I hate glossy plastic...

[rich1051414]

So I decided to play around with some matias switches, so in order to get a taste of the full range, I went with a switch that could be modded into the whole range if wanted, the dampened tactile version.

I wasn't a fan of this, when I added click leaves, it felt better, but the switch 'plate' on it adds too much tactility, but later than the first tactile bump, and this double bump feel just felt bad. I like them, but not as much as black or white alps.

The case of the matias mini keyboards is a very nice form, and the USB hub built in is great, but the case is glossy plastic... why god why... I hate finger prints, and glossy plastic might as well come with fingerprints and finger grease streaks stock from the factory, cause you will never be able to keep them off of it.

I got what I wanted out the keyboard, knowledge on the new switches and an opinion on the keyboard, but I felt like it could be so much better for me, so I thought I would give it a shot.

I ended up filling it with early white alps and sanding the gloss off the keyboard and throwing some paint on it, but I didn't want it to look like a spray painted keyboard either. I had a crazy idea to do something a little different, faux stone.

This is how it turned out:

Matias.png (2.72 MiB) Viewed 2893 times

Turned out better than I was expecting, like a granite counter top, however, it was clear the textured coating was very weak and would be prone to chipping, so I also added two coats of matte clear coat acrylic, and now the paint feels rock solid.

I do plan on getting some keycaps for it to finish off the aesthetic, and just used some old yellowed caps for now, but it looks alright, could be better though.

[deeyay]

Looks pretty cool. I too hate the glossy plastic they come with and I painted mine too when I had one with hammer paint. If you could exchange the black keycaps with anyting else it would probably fit better as the beige and grey ones looks fine on it.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The grey + black looks good — very old school. It does seem a bit random though — numpad 0 , + probably ought to be grey to fit the scheme, and possibly alt + alt gr in black.

[Norman_]

Oh wow, that stone like paint is quite impressive. A little busy for my tastes, but i'm very impressed with how it looks.

[rich1051414]

Oh wow, that stone like paint is quite impressive. A little busy for my tastes, but i'm very impressed with how it looks.

I didn't expect it to look that great, but you never know until you try. The paint I used was this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016 ... UTF8&psc=1

However, the paint isn't as beige as the cap insinuates, but still looks nice.

[Elrick]

Oh wow, that stone like paint is quite impressive. A little busy for my tastes, but i'm very impressed with how it looks.

I didn't expect it to look that great, but you never know until you try. The paint I used was this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016 ... UTF8&psc=1

However, the paint isn't as beige as the cap insinuates, but still looks nice.

Brilliant effort to transform Matias's casing disaster. ALWAYS hated shiny black plastic as well and this might be a way of changing that. Have to take apart his casing carefully one day, to try that same trick.

Did you apply any plastic primer before hand? I know some paints won't stick directly to some plastics.

Knowing my abilities I will most probably destroy it, in which case another Matias keyboard heads off to land fill here in Convict Town.

[rich1051414]

No, since I used a textured paint, a base coat isn't required, but it did cause my paint to tend more towards gray instead of beige, since the black case is effecting the color. This would be the only reason for a base coat on plastic, primer isn't necessary on plastic as long as you scuff the plastic up before painting. Metal is a different story.

[seaworthy]

I plastidipped a Matias Laptop Pro. Turned out nice and has held up well for 18 month.

[Chyros]

DIY Granite?