of those so has my name on it…

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Bjerrk

27 Jan 2022, 08:31

animestorm5 wrote:
27 Jan 2022, 08:28
Bjerrk wrote:
20 Jan 2022, 20:30
Neat experiment! Looking forward to your account of the testing, even if the keyfeel turns out to to be a bit scratchy :-D
Well, almost. Except for the spam link you embedded in the smiley face.

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Scottex

27 Jan 2022, 14:59

ThermometerSandwich wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 17:36
Thanks for the shout-out vyquad! :D
Great work on your caps btw! I'm still amazed at how well those stems came out.

I plan on making a larger build log post in the Workshop about this topic in the next couple weeks. So, I suppose this is kind of a teaser trailer ;)
20220126_101116.jpg

From left to right:
  • OG Model M/F keycap
  • My first infill test on a resin print with black CA glue (lesson learned: don't use CA glue for infill...)
  • Profile test with Sharpie legend. I quickly printed a set of alphas like this just to try out for a while to make sure I was happy with the dish shape. Okay, so I may have printed several sets until I was happy with the shape... This was printed at a bit too high of a layer height (0.05 mm I think).
  • Proof of concept of a "Triple Shot" keycap using the same type of UV resin as the print itself.
Muirium wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 10:28
Wonder if the 👍 is ⚡️ engraved?
For the 👍 and ≥M, the caps were printed with little voids for the legends. The 👍 legend was filled with black CA glue, then sanded a bit. This didn't turn out super well. For the ≥M, I used the same UV resin as the print itself with pigment added. I poured a little resin into the voids, then put clear tape over the uncured resin to shape it. I cured it by shining a UV laser through the tape. After removing the tape, a little sanding cleaned it up pretty quickly. I meant for the main legend to be black, but I definitely didn't add enough pigment to the resin, so grey it is. Other than the color issue, I'm pretty happy with the results.

I thought about CNC milling the legends, but I think the prints came out well enough when printed at 0.02 mm or so. Also, I'm way too lazy to do the tool-pathing for ≥107 different legends.
inozenz wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 09:44
i love 3d printers, amazing job :O
Thanks! :D
Muirium wrote:
21 Jan 2022, 12:58
Is your goal now to make white, spherical, blank outer shells? That's about all you can do with 3D-printing.
8-)
this is great, sphericals for buckling spring is a dream :D

mrprofessor

28 Jan 2022, 04:25

ThermometerSandwich wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 17:36
Thanks for the shout-out vyquad! :D
Great work on your caps btw! I'm still amazed at how well those stems came out.

I plan on making a larger build log post in the Workshop about this topic in the next couple weeks. So, I suppose this is kind of a teaser trailer ;)
20220126_101116.jpg

From left to right:
  • OG Model M/F keycap
  • My first infill test on a resin print with black CA glue (lesson learned: don't use CA glue for infill...)
  • Profile test with Sharpie legend. I quickly printed a set of alphas like this just to try out for a while to make sure I was happy with the dish shape. Okay, so I may have printed several sets until I was happy with the shape... This was printed at a bit too high of a layer height (0.05 mm I think).
  • Proof of concept of a "Triple Shot" keycap using the same type of UV resin as the print itself.
Muirium wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 10:28
Wonder if the 👍 is ⚡️ engraved?
For the 👍 and ≥M, the caps were printed with little voids for the legends. The 👍 legend was filled with black CA glue, then sanded a bit. This didn't turn out super well. For the ≥M, I used the same UV resin as the print itself with pigment added. I poured a little resin into the voids, then put clear tape over the uncured resin to shape it. I cured it by shining a UV laser through the tape. After removing the tape, a little sanding cleaned it up pretty quickly. I meant for the main legend to be black, but I definitely didn't add enough pigment to the resin, so grey it is. Other than the color issue, I'm pretty happy with the results.

I thought about CNC milling the legends, but I think the prints came out well enough when printed at 0.02 mm or so. Also, I'm way too lazy to do the tool-pathing for ≥107 different legends.
inozenz wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 09:44
i love 3d printers, amazing job :O
Thanks! :D
Muirium wrote:
21 Jan 2022, 12:58
Is your goal now to make white, spherical, blank outer shells? That's about all you can do with 3D-printing.
8-)
Wow, they look super cool. Want to get my hands on a set🙂

ThermometerSandwich

08 Apr 2022, 03:02

Heading your way, vyquad!
Spoiler:
keycapParade
keycapParade
20220405_154318.jpg (2.98 MiB) Viewed 9003 times

ThermometerSandwich

08 Apr 2022, 04:03

ThermometerSandwich wrote:
26 Jan 2022, 17:36
I plan on making a larger build log post in the Workshop about this topic in the next couple weeks. So, I suppose this is kind of a teaser trailer ;)
Build log started: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27105

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-Space-NATO-

08 Apr 2022, 17:30

Looking very nice!

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