Legend printing query

[Daniel Beardsmore]

There's a particular style of legend found on both black Topre keyboards, and on certain notebooks such as the Acer Aspire 1362LC and (some?) current Dell Latitude laptops. It has the ink spread of dye sub (at least on the Acer), and the legend is thick like it's been painted on. There is no decal-style coated area, and no Filco-style coating either.

Is this a type of pad printing with extra durable paint, or is it some other technique?

I was really impressed to see a Dell notebook with non-decal legends, so maybe more manufacturers will start producing non-suck legends. I don't know what the durability is like – can't possibly be worse than Das Keyboard lasering ;-)

[Matias]

It's probably UV printing.

They mix the UV decal material together with the paint, and then do just one coat. This gives you the scratch resistance of UV coating, without the decal effect.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Even brand new laser infill caps from Cherry have a horrible faded colour before skin oils take their toll, yet this mystery legend is positively dazzling – how come it isn't used more often?

How does it fair against laser infill for longevity? I guess so long as you don't do infill like Metadot (that all falls out) it should last longer, but I don't know.

(The photo is pretty much adequate for the wiki if I have sufficiently reliable information.)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Bump? :)

If this is the same technique as Topre use, I would hope that it lasts a long time.

I presume it's a variation on pad printing with "ink" that can be cured to avoid the need to coat it? It doesn't seem to have been discussed by any keyboard community, which is annoying. I don't recall ever seeing any description of what dark Topre caps use, either – the wiki has them down as dye sub, but the dark gold lettering is raised, and it's much more like that Acer notebook, and sublimated ink doesn't permit a shade lighter than the keycap anyway.

[Matias]

Even brand new laser infill caps from Cherry have a horrible faded colour before skin oils take their toll, yet this mystery legend is positively dazzling – how come it isn't used more often?

Because you need to have film prepared, which is an additional cost.

How does it fair against laser infill for longevity? I guess so long as you don't do infill like Metadot (that all falls out) it should last longer, but I don't know.

Laser infill is just dumb. What's the point of using a laser, if you're then going to apply ink that comes off?!?

Laser etching and UV printing are the best options IMO.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

What does the Quiet Pro use then? I understood that to be laser etched, so what are you using to get the white lettering if it's not infill?

Other that that, it didn't really answer any of my questions.

[Matias]

The Quiet Pro uses laser etching. It is comparable to dye sub for longevity.

The colour comes from the type of plastic used.

FYI, backlit keyboards have painted keycaps with are then lasered to remove the paint where the leters are, and then UV coated.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

You're referring to the process where plastic lightens in colour under laser light, the same as WASD use? I've considered WASD caps for my Filco, but the dingy, dirty yellow legends of their etched dark caps can't possibly compare to the dazzling white of Filco's pad printing – it looks rubbish honestly.

The Quiet Pro photos suggest that you're doing something right that they're doing wrong, because your legends look whiter than Cherry's infill!

I added my UV printing photo to the keycap printing wiki page without any text, as at the moment I've not been able to find anything out about it. This page is the only other info I can find, and it contradicts both you and the wiki:

http://www.keysourcechina.com/seven-tec ... nting.html

I don't know who's right. I really don't.